Maitimo (Arda)

Maitimo/Maedhros

 

Personal History

The uninterrupted trajectory of standard Arda Maitimos is as follows:

Valinor

Maitimo is born as the eldest son of Fëanaro in Valinor, where he grows up in the expectation that one day, his grandfather Finwë will retire as King of the Noldor and Maitimo will be King. Complicating this is the fact that Finwë wants Maitimo to get married and have kids first, and Maitimo is too gay and too in love with Findekano for that.

When the Valar release Melkor on parole and Melkor starts subtly stirring up trouble between Fëanaro and Nolofinwë, Maitimo tries to smooth things over for a while. However, eventually he is forced to pick a side, and sides with his father. When Melkor kills the Trees, murders Finwë, and steals the Silmarils, Maitimo swears the Oath of Fëanor alongside his father and brothers.

Alqualondë, Ship-Burning, and Capture

The Noldor then run into the problem that there is no way to leave Valinor without ships, and after the Teleri refuse to lend their ships or teach the Noldor how to build their own, the Fëanorians proceed to take the Telerin ships by force. This is called the First Kinslaying, or the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, and the Valar proceed to issue a Doom sentencing anyone who follows the House of Fëanor to, essentially, failure, betrayal, and death. 

The Fëanorians take the ships to Beleriand, and Maitimo promises Findekano that they will send the ships back to ferry the Nolofinweans over. However, when they get across, Fëanaro burns the ships instead. Maitimo cannot stop him and stands aside. Unfortunately, one of Maitimo's twin brothers is on one of the ships at the time, and he dies in the fire. The Fëanorian host is then attacked by Morgoth's forces, and Fëanaro promptly gets killed.

Maitimo, now King of (a part of) the Noldor, then goes to a parley with the Enemy, which the Enemy uses to capture him. Maitimo then gets tortured in Angband for fifty years, which features many hallucinations meant to make Maitimo think he's been rescued. Sauron is especially interested in Maitimo. Eventually, Morgoth hangs him up on a cliff, suspended by one hand.

Rescue and War

Meanwhile, the Nolofinwean host makes it across the Grinding Ice to Endorë, Findekano finds out Maitimo has been captured, and decides to rescue him, despite still feeling betrayed by the burning of the ships. With the help of a Manwë-sent eagle, Findekano brings Maitimo out of Angband, though he has to cut off Maitimo's right hand to get him free of the cliff.

Maitimo is not at all convinced that he has actually been rescued, and this is not yet another hallucination, but he pretends he thinks it's real to stretch out the time until he next gets tortured. He yields the crown to Nolofinwë and strong-arms his brothers into going along with it. He also starts using the name Maedhros at this point instead of Maitimo - Maitimo means "well-formed", and the Enemy liked using it.

The events of the Silmarillion proceed. Maitimo builds a fortress at Himring in the north, and plays his part in the war against Morgoth and the 400-year Siege of Angband. The Siege ends with the Dagor Bragollach, the Battle of Sudden Flame. 

The Nirnaeth and the Kinslayings

Following the success of Beren and Luthien's quest to fetch a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown, Maitimo forms the Union of Maedhros, an alliance of many people of Elves and Men meant to take the war to Morgoth. The resulting battle ends in utter failure. Findekano, by now King of the Noldor, is killed, and much of Beleriand is overrun by Morgoth's forces.

The Fëanorians now have no hope of getting the two Silmarils still held by Morgoth, and their Oath forces them to attempt to get the one that is in Doriath. Doriath refuses to let them have it, and Maitimo and his brothers attack. This is called the Second Kinslaying. Doriath is destroyed as a kingdom, but Elwing, the daughter of the king escapes, still in possession of the Silmaril. Celegorm, Caranthir, and Curufin die in the fighting. There is rather a lot of murder.

Maitimo, Macalaurë, and the surviving twin then attempt to resist the Oath. This works poorly, since Oaths erode away people's ability to care about anything but the Oath. Eventually, Maitimo and his brothers assault the refugee camp at the Mouth of Sirion, where Elwing and the Silmaril are, deciding that they would rather attack while they still care enough to minimize casualties. This is the Third Kinslaying. The surviving twin dies in the attack. Elwing takes the SIlmaril and jumps into the sea with it; she survives, but Maedhros and Maglor do not know this.

Kids, Despair, and Death

Elwing leaves behind her two six-year-old children, Elrond and Elros, and Maedhros and Maglor half take them hostage, half rescue them. The kids end up loving them as their parents, though it is a complicated relationship.

By this point, Maedhros is very much not sane. He is more hoping that this is all a hallucination than afraid of it, since if it's a hallucination, then none of the dead people are actually dead, and he's not a mass murderer.

Eventually, the Valar come fight Morgoth, and even more eventually defeat him. Maedhros and Maglor try to take the two remaining Silmarils away from the triumphant army, and are permitted to do so. But the Silmarils, which were blessed by Varda not to endure the touch of evil, burn them. Maedhros takes one and jumps with it into a fiery chasm.

[to-do: STANDARDIZE ON QUENYA OR SINDARIN, DAMMIT.]
[to-do: change to past tense?]
[to-do: too long? move chunks to Arda pages?]

 

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