Chapter 59: Change
Year 2000 of the Second Age, Lindórinand
Not even in her most hopeful dreams could Galadriel have predicted what would happen after her little talk with Avorneth.
It started out slowly, of course, as things are wont to with elves – even with the Silvan, who were more used to change.
There was talk. Not in the capital, but everywhere outside of it, Galadriel was becoming aware of an increasing state of unrest.
Then, Ealc came to consult with her.
"Avorneth tells me," she said, "that the capital is truly important for you?"
Galadriel was frankly confused by the question. "Well, it's where King's council meets, but I told her I was willing to leave it for her."
Ealc shook her head. "I didn't mean you personally. If I understand what she said right, you – your kind of elves – seem to think that whatever happens in the capital should be a model for the rest of the land?"
Galadriel thought about it. "Well...I suppose you could put it that way, yes. Certainly it's seen as the most important place, because it's close to the king, and has the most influence on him. It's the showcase of the realm, so to speak." She paused. This was beginning to look like a long conversation. "Will you have some wine?" She asked.
Ealc waved the offer away. She did not even sit down, choosing instead to pace as she continued: "So when the Sindar came and told us they'd have their city run by the Sindarin customs, it wasn't just them trying to live by their own rules, like all others did in this forest. They were trying to...they were saying theirs were the right rules."
"Well...this doesn't depend on the capital so much. What's more important are the rules the king follows. He's the one who sets the tone for the realm. Or is supposed to, anyway." Valar knew it was not true in Lindórinand, and apparently had not been quite so in Doriath either. But Ealc was right that there was still a certain air of superiority to whatever the ruler and those close to him did, as if the other customs were merely tolerated. Galadriel was quite certain that those from the outer edges of Doriath did not cheerfully tell Singollo about the way they broke the rules he considered sacred at his court. It was understood it could have repercussions. This fear was perhaps lesser in Lindórinand, but still, it was not completely dissimilar.
"And the king lives in the capital," Ealc continued in an equally incensed voice, "and so he goes by its rules."
"Well, yes."
"And yet he claims to be the king of all who live in this forest!"
Galadriel frowned at the anger in her voice. "You knew all of this already, surely? He collects the levies from you and sets the number of patrols you need to organize around the borders, and he's done so almost since he came here, from what I understand."
"Oh, yes – but until discussing this with Avorneth, I had no idea what he and his Sindar thought it meant." Ealc looked ready to spit. "We have no kings, did you know that?"
"Yes, I did know. I've always wondered how exactly you ruled yourself."
"We don't – not in the manner you're used to. We live in small settlements, much smaller than this capital city. These settlements choose their own council, and that organizes matters. Sometimes these representatives meet in a great council, but it's only very rarely nowadays. We met when Amdír came. We considered his proposal of becoming king, as he said." Again, she looked she was about to spit. "We thought it simply meant an offer to take care of some of the day to day things the great council used to have to gather for. We used to name people for these duties, you know. They took turns, working in service of the council and all the elves of the forest. What Amdír suggested seemed efficient. If his people allowed him to hold this position permanently, we thought, that must mean he's skilled. If he was willing to take on the additional work, well, why not? The great council would have to approve all of his major decisions, or so we thought. If the Sindar were used to having a single one person organizing matters for them instead of different officials, we thought we could just as well make use of that. The levies he suggested were approved, and it seemed worth it, all in all, to have someone with experience prepare for the possibility of another war. None of us wanted to do that, or really knew how." Ealc was clearly furious now. "Of course," she said, "no one bothered to explain to us what the word king truly meant to you. What he thought he was. What authority he believed he had over us, and what a capital meant to you. All these years, we believed that we lived as equals with these Sindar that we've accepted into our realm, and now Avorneth explains to me that they saw us as...as someone ruled over!"
"None of you realized this?" Galadriel had some trouble imagining that.
"Why would we? None of the Silvan ever had an idea like this. We live in freedom," she declared. "We always have. How are we to understand slavery when it comes?"
Galadriel frowned at the strong word. "Kingship is not slavery..."
"No? How else would you call forcing someone to live under rules they don't accept, but have no right to change?"
Galadriel sighed. "Far be it from me to defend the Sindar in this, but they didn't force most of you, did they? You can live as you want in your communities."
"Can we? I looked it up in the written Sindarin laws of this realm, since it seems they're so important to you. Do you know what happens if a Sinda is accused of misbehaviour in one of our communities? He's judged by the Sindarin laws. Or that is what the king thinks would happen, at any rate. I think he'd be surprised. But if one of us acts out in the capital? Why, Sindarin laws for us as well. If any dispute includes a Sinda in any way, it's meant to follow the Sindarin rules. This is not justice."
No, Galadriel had to agree, it was not.
"And even beside that," Ealc continued, her anger not abating, "if the king truly believes he and his council rule the entire realm...how could he not offer any of us a place on that council? You came and he welcomed you there, and yet there's not one Silvan elf advising him! Not one!"
Galadriel was slowly beginning to understand. "You thought his council was like the ones that organize matters in your towns?"
"Yes! But instead, he thought it was a great council of sorts!"
"Well," Galadriel ventured, "you didn't invite any of the Sindar in your great council, did you?"
Ealc laughed bitterly. "We did. As soon as they came and founded their city, we did. We told them to choose a representative. They told us the king handled matters for them, and that he didn't need a place in our council. We should have suspected then..."
"Has it truly never come up before? Surely in the centuries..." Galadriel should not be so surprised, though. After all, she had not noticed the injustice in Doriath in half a millennium, and she had lived right in the capital.
"We live apart," Ealc said. "There've only been a few mixed marriages, and in all of those cases, the couple lives in the capital. Follows the Sindarin rules. We thought that was natural because of where they lived. As far as I know, we've only ever had to punish a few Sindar in any of our settlements – they rarely come there, and we have very few rules. In all the cases I know of, the punishment was banishment from that particular settlement. They always respected it – but now I'm not sure if that wasn't mostly accidental. As I've said, they rarely come there."
"But you, personally, have lived in the capital, haven't you?" Galadriel insisted.
"On and off, yes. And I knew about their silly rules, I just never thought they all more or less believed the rules applied to us as well, to all of us. They never asked us what we thought, they just...I'm so angry."
"You have a right to be," Galadriel acknowledged.
"It never came up, until now, with Avorneth."
Galadriel remembered her plea to Celeborn to keep silent on the situation in Doriath, and asked: "Would you have been happier not knowing?"
"No! I'm grateful to know. If I didn't, how could anything change?"
"What do you plan to do, then?"
Ealc was silent for a moment before she said: "The Silvan don't, in general, care about what happens in the capital. It's far away from them and not their business. But with Avorneth's help, I'll make them care, because we've ignored their arrogance for too long."
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After this, the unrest in the forest increased, enough that even Amdír gradually noticed and asked his council what was happening. As it was, however, all of his councilmen were Sindar and none could help him. Not even Amroth, who walked in the forest more often and further than the others, understood the situation. "It's something very strange, to be sure," he said. "I've never seen anything like it here. But I don't know, and when I tried asking some of the Silvan, they refused to speak to me."
A worried murmur went through the council.
Galadriel waited for them all to leave the council room, to be alone with Amdír and Celeborn, before she spoke. "The Silvan," she said, "realized they aren't quite seen as equals of the Sindar in your realm, and they aren't happy."
"What have you been telling them?" Amdír asked immediately.
Celeborn have him an exasperated look. "You keep a realm in injustice for two millennia," he said, "and then you accuse my wife of meddling when those you've wronged demand what is their right?"
Amdír frowned at him and said, his tone unfriendly: "Well, she did say something, didn't she?"
"Because you believe the Silvan incapable of choosing to act on their own?" Galadriel asked him mockingly. "All I did was explain to them what the situation, as it was, meant to the Sindar and the Noldor," she said then. "And I spoke to you first, before that," she added. "You told me your hands were tied. Well...I believe you're about to find out how tied exactly."
"Is that a threat?" He asked, outraged.
Galadriel scoffed. "Not from me. You do realize that the majority of your realm are the Silvan, don't you?"
"What, should I fear them waging war?" The disbelief in his voice showed Galadriel he was still not taking the danger to his realm seriously enough.
"No," she assured him, because she was not worried that the Silvan would wish to do harm to anyone. "But you should fear them no longer accepting you as king."
"They have no other king," he pointed out.
"And they never needed one before you came along."
It seemed that this had never occurred to Amdír, that they could simply continue to live in the forest without swearing fealty to anyone. He was stumped for a moment. "They'll perish in the war with Gorthaur without one!" He said then, suddenly sounding a little desperate.
Galadriel gave a languid shrug. "Perhaps. But so will you without them."
"Help me, then. Help me pacify them." He was pacing now, disturbed from his calm.
"With what? Empty words?"
"I explained the situation to you! This wasn't my decisions, and I can't just change it without losing my realm!"
"You'll lose your realm if you don't change it, too," Galadriel pointed out.
"Talk to your Sindar, and let them understand that if they wish to keep living comfortably in this realm, they'll have to change their approach," Celeborn suggested. "Not even all of us who lived in Thousand Caves were quite so strong-headed about things, and there are many young ones among your people. They'll listen."
"It was the strong-headed ones who left Greenwood with me," Amdír said despondently. "Who will your Noldor side with?" He asked then, turning to Galadriel.
She gave him a half-amused, half-incredulous look. "Amdír, are you trying to recruit my people to avoid treating your own fairly? It'll never happen." Besides, Feliel ruled the Noldorin city, and there was not the slightest doubt who she would side with. "This is a problem you created by your rule, and I won't say a word in support of this injustice in front of my people."
"You'd rather see me lose my kingship, me, who accepted you into their realm when you needed shelter?"
Galadriel gave him a long look. "I'll protect you against harm in every way. But I've lived in an unjust realm once – though unknowingly – and I won't do it again."
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Galadriel told the tale of the Silvan unrest to Elrond during her next visit to Rivendell, and could see him shake his head sadly at the news. "Why are there so many cases of unjust rulers in the world?" He asked her. "Growing up under your governance, and then Artanáro's, I think my standards are too high. Even watching my brother...it simply never occurred to me that a king might not have the best interests of his people at heart. But now...when I look at Amdír, at Númenórë..."
"Amdír's intentions are not evil," Galadriel tried to defend him, "it is only…."
"I know that. It is the same with Númenórë. None of the kings and queens have had evil intentions, and yet...Atanamir, the king's heir at the moment, is a dangerous man in my opinion, truly dangerous. His prejudices and personal hatreds are so strong, I...I have not been going to Númenórë as often ever since I came to Rivendell, as you know, but after he becomes king...I do not believe I will be welcome any more." He shook his head. "I had believed things were going better, but...did I make a mistake by moving to Rivendell after all?"
"Were you able to prevent Ancalimë from being a terrible queen by living in Lindon?" She returned, reminding him of his own reasoning.
"No," he admitted. "Nor by frequent visits. But still, this hurts. Everything fell apart when Silmariën did not become queen. Everything."
"Meneldur in himself would not have been so bad," Galadriel pointed out.
"No, but...why did I ever think that you were wrong?" He asked desperately.
She smiled at him. "Because I am, frequently and about many things, as you know. I simply was not in that case. Do you still visit Andúnië when you go to Númenórë?"
"Yes. That is the one place in the island where I am still happy, where I can still remember Elros. Lately, I have been only spending a few days in the capital before I departed there. It was made clear to me that I was not welcome in Armenelos for longer, and I did not feel well there. But..." He looked at her beseechingly. "I gave my word."
Galadriel pressed his hands. "You cannot help them against their will, beloved. You have to understand and accept that, as had I. At some point, you have to see the situation for what it truly is and leave, however much it hurts. You have to respect their decisions. Keep coming to Andúnië, and encourage its lords to accept whoever wishes to dwell there into their lands, give your advice there...but if you are not welcome in Armenelos, do not force your presence on them."
He nodded mutely. "Can we please discuss something else?" He asked then. "Thinking of Númenórë tears me apart."
"Very well, then. How is Rivendell doing, as a realm? Does Lalvon find the role of Chief Councillor easy to manage?"
"Relatively so, yes. He is only learning in that position, of course, but he is not bad at it."
Galadriel had not expected him to be. He had sat on Dior's council and Artanáro's council both, and so had more experience than most others. She thought of him as he had been in Thousand Caves, one of the young elves who were brought forward after the tragic deaths of so many in the Sack of Doriath.
She knew he carried guilt for not saving his king and escaping instead, and so she had not been surprised when he chose to go stay with Elrond. What was a little more unexpected was Elrond choosing him as his right hand, when as far as Galadriel knew, there was no particular personal friendship between them.
When asked about this, Elrond smiled. "You know that in truth, it is you who is my chief councillor. You, and Lord Laurefindil. But Lord Laurefindil prefers to be the chief commander, and he is better suited to it. And Lalvon has had long practice with the day to day aspects of council work. His experience is valued."
"Are his opinions valued as well?" Galadriel asked, remembering from Lindon that he used to hold some quite conservative Sindarin views.
"We do disagree on some things, it is true," Elrond confirmed, "but even if I do not accept his approach, it is good to have a different point of view."
It was, but Galadriel was not so certain it was best in one's chief councillor. Elrond is an adult, and an independent ruler, she told herself firmly. It is his choice, and he knows what he is doing. You made your point already.
"Besides," Elrond said lightly, "Lalvon, from what I hear, was often unhappy with my grandfather's decision making while in Thousand Caves."
"He was not alone in that," Galadriel replied.
"Precisely. That was a good recommendation, would you not agree – someone who had the same experience as you in this respect should surely be worthy of notice?"
Galadriel laughed. "I do not wish to insult your grandfather, beloved, but disagreeing with him alone proves no great degree of wisdom."
Elrond returned her laugh. "I realize that, but it is a start, is it not? In any case, I would like you to talk to Lalvon at some point. He's not here now, but on some of your future visits, perhaps? I feel he is unsure in the exact nature of his position, even though I have tried to explain to him that first and foremost you are my chief councillor when it comes to actually giving advice, but that you cannot hold the position on a permanent basis and so I need him. And for all the hard work that goes with it, too."
Galadriel laughed again. "Yes, Valar forbid I ever did any hard work!"
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Galadriel stopped in Hadhodrond on her way back to Lindórinand, as she usually did, and spent a few days visiting with king Lómi. His vitality astounded her. He was two and half centuries old now, and she feared his death any day, but instead, he looked as fit and healthy as he had a hundred years ago.
"I believe, king, that you'll surpass even your father in the age you reach, and he was long-lived," she told him as she sat in his rooms.
To her surprise, he gave a sharp look in response to that. "What do you mean?"
"I was merely making an observation, and giving a compliment. Though your reaction does make me wonder – is there some particular secret behind your long life?"
Instead of an answer, he frowned.
She waved her hand. "You needn't answer me. Your secrets are your own."
He sighed. "I suspect you wouldn't say that if you knew the truth behind it."
"I know you believe us elves to be nosy..."
"You are! All of you, but you at least usually give good advice in return." He frowned again. "I'll tell you, but it's a secret of this realm, not something to be shared with your Sindarin friends."
"I'll admit you made me curious."
Instead of answering in words, he touched his finger, and suddenly she saw a ring on his palm.
It took her a moment to realize what it meant.
"Gorthaur's rings," she said then, incredulous. "He gave you one of them!"
"They aren't Gorthaur's rings," king Lómi replied in anger, "and I didn't get it from him! Your cousin Celebrimbor, if you still remember him, made them, and he was the one who gave this to me."
Galadriel scoffed. "Celebrimbor knew Gorthaur could sense them and control them," she said, "He'd have never given you one, he knew they couldn't be used!"
"He believed that," king Lómi agreed, a little calmer now, "but my grandfather convinced him to leave at least one of the rings he made with us. We swore to keep it safe as Gorthaur laid waste to Hollin, and to only carefully try to use it later, to see if we could. And...we can. We've been growing richer and longer-lived with its help, without any ills befalling us."
"I might believe Celebrimbor gave it to you to keep it safe," Galadriel replied. "He loved his inventions well, and he would have been easy to convince with the hope that one of them at least might survive. But he'd have never told you to use it, or agreed to give it to you if you said you would."
King Lómi looked away. "I never knew him, of course," he said, "but from the notes my grandfather left, it seems to me he only meant for us to use it if Sauron is defeated. My father, however...chose differently, and he lived his life in peace with the ring on his finger. So I followed his example."
"Then you father acted like a fool," Galadriel replied, unable to control herself. "Just because you can't see any effect on you doesn't mean Gorthaur isn't slowly wrapping you around his finger, little bit at a time. Remember Hollin."
"It's different," the king replied. "You live for ever. We don't. He has less time with us, and as long as we each only wear the ring for a century or so, we're safe."
Galadriel shook her head. "You're foolish," she repeated.
"Time will tell. But remember – I told you this in confidence. If you share this with others, I'll see it as betrayal of trust."
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Ealc was a lady of her word, and even though it took her some time, the capital woke one day to find itself surrounded by Silvan elves. They were not armed, at least not visibly so, they were just...there.
And Ealc was demanding to speak with the king.
"We'll no longer accept this," she said plainly.
"We?" Amdír asked dubiously.
"The Silvan, though you should also know that we spoke to the Noldor that live at the edge of the forest and that they gave us their full support."
Galadriel, who was standing a little to the side and listening, thought: Feliel did not disappoint. Though perhaps it was not fair to believe it was only her doing. Most of the Noldor would not be happy with what Ealc told them, even though they might consider the Silvan way of life strange.
"All of the Silvan?" Amdír asked.
"Naturally not," Ealc replied as if the idea was absurd. "I didn't convince everyone, so there are those that simply keep insisting what you do doesn't matter to us, however much you might believe the opposite." She frowned. "It's difficult for many to understand why we should care. It doesn't matter to them, so they think it doesn't matter to you. But most of us are here. You can see we are."
Amdír gave a sigh, and said in a tone he suggested he was doing her a great favour: "What do you want, then?"
"It's really quite simple: if you wish to call yourself the king of the entire realm, not just the Sindar, then do away with the injustice in laws and customs."
Amdír was clearly shocked. Even after what Galadriel had told him, he had not expected to hear this. "You swore fealty to me!" He cried.
"Fealty?" Apparently, that was a term Avorneth did not get around to explaining. Perhaps she had not wished to make Ealc even more angry. Somehow, Galadriel felt that the mere idea of what fealty meant would seem unacceptable to her.
"You accepted me as king," Amdír offered an explanation that was understating things rather strongly.
Ealc shrugged, not seeing the problem. "Yes, under the impression that it meant one thing. It turns out it means something else, so we're here to renegotiate the terms."
"You can't renegotiate the terms of a fealty!" Amdír's dedication to trying to bind the Silvan by concepts they did not recognize astounded Galadriel.
Ealc shrugged again. "Then you're no longer our king." She turned to go, as if that was the matter settled.
Galadriel gave a quiet sigh. This was going nowhere. "If you mind the idea of renegotiation," she said to Amdír, and Ealc stopped to listen to her too, "look at it as if they swore under false auspices. That is what they feel, anyway, from what I understand. You didn't explain properly then – no doubt because you thought that the title of king was easily understandable to everyone, I'm not accusing you of trickery – and now you reap the reward."
Amdír sighed deeply. "So you mean to say the fealty would be void, and they'd have to swear again?"
"The fealty is void, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope for your Silvan subjects swearing anything."
She have a short look to Ealc, who nodded sharply. "No oaths," she said. "Avorneth explained what they mean to you, and we won't accept that."
"Then what's the point?"
"They can respect you as king to a degree – though perhaps not to the degree the Sindar are used to – without swearing an oath," Galadriel explained patiently.
"Well, my own Sindarin subjects hardly respect me that way, so..." Amdír muttered quietly, only for Galadriel to hear. Then he turned to Ealc and said: "Let's say that I'd agree. What exactly would it mean?"
"I already told you. Do away with the injustice in laws and customs."
He frowned. "I understand what you mean by laws, I believe," he said, which made Galadriel furious. That meant he had been well aware that his laws were unjust, and he had still kept them that way. She knew he would claim the pressure of his Sindarin lords, but this was ridiculous.
"But customs?" Amdír asked.
"You can keep your Sindarin city," Ealc replied, "as many of them as you want, in fact, but it won't be the capital. The capital will be open to us all, if you want us to respect you as king. And we'll have places on the council."
"The council is big enough already, I can't..."
Ealc shrugged, like that, too, was of no consequence. "So some of your Sindarin lords will leave it," she said. "There are too many of them anyway, seeing how few Sindar live in this realm."
Amdír opened his mouth, but then closed it again. She was right. If the council was meant to represent all, there was really no reason for so many Sindar there.
The problem, of course, was that the council had never been meant to represent all.
"I'll have to consider this carefully," Amdír said at length. "It's not a decision to be taken lightly."
Ealc thought about it. "Very well," she said, "but I want your word, now and in public, that some changes will happen, if you want us to respect you as king at least until your official stance is announced."
Amdír looked as if he was in enormous pain, but he gave his word.
And so, incredibly enough, changes started to happen.
Some of the Sindar, of course, were muttering about disloyalty and insubordination, but the smarter of them understood it made no sense to apply to the Silvan a concept of loyalty that they never had.
"It goes deeper than that, though," Avorneth pointed out in a discussion with Amroth. "Even if they were Sindar...your father would have failed in his duty to them as king, because he didn't look out for their best interests."
Amroth shook his head at her. "For the Sindar, there's no situation when you can revolt against your king."
Galadriel stared at him. "Forgive me, but you left Lindon, and then you left Oropher. I find it hard to accept that."
"There was no king of the Sindar in Lindon. With Uncle Oropher, it was more complicated, though. Our departure was the result of my father negotiating with him for a very long time. He allowed us to go. We didn't demand it."
Galadriel shook her head, thinking of the Noldorin departure from Aman and then the splintering of their leadership. Had the Sindar been in that situation, she wondered, would they have all stayed in Aman because of their unquestioned loyalty to the Valar, or would they have all gone with Fëanáro, because he was the rightful king?
"It's a good thing, then," Celebrían said, "that the Silvan aren't you, or they'd have never got their justice."
Amroth only sighed. "Let's hope," he said, "that the realm can withstand them getting it."
There were some changes to be made to the laws, but the most visible one was the capital being moved. The Sindarin city would remain in place, but Amdír's house and the seat of his council would be moved to a different location, the place for which was now being decided as the king and his son were scouting the forest, attempting to find a place suitably central and beautiful to live, which was not at the same time yet inhabited by any Silvan group.
"So you will have to move out of the city after all." Galadriel observed to Avorneth with a smile.
"Yes," Avorneth agreed, "but I'll still live in the capital."