Subject: A little P.S.
Author:
Posted on: 2022-01-03 03:47:34 UTC
When I first came up with the AU idea, I briefly headcanoned AU-Kaguya as a Gondolin native. I never thought of what House he'd belong to, or whether he'd survive the fall.
On a whim, I decided to imagine Guyatchi and Momotchi as Tolkienian elves, and since I don't trust my own ability to actually write their AU selves, they're up for adoption as OCs. Aside from the designs, they have no info whatsoever; the adopter is free to fill in the blanks.
I only request that anyone wishing to adopt characters/minis written by me or writing stories featuring my agents not post their creations on AO3, Wattpad, LiveJournal and Dreamwidth – I have been harassed on 3 of these sites, let's not open another wound. I also request that stories featuring characters written by me not include direct links to any of my accounts.
(Not adopting - I have more than enough grumpy elves already! But I enjoy this sort of thing, and people might feel like borrowing aspects of it.)
I think #1 (Kayuga?) is clearly of the Third Age; the autumn theme makes that obvious, and his costume's not really warlike enough for the earlier ages anyway. He's probably from Rivendell; he's a bit too finely/non-naturalistically dressed for Lorien or the Greenwood.
My feel is that he was born in Lindon in the Second Age, of Noldo or Sinda lineage. He may have been part of Elrond's party that established Imladris, but in any event he moved there before the Third Age began. He could be part of a wandering company (like Gildor's early in Fellowship), or just hang out in the Hall of Fire listening to the tales. (The Third Age is 3000+ years long; he can have done both!)
In contrast, #2 (Momoka?) is clearly a Vanya, one of the Light Elves who never left Valinor. I think she's quite young - she doesn't remember the Two Trees herself, and might not even have been born at the change in the World and the end of the Second Age. She's lived most or all of her life in a Blessed Realm utterly separated from the mundane, and it shows in her personality.
So how did they meet? No Vanya would travel to Middle-earth, and no exile would return to Valinor proper. Kayuga would have come back to Tol Eressea... and I think that's where they met.
Picture Momoka as a bright-eyed traveller, exploring every corner of Valinor while her family is content to stay in Valimar of the bells. She befriends Noldor in Tirion, and Falmari (we don't say Teleri, it's rude) in Alqualonde, and even visits the ruins of Formenos from the bad old days. Finally, there's nowhere else to go...
... except east. She hitches a ride on a swanship and makes her landing on Eressea. Here, at last, is a whole new culture to learn about - three or four cultures, in fact, because the Noldor, Sindar, and Nandor aren't exactly integrated! And there she meets... Kayuga, who has just stepped off the boat from Middle-earth and isn't at all convinced by any of this.
As for names... what do their names translate to? Kayuga would have a Sindarin name, Momoka's would be (Vanyarin) Quenya, but she probably also speaks Telerin. That means they can juuust about communicate at first, with Kayuga knowing a bit of book-Quenya and Momoka getting about a third of what he says in Sindarin. But they won't translate their names, naturally.
One name I can do is Kayuga's epesse/aftername/nickname, 'stiff-faced'. Amazingly, there is a Sindarin word for 'stiff' in exactly this sense: "tarlang" means "stiff-necked", and was applied to particularly stubborn men. Kayuga's epesse would thus be Tarthir (as in caran-thir, red-faced). He'd probably use it after his birth name, but could use it alone if he wanted.
(I suspect both of them would actually have two birth-names: a regular one from their fathers, and a more meaningful/slightly prophetic one from their mothers. Most elves only used one of these in daily life.)
That was fun. ^_^
hS
Sorry, but I'm notoriously sharp-eyed about that kinda thing 🤣🤣🤣 But that aside, wow, cool backstories you got there.
Honestlg, I checked the gaqe at least three or four times, I have no idea what hajyened.
(All right, I'll stog... I mean stop.)
So what do the names translate as? Wikipedia throws me a "not a clue, depends on the kanji", which is accurate but unhelpful.
hS
Kaguya's 香久也 can be translated as "everlasting fragrance", though of course the chief meaning of his name is that it sounds like the name of that popular folktale character from the moon. Momoka's 桃花 just means "peach flower". I tried actually naming these babies, the former something having to do with the moon and the latter with flowers and/or spring. I don't remember what I ended up with though 😆
On backstory: given the latter's original self being a maid to the former's original self, and original Kaguya's speaking two languages fluently and having experience in customer service, how do you think this can be carried over to the AU?
Momoka is fairly easy. There's no Quenya word for 'peach' (or 'pink'), but peach trees are noted for flowering very early, before their leaves even come out. Elves actually recognise six seasons, with the first being (in English) 'stirring' ; so she is Coirelótë, "Early (/Stirring) blossom".
Kaguya is... a decision. We can translate him directly: Lissui is Sindarin for "eternal fragrance". It comes very close to being the name of a flower from Eressea, Lissuin, so he might just be named that.
On the other hand... Middle-earth also has its stories of someone from the moon who keeps getting into trouble. That would be Tilion, the archer who drives the thing; there are at least two Hobbit songs about him getting stuck on the ground and having trouble at the inn.
As far as I can tell, Tilion is one of those names that is identical in both Sindarin and Quenya. But I'm not sure a literal god-name is a good idea! Instead, we could use "Tillon", swapping two male endings out (technically we go from "he of the horns" to "Horned man").
Oh, wait - why decide? His father named him Lissuin, his mother Tillon, and his friends dubbed him Tarthir.
So: backstory. If Kaguya knows two languages from his upbringing, then Lissuin Tillon Tarthir is mixed-race: probably Noldo father, Sinda mother (the Sindar like the moon, and an older Noldo would have actually seen Lissuin in flower). If not, he could be one or the other, but could still be a mix.
Customer service is an interesting one. I'm inclined to see both that and the maid thing as specifically their roles on Eressea: as a fluent Quenya-Sindarin translator, Tarthir is probably at least slightly in demand. If we assume elvish civilisation has inns, he could literally be an in-house translator at one.
Coirelótë, meanwhile, doesn't speak a word of Sindarin. Someone recommends she hire the new arrival as a translator, but, uh-oh - Valinor isn't much of a monetary economy, while Eressea has brought economics back from Middle-earth. Ultimately, they barter an agreement: Tarthir will act as Coirelótë's translator, but when he is out earning the miriain (plural of "mirian") they need to eat, she will keep house for him. She agrees, because it's a chance to get properly into this strange culture that's formed on the Lonely Isle.
It's probably mid-Third Age; that way Tarthir can be the first of his immediate family to arrive, and not have anyone other than this Light-Elf from out west to house-share with.
For a proper Tolkien joke, I suggest the inn he works at be named I Thoron a Chên.
hS
(Oh, all right... this inn. You can call it I Aew a 'Winig if you're feeling casual.)
When I first came up with the AU idea, I briefly headcanoned AU-Kaguya as a Gondolin native. I never thought of what House he'd belong to, or whether he'd survive the fall.
He was a minor member of the House of the Golden Flower, a follower of Glorfindel, and one of the exiles who escaped the city. He witnessed the death of his lord to the Balrog, and finally made it down to the Havens of Sirion. There he met a Sindarin woman of Doriath, also a refugee, and ultimately married her.
Tarthir is thus what people term a 'havenborn' - a child of a marriage between refugees in the last stages of the War of the Jewels. They're not uncommon in Second Age Lindon. (He wasn't actually born in the havens, so in a sense it's a misnomer.)
His father-name, Lissuin, is a memorial of the flower of his House. And the stories his father told him, about the mighty half-Vanyarin Balrog slayer with golden hair, are part of why he took up with the young Vanya when he reached Eressea.
The other bit of character development that springs out of this is that both his parents have similar past trauma. They both lived in 100% safe kingdoms within impassable barriers - and both were breached and destroyed. They carried that with them the rest of their days.
(It also explains why he hangs out at Rivendell: Elrond is the heir of both Gondolin and Doriath, and THE Glorfindel lives there too...!)
Givee me a day or two and I can write this up as a single coherent profile, rather than a scatter of thoughts.
hS
I'd love to read more of your awesome headcanons!
Lissuin Tillon Tarthir is what is called a 'havenborn'[1]: the child of a couple who met in the Havens of Sirion during the final days of the First Age. In his case, his father was a Noldo of Gondolin, a minor member of the House of the Golden Flower; his mother was a Sinda of Doriath.
Tarthir was born in Lindon, early in the Second Age. Adopting a Noldorin tradition,[2] his parents each chose a name for him. His father named him Lissuin, after the fragrant flower of Tol Eressea and in token of his descent from the House of the Flower; his mother named him Tillon, after Tilion the archer of the moon and patron of the Sindar. Before he was out of childhood, he picked up an epesse which became his most commonly-used name: Tarthir, the stiff-faced.
Tarthir was raised in his parents' lodging-house in Mithlond. In Gondolin, his father had run an inn named I Soron[3]; in married life, he founded a successor, named in Sindarin as I Thoron a Chên.[4] The couple catered for Elven visitors from across Middle-earth: Eregion, Lórinand, Eryn Galen, and of course Lindon itself. Growing up, Tarthir was exposed to every Elvish language spoken in Middle-earth, and became conversant in all of them.
He also became familiar with the customs and cultures of his parents' visitors. Indeed, this became his main occupation: to set guests at ease by making sure their own cultural traditions were followed in I Thoron a Chên. His facility with language was a great help in this role.
And yet it was also wearing. Once the Numenoreans began to settle in Middle-earth, and especially after the fall of Ost-in-Edhil to Sauron, increasing numbers of the inn's guests were waiting for ships to the West, and Valinor. Tarthir began to grow tired of meeting new and interesting people only to see them walk over to the docks and never return - and began to wonder, given the darkening state of the world around him, whether they might not have the right idea.
At last came the Fall of Numenor, the change in the world, and hot on its heels the War of the Last Alliance. Tarthir's parents were crushed by the death of Gil-Galad, and openly discussed taking ship themselves; but in the end they chose to stay, and help others who were making the journey.
Tarthir stayed too - for a while, to see if things had improved. But when word came of a Shadow returning in the east, and when the arrival of messengers from the West in the year 1000 was heralded by the coldest winter Mithlond had ever seen[5], he had had enough. Bidding farewell to his parents, he took ship and sailed the Straight Road to Tol Eressea.
Shortly after he landed, he encountered a blonde Vanya named Coirelótë. As Tarthir was one of the only people around the docks who could speak Quenya to any degree, she immediately latched onto him.
Coirelótë had a much less exciting life than Tarthir. Born in Valmar of the Bells to a Vanyarin couple early in the Third Age, and named for the early spring blossoms of the peach tree, she had for the past couple of yeni wandered around Valinor, meeting new people and seeing new places. Her travels had finally brought her to Tol Eressea, but she discovered on landing that her knowledge of Quenya (Vanyarin and Noldorin) and Telerin was almost entirely useless on an island where the common tongue was Sindarin - a language never spoken in Valinor proper.
It could have been luck or fate that brought Tarthir and Coirelótë together, as each stepped off their respective ships onto the docks of Avallone. She wanted to experience the cultures that had originated in Middle-earth; he was an expert in those cultures, but only wanted an easy life. Right there in the harbour, they made their agreement: Tarthir would act as translator and guide for Coirelótë, and in return Coirelótë would attend to all the details of housekeeping and food that he would rather not think about. It worked quite well, all things considered.
[1] This term and concept invented by Huinesoron, but there would have been at least a few of them around.
[2] Stated in LaCE as just an Elvish thing, but as Philosopher@Large noted a couple of decades ago, there are no instances of non-Noldorin elves with separate mother- and father-names.
[3] 'The Eagle'.
[4] 'The Eagle and Child'.
[5] I read this idea in a fanfic many years ago - when Cirdan surrendered the Ring of Fire to Gandalf on his arrival, what would the impact have been on Mithlond's climate?
hS
It's a neat adaptation of the original 'guya's parents owning a hotel chain as well 😉 but I do have a little question, is the Rivendell thing scrapped in this version?
Rivendell is so small that any sort of 'works in a hotel' doesn't fit unless you make his family direct servants of Lord Elrond. That's a bit too close to the canon characters for my style, so I didn't do it.
My reading of the Wiki pages also suggested K. as a rather more settled character than someone who would join Elrond's tiny group. Of course, this is still purely my suggested backstory, so whoever chooses to use them can pick out whatever they like and leave the rest!
hS
For all that hard work, I shall present you with lots of donuts 🍩🍩🍩
I'll be sure to feature them on the blog post, so all that elaborate goodness doesn't get washed away in the stream of board posts. Thanks a bunch for the beautiful headcanons! (I do feel like a total noob after reading all that Tolkien nerdery) 😆