Post by hadoriel on Mar 20, 2013 15:39:09 GMT -5
In a private corner of the Hall of Fire, a blonde-haired elf woman sits near a fireplace next to an aging Hobbit. She slouches comfortably in her chair, a glass of white wine in one hand.
"So, my dear old Hobbit," she said, "you wish to know about Hadoriel, then? Are you expecting something extrordinary to be revealed? Because if you are, I think you will be disappointed.
"I was born in Doriath in the days of King Dior, the son of Beren Erchamion and Luthien Tinuviel. And yes, I can see your eyebrows rising even as I say that. To answer your questions; yes, I really am that old, and no, I can't tell you what they were really like. I didn't know them personally and I was quite young at the time. But I do remember the day that Doriath fell. When my mother and father took my hand and led me out into the darkness of Beleriand, I expected some servant of the dreaded Morgoth to be our attacker. Imagine my surprise to find that it was Elves; the sons of Fëanor, in their mad and endless quest for the Silmarili. Such a shame it is that lies upon the Elves for that insanity.
"From there, we wandered for a while. It would be many lifetimes for a Hobbit, of course, but it really wasn't that long by our reckoning before the War of Wrath when the Valar swept out of the west to finally put down Morgoth. It raged for years and pushed us further eastward as the sea rose and swallowed the lands of my birth. I still feel the quake of the land, some days.
"The whole of the Second Age passed as one might expect it to for one of my kind. I wandered, doing what I could to stop the spread of the remnants of Morgoth's shadow. I eventually came here to Imladris and have made a home for myself among its people. I visited Númenor once, though it was not what I expected of the kingdom ruled by those descended from Ëarendil the Mariner and the twin brother of our most esteemed host, Master Elrond. It was an unsettling sort of disappointment, I suppose, and even more so at its fall. But I'm sure you already know as much of that story as I do.
"The Last Alliance, though! Ah, there was a great undertaking! It was to be the last undertaking to finally end the threat that so long ago came from Morgoth. I fought beneath Orodruin on the day that Isildur cut the Ring from the hand of Sauron. And it was in that battle that I met the one who held my heart for most of the Third Age thereafter; Aradol, an archer of great skill and few words.
"But alas, that was not to last, either. It was only a little while ago, perhaps a hundred years, that he finally wearied of life in Middle-earth and set sail for Valinor. We... did not part well, for I would not sail with him. It seems to me at time that he took a part of me along and it ever wishes to find itself again.
"Oh, my dear, blessed Hobbit, embrace your mortality! Only mortals can imagine that love is forever!
"What? Oh, you asked what kept me here? That is simple; I am not finished just yet. At the fall of Morgoth, when Beleriand was swallowed by the sea, I vowed that what remained of the lands of Middle-earth would be free of the last of his shadow before ever I left it. And so, the Enemy that men now fight in the East is my enemy, too.
"But, I am but one, now. My spear is little help in the great battles of the world, by itself. But my knowledge! That I can use. For while my own story has been unremarkable, I have seen much of the greater story. That I will use and I will find again those things that have been lost that can be used against the Enemy.
"The Palantíri, dear Bilbo! I shall start with those! You can write that in your red book, if you like!"
"So, my dear old Hobbit," she said, "you wish to know about Hadoriel, then? Are you expecting something extrordinary to be revealed? Because if you are, I think you will be disappointed.
"I was born in Doriath in the days of King Dior, the son of Beren Erchamion and Luthien Tinuviel. And yes, I can see your eyebrows rising even as I say that. To answer your questions; yes, I really am that old, and no, I can't tell you what they were really like. I didn't know them personally and I was quite young at the time. But I do remember the day that Doriath fell. When my mother and father took my hand and led me out into the darkness of Beleriand, I expected some servant of the dreaded Morgoth to be our attacker. Imagine my surprise to find that it was Elves; the sons of Fëanor, in their mad and endless quest for the Silmarili. Such a shame it is that lies upon the Elves for that insanity.
"From there, we wandered for a while. It would be many lifetimes for a Hobbit, of course, but it really wasn't that long by our reckoning before the War of Wrath when the Valar swept out of the west to finally put down Morgoth. It raged for years and pushed us further eastward as the sea rose and swallowed the lands of my birth. I still feel the quake of the land, some days.
"The whole of the Second Age passed as one might expect it to for one of my kind. I wandered, doing what I could to stop the spread of the remnants of Morgoth's shadow. I eventually came here to Imladris and have made a home for myself among its people. I visited Númenor once, though it was not what I expected of the kingdom ruled by those descended from Ëarendil the Mariner and the twin brother of our most esteemed host, Master Elrond. It was an unsettling sort of disappointment, I suppose, and even more so at its fall. But I'm sure you already know as much of that story as I do.
"The Last Alliance, though! Ah, there was a great undertaking! It was to be the last undertaking to finally end the threat that so long ago came from Morgoth. I fought beneath Orodruin on the day that Isildur cut the Ring from the hand of Sauron. And it was in that battle that I met the one who held my heart for most of the Third Age thereafter; Aradol, an archer of great skill and few words.
"But alas, that was not to last, either. It was only a little while ago, perhaps a hundred years, that he finally wearied of life in Middle-earth and set sail for Valinor. We... did not part well, for I would not sail with him. It seems to me at time that he took a part of me along and it ever wishes to find itself again.
"Oh, my dear, blessed Hobbit, embrace your mortality! Only mortals can imagine that love is forever!
"What? Oh, you asked what kept me here? That is simple; I am not finished just yet. At the fall of Morgoth, when Beleriand was swallowed by the sea, I vowed that what remained of the lands of Middle-earth would be free of the last of his shadow before ever I left it. And so, the Enemy that men now fight in the East is my enemy, too.
"But, I am but one, now. My spear is little help in the great battles of the world, by itself. But my knowledge! That I can use. For while my own story has been unremarkable, I have seen much of the greater story. That I will use and I will find again those things that have been lost that can be used against the Enemy.
"The Palantíri, dear Bilbo! I shall start with those! You can write that in your red book, if you like!"