(no subject)

[psocoptera]

Am seeing Two Towers again tomorrow. V. excited.

Have been wanting to write something Tolkien. Despite meaning to respect the integrity of the books, this does, alas, use the phrase "silken elf-locks". Spoilers for Return of the King appendices. 174 words.


Gimli sits in the prow of the ship, his fingers wrapped in strands of gold. His beard has long since gone white, his eyesight is failing and he dozes often. Once while asleep Galadriel's hair blew away on the wind; Legolas replaced it with three strands of his own. He does not know if Gimli cannot tell or does not mind.

It is Legolas who looks back, although the shore has long since passed beyond even his eyes, keen though they are as ever. He had begged Arwen to come with them, in the end, until she laid her white fingers across his lips. "Remember him for me," she had said, only that and "Remember me for him." Memories are weightless as footsteps on snow; by the side of the ship Legolas had broken all his arrows, his ship's sails need no attention and so he has nothing to fill his empty hands.

In the bow Gimli runs silken elf-locks through his cracked fingers and smiles sleepily. The water grows paler every mile.

Comments

[psocoptera.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I feel very honored now.

For what it's worth, I don't see this Legolas and Gimli as having ever had sex, or kissed, or had UST... exactly. I think they're the most important person in each other's lives (well, actually I think that much is canon) and it's slash to the extent that maybe there could be some chivalry-romance kinds of elements to that, like carrying tokens from each other, or praising each other in rather poetic terms. But sex? No. And I don't think it's a matter of height, to me... I don't think anyone in Middle Earth has sex. The elves are tall, but can you picture Elrond having sex? Or Galadriel giving birth? One might think they must have, but I find it more plausible that the begetting of children in Middle Earth is not accomplished by biology but by the drawing of little lines on geneological charts. Even if you're the pre-eminent human couple of Middle Earth, you don't have sex, you stand on a wall and let your hair mingle in the wind.* That said, I'm all in favor of elf/dwarf slash that respects that, if you would even call it "slash" without the sexual element, or given that they are together as permanent comrades in canon, not to start a huge debate about the definition of "slash". Er, I guess I mean I feel that there's interpretational space around "companions" and "friends" and "life partners" that can be interesting without getting into icky
"he hefted his hefty dwarf thews over the slender limbs of the elf" territory, not that I have any idea exactly what a thew is.

*Which might work as a reproductive method if you're a fern, or perhaps an Ent.

Re:

[myalexandria.livejournal.com]

I think thews are clothing. though I could be mistaken. Pants, more or less. :-)

[kelilah.livejournal.com]

Um, you would, in fact, be mistaken. Thews are, like, muscles and sinews. Which makes more sense, because "mighty pants" just makes me laugh.