Session 7-07 and 7-08: Other Season 7 Stories

[MithLuin]

Our next session will be held on Thursday January 18th at 10 PM. We will begin working through the remaining storylines and more 'minor' characters who still have arcs and roles this season. We may not be able to talk about all of these in the next session, but over the next two we should be able to work out:

• Gwindor - his love story with Finduilas, his decision to join the Union despite Orodreth's refusal, and meeting his prisoner brother at the beginning of the battle.
• Fingon's supporters - Rhogrin, who will be retreating to Gondolin with Turgon at the end of the season, and Elrhûn son of Annael who will die in the Nirnaeth, likely as part of Fingon's final stand.
• Villains - Morgoth, Gothmog, Boldog, and Glaurung (we've already discussed Sauron's role for this season)
• Sindar - Thingol, Beleg, Mablung, Celeborn, and Círdan
• Dwarves - Belegost joins the fight and brings siege equipment

Thoughts?


Edit: Session 7-07 covered Gwindor, Gil-galad, and the Nargothrond and Doriath plotlines. Our next session will be held on Thursday February 1st and will discuss the remaining storylines - the Dwarves of Belegost and the Villains.

 

[Odola]

Our next session will be held on Thursday January 18th at 10 PM. We will begin working through the remaining storylines and more 'minor' characters who still have arcs and roles this season. We may not be able to talk about all of these in the next session, but over the next two we should be able to work out:

• Gwindor - his love story with Finduilas, his decision to join the Union despite Orodreth's refusal, and meeting his prisoner brother at the beginning of the battle.
• Villains - Morgoth, Gothmog, Boldog, and Glaurung (we've already discussed Sauron's role for this season)
• Sindar - Thingol, Beleg, Mablung, Celeborn, and Círdan
• Dwarves - Belegost joins the fight and brings siege equipment

Thoughts?

Regrding Thingol:
Have Oropher and Thranduil and Amdir and Amroth already left for Rhovanion? Or will this happen only after the dwarves incident?
Is Thingol giving them some sort of blessing? Do they abhor the Noldor or just got "homesick" for the Anduin Valley - "the place where elves are supposed to live"? Is Celeborn going East with Galadriel part of Thingol's plan to reconnect with those of the Sindar left behind in the East?
Is maybe Thingol planning to return there and to leave Beleriand for Morgoth and the Noldor to fight it out among themselves?

 

[Ange1e4e5]

Something I was thinking about with the Húrin story that got swept under the rug is that the Hadorians might not respect him that much since he's been away for some years in Brethil and later Gondolin. How about Boldog leads the assault on Eithel Sirion where Galdor is killed and Húrin kills Boldog in turn, which is how Húrin makes his bones?

 

[MithLuin]

I think we were planning to save Boldog's death for the Nirnaeth (though having Húrin kill him there was certainly suggested during the last session). Húrin certainly could be involved in the skirmish where Galdor is killed, though. He'd already fought orcs prior to his stay in Gondolin, and as far as I know the House of Hador respects the House of Haleth and does not look down on their fighting abilities. Húrin is also in his twenties, not a teenager. So, I'm not sure Húrin has to 'prove' himself to his people by taking part in a battle, but I do think that he is eager to fight Morgoth's forces and would welcome the opportunity.

 

[MithLuin]

Oropher has not yet been introduced as a character in Silm Film. Well, that's not entirely true. We had suggested that his back story was that he was one of the elves imprisoned in Tol Sirion by Sauron, and thus would be one of the refugees returning to Doriath after Lúthien brought the tower down. So, we've probably caught a glimpse of him! But we haven't introduced him by name yet. We will likely want to save his introduction for a more Doriath-intensive season (such as next season, when Túrin is living there). So he should be in Doriath at this time, not over the mountains yet.

We have not yet discussed whether or not Amdír will have a role in Silm Film. I suspect that Amroth will, but he could be introduced as a Second Age character. We may not show them as part of the First Age stories. Their migration would likely be an early Second Age story, in the aftermath of the drowning of Beleriand.

We do need to discuss Celeborn's role a bit more. We'd suggested that Galadriel go east alone, without him. And that he would rather go back to Doriath and Thingol. So, what role does he play this season and how does he interact with Thingol, Melian, Beleg, and Mablung?

To my knowledge, Thingol never contemplates leaving Menegroth and Doriath. He intends to stay safely within the Girdle of Melian indefinitely, even if outside it is growing dark....

 

[Odola]

Oropher has not yet been introduced as a character in Silm Film. Well, that's not entirely true. We had suggested that his back story was that he was one of the elves imprisoned in Tol Sirion by Sauron, and thus would be one of the refugees returning to Doriath after Lúthien brought the tower down. So, we've probably caught a glimpse of him! But we haven't introduced him by name yet. We will likely want to save his introduction for a more Doriath-intensive season (such as next season, when Túrin is living there). So he should be in Doriath at this time, not over the mountains yet.

We have not yet discussed whether or not Amdír will have a role in Silm Film. I suspect that Amroth will, but he could be introduced as a Second Age character. We may not show them as part of the First Age stories. Their migration would likely be an early Second Age story, in the aftermath of the drowning of Beleriand.

We do need to discuss Celeborn's role a bit more. We'd suggested that Galadriel go east alone, without him. And that he would rather go back to Doriath and Thingol. So, what role does he play this season and how does he interact with Thingol, Melian, Beleg, and Mablung?

To my knowledge, Thingol never contemplates leaving Menegroth and Doriath. He intends to stay safely within the Girdle of Melian indefinitely, even if outside it is growing dark....

Is this not a waste of potential to leave the Sindar issues for later? We would have to invent some drama for now, which risks feeling artificial, and then to force the issues into already plot heavy seasons like the Turin or Fall of Doriath. If we have e.g. Amdir leaving now, as a contrast to Mablung's and Beleg's attitude towards war with Morgoth, making Thingol's isolationist stance literally the middle position, we would have two wings party politics in Doriath and see Thingol doing kingly stuff in trying to maneuver between them. Then we can have Oropher leave later, as both Oropher and Celeborn need to see Thingol slain by the dwarves, as both need that to gain a dwarf-aversion for their later stories.

We would also need some beef between Galadriel and Oropher, as we know Oropher and Thranduil will later freeze their ties of kinship with Celeborn due to his ties to the Noldor via Galadriel (who is still their own cousin too, even if far removed).

Leaving Amdir out is a waste imho. We need some elves that we know by sight to die at the place of the future Dead Marshes - the Battle of Dagorlad - we have Oropher and Amdir who die there in texts, if we cut Amdir out we lose one of the faces of the disaster. Also we must feel the tragedy of Amroth's ancient blood line being cut off when he drowns due to Nimrodel's indecision. And we will not feel it if we know nothing of Amdir's line and his goals.

 

[Ange1e4e5]

Regarding Glaurung, we currently have him in Taur-nu-fuin making more dragons. Taur-nu-fuin is described in the published Silmarillion as being retaken during the years of the Union as one of the minor victories before the plague hits. Do we want Glaurung forced out by the Union or do we have them invade and he and his brood having already left (and unable to do anything about the corrupted land) due to Morgoth summoning him back to Angband so he has another brain to pickle? We could have one of those Dol Guldur scenarios like when the White Council attacks during the events of The Hobbit... and Sauron has already upped sticks back to Mordor only to take Dol Guldur back again some years later.

 

[MithLuin]

Amdír and Amroth will be Second Age characters. So, we have not yet discussed their role in Silm Film, or if they will appear in Silm Film. They may, but no guarantee. We will definitely be including Oropher's death at the Battle of Dagorlad. We'll have multiple seasons to tell the story of the Second Age, so if there is a role for Amdír other than his role in the battle, we'll likely work that in. We'll see when we get there - but we're in Season 7 now, and the Second Age will begin in Season 13, so...some time on that.

Thingol's decision regarding the Union of Maedhros builds naturally on events that have already been covered in Silm Film. Most significantly, when he found out about the Kinslaying in Season 4 and then issued the Ban, and when he received Celegorm's marriage proposal for Lúthien in Season 6 and sent an army to Nargothrond in response. His stance on wanting nothing to do with the Fëanoreans because they have flagrantly wronged him and his family is well-established at this point. Because the Sindar of Doriath will have only a small role in this season, it makes more sense to focus on the established characters and how they react to the new developments, rather than try to introduce a new character that we won't be spending much time with and have their viewpoint carry a storyline.


I agree that we need to figure out what Glaurung is up to this season, and where he will be when the battle begins.

 

[Odola]

Amdír and Amroth will be Second Age characters. So, we have not yet discussed their role in Silm Film, or if they will appear in Silm Film. They may, but no guarantee. We will definitely be including Oropher's death at the Battle of Dagorlad. We'll have multiple seasons to tell the story of the Second Age, so if there is a role for Amdír other than his role in the battle, we'll likely work that in. We'll see when we get there - but we're in Season 7 now, and the Second Age will begin in Season 13, so...some time on that.

But the 2nd age is so full of characters and issues - mostly human and Sauron- will there be time to delve into the issues of the Sindar?

Or is the idea to disconnect the coming Sindar royals from Thingol's legacy - in the already established SilmFilm tradition of diminishing Thingol from his position as the semi-divine legendary lager-than-life Sindar ruler and the ultimate source of any legitimacy of every Sindar kingship to follow him ever [called the tendency to "jerkify" Thingol]? Having the local Sindar kings being (only) local - to cut them from Thingol's divine succession - very "democratic", but so anachronistic! Right to rule in the mythical past was metaphysically based - by descent/kinship from/with a mythological hero - and this one for the Sindar is Thingol - there is no way around it, however offensive it may seem to "modern sensibilities". I understand that the current anti-patriarchal cultural tendencies tempt one to deconstruct Thingol into a bumbling imbecile who is only good in making mistakes and makes one wonder why anybody accept him as their king, and we took away his victory and valour in battle already by removing said battle from our story and the only way we kind of "redeemed" him was by showing him accepting the unavoidable and what he was helpless to prevent (B&L fated marriage) - which does still show him weak and vulnerable and in the end defeated by fate and forced to concede. But none the less for the Sindar Thingol is the sacred hero and the source of all legal kinship for all time. All Sindar kings ever have to be of his stock.
Elrond is the descendant of both Thingol and Turgon, who are foils of each other. Thingol is not just a fool to be made fun of in our story.

 

[MithLuin]

Something we could certainly discuss in a decade when we get to the Second Age.

 

[Odola]

Something we could certainly discuss in a decade when we get to the Second Age.

Well, in the Second Age Thingol is long dead, so how can we connect anybody to him? It's no longer possible.

EDIT:

Our next session will be held on Thursday January 18th at 10 PM. We will begin working through the remaining storylines and more 'minor' characters who still have arcs and roles this season. We may not be able to talk about all of these in the next session, but over the next two we should be able to work out:
[...]

• Sindar - Thingol, [...]

[...]
Thoughts?

No more "jerkifing Thingol" please, if in any way avoidable.

[...] We may not be able to talk about all of these in the next session, but over the next two we should be able to work out:

• Gwindor - his love story with Finduilas, his decision to join the Union despite Orodreth's refusal, and meeting his prisoner brother at the beginning of the battle.

Imho male beauty plays a big role here, Gwindor gets later dismissed/"fallen out of love with" by Finduilas because he has lost his elvish beauty and she falls for the young dashing fellow whose beauty will diminish even faster, due to natural human aging - which is very ironic (and what Turin is well aware of)...

 

[MithLuin]

Thingol's rejection of the Union of Maedhros has fairly legitimate reasons, but they aren't the type of reasons that make him look like a wise king.

He has the least to fear from the threat from Morgoth, because his people are safe behind the Girdle of Melian. Sure, if all of Beleriand fell around him, that might become an issue, but for now he has a strategy that is working, and no reason to reconsider it at this time. The failure of the Noldor during the Dagor Bragollach suggests that his 'safe haven' approach is superior and needed...

...but long term, what is the plan? It feels a bit short-sighted to let the Noldor, Men, Dwarves, and Falathrim do this without him. Because he and his people do have an interest in seeing Morgoth defeated, even if they seem to have little inclination to do it. Sure, they fought Carcharoth when he came to them, but that was a special case. If they don't aid their neighbors and allies, what will happen if the battle is a defeat?

Thingol's dislike of the Sons of Fëanor is very personal, and thus not something he is willing to consider 'diplomatically'. Their father killed his brother, and their brother kidnapped his daughter. They are kinslayers unrepentant and permanently banned from his kingdom, a decision he has no interest in re-visiting (unlike his ban of Men, which he *has* reversed due to Beren). So, when offered a chance to join the Union of Maedhros, he is going to decline. In Silm Film, Thingol attended Galadriel's wedding in Nargothrond, so he has met Maedhros in person before without starting any sort of incident. It wasn't exactly cordial, but it was...something.

So, we have a few opportunities to add some nuance to Thingol's rejection. One, is for him to view his maintaining Doriath as a safe harbor of even greater importance if an all out war is happening. Someone has to stay back, and he owes it to his people to make Doriath the safe haven that it has always been. His reluctance to subject them to war can be seen as part of his care and protection of his people, not simply a knee-jerk response to the very suggestion.

Also, he can discuss his plans and decision with Melian, so that his wisdom does not fail at this juncture. That will be challenging, because we probably don't want to put Melian onscreen saying that she knows the Union will fail and that the battle will be lost. Perhaps he can discuss with her the issue with Beleg and Mablung being eager to join, while he is certainly not intending to. She could urge him to let them follow their hearts, perhaps even assuring him that their dooms lie elsewhere and they will return from the battle. As always, we have to tread very carefully with Melian's foresight. If she knows everything and just doesn't say, she's being awful. If she knows that she cannot change a course of fate, she can express that. And we will definitely not have Thingol seek out her counsel during the whole Nauglamír debacle, so we can't have him be entirely eager to ask her advice here and now.

And Celeborn's role as Thingol's ambassador to the Union (if we go with that) could allow for Thingol to lend aid in some other way. Can he allow messengers to pass through Doriath, at least? Maybe some concession that shows he is not being a 'jerk' about the Union, even though he is not joining the Union or marching out to battle.

Thingol's "best" time will be during the Túrin story, but he'll have a sharp fall after that with the Nauglamír. So, we have to have all of his flaws on displany at this point in the story, but they don't have to be ruling him completely.

 

[Odola]

Thingol's "best" time will be during the Túrin story, [...]

Well, still he will fail there, in spite of all his good intentions. Thingol's ancient wisdom will prove no match for his ignorance of human nature. But a failure is still a failure, even if excusable to a degree.

As I - and others - have warned before, we have made Thingol already beyond redemption - we have deconstructed his character beyond recovery. There is too little time and too little source material to build him up again now, as the story demands to burden him even more with even more mistakes. Our previous choices have now come to haunt us, as we have now to little to work with, because we have previously neglected to leave to ourselves enough "healthy wood" to be now able to cut away from...

As his own name says Elwë is the prototypical Elf of Tolkien's story, the ultimate "fairy king", and we have destroyed him, because we have neglected his importance for the whole meta-story for the momentary gain of being able to jerkify him for one of the sub-stories. Tolkien can afford Thingol to make many mistakes because Tolkien had build him up so high before that the figure can survive such a treatment. We have deliberately left out those elements that build Thingol up, so that he now lays flat on the floor as a character, destroyed...

 

[MithLuin]

Thingol has been a character in Silm Film since the very beginning of Season 2. He's one of the Ambassadors, and we did not cut the first battle. Not using a particular story thread does not mean we've never shown Thingol leading an army into battle. That was part of Season 3. He has not done so since the Girdle for reasons that seem good to him.

We are not going to go back and replan prior seasons. The character of Thingol in Silm Film is well-established, but I do take issue with the assertion that he is only a charicature. That is simply not the case.

 

[Odola]

We are not going to go back and replan prior seasons.

Indeed. That is why I suggest planning carefully ahead - so as to not loose sight of where we will need the characters to be in future and to take care to leave them the necessary range of movement, so that they not paint themselves into a corner from where they cannot free themselves to move where the story will need them to be then.

The character of Thingol in Silm Film is well-established, but I do take issue with the assertion that he is only a caricature. That is simply not the case.

For what we have seen for the last several seasons - and the next few future ones ahead - he just makes mistakes and fails, sometimes more or less excusable, sometimes more or less due to his very own fault - but fails none the less. Difficult now to convey his grandeur as the "non-plus-ultra" paragon of an elvish king.

The issue is: once the awe is gone, it is difficult (if not impossible) to restore.
[similar problem as with Galadriel in RoP, or Luke Skywalker in his latest instalments, if a little less extreme.]

 

[Ange1e4e5]

Regarding Beleg and Mablung, remind me what their motivation for going to the Nirnaeth is. Unlike say Gwindor, neither has a personal stake in joining the Union.

Gwindor: Wants to find his brother who was captured in the Dagor Bragollach. Looks like that Orodreth may be hesitant to work with the Feanoreans, but Gwindor is willing to join up with anyone for a chance to find him. Could be some dissent of like-minded Elves. Orodreth gives him a company to join the Union under Fingon. All of them are killed in the Nirnaeth save Gwindor who's captured.

 

[MithLuin]

Tolkien's stories are plot-driven, not character-driven. Thus, he has a story develop, and characters do things that fit within the story. Then, based on the sum of their actions, you can determine what type of character they have. When the hobbits return to the Shire, and hear about the goings-on, they confidently declare that Lotho Sackville-Baggins is behind it. The reader knows almost nothing about him at this point, so that assertion is not based on an established or developed character, but rather tells the reader that his character must be the type of person who would be involved in such things. Most modern novels are very clearly character-driven (even if the characterization is not always consistent), where the action in the story arises from the characters interacting. So, we are dealing with a situation where the story is plot-driven, and we have particular actions or 'jobs' that we need certain characters to do. So, yes, Thingol has some failures coming up, which we have always known were coming. We've been working on a multi-season arc for him to bring him to the point where he is murdered over a dispute with Dwarves in his home.

Thingol is one of the primary antagonists of the Beren and Lúthien story. His decision to reject Beren is the reason for the quest. Had he accepted Lúthien's choice, she and Beren would have remained in Doriath from the beginning! There was no reason to skip that part of the story, and we always knew we were going to have him assign the quest in his attempt to get rid of Beren, followed by imprisoning his daughter in a tree house. So, all along, we've known that Thingol is going to have some very tragic mistakes. And that he has personality flaws that are often on display - a mercurial mood or hot temper that leads to hasty/rash decisions is fairly inevitable with him, or else Melian's wisdom would help him avoid more pitfalls. To do what he does in the Silmarillion, he has to either ignore Melian's advice, or make decisions without seeking her counsel in the first place. Her 'cunning counsel' remark in Season 6 is both pointed and meant to be a criticism. We have shown her talking him down before, and choosing a more mitigated reaction (as in his discovery of the kinslaying), but in the case of the Quest, we know he acts alone without a time of reflection or her aid. That's just how it is.

So, every time he does something like that, we have to give him a reason - his fears concerning the coming of Men to Beleriand lead him to decide to ban them from Doriath altogether. What was he afraid of? We had to show his nightmare, and why he thought it would be dangerous to let Men enter. Having him have enough insight to know that Lúthien would die if Men crossed the Girdle would be enough reason for him to try to put a stop to that from the beginning. So, he's not simply bigoted, he's trying to protect his people from a clear and present danger. We explain why he does what he does from his own perspective...but that doesn't mean that the audience won't still judge him for that, or think he's making bad choices.

Thingol is not an antagonist in Season 7. He's going to refuse to join the Union, but that is easy to portray as a failure of Fëanorean diplomacy rather than an example of Thingol being too short-sighted or bigoted to join. But...the point of view will be Fingon and Maedhros trying to get people to join, so Thingol's refusal is still going to come across as the wrong choice. If we handle it well, the audience will understand why he's not, but he doesn't get to be free of their judgement for his choice. Thingol is canonically not much of a team player when it comes to opposing Morgoth. He has certain jobs to do for the rest of the story. So, we will make his actions reflect that. If those do not seem to be the actions of the paragon of elven kingship in Middle-earth....welllllll, so be it. It is what it is.





But Beleg and Mablung do join the Union...why? Are the at the council as Thingol's representatives, and are persuaded themselves that this is an important undertaking that Doriath ought to support? Are they assisting the Men of Brethil in a venture and wish to continue supporting them in this new endeavor? Do they have Thingol's explicit permission to join, or do they leave Doriath for some other reason, and more-or-less join the battle on a personal whim? Are they recruited by Círdan? We do need to figure out how they get there, and how they get back.

 

[Odola]

Tolkien's stories are plot-driven, not character-driven.

Well, they work with archetypes even more than with mere plot, at least in the Silmarillion stories. The plot at places resembles more just extended anecdotes about famous people. In this regard it does partially resemble the approach of biblical narrative.

So, every time he does something like that, we have to give him a reason - his fears concerning the coming of Men to Beleriand lead him to decide to ban them from Doriath altogether. What was he afraid of?

That is a problem, as this focusses again on his weakness - fear - which brings him down again to a mere human level - just an old grumpy guy gradually losing control.

Thingol should not be too relatable, he should be larger than life, above mere human experience.
If we were to face Charlemagne, King Arthur or the biblical kings David or Salomon, for all their particular mistakes, we would still have our jaws on the floor. The sheer majesty of their splendor would be overwhelming.

But e.g. for David the stories about his achievements had build him up before we learn of his mistakes. We saw David killing Goliath, spare sleeping Saul, we were told about his victories over all his enemies - Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek - before we were shown his Bathsheba episode. David might be an abysmal father to his children resulting in them later killing each other but he was for sure a great king in his time. His mistakes - even if mentioned - are not what his story is ultimately about. This is not what he is remembered for. His general legacy is not tarnished by them, as is it too huge for them to affect it. And so all the successive biblical king's derive their legitimacy and splendour from their relation to David (even Christ Himself included).

So it should be with Thingol and the Sindar. And we have reduced him to an old grumpy guy who has lost touch with reality.

Tolkien is not about dismantling archetypes of old stories but about salvaging and restituting them.

But Beleg and Mablung do join the Union...why?

How old are they? What moved them to became warriors? Do they remember the wrongs experienced by Morgoth's forces when they were on the move West? Do they remember the Hunter? https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Hunter_(creature) Has the Hunter taken some of their parents/grandparents? Are they sick of hiding and cowering, do they want to finally face and confront the nightmare of their childhood, now as fully-bodied rested adults, regardless if the ultimate result turns out one way or the other?

 

[MithLuin]

Thingol is not portrayed as grumpy, and he does not appear to be old. He is male. We were avoiding the portrayal of 'get off my lawn!' Thingol in Season 5 by showing his reasons and deliberation that went into his decisions regarding Men.

Would you consider Moses to be relatable? What about the character of Moses as portrayed in The Ten Commandments or in The Prince of Egypt? He is a prophet, and he experiences things that no (other) mere mortal has experienced. And yet...the audience needs to understand why he does what he does, how each decision gets made, and how he ends up doing what he does. The fact that the audience understands better than other characters leads to the other characters reacting in surprise, whereas the audience is thinking, no, this makes sense....

For Thingol, it is going to make a difference if we are telling his story (a story from his perspective) or if he features as a character in someone else's story. In Season 6, the story was firmly Lúthien's (and Beren's) - so, Thingol is not typically the POV character. Thus, his actions are seen in light of how they impact Lúthien. Similarly, in Túrin's story, the focus will be on Túrin's reaction to Thingol, not on Thingol himself. The story that Thingol will play a central role in will be the story of the Nauglamír and the (first) fall of Doriath.



As for Beleg and Mablung, they were introduced as characters during the journey West in Season 2. They were involved in the search for Elwë (Thingol), and decided to stay behind to try to find him. So, they have been there since the beginning of Doriath, and are quite old. Lúthien and Daeron are from a younger generation than them. The Silm Film characters who have direct experience with running from the Hunter and losing family members to him are Elwë, Celeborn, and Ingwë (his wife died in captivity when he was in Cuiviénen). Both Beleg and Mablung have been involved in fighting since then. They took part in the First Battle in Season 3, in which Denethor died. Beleg was directly involved in hunting the cats, and was on the hunt where Tevildo was killed by Haleth and her people. They showed up the first time Tol Sirion was attacked in the Dagor Aglareb, albeit too late to take part in driving back Morgoth's forces. As March Wardens of Doriath, they haven't been doing much hiding or cowering. Most recently, they participated in the Hunt for the Wolf, when Beren and Huan killed Carcharoth.

So...why do they join the Union on their own?

 

[Odola]

We were avoiding the portrayal of 'get off my lawn!' Thingol in Season 5 by showing his reasons and deliberation that went into his decisions regarding Men.

Which is in hindsight may have been a little contra-productive. Thingol has the souverain right to let into his realm whomsoever he sees fit and to exclude from it as such respectively. He is not due any justification to the audience, as he is above our judgement. To explain his motives, and to explain them making the reason be "fear", lessens him in the eyes of the audience quite considerably. The gain might not have been worth the cost.

Thingol is not a mortal, he should not be shown acting from a mortal motivation of self-perceived weakness. He should always feel "off" and just a little outside of our understanding - even if this makes him seem arrogant. But this is simply how our mortal minds interpret the default elvish position when they try to "translate" it into our own mortal modes of perceiving the world - still there should always be the consciousness and feeling in the back of our minds that we lose quite a bit "in translation" when we try to understand elves out from our own mortal perspective.

Of course we get the Silmarillion stories already "pre-digested" by the mortal mind of Bilbo, still some degree of otherness, wonder and mystery should be preserved when we view the elves, and Thingol especially.

The issue is, we do not really need to understand Thingol for his character to fulfill his function in the story, but we for sure should be awed by him. And I have the feeling it is the other way round at the moment.

Would you consider Moses to be relatable?

Moses is known to the audience from outside of those stories to such an extend that however one deconstructs him inside of those new stories, one can still not destroy his already generalized legend.

Thingol does not have this general recognition outside of the Silmarillion. While he has such fame inside of Middle Earth, we are still viewing him from outside of this frame and we are losing this his very importance inside of Middle Earth - this importance is simply not being communicated to us in the SilmFilm's story. And if we have to understand the Sindar, we have to get at least partially a glimpse of what Thingol means to and for them.

As for Beleg and Mablung, they were introduced as characters during the journey West in Season 2. They were involved in the search for Elwë (Thingol), and decided to stay behind to try to find him. So, they have been there since the beginning of Doriath, and are quite old. Lúthien and Daeron are from a younger generation than them. The Silm Film characters who have direct experience with running from the Hunter and losing family members to him are Elwë, Celeborn, and Ingwë (his wife died in captivity when he was in Cuiviénen). Both Beleg and Mablung have been involved in fighting since then.

So they were involved in war since just after "Elwë, Celeborn, and Ingwë" had "direct experience with running from the Hunter".
This would make their parents or grandparents having been "fair game" for the Hunter, as this experience does fall into the timeframe of the generations just preceding Beleg and Mablung.

As March Wardens of Doriath, they haven't been doing much hiding or cowering.

They still hide inside the Girdle and do mere border duty or some occasional spy or diplomatic mission. They might find the "extended holidays" inside the Girdle getting a bit "too extended" - they might feel "missing their purpose".

Most recently, they participated in the Hunt for the Wolf, when Beren and Huan killed Carcharoth.

The Hunt for the Wolf was mostly inside of Doriath, this fells well into "hiding". That was a merely reactive and defensive action. Beleg and Mablung might have gotten tired of waiting until the enemy brings the fight to them invading their safe haven - which, as they can assume, will happen eventually - and might wish to bring the fight to him instead.

The Silm Film characters who have direct experience with running from the Hunter and losing family members to him are Elwë, Celeborn, and Ingwë (his wife died in captivity when he was in Cuiviénen).

BTW, regarding Ingwë - how many children has he been shown to have before his wife died? For sure we need Ingwion but Ingwë was told to also have had several others. We would need the Vanyar a little more fleshed out in the build-up and the depicting of the soon coming War of Wrath.