Cor blimey, not another one.

[camwyn]

Ecthelion watched the warrior go from his halls, then glanced sidelong at the Citadel guardsman beside his chair. "What think you of this 'Thorongil', hmm?"
Eradan, who was a more suspicious man by nature than the Steward, said nothing. His eyes were fixed instead on the great black doors, and his lips moved silently. Ecthelion arched an eyebrow, fingers drumming lightly on the marble arm-rest.
At last, Eradan's voice became audible. "... fourteen... fifteen." With that, he turned to face Ecthelion full-on. "Frankly, sir? Wouldn't trust the bas- the fellow farther than I could throw him. He's hiding more secrets than the cats of Queen Beruthiel ever hunted out, or I'm not a Vimes."
Ecthelion nodded. "A pawn, then, do you think?"
Eradan shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "Maybe not. Maybe just playing his own game- I've only just met the man."
"I see." The Steward's eyes went to the doors again. "He comes at a fortuitous time, but oft help unlooked-for is more dangerous than no help at all. . ."
Eradan said nothing, but fell to fiddling with the silver edging on one black sleeve.
"He may stay," Ecthelion decided at last. "Under your watchful eye, of course."
"Naturally," Eradan agreed, and though his face showed none of it there was a hint of something pleased in his voice.

*sigh*

Comments

[nesmith.livejournal.com]

Sue-fic? Stu-fic? Canon rape?

*wishes she wasn't such a LoTR n00b*

[camwyn]

None of the above. Someone tried to get me to write a version of Evidence in which Sam Vimes, of Discworld fame, opted to stay in Arda after the War of Wrath ended and take a share in Numenor as his reward for putting up with the Valar's !&*(. The specific formula they used:

"I'd like to see Aragorn attempting to bargain with the seventy-eleventh Samuel, head of the Minas Tirith Night Watch."

Given that 'Thorongil' was Aragorn's alias when he was originally working in the service of Denethor as a much younger man, I figured this was reasonably close to that possibility.

[nesmith.livejournal.com]

Too . . . many . . . names . . . *goes scrambling for her Tolkien encyclopedia*

I'm slowly but surely trying to make sense of the Tolkien-verse. It's a slow process for me. ;)

[camwyn]

May I suggest visiting the Encyclopaedia of Arda instead? You can look things up there just as quickly and see how they link to one another very nicely. Note, however, that Eradan is a recycled name and is NOT meant to be the same Eradan who appears early in the history of the Ruling Stewards of Gondor.

[nesmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my remark was mostly facetious but I do have the Encyclopaedia bookmarked and go there when I'm too lazy to look things up in books. I'm gradually getting a handle on the minutae. :)

[ahayweh.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but the entire concept makes me want to jump up and down and go "Yay!" for a few hours, which would make for a very tiring comment.

*goes off into another room to jump up and down where she won't disturb anyone*

I had no idea off-the-wall crossovers were clinically addictive. God, we've got to put Surgeon General's warnings on these things.

[camwyn]

One day I'm probably going to do a bit more with Lindorie Vimes, but right now she scaers me a little bit. Steals lines from Michael Ironside, she does... she's a living example of Discworld genetics, though. Her father's physically, socially, culturally Numenorean through and through, except for the part where he was subjected to the longstanding custom of the House of Vimes- namely, 'in addition to Adunaic you're going to learn Morporkian, and this is so that you can be clubbed over the head regularly with the remarkably pretension-deflating words laid down by our very first ancestor, Samuel'. Lindorie, though, seems to have inherited something like 80 or 90 percent Discworld traits; all she's really got of Numenor about her is a long lifespan and a certain Presence (since that sort of thing crops up in guys like Faramir and Aragorn).

I just can't rid myself of this one image with her in it...

The Elf-friends, man, woman, and child alike, held their breaths and leaned as far over the rails of their ships as they dared. The long, low boat that bore their Lord- no, their King, for surely he must be so now- had grated its bottom against the sand. It was time for Elendil to debark. They awaited his words before making any preparation themselves, for surely such a moment must be touched with foresight or portent.

With the grace and majesty of generations unnumbered upon him, Elendil rose in the boat. As he set his feet upon the shores of Middle-earth, he spoke, and these were his words: "Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta."

They looked at one another, smiling at last to hear good fortune spoken after so long and dreadful a journey.

And then came the other words. The Adûnaic ones, that came from a tall, bedraggled, yet somehow oddly commanding figure who had just crested a rise in the sand of the shore...

"Hope you've got the men to back that up, Elendil. The locals in these parts have really long memories- not kindly teaching sea-king long, either. Ar-Gimilzôr, kind of long."

The figure lifted a hand from beneath its cloak; its weapon flashed, catching the light of Anar. Not a sword, though- an axe?

"Lindorie Vimes and her House welcomes the Lord of Andúnië and his people to the territory she and hers've carved out in Middle-earth by the strength of our hands and our wits. May you have an easier time of it than we."

[teldreaming.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely. Always looking for more Thorongilfic, and the Discworld is just precious. One note, though, Denethor wasn't steward when Thorongil served, his father Ecthelion was.

*goes back to her own Thorongil crackfic*

[camwyn]

*checks chronology* Oy. My bad. Will fix.

[incandescens]

I can't help but wonder what Vimes himself would think about having founded a dynasty that so revered his words, given his known attitudes towards nobility and royalty. ;)

[camwyn]

Well, given that I'm reasonably sure the "Letter To My Heirs" (or whatever it's called) is written in typical Vimes style, he would probably find it at least somewhat humorous. But at least they'd be READING the words, and since he spent most of the Letter ranting against getting ideas of superiority or nobility, that'd be good.

There's also a line in the Letter that's been taken by later generations as something very close to gospel:

"No Vimes will ever sit on a throne as if by right, or be a King or Queen. I won't have it, and neither will you."

Later generations have debated whether that was foresight on his part, or merely a direct order, but the effect's been the same in the end.

[teldreaming.livejournal.com]

...but what about Steward?

Because honestly, intermarriage happens - it's a bitch :P. Makes me wonder if your Thorongil bit wouldn't work out better if Ecthelion married a Vimes lady and had a half-Vimes Denethor. Because that would be -really- funny >.>

[camwyn]

*digs out LOTR, flips to The Window On The West*

"We of my house are not of the line of Elendil, though the blood of Númenor is in us..."

*flips some more*

"And the last king of the line of Anárion had no heir. But the stewards were wiser and more fortunate. Wiser, for they recruited the strength of our people from the sturdy folk of the sea-coast, and from the hardy mountaineers of Ered Nimrais..."

Yeah, that sounds like a bloodline that'd be okay with an intermarriage. Steward's not that different from Patrician, save for the fact that Steward is a hereditary office. Of course, it means that Faramir and Boromir would be rather different people- but, yeah, it could get interesting in a hurry. Hmm.

And it'd certainly put a new spin on young Boromir's question to Denethor about how long it takes to make a steward a king, if the king doesn't come back. "How many hundreds of years?" "Boromir, turn around and read the letter on the wall. The one that comes from my mother's family." "... oh, Eru..." "Many apologies, my son, but some traditions run too deep to set aside."

[teldreaming.livejournal.com]

I can see Denethor disliking Faramir because he believes in kings/has bloody stupid prophetic dreams and Denethor doesn't...and definitely Movie!Boromir's declamation about Gondor and kings...

>.> I like this AU.

[incandescens]

Ah, that does sound like him, yes. :)

[genarti]

*cackles in great glee*

Oh, I love it. The combination of Ecthelion and a Vimes is just beautiful. (And, of course, suspicious to the very toenails, particularly of other authority.)

(Also, Queen Beruthiel! Yay!)

[camwyn]

I was thumbing through my copy of LOTR the other day while I was doing dishes (or something- don't remember what) and stumbled across the passage about the Argonath. Was a bit surprised to discover that Isildur and Anarion were carved with axes in their hands, rather than swords.

For just one tiny, shining moment I pictured Eradan Vimes- though Lord alone knows why he'd be that far afield in the days of Ecthelion- passing the statues, glancing up at them, and murmuring something like "Show-offs" or "Posers" under his breath.