Like Mother, Like Son

Like Mother, Like Son

I love that Curufin and Fëanor look almost exactly alike, and I raise you this idea:

When seen from a distance, the tall, burly firstborn son of Fëanor favors his mother Nerdanel far more than his father, with his wild mane of red curls and his tan skin spattered with freckles. His stone-grey eyes are clearly Fëanor's, but he inherited his mother's large hands and broad shoulders; in fact, Nerdanel's almost masculine features are perfectly realized in Maedhros, the tallest of his family, a lordly Elf whose figure looks cut from the marble slabs his mother sculpts so artfully.

His personality is similar to hers as well; though his expression is often perceived to be cold and brooding, he has the same quick wit and observant nature as Nerdanel, and he weighs his words carefully before he speaks them. His lopsided, quirked grin brings to mind his mother's mischievous laughter.

It is why, though she would never say or show it, Maedhros is his mother's favorite son, and why it breaks her heart so to see him leave Valinor with the rest of the Noldor.

So hear me out - but if the feanorians were in our time, they would absolutely have some form of mental health difficulties/things they struggle with, (putting aside whether or not they had smthing like adhd for the second) and this would be very easily shown through their actions, and you could see it in the way they responded to things.

For example, Over-Achieving Perfectionist Feanor- never fully satisfied, constantly needing to be better, best, in everything he did and having tunnel vision when it came to doing that (not in the sense that he can't focus on anything else, simply just that which would effect him reaching his goal).

Compartmentalizing Maedhros- as the eldest child, and one who spent a lot of time doing things for others/having to look out for other people throughout his life, I think that (especially after Angband, but even before) he would find it really difficult to focus on things negatively effecting him unless it would effect his brothers, and would rather just throw it in his mental box for later.

I think that Maglor probably had attatchment issues, I think that with Elrond and Elros a lot is said about potentially he and Mae trying to heal the gaping hole left by their brothers' death, but I also think that for him, as the second eldest, he spent a lot of time helping and looking after his younger brothers, (though not in the same way Mae did) but also spent almost his entire life (depending on what you think of the timeline) with Mae to lean on and depend on, to be the older brother, and with them all dying and the pain of the silmarils that he struggles not to get attached to others.

Celegorm I like to think not necessarily struggles with social interaction, but as he prefers to and does spend the majority of the time outside, with animals and with only his close family for company (i do think he had someone he hunted with but can't remember) and so when he did have to be in large groups with other people would find it awkward as he isn't in the woods anymore, and so he has to behave differently.

Caranthir I think, as the middle child, probably struggles with being surrounded by his wonderful sibilings, (not that he isn't also amazing, I love them all) with wonderfully diplomatic Mae, charismatic and creative Mags, Celegorm with his skill in nature and with animals, Curi of course has his smithing (and I'll speak on that in a sec, but it's time for Cara) and the twins are known as the funny tricksters, and he struggled to find a place for himself. He's normally described as either angry (but that also applies to Curi, Celegorm, and Feanor) and/or as very smart and scholarly (which can also apply to Feanor and Mae, at least in my understanding of these characters ofc) and so finding that space, similarly to Faenor's fears of being replaced by his dad (which I do think caused his perfectionism) was a very large part of his personality.

I think Curufin's issues are spoken about quite easily, but just to add my thoughts, I think that his fear of being like his dad his whole personality probably caused a lot of resentment, and feeling not good enough. I think he probably would have a lot of internalised anger at everyone, and although I do think he did genuinely believe in the Oath (probably the only one who actually did, at least for the majority of it) I think right before he died (and I did see another post though I can't remember who by, if I do I'll tag them but it was brilliant and based off this) and saw his brother's death, that was when he realised that his dad was wrong. I think that was mentally damaging and probably when in Mandos caused him to have slightly difficult trust issues, particularly with Feanor, as he saw it as a personal affront, after all, if he's just like Feanor, and Feanor messed everything up this badly, then what does that make him?

Ambarussa- honestly I think that their main concern would be an identity crisis, with being referred to as Ambarussa, or as the twins they'd feel that they had to be funny or memorable to get people to like them/see them as people, including their own family, and that would cause issues with their relationships later down the line as they would assume that nobody actually liked them, and that they had to work to be liked.

dad of the year

I'm sorry - possibly my fav artist I've found here - I absolutely love how you draw Mae!!!

finally got around to doing proper feanorian full-body refs (in beleriand)… with updated designs!! im still trying to figure out whats my style kkeushefks but im rather pleased with how these turned out for now 😙 heres some more experimental sketches i did to celebrate the end of a rather taxing week hooho

OMG I love this (as fellow eldest in a large family) and this is actually rlly realistic, tho of course I don't of swords lol

Maedhros is ridiculously overprotective

During their childhood if any of the siblings were getting bothered by someone and they yelled for Nelyo he would drop everything and come running immediately. One time at a family gathering Curvo had started a fight with Argon and was losing. Badly. He hadn’t even gotten to the start of the second syllable and Maedhros was pulling them off each other with a first aid kit. He had been at the other side of the house in the middle of a conversation. Curvo hadn’t even yelled that loudly.

One time he found out Kano was being picked on. He was the equivalent of 15 and Maglor was like 12. He found Maglor crying after some 16 year olds had ripped up some of his music sheets. That was the first time Maedhros ever held a sword to someone’s throat. He had to be pulled off by three guards and no one could believe it because he was meant to be the well behaved sibling. When Feanor found out he was ridiculously proud and told Nelyo as much. Nerdanel glared at him disapprovingly but secretly agreed.

I firmly believe that even the whole way through the first age any of the brothers just needs to send one vague letter saying they might be in a bit trouble. Maedhros will be diverting the majority of his army to track them down wherever they are and make sure they’re ok. If Aredhel was Maedhros’ sibling Eol would have been found in a week and would be begging to be killed by the end of the week.

Anytime any of the Sinda diplomats get too aggressive towards Tyelko and Curvo about certain things Nelyo will make it clear that, yes, what they did was wrong and he’s aware they’re adults who made their own choices. But. They are also his little baby brothers so would you be so kind as to take a step back before he does something he most certainly would not regret. Everyone thinks Maedhros is scary enough to negotiate with on political matters. But that’s nothing compared to dealing with Protective Older Brother Maedhros.

Maedhros was very angry about the Angrod incident. He yelled at Caranthir for about half an hour. Moryo had apologised as soon as he’d seen Nelyo’s face but Maedhros still felt as if he couldn’t let his brother off so easily over something like this. He looked down at Caranthir’s face while he was in the middle of it and then he just stopped. Because that’s Moryo. This isn’t some general who went against his orders, that’s his baby brother and he looks like he’s about to cry. And he just hugs him. He knows it’s not even remotely the right thing to do, he can’t just not punish his brothers after they jeopardise relations with their allies. But damn it, he just can’t cope with any of his siblings look at him like that.

Maedhros loves his siblings a lot ok? Is this sort of about Maedhros losing the older sibling poll? Maybe.