When Oropher returns from the halls, and the Sindar have a ball for the first time since he’s returned, that has invited all the elves, even the noldor-
Finwe makes it a point to keep several elves between himself and Oropher at all times because if Oropher comes into stabbing distance to Finwe, it’s over for him. Doesn’t matter that there would be many witnesses. Cloudryad would have bailed Oropher out.
Ya’ll, i just created some sick ass lore for my au.
So as some of you might have noticed, i have started drawing my ocs and legolas and thranduil, etc, with yellow eyes, and i was like “hmmm, how do i make that unique”
And then i was like: what if they weren’ born with yellow eyes. Instead, elves get yellow eyes when they’ve managed to forcefully seperate themselves from the music, from the song, from Eru’s plan? The ritual to do this is smth they go through as elflings, so most beings only know them as having yellow eyes.
And mind you, yellow eye havers in the au are:
Oropher
Cloudryad
Elya (oropher’s sister)
Thranduil
Miriel
Ingwe
Elwe
Olwe
Elmo
Lasgen
Lirion
Kleoyia
Legolas
And the reason why luthien and feanor, etc, don’t have yellow eyes is bc they didn’t go through the ritual bc their yellow eyed parents were stopped from doing so.
And the thing is, seperating themselves from the Song is a gamble. There’s no garuntee for a happy ending but they do have the power and freedom from Eru to do what they want. They exist outside of the system.
And the reason they don’t tell other elves how to do so is bc 1. If all elves tried to remove themselves from fate it’d get back to the gods and then things would go to shit, and the yellow-havers are just selfish enough to want to keep it for themselves.
And 2, while not being forcefully bound by Eru’s song is nice, and it is absolutely smth they will hapully face the consequences for in order to have, it also means that any protection they have from the gods, from the song, is gone.
Where the valar can’t intervene with elves like feanor, galadirel, elrond, etc, via mind control and forcefully binding them against their will when they’ve done nothing wrong, the valar can do whatever they want with yellow-eyed elves with no fear of intervention from eru or sm other god.
Whether it be by mind controlling and abuse in order to keep control of a kingdom (melian and elwe), binding their powers and physically preventing them from leaving valinor via force field (Ingwe) or havong them assassinated and then keeping them locked up in the halls of mandos far past the time they should be released (Miriel), or even simply being picked up and dropped into whatever hellish situarion for the gods’ amusement and entertainment, these elves might be more free than any other, but they also have no protection from the powers that be.
Yellow eyed elves are the putlaws of Eru’s plan, Eru’s music, and while the elves listed will happily face any and all consequences in order to retain their freedom, it’s not something they would encourage others to get either, bc it’s a very dangerous decision to make.
The thing about Thranduil and Legolas and their family is that, if it weren’t for their royal obligations, they would be in the wind 80% of the time, they’d wonder so far and wide it’d make Gandalf’s title of the gray pilgrim look like child’s play.
The only reason any of them stay in one place for more than a millennia at all is if they have people to take care off.
Many people and elves are under the impression that silvans are isolate and stationary, but the truth is that they are a largely free spirited group of elves that will come and go as they please, it’s just that Greenwood (later known as Mirkwood) happens to be their home base, and they later needed to put most of their effort into defending it.
To build off of this post, but also seperate it from my au a little bit: here’s what i mean for each individual elf belonging to the House of Edireth (Oropher, Thranduil, Legolas, etc)
Oropher: this guy gives the biggest impression of being a more stationary elf, due to his 4000 solar year residence in Doriath with the sindar. Truthfully, this guy would be out of it’s borders more often than in it. He was always on expeditions of one kind or another, though he did spend enough time in his Manor in Doriath, presiding over the group of elves that lived under his banner. He, in particular, was in charge of the north of Beleriand back before the Noldo came and took over, and he still went about as he pleased after the Noldo came (though he aboided them like the plague bc like hell he’s gonna let some greenhorn valinor born elf tell him what to do)as a result, he was notoriously absent from court more often than not, and was only there when there were genuinly important decisions to be made that impacted him and his people.
Cloudryad: the only reason she’s the leader of the silvans up untill Thranduil took over (read: she chucked the “crown” at him and fucked off to who know’s where for 200 years) was because it was between her and two other elves, who’s families have been fueding with each other since almost the dawn of time, and she was considered the neutral and competent option bc she (and her family) don’t have any tight alliances with any other clans/families/whatever you want to call them, and thus could be trusted to rule fairly. But yeah, before and after her reign you’d be hard pressed to find her in the same place for more than a few years, often only days.
Thranduil, before he became the leader, traveled a lot. And i mean a lot. He went all the way east, all the way south, all the way north, and even all the way west during the age of the trees. He picked up so many different cultures in his travels that he’s genuinely a thorough mix between all of them. It was only towards the second age that he started slowing down a little, and that’s mostly for his kids (who he also frequently took on trips). Make no mistake, he loves his people and would die for them, but he did not actually want to be their leader bc he hated staying in one placd for too long.
Miriel traveled all over the place before she came to valinor, challenging all swords elves in order to become the best. Then she traveled all the way to valinor, which in itself isn’t bad, but then she was essentially trapped there and became antsy. Then she died. And is being held in the halls against her will.
Lasgen on the surface also looks more like an elf who is more stationary, and her wife, Oasis, travels more than her. But also, Lasgen led a 100 year campaign, when she was co-empresses of the Arctic Empire, in order to conquer the whole of middle earth. Which she succeeded in and proceeded to rule over for 500 years before she got bored and gave it all back. That’s also why she’s banned from Doriath after the fact. Came back to Greenwood anout 1000 years before the first age bc she is biologically a wood elf, and not an Atric elf (which is what the Arctic empire mostly consists of) and took up the role of the head of the Black Ops department for lack of better words. Between that and having a lot of acquaintance throughout all the Avari nations means she travels between nations a lot.
Inwe’s story is similar to Miriel’s. He traveled a lot when he was younger, but when he became king of the vanya, the valar (particularly manwe) literally trapped him and chained him to his position.
Lirion has his home lab in Greenwood (i really need a name for the capital city of Greenwood), where he does spend a lot of time (bc he’s our favorite aroace introvert), but he also goes out regularly in order to learn sciences from other people and places. This one has a thirst for knowledge that eclipses most others. Ironically enough, despite not being the biggest fan of other elves, he somehow set up a penpal system between elven (and later human/dwarven/whatever other mythical races that exist) inventors, where they swap and argue over theories and discoveries.
Kleoyia is pretty much never in Greenwood, always out gathering information and distributing it between the silvan’s allies. She also regularly keeps track of and hunts down criminal organizations that partake in things like slavery, so she’s always on the go. Occasionally she comes home fore a few decades, but she’s been in the winds pretty much since she was a young adult. She does keep in regular contact woth the rest of her family though, in one form of or another, so it’s not like she’s missing.
Legolas gives off the impression to the other elves (namely the noldo/sinda descendents) as someone who stays in mirkwood bc he’s almost always there whenever other elves come to mirkwood, and he visits Elrohir and Elladan and Arwen often, but his work as a fixer requires him to go from one place to the next at the drop of a hat all to often. And the jobs he does are always on a wide range, one assignment might have him as a teacher, another as an ambassador, other times as infiltration. It’s truelly never boring. He is the only one to have a family of his own for the longest time, and as a result he does stick to Greenwood more often for his spouses and kids, but his spouses and kids are also often out and about and doing their own thing, and he’s just as likely to meet them when he’s away as when he’s home.
Now, you might be wondering why this flighty family is the one chosen to rule over the Silvans considered they’re almost never there? A combination of connections, competence, loyalty, and neutrality. Yeah, they might not live there all the time, but they all ultimately come back (which, in the silvans’ eyes is a much more important trait than keeping someone trapped in one place). Also, they are really good at their jobs, both in regards to their own people and their relationship with other elven nations.
Cloudryad, to Thranduil and Miriel: remember, if anyone hurts you mommy will maim them
Oropher: and daddy will bail mommy out of jail.
Where did you get the name Cloudryad? Its just the words Cloud and Dryad? Or its Sindar?
Sorry if I am begin rude, just curious
That’s not rude, dw.
And pretty much, yeah. I am not good with making up names, so i usually end up taking parts of names/words i already like and mashing them together, hence absolutely bonkers names such as “cloudryad”.
And i have collectively given up on really trying to understand the difference between sindarin and noldorin language, bc i moght be an english major, but i’m not a linguist, so i more or less try to ignore it, other than to acknowledge that there is a difference between the elven languages.
Oropher: *talking about how he can’t wait to see Cloudryad again after millenia of seperation now that doriath has been destroyed once*
Cloudryad, through her tree telepathy: go back and get the twin peredhels
Oropher:… what?
Cloudryad: GO BACK AND GET ELURED AND ELURIN, DORIATH HAS BEEN RAIDED FOR A SECOND TIME AND THEY’VE BEEN ABANDONED IN THE SNOW. GO. GET. YOUR. NEPHEWS!
Oropher: ok ok!
In legolas’s family it’s actually pretty normal for sm1 to disappear for years on end with no warning, or for them to live seprate from the other family members.
Hell, Oropher and his wife, Cloudryad, lived apart for almost 4000 years, the entirety of the time Oropher was in Doriath, because they disagreed on how much they should get involved with the ainur.
And when Oropher came back, their relationship was still as steady as a rock.
It’s not that their solitary creatures. In fact, most of them are rather extroverted, it’s just that they don’t need to constantly maintain their relationship with each other in order to have a good relationship.
In fact, while Lasgen tends to stick to her home base most of the time, her wife, Oasis, is very much a wanderer that travels all over the globe, doing what she will, and it’s not that uncommon for her to only come back once every few decades. Though there are definitely times they spend years together without fail.
Kleoyia and Legolas also have a more nomadic life style, which is partially due to their jobs. Kleoyia travels all over the get information, and legolas is sent everywhere where there’s a problem that needs fixing.
Lirion will only travel somewhere if it’s necessary for whatever he’s experimenting with at the time, and Thranduil might as well be one with the forest, for all that he does not leave unless it’s for political reasons.
In short, they’re a family that loves each other, but they are chill with not seeing each other for long periods of time (unless there’s smth to worry about)l
Heigh comparisons for the elves in my “pushing my miriel and thranduil are twins agenda” and “4 silvan sibs” au.
Cloudryad looks so small, but she’s one of the only ones to have a normal height.
Oropher is a tall boy, and only slightly shorter than his nephew elwe.
Miriel and thranduil are identical twins, except thranduil’s trans so of course they’re the same height.
Lasgen somehow being the exact height of her father was interesting.
Lirion got some of those oropher genes, though not enough to break 7ft.
Kleoyia’s still resonably tall for most people, but she’s on the shorter side of the family.
Legolas is eternally pissed for not only being the youngest but also the shortest of his siblings.
Cloudryad: *hands oropher a bag* you can return this, it’s what i was gonna wear on tonight’s date night.
Oropher: *checks bag* wha- there’s noting in here but lipgloss-
Oropher:
Cloudryad: *leans in* suffer
Snort
What if oropher didn’t die in the battle of the last alliance but just used the opportunity to fake his death and escape with his wife and go on an extended honeymoon and leave all the damn paperwork and diplomacy with the noldor/sindar to his poor son.
Thranduil, when his father is finally waking up after getting many fatal injuries during battle: Ada!! Everyone thought you were gonna die!
Oropher, pausing when his son’s words registered: Everyone?
Thranduil, as he watches in disbelief as Oropher bolts away from him with a few supplies: Ada WAIT! DON’T LEAVE ME TO DEEL WITH THEM!
Oropher: don’t worry son, i’m sure you’ll do great!
————————————
Gil-galad: where is king oropher?
Thranduil, a petty lil bitch that will get back at his father: unfortunately, my my father king passed after suffering many grievous injuries during the last battle.
———————————-
Oropher, coming back from his long vacation in the third age: i’m dead? Nobody told me.
Thranduil: that’s what you get for abandoning me to those elves.
Thranduil: suffer
Lasgen: *trying to fall asleep* WAIT A SECOND-
Oropher: *relaxing with a cup of tea*
Lasgen, breaking down the door: BOTH YOU AND GREAT AUNT ELYA HAVE A THING FOR SHORT ELVES!!!
Oropher: *chokes*
Cloudryad, Oropher’s partner: what did you just say 🙂?
Honestly, i can just imagine legolas being in imlardis and, you know, he’s vibing, he’s chilling, he’s teaching a cool sword move to Arwen
Untill someone says smth along the lines of “elleths can’t/shouldn’t fight”
And he just:
Legolas: ya’ll know that the first ever elf, and i mean back at lake cuivienen, not feanor’s rediscovery, to forge a sword, to creat one is an elleth, right? Like, that’s not a secret.
Sexist: *splutters* p-proove it.
Legolas: well, for one said elleth is still alive and kickong and vicious to boot. For another, ask literally any elf that was an adult back then and they’ll tell you the exact same thing, and 3rd. Said elleth’s bloodline has consistently produced battle maniac elleths who are on the short list not to fuck with.
Legolas: like i said, it’s common knowledge. It’s not my problem if you didn’t so much as ask.
Legolas: you know it’s even more ironic that you aparently don’t know bc said elleth is Miriel Therinde’s mother, and is most known for her Hinryo Muta Swords, and for her contribution to the Goko’li weapons.
Arwen: …. Wait, you said that all the elleth’s fem ofspring are battle maniacs-
Legolas: like i said: it’s really not my fault if ya don’t do basic research.
The first time Oropher heard about dwarves he went: “oh, so they’re my wife’s people?”
Cloudryad clocked him with a slipper. All the way from Greenwood. Oropher lived in Doriath at the time.
The elves who witness this have never felt more fear in their lives.
Oropher just smirked (once he got up from the ground) bc he’s a little bitch.
The thing about the Oropher & Cloudryad, Thranduil, Lasgen line up is that there isn’t even 50 between Oropher/Cloudryad and Lasgen, despite them being grandchild and grandparents respectively.
And that’d be fine if they were humans, but these are elves. 50 years becomes essentially worthless really fast.
Oropher and Cloudryad awoke 10 years before they had Thranduil and Miriel, and Thranduil had Lasgen when he was 38.
So the dynamic is rather interesting despite them being 3 generations.
In addition to the traditional parent/child dynamic, there’s also a strong friend/mutual respect as individuals happening between the 4 of them.
Bc in truth, no one can really pull seniority over each other, because there essentially is none. As a result, neither Oropher, Cloudryad, nor Thranduil weaponize “i am your father/mother” between them. Granted they don’t do it in general even with Lasgen’s siblings, but it’s especially notable between these 4.
Like with Lasgen’s siblings (Lirion, Kleoyia, and Legolas) there’s still over 4000 years between them and the 4, and that’s enough time to genuinely say “hey, i have more experience with xyz, so please listen to me”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Furthermore, the dynamic between Lasgen, Lirion, Kleoyia, and Legolas is also rather interesting, because it’s a wierd mix between “x is significantly older than me, so i should listen to them” and “age doesn’t impact the dynamic at all”.
Lasgen was born at Lake cuivinen, Lirion was born somewhere around the time the 1st age became the 2nd age, Kleoyia was born a millenia after that, and Legolas was born a millenia after that.
So with at least a millenia between each sibling, there is a genuine experience gap between them. And it also means that each elf got “baby sibling/only sibling” treatment for a significant amount of time before the next sibling came.
And you’d think that, with all the older siblings being well into adulthood it’d mean that they aren’t close due to the age gap.
But that’s not what happened at all.
See, while they know and acknowledge where they stand in terms of experience, it doesn’t really impact or influence their dynamic.
Like yes, Legolas is the baby sibling, but that’s not his role in the dynamic of the 4. And Lasgen’s the eldest, but that isn’t why she’s in charge (she’s in charge bc she does not let anyone tell her what to do, it’s personality trait).
And to be fair, all 4 of them do not like being told what to do, regardless of who it is. So the dynamic between them can’t be related to “rank” or any such concepts, because that’ll just cause infighting.
Instead the dynamic is much closer to what you will find in close friends, though with extra platonic love in there.
It also helps that none of the 4 believe in the notion that “you’re too old to be doing something”. So none of them feel belittled when a sibling that’s younger than them asks them to help with something you can only get better at through experience.
Also, chaos in general is pretty standard at their home bc how else would they stay sane after thousands of years, so if they want to make a mold of their foot and poor melted candy into it to make a candy foot, you can’t stop them.
Legolas: *about the last alliance* *sigh* i feel bad for Grandfather Oropher.
Elladan: it must have sucked having your grandpa die in battle when you were young.
Legolas: Hm?
Legolas: Oh, not that.
Legolas: Grandfather stole the last slice of Grandmother Cloudryad’s favorite pie before he left for the war.
Elladan:
Legolas: *mutters* when they meet again, Grandma’s gonna murder him.
Oropher: if you were my wife, i would put poison in your coffee.
Cloudryad: if you were my husband, i’d drink it.
(They are now married)
No one in legolas’s family has ever had even a slightly normal romantic relationship. And that’s due to 2 things.
The first of which is that they are physically incapable of being attracted to anyone unless they’ve tried to kill them first.
- Oropher and Cloudryad tried to kill each other for years before they started working together, which then lead to a relationship.
- Thranduil has never had more than one night stands, and even then there has been at least some kind of rivalry/hostility between them bc Thranduil has a type.
- Lasgen first met her wife, Oasis, when Lasgen and her squad were trying to intercept a trade between the Animal elves and the Sand elves, and Oasis, an Animal elf, ambushed her and had spear pointed at her throat, at which point Lasgen’s mind bluescreened. The only reason Lasgen didn’t die is bc Oasis’ squad mates called for a retreat.
- Lirion is not interested in anyone
- Kleoyia is like her dad, and is known to have horrible taste in partners. The few that turned into long term relationships always started with a spar/fight of some sort.
- Legolas was childhood friends with Sukanra and Iznake, and they learned to be warriors together, BUT Iznake betrayed the village at some point (he was eventually welcomed back, under many restrictions due to circumstances) and Sukanra was once enraged due to reasons (stick around if you want to find out) to the point that she attacked Legolas and their teacher.
- the running theory with Miriel is that, bc her relationship didn’t involve finwe trying to murder her at some point, this is why her relationship with him failed. It’s a joke, kinda.
So yeah, physically incapable of being attracted to someone unless they’ve tried to kill them first. It’s regarded as kind of a curse. Although, tbf, most silvans (especially the warriors) are attracted to strength and fighting skill more than looks.
The other reason none of their relationships even approach normal is bc only legolas’s seems even remotely conventional.
Oropher and cloudryad never had a wedding, though they are together, largely bc “weddings” weren’t a thing yet, and they just don’t care enough to rectify it.
Thranduil, Lirion, and Kleoyia aren’t married or interested in permanent relationships.
You all know what happened to Miriel.
Lasgen got married with Oasis in the middle of a battle bc “i don’t know if we’re going to survive this, and if i die i want to die married to the love of my life”. They never got a proper wedding ceremony after bc they felt that getting married in the middle of battle fit them pretty well actually.
And even Legolas, Sukanra, and Iznake proposed to each other during a battle. Thankfully, they did opt for a normal wedding ceremony afterwards, making legolas the only one to get properly married in immediate family. Of course, the reception was then crashed by assailants.
They’re not unlucky in love, bc they genuinely are happy with their relationships. But none of them expect anything remotely normal in regards to their love lives.