Month: July 2018

Oh gosh, another tough one! I’ll do Elrond because I can’t even imagine how I’d play other people’s OCs :’D sacrilege 

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I’m going to just spitball my headcanons and understanding of his character here… I’ll work my way up to how I’d play him. 

Elrond, first and foremost, strikes me as being cautious.

He’s born into a period of decline and chaos, also unparalleled diversity and tenacity, amongst the combined refugee populations of Beleriand. His mother is a survivor of elf-on-elf violence, his father is a survivor of Morgoth-on-elf violence… he grows up in an era where elves are betraying elves, and the Dark Lord is not just winning, he has indisputably won. He sees unexpected acts of mercy from enemies, a strange urgency and hope brewing amidst those teetering on the brink of extinction. His father and mother, as far as he and Elros are concerned, both disappeared into the West and are probably dead– except one day apparently they both became demigods and bring the Valar across the sea to wage war?? and they can’t come back to earth. So, basically dead. The actual Gods are tearing the earth apart underneath them in a war he was born into the last fraction of; the hosts of Vanyar are there, who no one in Beleriand have ever seen before; he and his brother are both of uniquely divine lineage but it’s a little hard to lay claim to any kind of birthright when you’re both orphans being shifted from one batch of exiles and refugees to the next, trying to stay alive.

Elrond’s “normal” is batshit crazy. Nothing that was true for the Exiles and the older elves is true for him; almost everything that the last generation built and valued is in complete ruins, or being carried around as stories and relics by the survivors, old hierarchies are destroyed, ancient lineages and rights to kingship are nearly meaningless because there are no kingdoms anymore; elves from every corner of Beleriand are banded together, trying to save whatever they can of their history, their wealth, their civilization.

I think that atmosphere molds him. The kingdom he goes on to found is rooted not on oaths and fealty, but secrecy and the dedicated preservation of history and knowledge. He’s inheriting the Fall of Gondolin and bearing the memory of it and all the kingdoms of Beleriand on his shoulders. 

He doesn’t trust easily– he has too much at stake, too much to lose, and he’s seen too many betrayals. He does not commit to action quickly, and acts of violence even less so. He must despise violence more than anything. The struggle against loss and grief, the preservation of what little solace and joy remains, practically defines him. 

But when he does trust, and does commit, he does so with complete assurance and life-long loyalty. He is all the slower to heal when that trust is broken. 

I would play him as quiet, slow to speak his mind, ready to watch and listen and learn before turning his hand to anything. He served under Gil-Galad, watched how he ruled, learning how to rule himself, taking time to determine what his priorities and strengths were. He is cautious. He is careful with his words; diplomatic and not unkind, but open to few. Underneath he hides a deep, nearly bottomless well of frustration– the world seems so dedicated to destroying itself. Even those who champion righteous causes do so recklessly and to the endangerment of themselves and those caught in their orbit. Everything he loves seems determined to leave him behind; and he does love. He loves everyone more deeply because he has always been mindful of their fragility. All lives, all love, is brief, even for immortals. 

I think Elros would be his opposite in this matter– He’d have been closest to his brother more than any other person besides maybe his wife. His brother gives him hope that there is a way to live with temporality that is not full of grief. Even when Elros is gone, Elrond carries his words and memories in his heart like a talisman against the greyness of entropy, just as much as the ring Vilya. That wisdom helps him let go, when he must. He does not covet; he is not greedy. He would not sacrifice more to preserve what is left. He has faith– a hard won faith that he fights to maintain– that there is no real ending wherever life is. 

I think if I were to play him, the most satisfying parts would be to find out what makes him excited, what gets him angry, how he’d react to the temptation of building a “Tirion on earth”, and the greater temptation of the rings ( I always manage to bring it back to Sauron somehow, goddamnit…) Seeing him school the fuck out of a young Aragorn would be mmmmmm *chefkiss* choice. Think of all the things he’d have to say to Isildur’s Heir about unnecessary, risky heroics and Not Listening To His Elders…. 

Also, I mean, he is a Total Goddamn Nerd, right? I MEAN…. he’d get so fired up about old surviving texts, lose his absolute shit over Important Swords. He’s a Gondolin fanboy, he knows more about the Lords and the Houses and the weaponry and the infrastructure than Turgon did probably. He’d be arguing himself blue with Bilbo over comparative Quenya translations, critiquing modern poetry, making sure important textiles were handled with gloves and stored at the right temperature; he’d constantly bother the hell out of Glorfindel because like, HE WAS THERE MAN!!! HE KILLED A BALROG!! HE LIVED IN -GONDOLIN-. DID YOU MEET MY GRANDPARENTS??

I’m not actually convinced I COULD play a convincing Elrond. I could probably manage to write him on occasion, but I think a lot of what makes him tick, and a lot of what makes him a successful ring-keeper and ruler, is a lot of what would make him difficult for me to play. I don’t think he has a lot of room in him for temptations, or sympathizing with the devil. As a life-long Villain Stan, I deeply appreciate characters like him. I think it’s part of a healthy fiction ecosystem to have characters who can’t, won’t, and will NEVER like your sexy villains, have NOTHING to spare for romantic evil, and are generally Tired™ of people’s glory-hounding bullshit that endangers innocent people and would like it to stop. 

I’d love to see someone ELSE play Elrond so I could appreciate his nuances and foibles; I think a lot of people other than me could really make him shine as a POV character.