Fic - A Kingly Gift - 1/1

[evandar]

Title: A Kingly Gift
Author: Evandar
Fandom: The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings
Rating: G
Genre: Gen
Pairing: Implied Thorin/Bilbo
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings and I am making no profit from this story.
Summary: No one in the Fellowship knows the true meaning of the mithril shirt, save for Gimli.



When Frodo staggers to his feet, carefully supported by Sam, and opens his shirt, gasping that he isn’t hurt, Gimli cannot help but let his lips part and his eyes widen in shock and awe. He labels the mithril shirt that glitters brilliantly in the gloom “a kingly gift” before he can stop himself – and tries not to wince as generations-old secrets weigh upon his shoulders and stick in his throat.

Not that anyone bar the elf pays attention to his comment, and all the pointy-eared princeling does is roll his eyes. He thinks, no doubt, that Gimli is merely a dwarf sighing over precious metal – and perhaps he is right, though he has no idea of how precious the metal is.

Or what it means.

Mithril, the rarest of metals, is only worked on by the line of Durin. Only those of direct lineage – the kings, the lesser lords, their children – may shape the metal as they please. It is part of why the cost of mithril is so high – and why it was only ever sold to those who were kings or princes in their own right.

He has known almost his entire life that Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain, presented Bilbo Baggins with a mithril shirt, and he has known for almost the same amount of time what exactly that presentation meant. It is another thing to actually see it, see its lustre and its quality peeking out from under stained cotton and Aragorn’s splayed palm. It is the greatest treasure forged within Erebor, and it was intended – though Gandalf’s claim that Bilbo had not known its worth rings horribly true in more than one way – as a betrothal gift.

The line of Durin only gift mithril to those who will be joining it.

Comments

[zedille.livejournal.com]

I loved seeing the White Council, since it's not something we see even in the books, either. But you can never go wrong with more snarky interaction with Elrond, Galadriel, and the Wizards -- and generally Saruman's portrayal here was so great! It was totally in line with what we know happens in LotR, even though he's still a good guy here. Such an unexpected moment there :D

To be honest I haven't actually sat down and reread anything in years myself, I'm working off memory and extensive fanfic-reading (the lowest common denominator of what's included among stories generally tends to be canon!) The biggest possible holdup to the Arkenstone-Silmaril theory might be Thranduil, who was there at the handover and would be likely to recognize the Silmaril? (obviously Gandalf wouldn't say anything to stir up trouble there). And pfft, I wonder how possessive Gollum would have been over the Silmaril if hypothetically that had been his Precious? (How he got hold of it would be a different story though. No, bad brain, stop thinking about an AU where the Big MacGuffin is the Silmaril and not the Ring...)

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

The look on Gandalf's face when Saruman came in was a thing of beauty. I also loved how they had him wittering on self-importantly while Gandalf got things done in his head because that was exactly how I imagined they would be.

I thought he'd already been semi-corrupted by that point, anyway, and that was why he was like 'Necromancer? Are you high? I know Radagast is...'

And...you're a bad influence on me. Or a good one. I'm not sure. I read your comment and, having not thought about Thranduil at all in regards to this theory, wrote this fic (http://hikarievandar.livejournal.com/30067.html) which explains my thoughts pretty much exactly.

Though, I had it in my head that he was a bit too young to get involved in all of that and it was mostly Oropher who dealt with the Noldor before he went "fuck you guys, I'm going to take my kid and live in the woods" after Doriath was destroyed. I could be entirely wrong about that though, but who knows? I don't remember if Thranduil was ever mentioned in The Silmarillion by name.

[zedille.livejournal.com]

Saruman's snarky comments about Gandalf and Radagast being "under the influence" were just priceless! (Yet he eventually develops a pipeweed habit, so ironic... [I don't remember if they kept that in the movies?]) And yeah Saruman's fondness for power structures and reaffirming his own position... it was perfect :D

I do seem to have that affect on you, don't I? :) I'll go read and headcanon over there shortly!

I don't remember about Thranduil in the Silmarillion either, but I was reading arguments on the topic and if he was born in the First Age (I don't think he's mentioned either way? Iirc Oropher only really comes up in the Second Age/Last Alliance era, and according to Wikis he's never mentioned in the Silm either, only in some of the supplementary material of Tolkien's notes.)

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

They definitely had the barrels of pipeweed in the extended versions. I can't remember if they were in the cinematic cut, though.

And yes, yes you do. You make things into Things.

I have vaaaaague memories of Oropher maybe being obliquely referenced somewhere, but they could have been appendices or something. Tolkien focussed more on Celeborn, but I think there was a sort-of mention of them falling out over Galadriel or something. I don't even know anymore. Tolkien wrote so much!

[zedille.livejournal.com]

All right, Saruman the (pipe)weed user is confirmed even in movie canon! He needs a substance abuse counselor. (sorry the mental image is cracking me up, omg, I am too easily amused)

I'm no good at actually writing out my headcanons, so it's a good thing I can get people to write it for me! :D

And yeah, now that you mention it I'm pretty sure Oropher is mentioned somewhere in the Appendices. That makes sense, since he was involved in the Last Alliance, and then after that Thranduil founded his realm. Celeborn and Galadriel -- that almost sounds like Amdir or Amroth?

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

Let's face it, all of the Istari need counsellors once if they all make it back to Valinor. "So Gandalf, how does it feel to have been the only one doing anything useful in all that?"

I feel like I should now point out that it's my head-canon now, damn it. But its inclusion (and Lee Pace, who was perfect) makes me like Thranduil more.

I thought Greenwood was founded by Oropher after Doriath fell? I could have sworn there was something about him going off to rule them since they hadn't bothered to find a king of their own, and that he lead wood-elves into battle in the Last Alliance...

[zedille.livejournal.com]

*snickering over Radagast and his mushrooms and Yavanna's reaction* I should stop...

Lee Pace had all of, what, 1 minute of footage? But yeah I was not expecting (I don't think anyone was expecting) him to have embodied the role as much as he did. I am so excited about his appearance in the next movie, being snarky to the Dwarves (and hopefully our headcanons about Thranduil's reasons with the Silmaril won't be contradicted too much!)

Oropher definitely went off to rule the Silvan (? too many names for divisions of the Teleri) Elves, and they took him as their king, but I'm pretty sure Thranduil was the one to found Greenwood specifically after he came back from war? Though obviously Oropher must have been ruling over something, if he had enough elves to raise an army from.... idk I could be completely wrong about what was going on where.

[hikarievandar.livejournal.com]

askafgfka I can't wait for the next film either. I really hope that minute of footage is a sign of things to come, because I'll be gutted if Thranduil doesn't turn out right.

Eh, to be honest, by that point in the book I was too turned around by everyone and their multiple names and the occasional resurrection (yes, Glorfindel, I'm looking at you) that I was totally confused and I could well be making all of this up. Hopefully I'll keep a better track of it this time.

[zedille.livejournal.com]

... minute of footage?!? where?! I've seen gifs from like, behind-the-scenes material of the next movie on Tumblr but this is the first I've heard of it and asdf WANT.

Rereads (or fanfic, that works too) help a lot with the name problem! Though I'm not really one to talk, I think I only just now managed to keep Fingolfin and Finarfin's children straight, previously they were a big puddle of "Not Fëanor". And they get considerably more page time than Oropher ever did....