cloudyhymns

This is part of an ongoing challenge for SWG's Jubilee: 30-Day Character Study. Cross-posted to the Silmarillion Writer's Guild at Celebrimbor: 30-Day Character Study.

Prior Days:
Day 1: Drop Everything and Read, Part 1
Day 2: Down Memory Lane, Part 1
Day 3: Strong Points, Part 1

Prompt 4: Home Sweet Home, Part One. Think about a geographical location where your character lived. Learn more about what life in that location might have been like: the climate, topography, seasonal changes, flora and fauna, or anything else related to that physical location.

Please see below the line for citations.

 

Today's location pick is Eregion/Hollin. Luckily, I agree with Eregion's cinematic depictions in The Lord of the Rings and The Rings of Power, which used the same filming location for its scattered ruins in the Third Age and Ost-in-Edhil in the Second Age. (The Doors of Durin were also filmed there.)

The filming location was Earnslaw Burn in Otago, New Zealand ("A Hobbit's Journey Through New Zealand"). This is a hiking/tramping trail across rugged terrain, cut by ancient glaciers and crowned by the twin peaks of Mt Earnslaw/Pikirakatahi ("Earnslaw Burn Track"). The New Zealand Parks & Recreation considers Earnslaw Burn a difficult hike; as of January 2025, the trail has undergone slides and includes multiple unbridged river crossings ("Earnslaw Burn Track"). Its climate is unpredictable and harsh--winds are high, and the river swells in the rains. Additionally, since it is in an alpine environment, rain elsewhere (such as away on the mountains) causes unpredictable flooding patterns. It includes both forests and terrain too rocky for significant tree coverage; the overall landscape reminds me strongly of Yosemite.

As such, I would consider Eregion to be wondrous but unpredictable. Natural disasters--particularly floods and mud/land/rockslides--would be common. Ost-in-Edhil would be somewhat sheltered by being built towards rocky overhangs, but it would still certainly be on a floodplain, and nothing is ever certain in an alpine environment. The land would be largely exposed outside of the beech forests, posing issues of exposure to elements and enemies. Camouflage would rely heavily on stone and rock, and knowing how to live alongside granite and glaciers would be essential. Truly a realm suited to Celebrimbor!

Local flora and fauna would likely be alpine species. Species endemic to the New Zealand Alps include rock wrens, one species of gecko, and even a parrot (kea) (“Alpine Plants and Animals”) ! Most of the trees on the lower slopes are beech in the Eastern ranges ("Alpine Plants and Animals")--this is the side Earnslaw Burn falls on, and also the side Eregion would fall on (as well as the lee side of the mountains). Earnslaw Burn is known for its tussock grasses ("Earnslaw Burn Track"), which reach into the alpine zone ("Alpine Plants and Animals"). The Encyclopedia of New Zealand also specifies that most native flowers in its alpine zones are white or yellow, attracting insects over birds ("Alpine Plants and Animals").

Based on its alpine location, I suspect Eregion would have similar flora and fauna, particularly insect-pollinated flowers and unique birds. It would likely have species of fauna not present natively in New Zealand, however, such as some sort of goat-esque creature suited for rugged terrain. I am particularly partial to pronghorn myself, and first spotted them in Wyoming (Schaetz, "American Pronghorn"). They are the second-fastest mammal and well suited to endurance. I would love to see a migratory species similar to them roaming the foothills of the Misty Mountains--if one could be tamed and over time domesticated, perhaps they could even make for good messengers!

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“A Hobbit’s Journey Through New Zealand.” Tourism New Zealand, www.newzealand.com/us/feature/hobbit-middle-earth-holiday-new-zealand/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

“Earnslaw Burn Track.” New Zealand Department of Conservation, The New Zealand Department of Conservation, www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/glenorchy-area/things-to-do/earnslaw-burn-track/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

“Alpine Plants and Animals.” Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 13 July 2012, teara.govt.nz/en/mountains/page-4. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

Schaetz, Frances. “American Pronghorn - A Species Profile.” Wyoming Game & Fish Department, Wyoming Game & Fish Department, 1 May 2024, wgfd.wyo.gov/wyoming-wildlife/wyoming-wildlife-magazine/american-pronghorn-species-profile.

This is part of an ongoing challenge for SWG's Jubilee: 30-Day Character Study. Cross-posted to the Silmarillion Writer's Guild at Celebrimbor: 30-Day Character Study.

Prior Days:
Day 1: Drop Everything and Read, Part 1

Prompt 2: Down Memory Lane, Part One. Think about your character’s childhood (or the early days of their existence if they had no childhood). What was the environment and daily life of their formative years like? Did they have siblings? What was their relationship to their family like? Who were their friends? What made them feel sad/angry/frightened? What made them feel content/excited/happy? Who were their teachers?

Consideration of Celebrimbor's childhood.


Very little is shared about Celebrimbor as a whole in the works I have on hand, and there is nothing explicitly stated about his childhood. The lack of information makes today's response more speculative than the previous one, and I'm not entire sure how I feel about that.... Oh well!The word that comes to mind is lonely.

If Celebrimbor followed Celeborn and other Teleri to Middle-Earth, it is implied that he spent time with them and followed the leadership of the Teleri. He was not mentioned at all during the Oathtaking or Exile, and these combine to make it likely that Celebrimbor spent time away from Curufin even before their sundering at Nargothrond.

Celebrimbor is also the only biological child of the Fëanorians. While he has many uncles and aunts, he was one of the few children of the later generations of Noldor, and I believe he was the only one known to be born in Aman under the Trees (see Day 1's post). As one example, Ereinion Gil-galad is "young" when Fingon becomes High King of the Noldor (The Silmarillion, 154) and is therefore presumably born in Hithlum.

What does this mean for Celebrimbor?

As a child, and as an adult, he is "neither here, nor there." He's not of his father's generation, but he is sundered from Gil-Galad's despite similar parentage, and certainly far from Elrond's and Elros's. Likewise, it seems that as a child, Celebrimbor was neither fully Noldor, nor fully Teler, and instead some combination of the two.

It is very possible that his mother was one of the Teleri, particularly when Celebrimbor being a foil for all of his family line, rather than just Fëanor, is taken into consideration.

Growing up in Aman, Celebrimbor would have been exposed to the great beauty of the Blessed Realm without having crossed first through great peril (as did the first few generations of Elves). If he spent any significant time with Curufin and the Fëanorians, Celebrimbor would have traveled and gone often to the halls of Aulë (The Silmarillion, 62), witnessing both the wilderness and great Art. This also suggests that he would have been familiar, at least at distantly, with the Maiar who served Aulë and toiled under him; while I don't think the timelines work for him to have encountered Mairon pre-Sauron, I do think there could be an aspect of nostalgia in Celebrimbor's eventual seduction.

If Celebrimbor followed his family by blood, his environment would have been constantly changing, but he would have learned much and seen much that would be of future use to him. If Celebrimbor dwelt with the Teleri, however, he could have established roots with far-reaching ramifications--staying with the family of Eärwen and Olwë could have cemented his eventual loyalty to the sons of Finarfin. Just because Celebrimbor followed Celeborn across the sea does not mean that Celebrimbor lived with Celeborn, particularly as a child, and I find the possibility that he was raised under Eärwen's watch, direct or otherwise, fascinating.

I also do not believe the two options are mutually exclusive. I find it most likely that Celebrimbor spent some time with his father, as well as some time away from Curufin.

Since Celebrimbor had no known siblings or similarly-aged Noldor to keep him company, I believe his childhood companions were most likely Teleri who overlapped with him in studies (and living). If living with the Teleri was the Aman-equivalent of "Being Sent to Círdan at the Havens," Celebrimbor would have learned the craft of ship-building and carpentry, which he would presumably have in his arsenal for future works across the mediums. He would have also learned how to tell the weather, predict the tides, tie good knots, and other tasks vital to life by the sea. I'm now wondering if he would have learned how to communicate with, or at least enjoy, seabirds, despite the racket they make!

Celebrimbor's teachers would have been the world and spirits around him in addition to the craftsmen and artisans across Aman and Tol Eressëa. He would have learned as much about life skills as he would have Art, and I find it not only believable but likely that he used skills and techniques learned early on, like ship-building, in his later works. Judging from what I know about his disposition and drive for creating the Rings, even when young, Celebrimbor would have loved creating with his hands, and having others enjoy the fruits of his labor; I don't think he would work solely for parental validation, but instead overlap that with the pursuit of his own designs. It is heavily implied that Celebrimbor has a stubborn streak when it comes to his morals and goals (denouncing his father, anyone?)--even as a child, Celebrimbor would not have let anyone sway him from his craft once he had his mind set on a task, much like Fëanor was famous for.

For frustrations and things young Celebrimbor found frightening, I would say restraint--others shackling him or telling him no because of his age, skill level, or overall lack of maturity. I don't think this varies with age, as the Three do not bind, and freedom of thought, craft, and kingdom remain major themes through Celebrimbor's overall character arc, whether in Nargothrond or in Eregion. Therefore, feeling cast aside wouldn't hurt so much as being limited by being cast away, and I think one of Celebrimbor's main points of pain would be feeling like he lost out if he didn't spend time learning from Curufin, Fëanor, and the many smiths of Aulë and Finwë. I don't think he would waste his time with the Teleri, either, and would likely find his (relative) lack of time Aman frustrating, particularly when he considers what he could have accomplished if he had studied more or crossed paths with a wider variety of artisans.

An additional aspect to Celebrimbor being born in Aman pre-Exile is him knowing Finarfin's children, particularly Finrod and Orodreth. Whether he expressly lived with them does not matter so much as him being able to establish bonds of loyalty and friendship, as well as kinship, early on. I'm not entirely sure what the age difference would be between Celebrimbor and Finarfin's older sons, but I suspect they would be closer in age than some other members of the family, and this would help Celebrimbor establish his connections.
The instability of Celebrimbor's early life and lack of a proper "home" outside of the forge is particularly fascinating to me. Does this resemble his fixation on and blindness to his craft in Eregion, when he does not open his eyes for long enough to see who he is working with? If he grew up with the forge as the most stable point in his home, and overlapped often with the fire spirits who served Aulë, it is simple to see where his camaraderie with Annatar in the Second Age stems from. I'm sure that this is something I'll come back to in the future--but for now, I think I've written enough, and should make sure to get some sleep!