Session 5-15 & 5-16: Season Outline

Sounds great, @MithLuin - you’ve covered all the stuff that I can think of at least. I’m thinking the Fëanorean that meets her and Eöl has to be Amras. She wouldn’t be that interested in trying to talk to him in private. And he won’t go out of his way to make it happen if it doesn’t happen by chance, he is nihilistic enough to not care about what she’s up to that much.
And certainly negligent enough to not think much about it if she wanders off on her own.
 
Sounds great, @MithLuin - you’ve covered all the stuff that I can think of at least. I’m thinking the Fëanorean that meets her and Eöl has to be Amras. She wouldn’t be that interested in trying to talk to him in private. And he won’t go out of his way to make it happen if it doesn’t happen by chance, he is nihilistic enough to not care about what she’s up to that much.

I'm not sure what any of the other Fëanorians would be able to do about the situation even if they did get her alone. Are they going to kidnap her back from the guy she's clearly gone all-in for?
 
I'm not sure what any of the other Fëanorians would be able to do about the situation even if they did get her alone. Are they going to kidnap her back from the guy she's clearly gone all-in for?
Curufin certainly expresses the desire to kill Eöl when it's just him and Eöl while Eöl is following Maeglin and Aredhel, but declines to.
 
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I'm not sure what any of the other Fëanorians would be able to do about the situation even if they did get her alone. Are they going to kidnap her back from the guy she's clearly gone all-in for?
I’m not sure what any of them would achieve, but Caranthir would risk creating a dramatic scene, and Aredhel would herself want to talk to Celegorm or Curufin.
 
I guess I'm just not sure what the downside of her getting alone with them is.
The downside would be putting her and the Fëanoreans in a position in which it would be hard to argue that she’d go back to Nan Elmoth and they’d let her.
 
The downside would be putting her and the Fëanoreans in a position in which it would be hard to argue that she’d go back to Nan Elmoth and they’d let her.

So how do they prevent her if she's dead set on doing so, though? Her own brother couldn't keep her in his own kingdom.
 
So how do they prevent her if she's dead set on doing so, though? Her own brother couldn't keep her in his own kingdom.
Right, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try. We’d end up creating a conflict situation which would force us to deal with questions like “why doesn’t Celegorm follow Aredhel to Nan Elmoth”. Sure, we could create some scenes showing him do that, and how Húan tries to deal with Eöl’s weird magic, a scene with Curufin and Maedhros wondering what to do and a scene with Maedhros telling Fingon that they know where Aredhel is but there’s nothing to do about it because she has decided to live with this strange Dark Elf. Fingon would be upset and I’m not sure it would stop there, given Fingon’s personality. If Amras is the one who encounters her, which would also be logical since he lives close to the Dwarven cities, he could just let it go. It’s not just that this doesn’t create the need to write a lot of scenes. Aredhel is missing, mysteriously, and I think we should keep it a mystery as much as we can. Meeting someone she knows is a potential problem already, but we limit that significantly if it’s Amras.
 
I mean, Huan is certainly an expert at fetching elves protected by enchantments since they can't stop him =D It would be fun to have Huan visit Eol's house when Eol isn't there - I don't think she would want to leave, and the Feanorians and Huan wouldn't abduct her. Maybe Aredhel can talk doggy language as well? She is an old hunting buddy of Celegorm, back from the Valinorean days.
 
I’m all for fleshing out the Silmarillion stories but I hope we don’t go in this direction. I can see a process ending up with Húan entering Nan Elmoth too late though. He could enter after Eöl has left for Gondolin.
Alright, that’s a compromise I could accept. The Fëanoreans find out about her whereabouts but too late or getting there takes time, so they get there after Eöl has left for Gondolin. We could tell the story so the viewers don’t know until very late that Eöl isn’t there. But I’m still concerned that this takes too much screen time, although I’m of course ready to change my opinion.
Edit: The reason things take time could be because Amras doesn’t rush to inform his brothers...
 
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Ah, I am starting to understand the issues at play here.

In the original story, Aredhel has no contact with the Sons of Fëanor until she leaves Eöl and Nan Elmoth. She specifically visits Celegorm and Curufin while they are away, so she never sees them. So, one could conclude that if she had had contact with them, they may have attempted to intervene with her situation - or at least warned her away from Nan Elmoth.

Here's the thing, though. If she is happily married to Eöl, or at least convinced that the marriage is a good thing even if her husband has some rough edges, what type of intervention would they make? Are they going to...kidnap her back away from her husband? If she doesn't want to leave Eöl, they aren't going to be able to talk her into it, and they aren't going to want to force her away from him, I don't think. They'd be unkind to Eöl, sure, as they disapprove of his marrying Aredhel without talking to her family, but they wouldn't want to kill him to save her if she doesn't want to be saved. I am sure they would want to check in with her, make sure she's okay, but I'm not sure they would go much beyond that without her asking for help getting out. The conversation between Curufin and Eöl in the book happens after Curufin is well aware that Aredhel has left him.

So, let's look at the situation. This meeting would be very early in Aredhel's marriage to Eöl - before the birth of Maeglin. So, the question would be what else is going on in East Beleriand at the time? The attack on the Stockade is the most significant thing, and might be in the same episode. Obviously, Caranthir is involved in showing up for the end of that battle, but the dwarf road may play a role, so it could tie into the dwarf/elf story we're trying to tell with Eöl as well. Amras, being the wandering brother out of the loop, might be a good candidate for who they meet up with, but Curufin and Celegorm are the closest. I think that, whomever we choose as the Fëanorean she meets, that person has to decide to let her go, because she insists everything is fine.

It will not be a matter of information not reaching the other brothers in time - Aredhel is going to remain trapped in Nan Elmoth for the next 40+ years. So, they have to know she's there, but what they will not know is that she's not there willingly...since she insisted this was what she wanted last they saw her. They are going to be very angry when she escapes and they find out she's actually been kept against her will...but they won't find that out at this early meeting.
 
Ah, I am starting to understand the issues at play here.

In the original story, Aredhel has no contact with the Sons of Fëanor until she leaves Eöl and Nan Elmoth. She specifically visits Celegorm and Curufin while they are away, so she never sees them. So, one could conclude that if she had had contact with them, they may have attempted to intervene with her situation - or at least warned her away from Nan Elmoth.

Here's the thing, though. If she is happily married to Eöl, or at least convinced that the marriage is a good thing even if her husband has some rough edges, what type of intervention would they make? Are they going to...kidnap her back away from her husband? If she doesn't want to leave Eöl, they aren't going to be able to talk her into it, and they aren't going to want to force her away from him, I don't think. They'd be unkind to Eöl, sure, as they disapprove of his marrying Aredhel without talking to her family, but they wouldn't want to kill him to save her if she doesn't want to be saved. I am sure they would want to check in with her, make sure she's okay, but I'm not sure they would go much beyond that without her asking for help getting out. The conversation between Curufin and Eöl in the book happens after Curufin is well aware that Aredhel has left him.

So, let's look at the situation. This meeting would be very early in Aredhel's marriage to Eöl - before the birth of Maeglin. So, the question would be what else is going on in East Beleriand at the time? The attack on the Stockade is the most significant thing, and might be in the same episode. Obviously, Caranthir is involved in showing up for the end of that battle, but the dwarf road may play a role, so it could tie into the dwarf/elf story we're trying to tell with Eöl as well. Amras, being the wandering brother out of the loop, might be a good candidate for who they meet up with, but Curufin and Celegorm are the closest. I think that, whomever we choose as the Fëanorean she meets, that person has to decide to let her go, because she insists everything is fine.

It will not be a matter of information not reaching the other brothers in time - Aredhel is going to remain trapped in Nan Elmoth for the next 40+ years. So, they have to know she's there, but what they will not know is that she's not there willingly...since she insisted this was what she wanted last they saw her. They are going to be very angry when she escapes and they find out she's actually been kept against her will...but they won't find that out at this early meeting.
How would they figure out that she's being kept against her will, outside of Eöl letting that slip while he's chasing Aredhel and Maeglin?
 
Aredhel and Maeglin flee that way, and when Eöl follows, he is met by Curufin. Aredhel meeting up with Curufin on her flight back to Gondolin is certainly possible. Ie, she can tell them enough for them to figure out what happened at that point. If Celegorm and Huan are going to go after Eöl, that encounter would be what prompts it. They aren't going to find out she's in Nan Elmoth and wait 40+ years to rescue her.
 
I have attempted to color-code our plot lines, based on whether they are primarily stories focused on Elves, Men, Villains (or Dwarves). Obviously, a story like Andreth and Aegnor is a story of Men and Elves, not one or the other. The story will have a point of view, though - we will likely see that romance from Andreth's perspective, while we will likely see the Death of Bëor from Finrod's perspective. The Dagor Bragollach is going to be a very involved all-hands-on-deck type of story, so I haven't put any real effort into teasing out what individual stories are going to appear in each of the two final episodes or how we are going to present them.

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I know this leaves out some minor characters. So, for instance, if we are going to introduce a young Gil-galad fighting in the Fens of Serech with Finrod...that is a detail of 'Western Front' Dagor Bragollach that I am not mentioning. Doesn't mean we can't have that detail, just that it's not the central story, and we'll have to discuss more later to see if and how that fits. At this point, the main focus is including everything we need to include in the season, and make sure it all fits in a good place, as far as unfolding story goes.
 
Ok, I guess I can accept this - it's fine. I don't want anyone to enter Nan Elmoth until after Eöl is dead, though. Not only does Eöl have his magic, but I don't believe the sons of Fëanor would be inclined to visit him. But maybe you're saying @MithLuin that they don't even know exactly where she is?
They aren't going to find out she's in Nan Elmoth and wait 40+ years to rescue her.
 
What I am trying to say is that a rescue attempt requires recent knowledge concerning her predicament, and that is not going to happen. When she is newly married, she thinks she has everything under control and that Eöl is a good elf in need of a little guidance to achieve his full potential. So, any information she conveys to outsiders at that time is mostly positive, and her interlocutor would not immediately think that she needs rescuing. If it were suggested, she would refuse and insist on staying with Eöl.

Once she is trapped in Nan Elmoth, her view of the situation will change, but now she has no means to communicate with the outside world and no visitors. Her kin may be suspicious that they haven't seen her in awhile, but they would not know what is going on.

After she leaves Eöl and Nan Elmoth, she could meet up with Feanoreans and tell them what has happened. But of course that is after the fact.
 
What I am trying to say is that a rescue attempt requires recent knowledge concerning her predicament, and that is not going to happen. When she is newly married, she thinks she has everything under control and that Eöl is a good elf in need of a little guidance to achieve his full potential. So, any information she conveys to outsiders at that time is mostly positive, and her interlocutor would not immediately think that she needs rescuing. If it were suggested, she would refuse and insist on staying with Eöl.

Once she is trapped in Nan Elmoth, her view of the situation will change, but now she has no means to communicate with the outside world and no visitors. Her kin may be suspicious that they haven't seen her in awhile, but they would not know what is going on.

After she leaves Eöl and Nan Elmoth, she could meet up with Feanoreans and tell them what has happened. But of course that is after the fact.
Ok good so they know where she is and refrain from going, because they dislike Eöl or for some other reason (I think they not only dislike Eöl strongly, but also his woods). Great. As long as they don't enter Nan Elmoth, I'm happy. Sorry for contaminating the thread with this issue...
 
I like the idea of Huan visiting Aredhel because they're old friends, but I can understand if it can't be worked into our story ^^
 
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