Post by Elindë on Mar 13, 2010 1:35:48 GMT 7
Thranduil Oropherion, Elaran o Eryn Lasgalen is my main and only actual muse. Nothing gets written without his having at least picked it up, looked at it and given his opinion. Any gaps in his knowledge are filled by Wylofain and, if he doesn't know either, we all sit around scratching our heads and arguing about it while Hallen makes 'happy' butterflies and draws our frustration.
He answers to Thranduil (not recommended, unless he told you his name himself or you're also from Middle Earth), Eldu, Ethuil, the Elvenking, Your Majesty, Sire, Elaran... and Sindarin Git, but this one isn't recommended either. If you call him Phoenix now he'll ignore you, and/or deny all knowledge of ever using it as an alias.
Over the years I've had to wring alot of this out of him - most of it's not in published texts. Half the stuff he originally told me was lies and he's only just decided to tell me about that. He's a bitch sometimes, he really is. Word of warning: he's led a long life so yes, his bio is long. I could cut bits out but I finally know why he is how he is only because I know all of it so...
Second word of warning: while everything about him in published works is there in Eldu as a muse, because of all the things I've added on he's now somewhere between being a canon character and an original character. I don't think anything added is unreasonable, but other people add on different things and come up with very different versions of him.
It should first be said that Elves mature at 50
Eldu was born towards the end of First Age in a village in Neldoreth, not the largest but probably the most famous of the three forests of Doriath, the inward looking kingdom of Thingol, with closed borders and a foreign policy of 'if we ignore them they'll go away'. He's an only child but his community was a close-knitt one and he was always with Elves around his age one way or another. An exiled Noldor with an affiliation with the village popped by occasionally, though he spent most of his time in Menegroth. His name was Nenros and he came to have a large influence on Eldu.
When Eldu was around 8 Thingol, was slain by Dwarves and Doriath began to fall apart. In 505 it was completely destroyed by the remaining sons of Fëanor in the Second Kinslay and Eldu's mother, grandparents and most of his childhood friends were killed. The remaining Sindar eventually gravitated to the refuge Círdan had made in the Mouth of Sirion. All the main kingdoms of Beleriand fell within a few years of each other so the havens were a cultural melting pot, and provided the Sinda with highly conflicting views of the Noldor. It was here that he learnt standard Sindarin (his mother tongue is Doriathrin, a very strong dialect of Sindarin). Since then he's used Sindarin as his language of choice to the extent that he didn't teach his son any Doriathrin - though he still uses it in certain circumstances.
He remained in the Haven until 538, and in that time Nenros became his teacher, telling him of his (negative) experiences of the Noldor. He became like an older brother to Eldu, and he, Eldu and Eldu's father looked out for each other like any other family would. But in 538 the sons of Fëanor who still survived returned and there was the Third Kinslay, in which Nenros martyred himself to save the Sindarin Elf he loved and her son. 7 years after that was the start of the War of Wrath - Eldu was around 48 by then - but he doesn't talk about that. After 42 years came the end of both the war and the FA, underlined by the sinking of Beleriand.
Early in the Second Age when he was a very young adult, Eldu migrated east with his father and many other Sindar and started again in Eryn Galen. Because of their world knowledge, perhaps, the Sindar found themselves in high positions, and Eldu's father became their first king before the turn of the century. As for Eldu, he fell for the head healer and after a longish courtship (made complicated by external influences) they married. The next 3 millennia were relatively peaceful and in that time Eldu suppressed his memories of the terrors of the end of the FA so much he forgot about them until the end of the SA. But the peace couldn't last. By ignoring the outside world, Eryn Galen came to the shadows coming from Mordor later than other realms but even so they joined the Last Alliance and marched on Mordor with devistating consequences. Eldu's father died in his arms and suddenly all his memories of the FA came flooding back. This was when he first 'saw' Nenros, and though he 'helps' Eldu when he appears other hallucinations that come with him aren't so friendly.
Things got worse before they got better; even though she bore him a son Eldu's wife was killed by wargs within 300 years of the start of the Third Age. Galion, who has lost his wife sometime earlier, and his daughter Lianna helped the grieving pair and they formed a reconstituted family - a natural thing to do as far as Eldu was concerned for that's what had happened in his own upbringing. Around 1050 TA a darkness fell on Eryn Galen and the Elves were forced to fly north, but after that things settled down and, even though having your home destroyed by a Necromancer is far from ideal, the Elves got on with their lives. Finally, after 2 millennia of tense resistance, things are looking up, but as Beorn said, "if you live on the borders of Mirkwood you don't trust the word of anoyone", and Eldu holds true to this. He's adopted a Thingol-like foreign policy which has earned him a far from fantastic reputation abroad but at least it's kept his people more or less safe. His son and his people mean everything to him and he will do anything for them, but for everyone else his favour is harder to come by.
He has pale skin, golden hair and sapphire eyes. He’s underweight but surprisingly strong, and short for a Sinda at 5'10. He refuses to wear anything that doesn’t come from his homeland. He can look increadibly grand when he wants to but when he wants to blend into the background he looks a lot smaller, but even then there's something impressive about him.
Usually when speaking a non-Elven language (ie English) he uses his Common Tongue accent which sounds vaguely Welsh. His emotions are easier to pick up on when he uses this accent. But when he's tired or just can't be asked his accent slips and it has a very strange lilt indeed. It still sounds Celtic but you can no longer say it sounds Welsh or Irish or Scottish. He always trills his 'r's.
Many traits you would usually consider to be mutually exclusive can be found in Eldu at the same time; you'll see what I mean if/when you meet him. He gets twitchy if people stare at him intently as he thinks they're trying to read/control his thoughts. Ironically for a long time the Necromancer was trying to control him and arguably it was his paranoia that saved his people, so maybe his schitz has one benefit? It's true that, while he's a fantastic leader for the vast majority of the time, if he didn't have an equally strong court to take over during his relapses his realm would be in trouble. He takes his kingship highly seriously - perhaps too seriously at times. He's not at all averse to making fun of himself - in certain company - but his incredible anxiety over the well-being of his people has taken its tole so he doesn't laugh as much as he used to. In the Realm he may seem more like a hippy-dippy pagan now he's not putting on so many facades, both in how he dresses and how he acts, but his temper's as quick as it's ever been. He's more introverted and eccentric as well now because he's finally realised that he doesn't give a damn what any of the muses there think of him.
He sees Lovai as a lovable nuisance and his protégé. They have quite a bantery teacher-student relationship. He views Hallen in a much more straight forward fatherly way.
He regards Callier as one of those good friends you have nothing in common with but the fact that you like each other, even though I think they have some things in common. He was sad to hear she wasn't around much anymore. He wasn't so sad to hear the same about Lura whom, though he'd jump to help her, he feels intimidated by. He's quietly respectful of Ruc, Erin and Zen and is indifferent to everyone else.
He answers to Thranduil (not recommended, unless he told you his name himself or you're also from Middle Earth), Eldu, Ethuil, the Elvenking, Your Majesty, Sire, Elaran... and Sindarin Git, but this one isn't recommended either. If you call him Phoenix now he'll ignore you, and/or deny all knowledge of ever using it as an alias.
◡◠O◠◡
Over the years I've had to wring alot of this out of him - most of it's not in published texts. Half the stuff he originally told me was lies and he's only just decided to tell me about that. He's a bitch sometimes, he really is. Word of warning: he's led a long life so yes, his bio is long. I could cut bits out but I finally know why he is how he is only because I know all of it so...
Second word of warning: while everything about him in published works is there in Eldu as a muse, because of all the things I've added on he's now somewhere between being a canon character and an original character. I don't think anything added is unreasonable, but other people add on different things and come up with very different versions of him.
It should first be said that Elves mature at 50
Eldu was born towards the end of First Age in a village in Neldoreth, not the largest but probably the most famous of the three forests of Doriath, the inward looking kingdom of Thingol, with closed borders and a foreign policy of 'if we ignore them they'll go away'. He's an only child but his community was a close-knitt one and he was always with Elves around his age one way or another. An exiled Noldor with an affiliation with the village popped by occasionally, though he spent most of his time in Menegroth. His name was Nenros and he came to have a large influence on Eldu.
When Eldu was around 8 Thingol, was slain by Dwarves and Doriath began to fall apart. In 505 it was completely destroyed by the remaining sons of Fëanor in the Second Kinslay and Eldu's mother, grandparents and most of his childhood friends were killed. The remaining Sindar eventually gravitated to the refuge Círdan had made in the Mouth of Sirion. All the main kingdoms of Beleriand fell within a few years of each other so the havens were a cultural melting pot, and provided the Sinda with highly conflicting views of the Noldor. It was here that he learnt standard Sindarin (his mother tongue is Doriathrin, a very strong dialect of Sindarin). Since then he's used Sindarin as his language of choice to the extent that he didn't teach his son any Doriathrin - though he still uses it in certain circumstances.
He remained in the Haven until 538, and in that time Nenros became his teacher, telling him of his (negative) experiences of the Noldor. He became like an older brother to Eldu, and he, Eldu and Eldu's father looked out for each other like any other family would. But in 538 the sons of Fëanor who still survived returned and there was the Third Kinslay, in which Nenros martyred himself to save the Sindarin Elf he loved and her son. 7 years after that was the start of the War of Wrath - Eldu was around 48 by then - but he doesn't talk about that. After 42 years came the end of both the war and the FA, underlined by the sinking of Beleriand.
Early in the Second Age when he was a very young adult, Eldu migrated east with his father and many other Sindar and started again in Eryn Galen. Because of their world knowledge, perhaps, the Sindar found themselves in high positions, and Eldu's father became their first king before the turn of the century. As for Eldu, he fell for the head healer and after a longish courtship (made complicated by external influences) they married. The next 3 millennia were relatively peaceful and in that time Eldu suppressed his memories of the terrors of the end of the FA so much he forgot about them until the end of the SA. But the peace couldn't last. By ignoring the outside world, Eryn Galen came to the shadows coming from Mordor later than other realms but even so they joined the Last Alliance and marched on Mordor with devistating consequences. Eldu's father died in his arms and suddenly all his memories of the FA came flooding back. This was when he first 'saw' Nenros, and though he 'helps' Eldu when he appears other hallucinations that come with him aren't so friendly.
Things got worse before they got better; even though she bore him a son Eldu's wife was killed by wargs within 300 years of the start of the Third Age. Galion, who has lost his wife sometime earlier, and his daughter Lianna helped the grieving pair and they formed a reconstituted family - a natural thing to do as far as Eldu was concerned for that's what had happened in his own upbringing. Around 1050 TA a darkness fell on Eryn Galen and the Elves were forced to fly north, but after that things settled down and, even though having your home destroyed by a Necromancer is far from ideal, the Elves got on with their lives. Finally, after 2 millennia of tense resistance, things are looking up, but as Beorn said, "if you live on the borders of Mirkwood you don't trust the word of anoyone", and Eldu holds true to this. He's adopted a Thingol-like foreign policy which has earned him a far from fantastic reputation abroad but at least it's kept his people more or less safe. His son and his people mean everything to him and he will do anything for them, but for everyone else his favour is harder to come by.
◡◠O◠◡
He has pale skin, golden hair and sapphire eyes. He’s underweight but surprisingly strong, and short for a Sinda at 5'10. He refuses to wear anything that doesn’t come from his homeland. He can look increadibly grand when he wants to but when he wants to blend into the background he looks a lot smaller, but even then there's something impressive about him.
Usually when speaking a non-Elven language (ie English) he uses his Common Tongue accent which sounds vaguely Welsh. His emotions are easier to pick up on when he uses this accent. But when he's tired or just can't be asked his accent slips and it has a very strange lilt indeed. It still sounds Celtic but you can no longer say it sounds Welsh or Irish or Scottish. He always trills his 'r's.
◡◠O◠◡
Many traits you would usually consider to be mutually exclusive can be found in Eldu at the same time; you'll see what I mean if/when you meet him. He gets twitchy if people stare at him intently as he thinks they're trying to read/control his thoughts. Ironically for a long time the Necromancer was trying to control him and arguably it was his paranoia that saved his people, so maybe his schitz has one benefit? It's true that, while he's a fantastic leader for the vast majority of the time, if he didn't have an equally strong court to take over during his relapses his realm would be in trouble. He takes his kingship highly seriously - perhaps too seriously at times. He's not at all averse to making fun of himself - in certain company - but his incredible anxiety over the well-being of his people has taken its tole so he doesn't laugh as much as he used to. In the Realm he may seem more like a hippy-dippy pagan now he's not putting on so many facades, both in how he dresses and how he acts, but his temper's as quick as it's ever been. He's more introverted and eccentric as well now because he's finally realised that he doesn't give a damn what any of the muses there think of him.
◡◠O◠◡
He sees Lovai as a lovable nuisance and his protégé. They have quite a bantery teacher-student relationship. He views Hallen in a much more straight forward fatherly way.
He regards Callier as one of those good friends you have nothing in common with but the fact that you like each other, even though I think they have some things in common. He was sad to hear she wasn't around much anymore. He wasn't so sad to hear the same about Lura whom, though he'd jump to help her, he feels intimidated by. He's quietly respectful of Ruc, Erin and Zen and is indifferent to everyone else.
[/center]