Of Turin Turambar, prompts 2, 38, 12 and 32
The Lyrics Table
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Title: Wordplay
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Brandir, Turambar, Níniel
Prompt: 002. I write the lines you want me to; with the words I dare to use
Word Count: 168
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Brandir is no stranger to harsh words.
Author's Notes: Túrin and Nienor were respectively called Turambar and Níniel when they lived among the Men of Brethil. Brandir loved Níniel, but she only thought of him as a brother because she loved Turambar.
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I am no stranger to harsh words. After the accident that left me limping for the rest of my life, my father’s people would bid their children to treat me respectfully. They did so in my presence, but I was not deaf and I soon heard the names they had for me: club-foot, cripple, weakling, lame. When my father did not return from war, these words soon became craven and coward. I do not love war, and in any case I would be of little use on a battlefield. I have long believed that fighting begets only more fighting, but I do not understand why the taking of life is held in higher esteem that the saving and preserving of it. I suppose it does not matter anymore what I believe, for now Turambar rules in all but name. They have come back to me, those childhood taunts: club-foot, cripple, weakling, lame. Bitter, but only words.
Why, then, do I find brother the hardest to bear of all?
___________________________
Title: Imminent
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Brandir, Turambar, Níniel
Prompt: 038. It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
Word Count: 148
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Brandir cuts all his ties to Brethil, save one.
Author's Notes: The Halethrim was another name for the People of Haleth, also called the Men of Brethil. Turambar means ‘Master of Doom’.
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When Níniel and her company had gone, Brandir said to those that remained: ‘Behold how I am scorned, and all my counsel disdained! Let Turambar be you lord in name, since already he has taken all my authority. For here I renounce both lordship and people. Let none seek of me ever again either counsel or healing!’ And he broke his staff. To himself he thought: ‘Now nothing is left to me, save only my love of Níniel, therefore where she goes, in wisdom or folly, I must go. In this dark hour nothing can be foreseen, but it may well chance that even I could ward off some evil from her, if I were near.’
- Unfinished Tales
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All of the old ways will perish in the dragon’s wake. That is what I told myself as I broke my staff and prepared to leave my home. My home! It is mine no longer, for Turambar took it as he has taken everything else I once held dear - my lordship, my people, the woman I love. Most of them have now followed him, believing that he will conquer the dragon. He may style himself Master of Doom, but for all that Turambar is still a mortal man. I do not believe that he can kill Glaurung, and so many of the Halethrim will perish with him. I no longer care if they live or die, but Níniel went with them, and it is for her sake that I follow. Let Turambar’s doom take him and his people, but I am determined that it will not take her.___________________________
Title: Woodcraft
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Nellas, Túrin, Beleg
Prompt: 012. it’s been a while since I’ve really spent time with you, wish I could take back the times that I had
Word Count: 116
Rating: PG-13
Summary: He no longer sees her, but Nellas still watches over Túrin.
Author's Notes: Nellas was an Elf of Doriath who befriended Túrin when he was a boy, but as he became older they grew apart. Unfinished Tales mentions that Beleg often led Túrin through the woods, teaching him archery and woodcraft.
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…there was a maiden named Nellas, who lived in the woods; and at Melian’s bidding she would follow Túrin if he strayed in the forest, and often she met him there, as it were by chance. From Nellas Túrin learned much concerning the ways and the wild things of Doriath, and she taught him to speak the Sindarin tongue after the manner of the ancient realm, older, and more courteous, and richer in beautiful words. Thus for a while his mood was lightened, until he fell again under shadow, and that friendship passed like a morning of spring. For Nellas did not go to Menegroth, and was unwilling ever to walk under roofs of stone; so that as Túrin’s boyhood passed and he turned his thoughts to the deeds of men, he saw her less and less often, and at last called for her no more. But she watched over him still, though now she remained hidden.
- Unfinished Tales
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Túrin passed through my forest today, but he did not see me. I am not even sure that he was aware of where he was. We came here when he was a boy, and I taught him the lore of trees and other things. He is taller now, and he has grown in other ways. He does not come here very often any more, but I have seen him and Beleg together, and he is learning another sort of woodcraft. He looks at the forest and sees weapons - yew for a bow, ash for spears, elm and hazel for arrows. He sees the trees only for their wood, now. He no longer sees me in them.
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Title: As Moths to the Flame
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Nellas, Túrin, mentions of Saeros, Beleg, Gwindor and Finduilas
Prompt: 032. I lock the door and lock my head, and dream of butterflies instead
Word Count: 158
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Both Men and Elves are like butterflies.
Author's Notes: Saeros, Beleg, Gwindor and Finduilas were Elves who died (in that order) as a result of Túrin’s actions. Inspired by what Sador said to Túrin when talking about the Elves: ‘In their light we are dimmed, or we burn with too quick a flame, and the weight of our doom lies the heavier on us’, and also by a brief note when Túrin was with the outlaws: ‘But Nellas of Doriath never saw him again, and his shadow passed from her’.
___________________________
I once thought Men were like butterflies. I can remember many warm summer days when I lost count of them as I walked through the woods of Doriath. There were hundreds upon hundreds of them, each intricately detailed, delighting in the gentle warmth of the sun. At night, I watched them gather around the lamps, drawn inevitably closer and closer, only to perish in the flames. I learnt that butterflies could be captivating, but it was unwise to love them. They spend their lives so quickly, Men and butterflies, living on summer’s bounty only to die in winter’s first chill.
Now I wonder if it is not my own kind who are more like butterflies, drawn to our deaths. Túrin was a bright flame, captivating but perilous, engulfing those who drew too close - Saeros, Beleg, Gwindor, Finduilas, and many others. I did not perish, but I came close enough to feel and remember the heat of his flame.
___________________________
Title: Wordplay
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Brandir, Turambar, Níniel
Prompt: 002. I write the lines you want me to; with the words I dare to use
Word Count: 168
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Brandir is no stranger to harsh words.
Author's Notes: Túrin and Nienor were respectively called Turambar and Níniel when they lived among the Men of Brethil. Brandir loved Níniel, but she only thought of him as a brother because she loved Turambar.
___________________________
I am no stranger to harsh words. After the accident that left me limping for the rest of my life, my father’s people would bid their children to treat me respectfully. They did so in my presence, but I was not deaf and I soon heard the names they had for me: club-foot, cripple, weakling, lame. When my father did not return from war, these words soon became craven and coward. I do not love war, and in any case I would be of little use on a battlefield. I have long believed that fighting begets only more fighting, but I do not understand why the taking of life is held in higher esteem that the saving and preserving of it. I suppose it does not matter anymore what I believe, for now Turambar rules in all but name. They have come back to me, those childhood taunts: club-foot, cripple, weakling, lame. Bitter, but only words.
Why, then, do I find brother the hardest to bear of all?
___________________________
Title: Imminent
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Brandir, Turambar, Níniel
Prompt: 038. It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine
Word Count: 148
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Brandir cuts all his ties to Brethil, save one.
Author's Notes: The Halethrim was another name for the People of Haleth, also called the Men of Brethil. Turambar means ‘Master of Doom’.
___________________________
When Níniel and her company had gone, Brandir said to those that remained: ‘Behold how I am scorned, and all my counsel disdained! Let Turambar be you lord in name, since already he has taken all my authority. For here I renounce both lordship and people. Let none seek of me ever again either counsel or healing!’ And he broke his staff. To himself he thought: ‘Now nothing is left to me, save only my love of Níniel, therefore where she goes, in wisdom or folly, I must go. In this dark hour nothing can be foreseen, but it may well chance that even I could ward off some evil from her, if I were near.’
- Unfinished Tales
___________________________
All of the old ways will perish in the dragon’s wake. That is what I told myself as I broke my staff and prepared to leave my home. My home! It is mine no longer, for Turambar took it as he has taken everything else I once held dear - my lordship, my people, the woman I love. Most of them have now followed him, believing that he will conquer the dragon. He may style himself Master of Doom, but for all that Turambar is still a mortal man. I do not believe that he can kill Glaurung, and so many of the Halethrim will perish with him. I no longer care if they live or die, but Níniel went with them, and it is for her sake that I follow. Let Turambar’s doom take him and his people, but I am determined that it will not take her.___________________________
Title: Woodcraft
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Nellas, Túrin, Beleg
Prompt: 012. it’s been a while since I’ve really spent time with you, wish I could take back the times that I had
Word Count: 116
Rating: PG-13
Summary: He no longer sees her, but Nellas still watches over Túrin.
Author's Notes: Nellas was an Elf of Doriath who befriended Túrin when he was a boy, but as he became older they grew apart. Unfinished Tales mentions that Beleg often led Túrin through the woods, teaching him archery and woodcraft.
___________________________
…there was a maiden named Nellas, who lived in the woods; and at Melian’s bidding she would follow Túrin if he strayed in the forest, and often she met him there, as it were by chance. From Nellas Túrin learned much concerning the ways and the wild things of Doriath, and she taught him to speak the Sindarin tongue after the manner of the ancient realm, older, and more courteous, and richer in beautiful words. Thus for a while his mood was lightened, until he fell again under shadow, and that friendship passed like a morning of spring. For Nellas did not go to Menegroth, and was unwilling ever to walk under roofs of stone; so that as Túrin’s boyhood passed and he turned his thoughts to the deeds of men, he saw her less and less often, and at last called for her no more. But she watched over him still, though now she remained hidden.
- Unfinished Tales
___________________________
Túrin passed through my forest today, but he did not see me. I am not even sure that he was aware of where he was. We came here when he was a boy, and I taught him the lore of trees and other things. He is taller now, and he has grown in other ways. He does not come here very often any more, but I have seen him and Beleg together, and he is learning another sort of woodcraft. He looks at the forest and sees weapons - yew for a bow, ash for spears, elm and hazel for arrows. He sees the trees only for their wood, now. He no longer sees me in them.
___________________________
Title: As Moths to the Flame
Fandom: The Silmarillion - Of Túrin Turambar
Characters: Nellas, Túrin, mentions of Saeros, Beleg, Gwindor and Finduilas
Prompt: 032. I lock the door and lock my head, and dream of butterflies instead
Word Count: 158
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Both Men and Elves are like butterflies.
Author's Notes: Saeros, Beleg, Gwindor and Finduilas were Elves who died (in that order) as a result of Túrin’s actions. Inspired by what Sador said to Túrin when talking about the Elves: ‘In their light we are dimmed, or we burn with too quick a flame, and the weight of our doom lies the heavier on us’, and also by a brief note when Túrin was with the outlaws: ‘But Nellas of Doriath never saw him again, and his shadow passed from her’.
___________________________
I once thought Men were like butterflies. I can remember many warm summer days when I lost count of them as I walked through the woods of Doriath. There were hundreds upon hundreds of them, each intricately detailed, delighting in the gentle warmth of the sun. At night, I watched them gather around the lamps, drawn inevitably closer and closer, only to perish in the flames. I learnt that butterflies could be captivating, but it was unwise to love them. They spend their lives so quickly, Men and butterflies, living on summer’s bounty only to die in winter’s first chill.
Now I wonder if it is not my own kind who are more like butterflies, drawn to our deaths. Túrin was a bright flame, captivating but perilous, engulfing those who drew too close - Saeros, Beleg, Gwindor, Finduilas, and many others. I did not perish, but I came close enough to feel and remember the heat of his flame.