The Elf King

(A/N: Sorry about the wait. Been really busy with courses et al. And I kind of lost my motivation for a while. Still don't have a lot of it, but I really wanted to get this one up. It seems the 'less wise more dangerous' term implies to most that the elves of Mirkwood are not as good as those of the Noldor et al. I prefer looking a bit deeper into it than that. That's what this oneshot kind of tries to get across. No so much that 'less wise and more dangerous' is a bad thing, but that it just means their strengths are a little deeper and subtler than that. More dangerous, after all.)

Of Wisdom and Guile

"Ada, ada!" little Legolas cried out, racing towards his father's throne in tears. Thranduil tilted his head ever so slightly as the little elfling sprang up into his lap and threw his arms around him, sobbing. Thranduil blinked then softly placed a hand on the small of his child's back, gently rubbing it.

"Little Leaf, what troubles you so?" he questioned his son in a murmur, gently tipping Legolas's chin up.

"Th-the other-other little elflings vist-visiting from-from Lorien were-were saying such mean things about you, Ada," Legolas said, body shaking with emotion. "And-and I tried to defend you but-but I couldn't because I do not know, ada, I don't!"

"Do not know what, tithen-las?" Thranduil cooed gently.

"If-if they speak truth or not," Legolas said, hanging his head.

"What mean things have they said, little Greeenleaf?" Thranduil coaxed patiently, softly thumbing away the tears on Legolas's cheeks. He would do this for the others once upon a time… When they had still been there…

"They say you are a coward, Ada. They say you are afraid of the world and what lies beyond the forests. They say that most of all you are afraid of the Lady of Lorien and dare not go near her for terror of what she can do. They say why else would you not let her into Mirkwood? They say she can read your mind and that that frightens you more than anything else," Legolas answered. "They say she could be queen and overthrow you like-like Luthien helped Beren overthrow their enemies and that you could not hope to stand to her and that is why you are a coward."

LotR

Thranduil listened to his son's explanation, vague amusement in his eyes. Gently he stroked his little one's flowing hair. "I do not fear the world, Legolas. Nor do I fear what lies beyond the forest. I have seen it. Many times. I do not trust the world, penneth, and from it I hide because though I do not fear it, I fear what it can do to our people. I fear losing you more than anything else. I fear watching my subjects suffer and die or become enslaved. For that reason I avoid the world because here in this forest such dangers are present enough, and I will not spread my diminishing people any thinner. Not only for the sake of the kingdom, but for the sakes of the subjects within as well. And for your sake."

"Wh-what of the L-Lady of the Golden Wood?" Legolas questioned, wiping his eyes though he felt a little bit better. "What can I say to them then, Ada?"

A mysterious smirk pulled at the corner of Thranduil's lips, his eyes becoming distant and far away as he turned his head in the general direction of Lorien. "You will tell them, tithen-pen, that there is a reason why the white lady does not step inside the boundaries of my kingdom. And it is not because I have forbade it. If that were so, Lord Celeborn would not be allowed entry either."

"Why does she not come, Ada?" Legolas questioned, burning with interest.

Thranduil turned his head back to his son. "It is because she is frightened of me," he answered.

"But they have said she is more powerful than you," Legolas protested.

"They are correct, little one. She is more powerful than I," Thranduil admitted.

"They say she can read minds, even yours," Legolas said.

"They are correct also in that," Thranduil answered.

"Then why should she be frightened of you?" Legolas questioned, eyes wide in curiosity.

Thranduil smirked. "Because she has seen all that I am capable of, and she knows that though she is so, so powerful, she does not believe she could stand," he said.

"I do not understand, Ada," Legolas said in confusion.

"Nor will you ever fully understand, Little Leaf, for that is between she and I," Thranduil answered.

"Tell me, ada, please!" Legolas begged.

Thranduil softly nuzzled his son's nose with his before drawing back. "I will endeavor to explain to you what I can," he said. When all was said and done, though, it was and would always remain an unspoken understanding between him and her; a chess match or some other sort of game between them. "Bring the other elflings here, tithen-las, and I will tell them the words you will remember and one day say if challenged in such a way again," he said. Legolas sniffed, blinking up at his ada with wide eyes, curiosity burning him. He nodded and climbed off of ada's lap, scampering away to fetch the visiting elflings from Lorien, who had come with Lord Celeborn on his journey here to meet with Thranduil. He was dying to know what story his ada would tell them.

LotR

"Tell them about the mind reading, ada," Legolas pled when he returned with the other elflings, all of which looked nervous. "Tell them why you do not fear it."

Thranduil scanned the young ones. "Sit, little ones," he commanded. "Sit, and I will give you a task." The elflings uneasily sat along with Legolas. Thranduil scanned them silently, ensuring they were listening well. "When you return to Lorien, you will find the Lady Galadriel, and you will say to her, 'My lady and queen, why do you ne'er voyage into the realm of King Thranduil? Are you not more powerful and wise than he? Can you not enter his mind and know his every thought and plan?'" The little ones exchanged curious looks then parroted the question back to him, ensuring they remembered the words. "Very good… And I will tell you, now, exactly what she will say to you when you question her."

The eyes of the children widened. "Can you too read minds, ada?!" Legolas exclaimed in wonder.

"I do not have to, little Greenleaf," Thranduil responded, though he did not give his son an answer as to whether he could or couldn't, leaving Legolas and the other elflings to marvel and wonder. "I do not have to read her mind to know her thoughts."

"Ada!" Legolas protested. He did not like ada dancing around his questions like this. It confused him and made him burn with curiosity and desire to know. Thranduil, though, would say nothing more to his son of the matter.

"You will ask her the question I have given you to ask, and she will answer…" Thranduil began.

LotR

"Because I have looked inside of his mind once before… Never again will I venture into it," Galadriel answered, her closed eyes opening as she took in the question the elflings had asked. At least, she would not enter it for any other reason than to communicate with him. "There were things I saw within the recesses of his mind… Things that even I could not bear…" she murmured. "And he found me there, gazing silent and stricken with shock."

"How could he find you in his mind?" one elfling questioned.

Galadriel blinked at the little one but did not answer immediately. Soon, however, she replied, "Because his mind is an unnavigable maze through which he leads you and guides you and tricks you to where he wishes you to be. He gives no choice, he shows you only the path he wishes for you to follow… And follow I did… He found me, and there he spoke to me…

I stood still, expressionless, and I felt and saw within me everything. I found my way through his mind, through the mazes and riddles and every barrier he set before me, though the task was daunting; and even still I felt, as I stood there, as if he had only been toying with me. Leading me to where he desired me to go. It was so tiring… My head ached with the effort to find my way to where I believed I wished to be, and all of my effort was only rewarded by what lay before my eyes in that place in his mind and heart. Death. Carnage. Despair… I saw a dragon approaching. I felt the fire hot against my skin, agonizing, and yet I knew the pain I felt was not half of what it had truly been. A silent tear slipped down my cheek as I saw the death and smelled the blood, as I witnessed Doriath tumble and his mother slaughtered…

I closed my eyes tightly when upon the Dead Marshes Oropher fell. Butchered. Body left to sink and rot in the marshes, and spirit… Who was to say if it had even been able to cross to Mandos's Halls? It should not be like that, for elves, yet as I watched I was no longer sure of my own thoughts. I saw him press his lips against his dead father's icy hand as Oropher disappeared from sight. I knew not if the king had sunk into the marsh. I knew not where Thranduil was. Had he left to fight? Had he been drawn away by force? I could not see. He would not let me. He knew I was prying into his mind, and he would not allow the intrusion more than he already had. What befell Oropher's body in that place was lost to me, and there was nothingness…

He stood, then, before me. Silent. Eyes so empty and cold. He had loved, once… He had loved so deeply that he could not go near it anymore. He could not speak of it or act upon it. It was not to be talked of, it was not to be touched, for to love was to suffer so, so greatly… His life was a never ending sacrifice, and along the way he had lost everything… I had suffered much in my time, and I had suffered greatly. So greatly I cannot even describe in words. I knew pain intimately… and even still I felt like falling to my knees and weeping for him…"

"What did he do?" one of the elflings asked in awe, wide-eyed and mouth agape.

"He came next to me and he said, 'Have you had your fill, White Lady?' I knew, then, that I had seen only what he had allowed me to see. I realized I had not seen the death of his children, nor the death of his wife. Those losses were too painful, perhaps, for him to even acknowledge. I did not dare try to find them and venture back into that world he locked away in the labyrinth he had created of his mind. I could not traverse it again without losing my sanity in his maddening illusions and games and false paths," Galaadriel answered. "I looked up at him slowly, my eyes cold and bitter and yet so pitying… 'You have won,' I conceded. He released me from the prison of his mind, and I did not dare look back ever again."

"My lady and queen, you have answered why you do not enter his mind, but you have yet to answer the question of why you ne'er voyage into his realm. Are you not more powerful and wise than he?" one of the elflings asked curiously. "It is said his people are less wise and more dangerous, after all."

Galadriel was quiet, tilting her head ever so slightly. "Less wise and more dangerous, perhaps, but what they lack in wisdom they more than make up for in guile. Guile is what makes them truly dangerous; and none more guileful than the elvenking… When wisdom and guile meet, little elflings, it is not wisdom that oft comes out the victor, for wisdom is based in logic and philosophy, in experience and desire for betterment. Wisdom is not confrontational. Guile, for its part, is knowing how to use the wisdom one has. Guile is knowing how to exploit your own weaknesses and those of others. Guile is to know that your enemy knew you and then to do something unexpected. Or considering your enemy is guileful themselves, something expected which would, to them, be unexpected. Guile is to keep your enemy guessing and always on their guard, and for all of my wisdom I have not his guile. And he is wise to start, even without guile, though not so wise as those of the Noldor. At least, those of the Noldor who are very much older than he… And there are very few Noldor left still living that are older than Thranduil, let alone who have seen even a fraction of what he has or who can boast even an inkling of his experience."

"What of power and why you have not ventured forth into his realm?" another elfling asked.

"Little ones, there is power and knowing how to use it, and then there is power and knowing how to manipulate it. He is powerful. Not as powerful as I, but powerful nonetheless. And he knows how to manipulate it. Very much so. The blood of the Vanyar resides somewhere in his bloodline, of that you can be sure, and that too serves to his advantage," Galadriel answered. She looked up towards the sky and for a moment was silent. Soon, though, she continued. "Of all the power he possesses, his illusions are most powerful of all. They are his focus. They are where his energy was exerted, and though I am more powerful overall, he far surpassed any other in the art of illusion. He ere has and ere will. He knows manipulation and lies, he knows illusion and mind games. What power he has he understands how to manipulate… I do not venture into his realm for fear of what I will behold, for fear of the tricks he will play…"

LotR

"For every illusion and every image seen in that dark forest is tailored to each one who enters it, and oft even whole groups. Venture off of the path in that land, and you will not be seen again unless he so wills it. How can you stay on a path, children, when the path you see is never the right one?" Thranduil finished telling the children, quoting what it was that the Lady Galadriel would say to them when they went to her. The elflings left silently in wonder, digesting all they had been told. And when they brought the question to Galadriel, they departed from her presence much the same.

Galadriel watched after them silently. She did not dare imagine what illusion would be tailored to her, nor did she ever intend to find out. The Lady of the Golden Wood rose from her place beside Celeborn, who watched her silently, and left. She had certain matters to attend to.

LotR

You are bold, elven king, her voice said in his mind. Too bold.

It was not boldness on my part, Artanis, he answered, pacing around her as she was pacing around him. Merely suggestion. I gave them a task. It was their choice whether or not they desired to know. He trailed off. You need not fear entering my lands, Lady Galadriel. You will be spared my illusions, as your husband oft is.

Do the rumors disturb you, elvenking? Those that say my refusal to come is because you have forbid me out of fear? She questioned.

He smirked ever so slightly, almost mockingly, before the smirk vanished. On the contrary. I welcome it. Let them think what they will. It is better to be underestimated, I think, than overestimated. He turned his back on her and walked away, cloak dragging behind him. She watched silently after him. They saw him exactly as he wanted them to. Mortals, elves, her… They all saw him just as he pleased, for his illusions were masterful… She smiled to herself and cut off her connection with him.