Angband Headcanon - Tumblr Posts

An Angband headcanon

Angband is designed to be horrific, an abomination of architecture and iron that just looks plain wrong to any incarnate except orcs. It’s a twisting labyrinth of Escher-esque horrors -a contorting mess that would make anyone violently sick if they tried to map it out if they were anything less than a maiar.

Everything in Angband is horrific. Everything except him.

Mairon is beautiful. A single spot of beauty and order in the Iron Hells.

And that draws the elves to him. And they can’t help it. Really they can’t. But he makes something in their hindbrains scream safety in the midst of all the chaos. All they have to do to stay near him is follow his rules. And of course, if the rules get broken, punishment follows.

Its kinder for him to punish them than abandon them to the endless twisting corridors to be picked off by orcs and... other things.

He lets them stay near him, lets them have important roles in his experiments, lets them be useful to him down in the mines.

And they love him for it.

Agriculture in Angband

Elves are good with plants. They always have been- one of the first things they learnt at Cuivienen was how to sing to plants to yield their fruits. Ever have they been in tune with nature and the world around them.

And this is so useful for Angband,

Elves adore nature; everything from the smallest fungi to the largest tree. They cannot help but want to live among it. And Angband needs food for its army.

Being transferred to Agriculture is the ultimate goal for the elves of Angband. If they could just be better, more obedient, more productive, more loyal, then they have a slim chance of being able to be among nature again. Oh, they know it wouldn't really change anything about their situation, but it would make everything so much more bearable. They could live with it. They would put up with anything to be among nature again. They would do anything. And they do.

Angband has a remarkably docile agricultural sector. 

Bred in captivity

It is soon discovered that it takes effort to breed elves in Angband.

Orcs breed like rats, and Maiar and Balrogs can’t properly die, and thus don’t really need to be replaced.

But elves come with problems.

No matter how many threats Mairon makes, no matter the methods he uses, he cannot get results. And he tries mostly everything. Melkor wants more elf-slaves, wants the freedom to kill them without decreasing their already dwindling stock.

So, Mairon tries something new.

There are rooms in the upper levels of Angband. Rooms populated by elves taken in early childhood so they do not know the world outside. They are weavers and spinners- nothing like the toiling labour of other captives. They are treated well; kept away from the worst parts of the fortress, and especially from other elves. They are kept happy.

And if the price of this is giving up their children to their masters, well. Its not like they know any better.

A diagram of the some of the more common injuries among the elves of Angband. Longer explanation under the cut.

Elves working under Sauron directly often work either as healers or lab assistants or both, and that means they have to wash their hands a lot. This is done with soap with large amounts of caustic soda (lye) because Sauron 1. enjoys cleanliness 2. enjoys watching them wince as they do it.

Weavers/textile workers only develop calluses because they need to be kept happy so they can breed to supply more elves.

Agricultural workers get larger rations because agricultural work is not only physically demanding, its a reward for especially loyal elves, so extra rations are part of their ‘reward’ (they still aren't enough though). Because of the higher risk of infection, overseers are only allowed to use blunt force trauma as a punishment so there isn't a high turn-over rate.

Mining is the lowest position an elf can hold, and so comes with a variety of health problems. Overseers are authorised to whip/beat them, or break bones if they want to. Elves often develop severe lung conditions from toxic fumes or inhaling dust, and its very common to die that way. Miners are also intentionally denied water and food, so dying of dehydration or starvation is also common. It’s also the norm for miners to develop muscular/skeletal issues,

most overseers do not target the legs- an elf can work more with a bad arm than a bad leg.

None of this applies to elves in the throne room. They exist purely at Morgoth’s whim.