Chapter 84: Frustration
Year 1810 of the Third Age, Lindórinand
„Conquer," Tugu said once the council was over and the immediate problems settled. „That's the only thing Gondor can do. Conquer, conquer, conquer."
"Umbar was continually attacking them," Galadriel pointed out. "They are traditionally loyalist of the Usurper. Surely you can't sympathise with them? I remember how much you despised him."
"Oh yes," Tugu confirmed. "If I could believe the reason for the campaign was solely the desire to ensure the safety of Gondor, I could cope with it easily. But unfortunately, I was there." She shook her head. "He changed his name! That ridiculous king actually changed is name in celebration! To pat himself on the back, to show what a great conqueror he is! There are crucial fortresses vacant on the borders of Mordor just as the darkness is rising again, but no, the king decides he has men to spare to gain himself a fancy title!"
Tugu had a point, but Galadriel also could not help but be amused. "If Magrandoro is as you say it is," she remarked, "I don't understand how you could have survived there."
"And why do you think I convinced my parents to get away?" Tugu asked with a chuckle, but then grew serious. "Whatever my objections against the realm – and there were many -"
"Is there something you don't have many objections against?" Galadriel asked conversationally.
Tugu gave it some serious thought. "Not truly," she admitted. "In any case, there were some grave injustices to be found in that realm, but its king was actually a good king. For the kind of realm it was, at least. I didn't agree with many of their rules and customs, but he did his duty wisely and justly and with the best interest of his people at heart. I consider Amroth a relatively good king, but he dislikes the office and it shows. King of Magrandoro was born for it." She cocked her head. "Like you, a little."
Galadriel sighed. "Do you mean to make me feel even more sorry that I never travelled that far when I still could have?"
"I'm not certain he'd receive you, though perhaps if you travelled as an official envoy of a king, he would have. There weren't many strangers, outsiders or newcomers at his court."
"If I understand you correctly, there were not many in his kingdom."
"True enough."
"At any rate, whatever you think about Gondor's priorities, it's a good thing that Umbar isn't a danger any more," Galadriel returned to the original topic. "Both Angmar and the Necromancer are gaining strength, and we will need to concentrate on that."
"Angmar too? Again?" Tugu asked, frustrated. "I thought Elrond was finally successful in hic campaign – when was it, a century ago?."
"It was pushed back a good deal, but not eradicated, unfortunately," Galadriel replied, something she had said to many times before, "and it's gaining strength again. But the difference now is that...Arthedain is in no shape to fight it now, and Elrond can't do it alone. We'll need an alliance if we want to as much as push them back again for a time once more, let alone have any hope of getting rid of that danger once and for all. And we will need Arthedain back on its feet."
"Why wasn't it eradicated this last time, anyway?" Tugu asked.
"No one truly knows," Galadriel admitted, her fears showing through. "We push them back, and they always rise again. It makes me worried about that Witch-King of theirs. I was inclined not to believe it was Gorthaur, but now, as I watch this ability...it could be. It very well could be."
"You don't think a Ringwraith could do that?" Tugu was curious.
"I don't know, to be honest," Galadriel said with a sigh. "We know so little about them, except for their abilities on the battlefield...we don't even know if they can exist and serve Gorthaur, without him having the ring."
"What if he does?"
Galadriel shook her head resolutely. "We'd know. The moment he finds it, we will." Tugu didn't need to know about the ring on Galadriel's finger, but this reassurance was probably healthy.
Tugu shrugged. "Very well, I believe you, but then why assume the Witch-King is a Ringwraith?"
"Because it is the closet we know to a creature of this sort. It might be some entire new horror, too, of course. Gorthaur is ever full of surprises."
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Not too long after this talk, she headed to Khazad-dûm to speak to the dwarves about the latest war development.
"At least some good news," King Oin muttered.
"Why, have there been some bad ones?"
"I would say! The dragons are on the move again, and this time on a larger scale."
Galadriel closed her eyes. "This is not unrelated," she muttered.
"Probably not," he agreed, "though I'm surprised – I thought you said that the dragons wouldn't listen to Gorthaur?"
"Not the way they listened to the Enemy," she confirmed, "but Gorthaur has other ways. He is the master of cajoling and persuading, and I suppose not even the dragons are immune to that. We don't know what he promised them, but it must have been something worthy."
"He promised them my people's realms, most likely," the king muttered.
"Unfortunately, you are probably right, though that might be just the beginning." She sighed. "I'm only surprised Mordor is still uninhabited, even though Gondor is no longer guarding it so closely. All the other signs that war will be upon us soon are here."
"What do you mean when you say soon, elf?"
"A few centuries."
He chuckled darkly. "Ah, I rather thought so. Well, I won't live long enough to see it, then."
"But your grandson just might," she pointed out.
"Yes. I wasn't trying to get out of doing our part, don't worry."
"I'm afraid we won't be able to help with the dragons this time," Galadriel said frankly. "Elrond has his hands full with Angmar."
"I'm aware. At this point, I'm not too keen to send our boys either. There's too much danger all around. But we will make mithril armour, and we will send that at least."
"I thought there was little enough mithril left in Khazad-dûm?"
He shook his head. "There is enough of it. It's just deeper than we'd normally go."
Galadriel frowned. "Why?"
"There are dangers in the depths of the mountains, as you yourself warned us, and we were getting too close to them."
This worried Galadriel. "Are you certain, in that case, that it's wise to mine there?" She asked cautiously.
He gave her a pointed look. "The dragons are a certainty. Angmar and the Necromancer near enough to that, too. I will take my chances with the depth and its uncertainty against this."
Galadriel sighed. She did not like it, but she could not argue with his logic. She, too, would have taken every chance had it meant increased hopes of defeating Sauron, or any of the other dark creatures that seemed to be swarming over Middle-Earth in the last centuries.
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The news from dwarves, in turn, necessitated speaking to Elrond and Gandalf both.
She could feel Elrond's guilt at his inability to send anyone to help against the dragons at this time before he even said anything, and forestalled him. I wonder, she said, if this is how you and Artanáro usually felt when you saw my guilt over the realms I saw fall. But this is truly excessive. Not even I felt this way for being unable to prevent, say, Ondolindë from falling,
You were living in a desperate last colony of elves in Middle-Earth, Elrond pointed out. It was rather different, I would say.
Together with Balar, we did not have that much less people than Rivendell does.
No – but you faced a much more dreadful enemy.
Galadriel had to concede that was true, but then she shook her head. Are we in truth discussing it? I only used it as an example to show you the absurdity of this particular guilt, from my point of view. I can understand what you feel for Númenórë to a degree – perhaps even Arnor – but this is too much.
He smiled, sadly. I suppose I will have to take you as the expert on guilt and accept that, he said.
My concern is more practical, Galadriel said after a moment. What if the dragons are successful? What does that mean for us?
Surely not much? It is not as if the Red Mountain dwarves were our allies. She sensed his hesitation, and then he added: In fact, terrible as it is to say, if they perish, it might weaken Sauron in the upcoming war.
Yes, she admitted, that is not the concern I have – not the practical one, at least. But what of the dragons, then?
You know that better than I do, he pointed out.
She shook her head, even though he could not see her. When I knew them, they were in service to the Enemy. It is difficult for me to judge what they will do as independent, and how successful Sauron can be in getting them on his side.
They are attracted to the gold, are they not? So will they stay with it?
I hope so. All my wisdom tells me they should – unless they get a strong impetus to the opposite. And that impetus we cannot predict.
There seems very little we can predict about them. He sighed. I will ask Erestor, perhaps he can dig something up in the books that will help us.
I am not certain that the practical experience of Lord Laurefindil would not be more valuable in this, Galadriel replied, but I do not know the entire content of your library, of course. You took a good part of what was most valuable in Caras Aear with you. There might be something.
I will do my best to find it, he promised.
He left her to do just that, she assumed, and so she turned her mind to Olórin to give him the news.
He was worried. I would go there, he said, to check how bad it is, but it is too far for me to be willing to venture. I do not wish to leave the vicinity of the Shadow in Mirkwood now. Still, scouts would be...good.
Normally I would ask if Elladan and Elrohir were willing to go, even though it is further than they ever venture...but now is not the time.
Olórin quite agreed. Do you have anyone in your kingdom who could be willing to go?
Perhaps Tugu, Galadriel replied. She enjoys travel, and indeed is never content when she sits in one place for too long. But she has just returned from Gondor, and I wish to give her a little respite with her husband before I send her away again.
I suppose there is no immediate hurry, Olórin said. The dragons did not move too quickly last time, from what you have told me, so hopefully they will not do so now either.
Does your wisdom tell you anything about that?
She sensed the answer even before she heard his voice in her mind. I do not know any more than what you have told me, he said. Not about this.
For a thousandth time in her life, Galadriel lamented the decision to leave the envoys so little of the knowledge they had from the West.Where are you now? She asked curiously.
In Harad, he replied.
She laughed at that. Did you not say you did not wish to go too far from the Shadow of Mirkwood? That seems far enough.
Only about as far as when I go to to the Grey Havens.
That means it is further than to the Withered Heath.
That is true, he conceded. But it is on a good road, and I know I could be back in a month or two if something arose. Withered Heath would be close enough, I suppose – as long as Thranduil let me pass through his realm unopposed, there are ways to travel reasonably quickly a good part of the way – but very likely the exploration would take me further East to track the movement of dragons, and returning from beyond Mirkwood is always more time-consuming.
I will have to take your word for it, Galadriel replied, regretful once more that she had never gone there. I suppose it is not a wonder that the Easterlings do not wish to build good roads for Gondorin armies to march on. Their own armies do not need them.
Not only armies, Olórin added. I have not been to the true East myself, but from what Curunír told me, it is a very poor man indeed who does not have a horse in those lands.
Galadriel raised her eyebrows at that. In Gondor, she knew, owning a horse was quite a luxury, and even in Númenórë it had not been quite so common. She wondered. Will you ask him about the dragons? She queried. I know he is studied in lore – he might know something, even if this is not his usual field of focus.
She could hear the amused astonishment in the tone of his mental voice as he replied, You, asking for Curunír's help? The times are truly coming to an end, my friend.
Well, I am asking you to ask him – that makes it easier, she replied jokingly before growing serious and saying, I know I am unjust to him. I am trying to be better in this, truly I am, but it is difficult. He sits ill with me for some reason.
I would not discount your premonitions even when I cannot agree with them, he returned. It does no harm for you to be cautious, if you remain aware that your prejudice has no basis so far. He paused. In fact, I have already discussed the dragons with him – only in theory, you understand, as it was before receiving thee most recent news – and I fear his position is unlikely to endear him to you. He counselled against any intervention in the East.
Why? Galadriel wondered.
He argues that, as the dwarves of the Red Mountains fought on the side of the Enemy, it will only benefit us if they are to be eliminated.
Galadriel was shocked. She had considered this fact herself, of course, with Elrond just recently, but merely as a thing to be aware of. They would not let it actually influence their decision, had she any forces to send East. Was it truly only her own prejudice against Curunír, or was everything about this man – this Maia – very sinister?
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Amroth returned from a trip to Mirkwood, where he had not gone for a very long time, in a melancholy mood.
"I thought," he told Galadriel, "that they exaggerated when they spoke of the darkness in the forest, but it is truly changed beyond recognition. It is...painful to see."
"Do you remember it fondly?"
"It was only my home for a short time, and not as a place of my birth, but still...it was an important moment, moving away east, someone so close to me by blood becoming king...I do have a special relationship to that place, in spite of everything. But it is gone now."
Galadriel put a hand on his arm. "Don't despair," she said. "It might be green again one day, when we defeat the evil there."
"It is difficult not to despair at times," he returned. "After all, how can you defeat the evil when Thranduil will not allow it?"
Galadriel only pressed his arm harder, and after a moment, he sighed and said: "It is hard to hope when I feel like the last possible source of it has perished. Thranduil finally married."
"Oh?" Galadriel had stopped hoping for that a long time ago. "And he never as much as notified you?"
"You know how he is."
"I do indeed. Do you believe his wife will not be a good influence, then?"
"She most certainly is – she lifts his dark moods and makes him smile – but I am not certain she is interested in influencing his politics in any way. I tried speaking to her, but she was not...receptive."
"Do you think she thought you were trying to turn her against him?"
"Possibly, but mostly, my impression was that she was simply not interested. She cares for her husband, and her family, and her friends, and for singing and dancing. Anything beyond that..."
"Don't despise her for it," Galadriel said. "There is nothing wrong with it."
"Not in a regular elf, certainly," he agreed, "but in a queen?"
"Ah, but she did not choose to feel the Flame for him. You should know that better than most," galadriel said pointedly.
Amroth only sighed in response.
"Has there been any development on that front?" Galadriel enquired.
"Of a sort – Nimrodel has now told me, with finality, that had I not been knig she would marry me. I am...more tempted that I should be. I know I cannot abandon my people in these difficult times, but it is coming to feel more and more like a ball on my leg."
Galadriel gave him a beseeching look. "Wait until the current dangers are dealt with, at least," she implored him.
"What, until the Shadow is eliminated? We have just discussed that there seems to be no hope for that in any foreseeable future."
"Then until Angmar is eliminated. Please."
"I will...try," he replied, heavily.
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As was to be expected, Celebrían and her children came to Lindórinand some years later, to be safe from Angmar.
Celebrían was no less frustrated by this than the last time, and she was having harder time masking it.
"Understand him, beloved," Celeborn said. "He worries. I am glad you are here in safety as well."
"Of course you are," she replied sharply. "I wonder, did you try to keep Mother cocooned in warm blankets during the First Age, too?"
Celeborn smiled at the idea. "I knew when we married there would be no hope of that."
"Precisely. Aredhel, too, refused to be kept locked somewhere, and so did Sarnel and Ohtarwen and many others. Lúthien, when her father locked her up, escaped."
Celeborn flinched at this implicit comparison. "Most of them died of it," he reminded her sharply.
"Lúthien did not, and neither did my mother."
"Yes, because they-"
Galadriel, who had only been watching the conversation until now, intervened at this point, knowing what Celeborn meant to say and that it would only make matters worse."Beloved," she said, knowing she would draw her daughter's ire towards herself, "this is not your father's fault in any sense. Do not take your anger out on him."
"Should I switch to you, then?"
"If you wish." I certainly deserve it more, she thought bitterly.
"I remember your stories," Celebrían said. "You always defended all of these ladies, and their choices, against their fathers and husbands. Where is that defence when it comes to me?"
"Is it not usual that a mother should be worried for her daughter, too?"
"Oh, certainly – but for you to be worried about me is a strange idea indeed."
Distantly, in the small area of her mind that was not screaming in pain at those words, Galadriel wondered how could Celeborn ever have thought that Ceůebrían did not have his failing of saying hurtful things when angry.
"Celebrían," he now said, sharply, but she only gave him a level look that did not give in an inch.
Galadriel, when she could speak again, decided not to argue the point, and instead said: "Surely if nothing else, you can understand how completely devastated Elrond would be if something happened to you?"
"Oh, of course, Elrond! I never doubted you would take care to regard his well-being-"
"He is your husband, I would have thought-"
It was in this moment that Avorneth fairly burst into the room, Arwen at her heels.
When Celebrían set her eyes on her daughter, she froze, and swallowed whatever it was she had been about to say. The silence was very loud for a moment, then Avorneth marched to her best friend and hooked her arm under Celebrían's.
"Come," she said, "let us walk together," and effectively marched Celebrían out of the room.
"What happened?" Arwen asked, sounding a little lost, when it was only her and her grandparents left in the room.
Galadriel gave a very long and deep exhale. "Your mother wishes to be by your father's side," she said then, and left as well. Surely, for once, Celeborn could handle his granddaughter and her curious questions.
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AN: Because fuck the notion that the dwarves dug "to deep" because of their "greed." Seriously. Did you forget what mithril was used for, Gandalf?