The Long, Twilight Struggle
by Soledad
Disclaimer: The characters, the context and the main plot belong to Professor Tolkien, whom I greatly admire. I’m only trying to fill in the gaps he so graciously left for us, fanfic writers, to have some fun.
Rating: G – PG 13, possibly, for war-induced violence. It will change by chapter
A SHORT FOREWORD
“The Long, Twilight Struggle” is a cycle of four stories, telling the tale of Arvedui, the last King of Arthedain (the North-kingdom of the Dúnedain in Eriador) and his wife, the Gondorian Princess Fíriel. The stories will shift between Arthedain and Gondor and will be written in a more or less chronological order. The title itself has been borrowed from the science fiction TV-series “Babylon 5” and therefore belongs to its creator, J. Michael Straczynski – also an avid Tolkien-lover, so let’s hope that he’ll forgive me.
The individual stories of this cycle
are:
Book 1: Signs and Portents
(which tells us about Arvedui’s birth and youth, as well as about the struggles of his father, King Araphant, against various enemies);
Book 2: Southern Flower
(which takes us to Gondor and shows us the events that led to the wedding of Arvedui and Fíriel, Princess of Gondor);
Book 3: The Question of Kingship
(in which Gondor has a tough time, and we learn why the Stewards can never become Kings);
Book 4: Movements of Fire and Shadow
(in which we witness Arvedui’s war against Angmar – and his fall; the title, once again has been borrowed from “Babylon 5” and belongs to JMS.
For each of these stories, I have written a short prologue featuring a few well-known LOTR characters to set the scene and make the stories more accessible for those who are not familiar with the background.
Furthermore, this cycle of stories is part of the joint Dúnadan Project, on which I’m working with several fellow fanfic writers. We wanted to write something that doesn’t include over-used characters, so we decided to go back to the beginning of the Third Age and take a look at the Kings, Chieftains and Stewards of Arnor and Gondor, the Princes of Dol Amroth and the Black Númenóreans of Umbar and Harad.
Since all these rulers were of Dúnadan origin, we decided to call the whole series The Dúnadan Project and to post them as a joined venture, to borrow the expression from business life. The stories of the different authors are individual and stand alone. Possible interconnections are not consciously intended, unless stated in the Author’s Notes.
Sources:
JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings – Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers and Appendix B: The Tale of Years.
“The Peoples of Middle-earth” (HoME 12), edited by Christopher Tolkien – The Tale of Years of the Third Age and The Making of Appendix A (chapters VIII and IX, actually).
Lalaith’s Middle-earth Science Pages:
http://rover.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~lalaith/M-earth.html
The articles of Michael Martinez:
http://www.suite101.com/subjectheadings/contents.cfm/15612
The Tolkien Timeline – Third Age:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~sdgeard/hccag2.html
These pages aren't actually linked to this intro, so you'll have to copy & paste the links if you want to visit them.
For more detailed information, see the Appendix. It will be posted after the cycle is completed.