Fifteen: The Fate of a Sword
Ioreth rose with the sun, though she had slept only a little the night before. Breakfast was simple but filling, and Idril and Lithariel carried most of the conversation between them while Ratbag chattered eagerly with a massive Olog about the construction (and reconstruction) that they were going to be helping with that day.
When they were done, Ioreth told Dirhael that she wanted to practice with him, having noticed during the fighting that while she could hold her own, she was still not quite up to taking on nearly as many orcs as the others could and had soon exhausted herself. If Talion hadn't shown up when he did, she would have been forced to quit the field before she grew too weary to continue fighting and got herself killed.
Not an option. Not now.
She collected her sword and went to the rear deck, but Talion had preceded them - or otherwise hadn't slept at all. Once again, he was sitting with Fëanor, this time under one of the fruit trees there behind the Sea Cave, the drake's egg cradled in blankets on his lap as he watched the slow roll of the sea. He winced a little and squinted when Anar's light reflected wrong off the water and hit his eyes dead on, concealed in the shadows of his deep hood.
Only then did she recognize that though it had changed greatly, his cloak was the very same one she had given him for their first wedding anniversary.
That gave her pause.
Perhaps… perhaps things weren't nearly as dire as she thought.
Talion looked up and then away when she approached, burning eyes dropping to the egg in his lap. Now that she had drawn near, she could see the glow of his Ring as its magic threaded through the shell and the albumen within, reshaping the young drake before it had even formed. She wasn't sure what to say to that, so she said nothing, only sat next to her husband and waited for Dirhael.
(It felt like someone was missing. There should have been someone in the hole on Talion's other side - someone not their son.)
Their son wasn't alone when he emerged; Idril was with him, and Baranor and Lithariel, with the first carrying two strange metal-and-cloth contraptions. When she unfolded them, they revealed themselves to be portable chairs, which she set down in the shade of the tree for the other two. They sat gratefully, and each shared a brief but warm embrace before Idril sat down as well, joining them on the grass. Dirhael sat next to Ioreth, and they formed a half-circle in front of Talion, though by unspoken accord they still left the space on his other side empty save for Fëanor.
They were joined by Aragorn and Arwen, and Faramir and Éowyn as well, and an Elf, a dark-haired Ñoldor with fiery blue eyes, who sat outside the circle up against the trunk of the tree, but still unmistakably part of the group.
After a moment, Talion let out a long breath, and then began to speak. "Three thousand years ago, during the War of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age, Isildur son of Elendil cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, and did not destroy it. And so though his armies were scattered by the forces of Elves and Men, Sauron's spirit endured.
"Seventy years ago, he returned to Mordor, and shadow and flame fell on the Black Gate."
"We'll be together soon, my love. Forever!"
A sacrifice of blood and bone. A bridge for you to follow. You will emerge a shadow.
Talion could still taste the blood on his tongue from when his neck had been cut, could feel it spilling down his chest but also back down his throat and into his lungs. He didn't tell the others, didn't describe it in any detail, but he did tell them that he had fought Sauron's orcs - and suffered for it.
"I died like all the others," he said quietly, "but unlike them, I did not stay dead. I was not yet gone when Celebrimbor emerged, and so he was able to possess me instead of the Black Hand.
"So I died, and came back. Then, and every time since."
No one else moved or spoke.
"Celebrimbor didn't remember who he was or what he had done - not right away, at least. The long years in the dark of Mordor were no kinder to him than they were to me, but even so he helped me seek out Sauron's captains for revenge. In turn I gave him presence in the seen world and sought artifacts from his past, which carried his memories within.
"He was not slain when Eregion fell in the Second Age. Sauron… worked some fell art on him, stole his mind and his will, and used his skill to perfect the One Ring. But Sauron was prideful - he didn't think any being save his own Master was strong enough to defy his will - and that arrogance gave Celebrimbor an opening to escape. He took the One Ring, used it against Sauron for as long as he could, trying to throw the Dark Lord down - vengeance for his murdered family and subjects.
"But the Ring sought to return to its Master. And it did, and Sauron beat Celebrimbor to death with his own hammer and then bound his fëa to wander here in Mordor for all eternity, to never find the path to the Far West."
That made everyone straighten, faces pale with horror, Arwen and the Ñoldor - Swinsere - most of all. It was worse even than Talion's own necromancy, for while he called the dead back from their rest, he truly resurrected only those who answered his call. While his mind was his own, he had never brought back anyone against their will.
"The One Ring was lost in the Disaster at the Gladden Fields, and so when Sauron regained strength enough to return to Middle-earth, he began seeking a means to restore himself to power. A New Ring. At last, he remembered the Ringmaker and sent his captains to pull him out of the dark.
"They failed. Together Celebrimbor and I raised an army of our own to fight his and took down all three of them… and he offered to release me. But I wasn't satisfied. I had seen - as now no doubt you have seen - that like Men and Elves, there were those orcs who didn't fit. Those who would forsake the dark, if only they had the chance, and someone to show them the way. We had given it to them, but it was new and fragile, all too easily shattered if we chose rest and abandoned them. And we had dealt damage to Sauron as well; civil wars have ground greater nations to splinters before. If we could but continue, wear away at his forces, buy time for the West to rise…
"So I said to him, 'Could you really rest for all eternity, knowing that you had the chance to stop him - but did nothing?'"
Talion let his eyes drift shut, remembering the unreadable expression on the Elf-wraith's face before he'd vanished, leaving the Man to look out over the desolate Plateau of Gorgoroth towards Mount Doom, erupting in the distance. "We had already been taxed to the limits of our strength. If we were to continue, we needed another means of power.
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
"And one more. The New Ring Sauron sought, made for us instead, to give us the power to beat him back."
That caused a stir only amongst the newcomers; Idril, Baranor, Lithariel, and Swinsere had already known, had seen it before on the hand of another.
"Shelob involved herself then. She has some… not insignificant ability to see the future. There were things that she saw that she sought to change, and so to that end she stole Celebrimbor away, and I traded the New Ring for him.
"She sent us to Minas Ithil, not yet fallen, where we aided the defenders as best we could. But Castamir was already a traitor and the city doomed to fall no matter how hard we fought. And we did fight hard, pursuing assassins and warchiefs… and finally the Nazgûl themselves to give time for the survivors to flee."
There he looked up to Idril and Baranor with a soft, slight smile. His adopted daughter made a gesture of respect and gratitude, which he returned.
"We defeated the other Ringwraiths and went to face the Witch-King himself," he continued, "He was too much for us - far too much - and tried to corrupt me into one of his servants then and there. It was then that we met the Elf-Blade Eltariel, sent by one 'Galadriel of Lothlórien' to do to the Nazgûl what we sought to do to Sauron. She killed me to get me out of the Witch-King's reach, and to her credit, that was one of the least painful deaths I have ever endured.
"When we returned… Sauron had discovered the New Ring, and sent the Nazgûl to take it from Shelob. We went with Eltariel to defend her, drove off the wraiths, and she returned the Ring to us.
"And then we went to work. We strengthened our armies, took everyone willing to join us - and many who weren't." His eyes drifted to his Ring, which glowed only faintly in the daylight. "And region by region, we took Mordor from Sauron, hemmed him in and whittled away at his armies, trying to keep him from ever mustering the forces to attack the West. If not forever, then at least for a day.
"But Celebrimbor started slipping. I don't know what caused it, though I do know there are a couple of things it could have been, each worse than the last." He pressed his lips into a grim line. "There were orcs among our numbers who were trusted, something like friends, like Ratbag and Az-Harto Hammerfist - that is, the Olog Ratbag calls 'Ranger'. He stopped caring about them, about the Men and orcs alike we rescued from Sauron, about the settlements we built where they could live in relative peace. He stopped wanting to rescue them at all, only wanting to grind Sauron and the Ringwraiths to dust under our heel and driving our forces ahead to that end.
"I did not agree… but neither did I protest. Not until-." He stopped and drew an unsteady breath. "Not until the bridge.
"We took all of Mordor from him - Minas Ithil was lost, now Minas Morgul, but we had Cirith Ungol, Núrn, Lithlad, Seregost, and Gorgoroth all… and then, together with our armies, Celebrimbor, Eltariel, and I marched on Barad-dûr."
Everyone was silent, nearly holding their breath. Talion fisted his hands in the blankets cushioning Fëanor's egg and forced himself to continue even as ash-grey tears began to fall. "Sauron sent all his remaining forces in an attempt to stop us, but they fared no better than any before them. And then the Ringwraiths started coming. Just one at first."
He looked up to meet Aragorn's gaze. The other Ranger nodded just once.
"It was Isildur."
The king was the only one who didn't gasp. The others had known that the Ringwraiths were fallen kings of Men, but to know their names was something entirely different, entirely new, even for those who had fought alongside Talion for decades. And this, to know that one of them had been a Man of legend who had stood and opposed Sauron in life? Impossible.
But no one protested, only listened as Talion continued. "Celebrimbor and I beat him, and when we had him at our mercy, I saw into his soul. The One Ring had worn him down, made him vulnerable to Sauron's predations, even in death. The orcs took his body from the Gladden Fields, brought it to Barad-dûr… and there Sauron put a Ring on his finger and called him back from death and into his service.
"And there Celebrimbor and I disagreed. He wanted to start taking the Ringwraiths for our own as well, in addition to the orcs and creatures of Mordor, and that I could not allow. I had seen in both Isildur's soul and a few others' how Sauron had bound them to him unwilling, forced them to serve him… and I saw us well on our way to becoming the very same monster we sought to defeat.
"So I released him instead, to meet whatever fate awaited him beyond the circles of this world." He let his eyes fall shut again. "Celebrimbor disagreed - with that, and with merely defeating Sauron. 'I will dominate Sauron; his armies will be mine.'"
His jaw went tight. "I reminded him that we were meant to destroy Sauron, but he returned that Sauron cannot be destroyed, and Eltariel agreed with him. 'We fight and fight, and evil always returns. We can end this here.'
"'I will not trade one Dark Lord for another. This is not the end I have fought for.'
"'But you are not the only one fighting.'
"'No, he is not.' Then Celebrimbor offered Eltariel the New Ring, and she took it, and him with it. With nothing - and no one - keeping me whole, I started to bleed out again." He touched the scar on his throat, just visible over his armor. "And then they left me on the bridge to die."
It seemed like the whole world had fallen silent. Even the sea breeze coming off the water had gone still.
Talion moved suddenly, one hand flying over to cover the other - to cover the Ring, to smother it before it could rise, even as he fought to master himself and the rage and grief that warred inside. It took him several long minutes before he was able to speak again. "Then Shelob came to me in the wraith world - the unseen world. 'See the future you have wrought,' I said to her, 'A Bright Lord instead of a dark one.'
"'You pitiful Man. I gave you sight and yet you still do not see.'
"'You showed me a fate I could not change!'
"'You are wrong,' she replied. 'When you and Celebrimbor forged a new Ring of Power, I saw where your path ended - locked in battle against Sauron at the top of Barad-dûr… and you won. Sauron was enslaved, and the Bright Lord rose in his place. The armies of Mordor marched forth under his banner, and Middle-earth fell under his heel.
"'That is the future I fought against. The future you prevented, because you saw Celebrimbor for what he was.' I wanted to deny it, but I knew she was telling the truth.
"But then she said, 'Your war is not yet ended, Talion. Whether a Bright Lord or a Dark Lord rules Barad-dûr, the balance of power must be maintained, or all of Middle-earth will fall.'
"'Minas Morgul.'
"'Yes. From there, Mordor can be held back.'
"'How? The Ring is gone.'
"'I asked you once, how much are you willing to sacrifice?'"
His hands went tight, so tight that his armor audibly groaned.
"So I opened my eyes, and I took up Isildur's Ring.
"Minas Morgul was still held by the Witch-King and the other Ringwraiths, but not for long. I took it from them, and I watched Celebrimbor and Eltariel's battle with Sauron through the Palantír. They came so very close… but at the last second, Sauron cut the New Ring from Eltariel's hand, and severed her bond with Celebrimbor.
"I don't know what Sauron intended - probably to try what he did through the Black Hand, to bind Celebrimbor's soul to his own and return to the world at full power, even without the One. But this time he failed, and instead they were bound together in the Great Eye."
Despite the harshness of his armor, he wiped away his tears with a gauntleted hand, then continued, "For a long time I wasn't sure if Eltariel was still alive, if the Eye had ordered her captured and imprisoned somewhere in the Dark Tower, and I wasn't willing to risk anyone trying to find out. But eventually she recovered enough to reclaim the New Ring, and escaped and sought me out. Though she did not regret fighting Sauron, she did repent of leaving me to die.
"Since that day, I stood and fought as long as I could… but eventually I too Fell. Being a true Nazgûl was like being a puppet - I could somewhat see what was happening around me, like through a dark veil or deep underwater, but I couldn't control my body or even muster up the will to care.
"I was finally released when the One was destroyed, but I was too weak to do much more than get myself away from Mount Doom while it was erupting. And later, Ratbag found me."
His drake huffed.
"Sorry, Fëanor and Ratbag found me."
She purred and nuzzled him.
"You never said," Idril whispered, "about Celebrimbor. All these years you never protested when people said he was lost or stolen…"
"Because he may very well have been."
"What do you mean?" Ioreth asked with a frown.
"Am I my Ring?"
It was Aragorn who understood first. "You think the New Ring influenced him? Twisted him?"
"It was made in Mount Doom, same as the One Ring. It certainly couldn't have been as pure as he seemed to think. And he poured so much of himself into its making that I wouldn't be surprised if it made him vulnerable to even the slightest bit of corruption inside it, or even from Sauron directly; he is several years gone now, but his influence still lies heavy over the land.
"And…" Talion looked to Swinsere. "Though the stories say he repudiated his father and uncles for their kinslayings, Celebrimbor was still a member of the House of Fëanor, and therefore subject to the Doom of Mandos.
"To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well."
The Ringwraith was quiet for a long moment, absently rubbing a thumb over the shell of the egg still in his lap. Finally he said, "I am still angry. Furious. Enough that I would have torn down Barad-dûr stone by stone with only my hands if that was what it took to be avenged. Never doubt that. But Eltariel repented, and I had no way of knowing if Celebrimbor would have done the same if he had been given the chance - and this Ring did and does feed off anger and hatred and cruelty. It did not need more fuel for the fire. I will wait to pass judgement, even until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom and the coming of the Second Music, if that's how long it takes."
They were all silent for several minutes, thinking on all they had been told, before Arwen frowned and turned to Swinsere. "You are bound in the Doom of Mandos as well?"
"I am," he answered grimly, "Here I am known as Swinsere, 'Minstrel', but my true name is Maglor Feanorion."
Arwen gasped. "Grandfather?!"
With a sigh you turn away,
With a deepening heart,
No more words to say.
You will find
That the world has changed
Forever...