EMISSARY OF THE
MARK
(ELFHELM'S ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF RHÚN)
by Soledad
INTRODUCTION
Here, I did it again.
I swore a solemn oath never to write a lenthy introduction again
since most people - including myself - find them boring and would
probably never read the following story itself (though some
really brave people did suffer through my Glorfindel
intro, but they are saints, so that does not count).
After Glorfindel, I managed to satisfy my ''scientific'' needs
with A/Ns and footnotes through several different storylines, and
it actually worked.
Now, though, I owe you all some explanation in advance, or else
this story would make no sense at all. Please, in spite of our
shared loath for intros, do read this one. It might be helpful.
Let's take care of first things first.
Disclaimer:
Middle-earth with all his parts and peoples, especially the
Rohirrim and the Dúnedain, is not mine.
I wish they were, but let's face it, they are not.
They belong to the Great Professor Tolkien, whom I've been
admiring for the last twenty-odd years of my life. Yes, I am
actually that old!
Nor do I make any money of this. Dou you think I'd still work if I did?
Now, on the other hand, the peoples of Rhún are all mine. Their history, their customs, their twisted personalities - I developed them for my own fantasy universe in the early 1980es and simply adapted them to Middle-earth for the sake of this story.
The story plot is mine, too. Originally, it didn't include the Rohirrim or the Dúnedain, of course, since I had my own peoples instead. This is still no crossover, though. Being a borderline tale, written rather as an afterthought, it has little to nothing to do with the great events of my own universe. I wrote it because I liked Imogen and wanted to give her a story on her own.
So, when I wanted to do something more original than rewriting the Fellowship of the Ring from Boromir's POV (not that I would not be proud of that one, mind you), I started to think about Rhún. We know literally nothing of this part of Middle-earth, except that, and I qoute Aragorn, ''the Stars are strange'' there.
Then I brought out the map from The Unfinished Tales and saw a huge land, reaching from the Iron Hills to Khand, trapped between Mordor and Dol Guldur... and it strongly reminded me of a certain part of my own universe.
I decided to use an old concept of mine, complete with tribal struggles and tragic-fated characters and a fully developed story plot, to write an action/adventure fic after all that major gloom and angst I went through with Boromir, Elladan and partly Éowyn, too. I wanted to write a story with an actual happy end. Advanced age can do that to a writer.
I also wanted a fresh and underused LOTR-character for this story, one that was not yet tugged through all that now so fashionable smut; one that was practically unknown, with little to nothing personal background, so that he would blend in with my original characters, but still known enough even for those who only knew the three books of LOTR to get interested in him.
And since I always loved the Rohirrim, I chose
Elfhelm.
I've been fond of him from the first time on when I read LOTR,
somewhen in the Elder Days. He was the one who helped Éowyn to
sneek her way into the host of Rohan and into battle, under the
disguise of Dernhelm - which alone is enough to fall in love with
the guy forever, if you are an Éowyn-fan. Well, I am
one.
So I chose Elfhelm, made him Éomer's kinsman from Eastfold, gave him a complex family background and sent him (well, actually Théoden sent him, but that's a formality only) on an important quest, negotiating some peace treaty with the Prince of Rhún.
Where he would not only run into the most interesting people like Elves and Dwarves and the Dúnedain of the North, but he also would have dangerous adventures, be able to save the day and at the end get the girl, too.
If you have read ''Frozen Flower'', you know what I mean.
If you have not, it's your loss, but you will understand this
story nevertheless, since it's a stand-alone. You'll miss some
well-placed hints to other stories, though.
Rating and warnings:
I rated the story PG-13 for war themes, fighting scenes and
violence, and well, some implied het content.
Yes, this is a straight story.
As straight as a board.
As I've said before, several times, I think, I'm not a
smut writer.
I might write about adult themes, I even wrote a very intense m/m
scene once, but pointless smut is not what my stories are about.
Everything I write serves the plot or character development and
has a great influence on further events - even on other stories.
So. You've been properly warned. It's your choice to hit the Back button. Still with me? I'm proud of you - and we're almost done here, anyway, so hold on a little longer.
About my sources:
Boring, I know, but they have to be mentioned. For legal reasons and out of gratitude.
The portrayal of the Rohirrim is based on the books and
Michael Martinez' articles at suite 101_com. I also took some
details from the RPG website http://www.rohan.elendor.net
If you are reading this, you know who the Dúnedain are.
Or the Elves.
Or the Dwarves.
The peoples of Rhún represent two different cultures:
1. The Cimmerians, who are basically a warrior-like old German
fok, living in a very harsh environment, under the domination of
Sauron and Khamúl, the Captain of Dol Guldur, though secretly
trying to get lose from their overlords. They have a culture like
that of the Hallstatt people of the Iron Age.
2. The Mordvins, who live under their rule and do all the field work. The Mordvins were developed on the basis of Finno-ugristic people, lving still in some parts of Russia and having the same folk name. Finno-ugristic folklore and folk art played a great role when I made them up. Being Hungarian myself it shouldn't be much of a surprise.
There are some pictures on my website, showing these people in their own environment - take alook if you are interested. You can even see Ragnar the Smith, Ingolf and Imogen there, painted by the wonderfully talented Zdenek Burian - for a book about prehistorical human cultures, concerning particularly the Hallstatt-culture.
Now, that we are done with all the introductions - enjoy!