Elvish translations: Adar, Ada (father, dad) Naneth, Nana (mother, mom).

The L and L Adventures: How They Began

Prologue

In the Elder Days of Middle Earth when the Two Trees still shone in Valinor there was born there an Elf named Nolocano, meaning wise chieftain. In him was mingled the blood of the Vanyar and the Noldor. He inherited from his Vanyar mother his golden hair and blue eyes. From his father he got the Noldorin love of learning. He also possessed a fierce loyalty all his own.

When Morgoth darkened the Two Trees and Feanor led a revolt against the Valar and went after him, Nolocano was in the service of Fingolfin. So when Feanor led his people to Arda and Fingolfin followed with his people, Nolocano went with for the love and duty he bore towards Fingolfin. He dwelt in Hithlum for many years as a warrior in Fingolfin's service.

During the peaceful years of the Siege of Angband, Fingolfin sent Nolocano to the Falas (coast) to learn from the Elves living there and from their lord, Cirdan. While there, he met an Elf maiden by the name of Falawen, which means maiden of the coast.

Falawen's father, Rhovan, was one of Cirdan's mariners, who had married a lady of the court of Doriath named Daurhael. Falawen was born beside the sea and would often journey with her father upon the waves. She had her father's love for adventure, but took after her mother in looks and wisdom. Falawen had long brown hair and soft grey eyes.

Nolocano and Falawen grew to love each other and were married beside the sea. When Nolocano returned to Hithlum, Falawen went with him and they lived there for many years. Eventually, Falawen became pregnant and had twin boys. The eldest, by twenty minutes, was named Lorien and the other, Legolas.

Legolas and Lorien were so alike in looks that they could trick their own father into getting them mixed up, although their mother could always tell them apart. The twins had inherited their father's golden hair and blue eyes as well as his love of learning. While they were young their father taught them much concerning the Valar and Eru Iluvatar, the Creator of everything.

From their mother the twins got their love of adventure and boundless curiosity. Those two traits earned them many lectures on the dangers little elflings could get into alone in the wilds of Hithlum. They also inherited from their mother a keen judge of character and adaptability. Lorien especially could see deep into a person's heart and discover what motivated them, and Legolas could adapt to any situation. Their mother also taught them to love all of Eru's children, both Elves and Men, as well as to respect the children of His thoughts, the Valar and Maiar. She also taught them to care for the plants and animals.

Of the two brothers, Legolas was the more impulsive while Lorien preferred to think things through before doing them. Legolas was more like his mother, who was always quick to laugh and make jests, but he also inherited his father's fierce loyalty and desire to protect those he loved. Lorien was much like his father in temperament, having his quiet studious nature. He also had a deep love for creating things and was often making little trinkets to give to his family.

The twins had a rather pleasant childhood in Hithlum, at least for the first ten years. All that changed when they were ten, when the Dagor Bragollach (Battle of Sudden Flame) broke out. They saw the black clouds that Thangorodrim made when it erupted and heard the roar that Glaurung the Dragon made as he led an army of orcs against Morgoth's enemies.

Nolocano was called to go fight for his king, Fingolfin, on the grassy plain of Ard-galen, soon to be renamed the Anfauglith (gasping dust). That was the last the twins ever saw of their father. It wasn't until nearly a year later that one of Nolocano's fellow warriors, by the name of Thalionorn, found Falawen and her boys and told them what happened. He told them that an Orcish arrow had killed Nolocano. The arrow had been meant for him but Nolocano had stepped in front of it.

That day marked the end of the twin's childhood, despite the fact that they wouldn't be considered adults till they were fifty years old.

Falawen was greatly grieved by her husband's death. She longed to return to her kin and homeland but decided to wait till the twins were older to travel through the perilous lands between Hithlum and the Falas.

When the twins were seventeen Morgoth renewed his assault against Hithlum and managed to make it to where Falawen and the twins lived. Although they tried to escape, the Orcs still took them captive. The Orcs brought them and many other captives to a cave within the Ered Wethrin (Mountains of Shadow) where they held them till they could take them to Angband.

"Nana, are they going to kill us?" Legolas asked quietly once they were relatively alone.

"I do not know, child," Falawen answered just as quietly. "But I do not think they would go through all the trouble of capturing us if they meant to kill us."

"I'm not a child," Legolas protested sleepily, exhausted from the day's events. Falawen just smiled fondly at the small blond boy.

"Will we ever be free again, Nana?" murmured Lorien, just as tired as his twin.

"I hope so, my sons." But the twin's were already asleep.

That night Falawen held her sons and wept for her children who'd come to know grief and evil while still so young. As she cried she prayed to Eru, "Please, watch over my sons. Protect them, and keep them strong amidst whatever trials are ahead."

The next day the orcs came with more captives and started driving them all over the Ered Wethrin. They spent several weeks crossing the mountains and then the plain of Anfauglith beyond them. As they traveled they could see the smoking peaks of Thangorodrim, the three mountains above the pits of Angband, fortress of the Dark Lord Morgoth, grew ever closer. Eventually they came to a steep-sided valley through which they passed to come to the gates of Angband.

As Falawen passed through the gates into the darkness, she saw in her mind an image of Legolas and Lorien, much older, leading a group of bedraggled slaves out of Angband. She realized that it was a vision of the future and it gave her hope that her sons at least would not die within Angband. She clung to that hope through the long dark years to come.

Three years into Falawen, Legolas, and Lorien's captivity Beren and Luthien came to Angband and stole a Silmaril, one of the three sacred jewels that Morgoth had stolen from Feanor. That event caused absolute uproar amongst both the slaves and their captors. It gave the slaves hope that Angband was not unbreachable and it enraged their captors who took it out on the slaves.

Falawen and her sons spent ten long years laboring in the mines of Angband as slaves of the Dark Lord. During those years Falawen did what she could to protect the twins and give them an education. She taught them to read and write, as well as the basics of arithmetic. She made the days pass more quickly by telling stories of the history of Middle Earth. She made sure that the twins knew all about the family they had never met, as well as where they lived and how to get there if they ever escaped. Falawen's efforts ensured that the twins would not be without a home to go to should they ever escape. Their captivity was not as dark as it could have been, for as long as they were together they could remind each other that there was still a hope and a family out there waiting for them.

In their tenth year of captivity the Nirnaeth Arnoediad (Battle of Unnumbered Tears) was fought, which brought about the destruction of most of the Elves and Men's forces. The orcs would taunt the slaves with news of Morgoth's victories, which were often trumped up stories with only a grain of truth in them. But there was no denying the fact that Morgoth was winning when more captives started coming in. The stories the new slaves told of the mighty mound of dead upon the Anfauglith broke many slaves spirits, including Falawen's.

Falawen lived for another year in Angband but she despaired more and more as Morgoth's power grew. So when news came that the Falas had been attacked and its havens destroyed, Falawen gave up. With her homeland destroyed, Hithlum overrun with Easterlings, and her husband dead, Falawen saw no reason to continue living. And since the orcs beat the slaves regularly and gave them very little to eat, it was not long before she was ready to die. The twins tried everything they could to keep her with them, but to no avail. On the night Falawen knew would be her last she called her sons to her side and spoke to them of many things. She ended with, "Please do not give up hope, my sons. I still believe that escape is possible for you, just not for me. I wish you a long and happy life, my children. I love you." And so saying, she breathed her last and her spirit fled those dark halls for a better place.

That night Legolas and Lorien clung to each other and cried themselves to sleep beside their mother's body.