Post by Huinesoron on Jul 28, 2012 21:16:12 GMT -5
In the process of writing War of Wrath, I'm thinking a lot about Tolkien's archetypical couples. I'm not talking about how they get together - as with Faramir and Eowyn, Rosie and Sam - but what happens next. As I see it, these fall into [insert number here] categories:
1. The Happy Couple
Examples: Manwe and Varda, Tuor and Idril
These are the ones who get together and stay together. Nothing comes between them in any way - sure, the world might go to pot along the way, but they're still all right. This is obviously the ideal, and the couples with happy endings - Beren and Luthien, Aragorn and Arwen - usually end up this way. Celeborn and Galadriel fit, too - they work together against the world.
2. The Couple At Odds
Examples: Yavanna and Aule, Aredhel and Eol[/u]
These are the ones who just can't work together. In extreme cases they end up killing each other, but even without that - Yavanna and Aule have bickered since at least the creation of the Dwarves, and Manwe implies that Yavanna created the Ents way back in the Song itself, so... Beren and Luthien (again) partly fit this - they spend most of the time between Beren's rescue and his death bickering and (in Beren's case) running away from each other.
3. The Unhappy Couple
Examples: Aldarion and Erednis
These are the ones (the one?) where they thought it would be a happy marriage... but it really isn't. For those not familiar with the story (it's in Unfinished Tales, I think), Aldarion was the sea-obsessed Numenorean heir who managed to neglect his wife so badly that the next two generations of their family were pretty much wrecked.
4. The Fated Couple
Examples: Turin and Niniel, Hurin and Morwen
And all the other couples where they would have been fine, but fate got between them in a big way. Turgon and Elenwe may be this. Feanor and Nerdanel are either this or straight up neglect (see 3). It rarely comes out well - but see Beren and Luthien, or possible even Aragorn and Arwen.
5. The Forced Couple
Examples: Ar-Pharazon and Tar-Miriel, Aredhel and Eol
Definitely the former, maybe the latter. The ones where one partner didn't have a choice. These are not nice situations.
It'd be interesting to try and fit everyone into the scheme - are Elu and Melian happy (yes, mostly)? At odds (yes, during Leithian)? Fated (yes, at the end)? - but I'm just trying for one - Earendil and Elwing.
The bare outline of E&E's plot doesn't give us much to work with, so I've had to flesh it out. I've introduced Elwing's fear of the Sea - but I feel I'm running the risk of rehashing Aldarion & Erednis, only with a happy ending. I also worry about how this will fit into the overall story - in FotN we have a type 3 (Feanor/Nerdanel - I don't think it was fated), in LL we have a type 2 (Beren/Luthien's bickering), in CH we have a clear type 4 (Turin/Niniel, and Hurin/Morwen), and we have a decent type 1 in FG (Tuor/Idril).
So for Earendil and Elwing, I'm going to draw on something other than Tolkien's archetypes - my own life. My wife and I get on very well - we're a happy couple, type 1 - but sometimes I want to do things she doesn't. I get involved in arguments on the PPC Board, or I decide to take up geocaching. So what do we do? We sulk at each other a bit, and then one or other of us yields to the inevitable (her in the first case, me in the second) and everything's all right again.
So this is what I've made the Peredhil: a real couple. Elwing doesn't want Earendil to sail West, but he insists - so she lets him go. Later the situation is reversed when Elwing insists on getting off the ship in Valinor. I think it works - but what do you think?
1. The Happy Couple
Examples: Manwe and Varda, Tuor and Idril
These are the ones who get together and stay together. Nothing comes between them in any way - sure, the world might go to pot along the way, but they're still all right. This is obviously the ideal, and the couples with happy endings - Beren and Luthien, Aragorn and Arwen - usually end up this way. Celeborn and Galadriel fit, too - they work together against the world.
2. The Couple At Odds
Examples: Yavanna and Aule, Aredhel and Eol[/u]
These are the ones who just can't work together. In extreme cases they end up killing each other, but even without that - Yavanna and Aule have bickered since at least the creation of the Dwarves, and Manwe implies that Yavanna created the Ents way back in the Song itself, so... Beren and Luthien (again) partly fit this - they spend most of the time between Beren's rescue and his death bickering and (in Beren's case) running away from each other.
3. The Unhappy Couple
Examples: Aldarion and Erednis
These are the ones (the one?) where they thought it would be a happy marriage... but it really isn't. For those not familiar with the story (it's in Unfinished Tales, I think), Aldarion was the sea-obsessed Numenorean heir who managed to neglect his wife so badly that the next two generations of their family were pretty much wrecked.
4. The Fated Couple
Examples: Turin and Niniel, Hurin and Morwen
And all the other couples where they would have been fine, but fate got between them in a big way. Turgon and Elenwe may be this. Feanor and Nerdanel are either this or straight up neglect (see 3). It rarely comes out well - but see Beren and Luthien, or possible even Aragorn and Arwen.
5. The Forced Couple
Examples: Ar-Pharazon and Tar-Miriel, Aredhel and Eol
Definitely the former, maybe the latter. The ones where one partner didn't have a choice. These are not nice situations.
It'd be interesting to try and fit everyone into the scheme - are Elu and Melian happy (yes, mostly)? At odds (yes, during Leithian)? Fated (yes, at the end)? - but I'm just trying for one - Earendil and Elwing.
The bare outline of E&E's plot doesn't give us much to work with, so I've had to flesh it out. I've introduced Elwing's fear of the Sea - but I feel I'm running the risk of rehashing Aldarion & Erednis, only with a happy ending. I also worry about how this will fit into the overall story - in FotN we have a type 3 (Feanor/Nerdanel - I don't think it was fated), in LL we have a type 2 (Beren/Luthien's bickering), in CH we have a clear type 4 (Turin/Niniel, and Hurin/Morwen), and we have a decent type 1 in FG (Tuor/Idril).
So for Earendil and Elwing, I'm going to draw on something other than Tolkien's archetypes - my own life. My wife and I get on very well - we're a happy couple, type 1 - but sometimes I want to do things she doesn't. I get involved in arguments on the PPC Board, or I decide to take up geocaching. So what do we do? We sulk at each other a bit, and then one or other of us yields to the inevitable (her in the first case, me in the second) and everything's all right again.
So this is what I've made the Peredhil: a real couple. Elwing doesn't want Earendil to sail West, but he insists - so she lets him go. Later the situation is reversed when Elwing insists on getting off the ship in Valinor. I think it works - but what do you think?