elennalore

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 21

Sat, 28 Mar 2026 11:42:22 GMT

Day 21 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: In Dreams. Your character is asleep and dreaming. What are their dreams typically like? Write or sketch a dream sequence that explores your character’s subconscious.

I wrote a 100 word drabble about Mairon's recurring nightmare. He relives the destruction of Angband in his dreams, but the true realisation comes when he wakes up: he was not a hero on that day.

You can read the drabble here: Dream Sequence.

comments

MSV update

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:14:52 GMT

I didn't post an update last Sunday, but since the last update, I have finished writing the MSV exchange fic. I already got it back from the beta reader. After that, I did the final editing and just now I POSTED IT in the collection! A victory!
I really enjoyed writing for the pairing (to be revealed later...). Might return writing about them later.
The MSV archive will open on April 11.

comments

MSV update

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 10:06:01 GMT

I've been working with my MSV fic on most days this week. It now has c. 5200 words, 1500 words more than last week. Only the ending and a possible epilogue left. I'm going to make it!
Of course, I will do the editing round after finishing this first draft, and probably ask for a beta reader as well, as this is written for a fic exchange.

comments

MSV update

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:37:50 GMT

I'm taking part in My Slashy Valentine exchange again this year. This is my fourth year! It's an anonymous fic exchange, and I decided not to ask to whom I'm writing even though that would have been possible (and I still need to before posting it on Ao3). However, after getting the assignment, I actually have a good guess who the recipient will be.
My fic is going to be long! The minimum word count is 1200 words – I'm now at 3700 and the fic is not even close to the ending. It looks like it'll become a TRSB length fic. The pairing is not any I have written for MSV before, which feels actually fresh and inspiring. (I'm not going to tell more about the pairing or the setting to keep it secret...)
The DL for veteran participants is April 4, so I still have plenty of time finishing this story, even with the everyday RL duties.
I think I could post here a weekly progress report as a spur for myself.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 20

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 19:31:27 GMT

Day 20 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Who Are You? Using what you've learned about your character, take a Myers-Briggs type personality test for your character. What do you learn about the person? What surprises you?

I have always seen Mairon as an INTJ, and written his character as one, so there was no surprise that I got INTJ-A as a result for his personality test.

What surprised me was that some of the test questions made me wonder if he was an extrovert after all, but the results were still 78% introvert. The judging part was very clear, no surprises there.

Some quotes from the INTJ results that suit Mairon well:

People with this personality type hate blindly following anything without understanding why.
I can imagine that Melkor gave him a better line of reasoning than the Valar in Almaren.

This personality type’s rebellious streak is responsible for some of history’s most unconventional ideas and inventions.
Like making Rings of Power to rule the world, perhaps?

Being innately logical, INTJs seek not just companionship but also intellectual stimulation from their partner – an uncommon quest offering its own unique rewards and challenges.
Mairon has been lucky that he has found just that in Celebrimbor (whom I imagine as an INTP). I see Mairon's relationship with Melkor more as a queer-platonic relationship than a romantic one, so the following quote (from the friendship section) suits better his relationship with Melkor in my opinion:
...many INTJs have a knack for finding friends in seemingly unlikely places. These personalities aren’t particularly swayed by appearances or social status, so they aren’t afraid to befriend people who might be thought of as “outsiders” by the mainstream.

And Mairon has skills and will to help:
INTJ personalities are fiercely loyal and go out of their way to help the people they appreciate and respect. They will willingly offer their unparalleled problem-solving ability in service of a friend’s challenges.

(All quotes from the www.16personalities.com.)

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 19

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 17:22:10 GMT

Day 19 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Strong Points, Part Two. Revisit the list of strengths you’ve thought about for Prompt 3. This time, write a scene in which your character’s strong points cause them trouble.

Here's my entry for Prompt 3 from before. The prompt I chose from my list was He cares about things and is capable of love. The result was a Silvergifting ficlet (300+ words) where Mairon's love complicates his plans.

You can read it on SWG!

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 17

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 15:30:54 GMT

Day 17 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Affiliations, Part Two. Think about a group your character belongs to--perhaps a cultural group, a profession, a family or clan, or any other group of affiliated characters. Spend at least a half-hour exploring that affiliation in any way you choose.

I chose a group Mairon was closely affiliated with in Eregion: Gwaith-i-Mírdain, the People of the Jewel-smiths.

After reading their Tolkien Gateway wiki page, I continued from there to the main sources where this group is discussed in Tolkien's Legendarium: LotR Appendix B, and the Silmarillion: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. I also read a part of Letter 131 from JRR Tolkien's Letters. Another good source was Oshun's character biography of Celebrimbor.

Gwaith-i-Mírdain was a guild of craftsmen founded by some of those Noldor (including Celebrimbor) who settled in Eregion in the year 750 of the Second Age. They went there because they had learned that mithril had been discovered in Moria (LotR Appendix B). I find it interesting that the existence of mithril was a major motivator for them because it is known that Sauron, too, desired mithril. It's said that "Of what they [the Dwarves of Moria] brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it [wants it very much]" (LotR: A Journey in the Dark).

Eregion, and Gwaith-i-Mírdain, was famous of the exceptional friendship between Dwarves and Elves, "such as has never elsewhere been, to the enrichment of both those peoples" (The Silm: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age). When Sauron – as Annatar – came to Ost-in-Edhil in 1200 S.A, the jewel-smiths of Eregion had already experienced a fruitful collaboration of two different peoples and seen the merit of co-working and learning from each other. It was easy for Annatar to find a place for himself in such a community.

And Annatar surely fulfilled the wishes of the Noldor who "desired ever to increase the skill and subtlety of their works" (Silm). Annatar also seems quite willing to share his knowledge with the Mírdain; "they learned of him many things, for his knowledge was great" (Silm). Indeed, the Noldor mastered their art during that time. But were the Noldor the only ones who benefited, or did Sauron also gain something from this collaboration?

I don't see Sauron as fully evil at this point. Unlike in Númenor, I don't think that he came to Ost-in-Edhil just to bring it down. In the Silmarillion (Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age), Sauron claims to love Middle-earth as much as the Noldor of Eregion who had decided to stay. He has a vision of Middle-earth as fair as Eressëa or even Valinor, but no means to accomplish that alone. With the help of the Gwaith-i-Mírdain, they could work together to fulfill Sauron's – or perhaps their common – dream. Sauron uses inspiring words as he speaks about his vision, even challenging the Gwaith-i-Mírdain: "Is it not then our task to labour together for its [Middle-earth's] enrichment" (Silm). I wonder when it became their common vision, or did they share it already in the beginning? In any case, Sauron could not have found a more similar-minded group in Middle-earth.

comments

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:58:51 GMT

Looks like I haven’t really been active here anyway. But I’m reading a queer romantasy book I really enjoy, A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske.

comments

Snowflake challenge #2: Pets of fandom

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 17:47:14 GMT

I'm already behind in these snowflake prompts, and I was already thinking about skipping this one because when I think of pets in the Silmarillion fandom, Huan comes in mind at first, and I don't really have much to say about Huan. He's the goodest boy, of course, but I'm more like a cat person, and in Tolkien's world, cats were not much appreciated.
Tolkien wasn't a cat person for sure.
But there is fanfic.

I love Aipilosse's What Brings Us Together where Sauron returns to Valinor as a cat who becomes of course Celebrimbor's pet before he remembers his past. Of course, the story only goes on from there, but there's this cute pet part, too.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 16

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 14:57:54 GMT

I continued the SWG 30-Day Character Study!

Day 16 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Down Memory Lane, Part Three. Imagine your character keeping a box of little mementoes that are important to them. Write a list, make a sketch, or create a fanwork where these mementoes feature.

I drew Annatar's box of memories he kept locked in his room in Ost-in-Edhil. The list of items:

- a collection of Celebrimbor's notes, and notes and diagrams they have made together
- an unused love potion (it wasn't needed, after all)
- Celebrimbor's handkerchief
- a ring and a bracelet Celebrimbor gave to Annatar as a gift
- an amethyst rock from Mordor
- a vial of molten lava from Sauron's forge in Mordor, sealed with magic
- a lock of Melkor's hair he gave to Mairon as a keepsake before sending him away

comments

Snowflake challenge #1: Icebreaker

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 16:39:55 GMT

I'm doing this because why not!

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

First, here's my blog introduction post from a Snowflake challenge two years ago.

So, I wanted to do this challenge again because I want to be more active here and also learn to use DW as a blog as I'm not very familiar with this platform. Or, I was a LJ blogger, but that was a long time ago.

I also want to page where I can journal about my fannish activities in the Tolkien/Silmarillion fandom. Tumblr is too chaotic for that. And some of my fandom friends also have a DW blog, I want to become a more active commenter.

Let's see how it goes this year!

comments

New year

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 16:29:08 GMT

Happy New Year 2026!

For some time, I've felt like that fic writing won't come as easily to me as before, and I've allowed myself to not write if I feel like it. After S&D 2025, there was actually a month when I didn't write anything, but then I returned writing with a new chapter for my FCL-Silm crossover, and an entry for a SWG monthly challenge, Cinnamon Rolls, which is romantic fluff about Mairon/Eönwë. (I decided there are too few fics about that pairing.)

As the New Year was approaching, I felt ready to take a break from my writing hobby, content to be reading fic instead, but the SWG challenge prompts did it again: I found myself starting a new fic already today.

It's nothing much, only a short entry for one of the last year's SWG monthly challenges I can still pick as New Year's Resolution amnesty, but it's about Maedhros, whom I don't write very often even though he's one of my favourite characters, and it feels like Maedhros might give me a fresh start for this writing year.

comments

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 20:23:26 GMT

I think I should post here sometimes. Actually, I’d like to continue the 30-day character study I began earlier this year (soon I can say last year). Perhaps that’s a New Year’s resolution?

comments

Happy!

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 17:33:57 GMT

I finished and posted a fic!
Vacation does wonders to a person.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 18

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 09:53:57 GMT

Day 18 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

If you wonder where prompts 16 and 17 are, no worry, they will appear later. I did this prompt out of order in the hope of achieving a fan art stamp for this challenge on SWG site! Those stamps are pretty addictive, and today's the last day of the Jubilee challenge.

Today's prompt: Fan Art/Fancast/Fanmix. Create fan art of your character.

I did! I was inspired to draw Mairon in his terrifying First Age form: Gorthaur, the Lieutenant of Morgoth.

You can find the fan art on the SWG site!

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 15

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:08:05 GMT

Day 15 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Big Ideas, Part Two. Using one of the big ideas from Prompt 14, revise an existing fanwork so that this idea is more strongly emphasized or create a new fanwork that brings this idea to the center of the piece.

I took the idea of Mairon as a muse - Mairon wants to inspire! I think that Mairon inspired not only Celebrimbor, but also Melkor. In fics, Melkor often calls him "Little Flame", which could be seen symbolically as the flame of inspiration.

I returned to my day 3 drabble and wrote a related drabble from Melkor's perspective, using the idea of Mairon as muse.

You can read in on SWG!

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 14

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 17:20:10 GMT

Day 14 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Big Ideas, Part One. Create a visual representation of the big ideas you've learned about your character. This can be a quick list in a notebook, a series of sticky notes, or a graphical representation … or whatever you want to make or imagine!

I took an easy route and wrote down some ideas in my Silm fic inspiration notebook.

( Notebook image under the cut )

comments

MSV fic finished!

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 17:36:15 GMT

I finished writing and editing my fic for My Slashy Valentine exchange. I had a good time writing it as I happen to like the pairing a lot, and can't wait for it to be published on Valentine's day. I asked for an extension I thought I might need because of busy time IRL. I wouldn't have needed it, in the end, but now Ao3 has an issue, and their downtime is extended, or the site won't load for me, so I'm glad that I have that extension in case I'm not able to post it this evening because of that issue.

I wish I could tell you more about the fic, but I can't until the recipient has got it. Let me just say that it's the longest one I've written since TRSB.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 13

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 18:24:29 GMT

Day 13 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Home Sweet Home, Part Two. Where does your character live? What are their domestic arrangements like? What do their sleeping/dining/cooking/working areas look like? Where do they go to pee and poop? What about their tastes in interior decoration?

First things first: Mairon doesn't need the toilet. When he eats or drinks – and he does this for pleasure or for some other purpose, not because he needs to – his fana (the psysical form of the Ainur) just absorbs it like fuel. The excess energy thus created is released as heat or little flames.

For today's prompt, I chose Mairon's (or Annatar's – I guess I should call him Annatar in this section) dwelling in Ost-in-Edhil because here his accommodation is most ordinary. No lava baths, we try to live like Elves.

The place was a couple of rooms in a private part of the Mírdain guest house. First, they gave him a smaller room in that building, but when it became clear that Annatar had come to stay, Celebrimbor found him a bigger and more pleasant accommodation. Annatar's only wish was that it should include a fireplace. Not because he found the house cold (which Celebrimbor briefly fussed and worried about), but because he wanted to have a quick and fireproof access to his beloved element. Annatar bought a sheepskin rug from the market and put it in front of the fireplace, and it became his favourite place to relax, or to cuddle with Celebrimbor. In this room, there was a half-empty bookshelf and an armchair for reading. And of course, a desk with several drawers that Annatar always kept locked. That's where he kept his notes and notebooks. And his scribblings – he sometimes tried to write poetry, but never showed it to anyone, not even Celebrimbor. The desk was always in pristine order – unless Celebrimbor had just visited.

Annatar had a separate bedroom, and there was a bed with a beautifully carved bedpost, a wardrobe, and a small table. There were no paintings on the walls, Annatar removed the one there was because he didn't like it. But there was a nice view from the window towards the eastern mountains, if the heavy curtains are not in place. Annatar used the bed very rarely for sleeping, and more often to have sex with Celebrimbor. A box of several sex toys was under the bed. There was a tall mirror in the corner, and bottles and salves for his beauty routines. There's also a washbasin and some cloths.

There was no kitchen, as the custom of the Mírdain was to eat in one of the communal kitchens, but Annatar had a bar cabinet in the same room where the fireplace was.

Annatar hadn't chosen most of the furniture, but the interior decoration was carefully chosen to please the artistic eye, as it was always with the Mírdain, so it wasn't too Elvish in the way he found repulsive, even though it clearly was Noldor-style.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 12

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 17:59:08 GMT

Day 12 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Down Memory Lane, Part Two. Think about the rites of passage your character went through. These can be mundane things like learning to walk, their first kiss, or taking an exam; formal ceremonies like a coming-of-age ritual, graduation or wedding; or life-changing events. Which steps did your character take on the way to who they are?

According to Wikipedia, a rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a change of status in society. This definition in mind, I'll make a list of such events in Mairon's life.

1. Entering into Eä
Not all Ainur entered into the created universe, but Mairon was among those who did. (We never hear about those other Ainur). This connects him to the world in a fundamental level. It's an irreversible step and connects him to the Arda until the end of the world.

2. Joining Melkor
This is a step that changes Mairon's whole narrative, and turns him, previously the "golden boy" of the Ainur, an outcast and an enemy. He leaves his old life behind, severing all contact with those who were important to him. He never seems to regret his radical choice (unless briefly when meeting with Eönwë in the aftermath of the War of Wrath).

3. Leaving Melkor
This is another important milestone in Mairon's life. There is some debate on when this happens. Did he flee and hide from Melkor's scorn and wrath after Lúthien and Huan defeated Mairon in Tol-in-Gaurhoth, as some people think, or did he eventually return to Melkor so that they were only separated when Melkor was imprisoned in the War of Wrath? My personal headcanon is the latter option, but the text sources can really be read either way. In any case, after this step, Mairon starts to operate as an independent agent, instead of serving someone else. A big step for a Maia. It seems that this is also an extremely difficult step for him, for it takes hundreds of years for him to do anything worth mentioning.

4. Becoming Annatar
Mairon was a shapeshifter and master of disguise, but at this point, he tries something completely new: to maintain a disguise and a persona for hundreds of years in a hostile (for him) environment to achieve his goals. My headcanon, as a Silvergifting shipper, is that this period, and especially his relationship with Celebrimbor, involuntarily changed his character in ways he had not expected. I think that this was the time of his greatest personal development – first for the good, and then, for the worse. But the worse part is linked to the next, crucial step.

5. Creating the One Ring
I always read it so that the One Ring has a part of Mairon's spirit in it. The Ring is a part of him, and by creating it, he does something to himself, an alteration that can be seen as distortion and breaking of his psyche. He also becomes obsessed with his initial plan and loses his ability for empathy and love.

6. Losing his ability to take a fair form
Mairon's body was destroyed in the downfall of Númenor, but he fled in spirit. However, he was never able to take a beautiful form again. This must have hit him hard, for from this point on, he stopped calling himself Mairon. He knew he wasn't "the admirable one" anymore.

7. The Ring destroyed
Together with the Ring, the whole of Sauron's realm in Mordor collapsed and his weakened spirit was blown away. This can be seen as the ultimate death of the Maia once known as Mairon. It was the end – or was it? Some fans, and fanfic writers, don't think so, but continue his story even from here.

8. New life in Valinor
This is full headcanon and fanon territory, but some fanfic writers (myself included) like to think that Sauron's spirit survived the cataclysm. Most often, he ends in Valinor in some form or other (a spirit, a cat, an eldritch monster, or his previous admirable self). It's the time of new beginnings and second changes. Thankfully, Elves can be re-embodied, and the Door of Night may open some day.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 11

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 17:22:57 GMT

Day 11 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Drop Everything and Read, Part Two. Take at least a half-hour to read meta and scholarship written about your character.

My chosen reading was this paper:

Bourquein, Cameron (2024) "The Nameless Enemy: How Do You Solve a Problem Like “Mairon”?," Journal
of Tolkien Research: Vol. 20: Iss. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol20/iss2/3

I wanted to return to the previous theme of Sauron's original name from an academic view after writing my own musings down in the last prompt. As a casual Tolkien fan, I don't often read academic papers, but this paper was hugely interesting and thought-provoking, especially as I had just faced the question myself in a very fannish way.

I strongly recommend you to read the article yourself, but I want to point out the part of it which I found the most interesting: that the writer introduces several ways how Sauron is severed from his origins as Mairon, which thus becomes "a most marginal name", only found in an obscure comment by Tolkien, and is actively deleted in the histories in-universe.

I find it fascinating that in the fandom context, the fandom has happily adopted the name Mairon: this is how he's called in many fics and fan arts and headcanons. (Just like here in this blog.) I think this shows the marginal and transformative nature of fandom and certain fandom activities like fanfic writing.

I also found a list (by the author of the previous paper) of Tolkien scholarship related to Sauron, which I have now bookmarked: A Sauron Bibliography (Part 1).

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 10

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 17:16:30 GMT

Day 10 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: What's in a Name? Research the meaning of your character's name. Think about how that name fits the character but also what the name might more subtly imply about your character.

Ah, Mairon. He has perhaps more names than any other Tolkien character, and yet, I learned his original name only when I returned to fandom in 2020. Was I aware of it before? I don't think I was. Learning that he was called "the admirable one, precious", changed the whole perspective of seeing him as a character for me. Mairon was not a faceless villain – Sauron, the abhorred one – but a multidimensional character whom someone had once named "precious" - like other people, much later, named the One Ring that perhaps had a piece of his spirit inside.

Mairon - "the admirable" and Tar-Mairon "King excellent" were the names he preferred to use for himself, at least until the fall of Númenor. (See also my day 1 post on this). I think that the name Mairon suits him very well. It's related to the Quenya adjective maira that means admirable, excellent, precious, splendid, sublime [Source: Eldamo]. Some of these words sound like something you describe a beautiful object, some of them speak about great skill. Mairon had many skills (metal-craft and con-lang maker, shape-shifter, inspirer, singer and poet) and he was beautiful to look at if he wanted – until he lost the ability to take a beautiful form in the downfall of Númenor.
Tar-Mairon is how he wanted to be remembered, but the claim is wildly exaggerated. He never was an excellent ruler.

Sauron was how the Elves and other free peoples of Middle-earth called him, and it sounds like it is a distortion of the name Mairon. It is related to Quenya adjective saura, meaning cruel, evil, vile; stinking, foul; bad, unhealthy, ill, wretched [Eldamo]. This adjective is used to describe stinking, bad smelling things, and Tolkien had mentioned that the Maiar had a definite smell and for the evil spirits it was an unpleasant one. The name Sauron could be translated as "Stinky", then. Did the good-looking Maia of many skills become a stinky spirit in the end? That's what Tolkien seems to point at here. Many of these descriptive words sound more like food gone bad than something formidable and scary. Even his villain-name has more ambiguity than being a simple villain. For all we know, he could be a piece of excellent cheese gone moldy.

Linguistic source: Eldamo

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 9

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 14:03:59 GMT

Day 9 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Weak Points, Part One. Think about at least three shortcomings of your character - things they are bad at, mistakes they make, bad habits… Write a scene in which their failings play a pivotal role.

This area is something Mairon is, unfortunately, very good at, and this is also what makes him such an interesting character. We're also heavily in the headcanon territory again.

1. Mairon is overconfident. This sometimes causes him to make crucial mistakes that lead to his defeat, like in the battle against Huan, or in the end of his scheming in Númenor. Somewhat linked, vanity is one of his personal traits and he seeks admiration of others in a way that may be seen excessive.

2. Mairon thinks that end justifies the means. He is ready to hurt others – and even himself – to achieve his goal. This is what happened with the One Ring, I think. Mairon also has difficulties in seeing things from others' perspective. It sometimes comes as a surprise to him that not everyone has the same priorities/goals as he has. My headcanon is that this way of seeing things is not unique to Mairon, but it is how the Ainur in general see the incarnates. However, in Mairon, who spends a lot of time among the peoples of Middle-earth, and who also has a defective moral compass, this way of thinking leads to even more bad decisions.

3. Mairon is possessive. I think this characteristic is transferred to the One Ring as well. In Eregion, this part of his character is in shadow as he turns it psychologically around and calls himself the gift-giver. However, his relationship with Celebrimbor can be seen as a very possessive one.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have time to write a drabble for this prompt – even though this is a great prompt that would deserve a drabble - but I may return later with part 9 b and write a little something about his failings.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 8

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 17:08:38 GMT

Day 8 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: The Mirror Cliche. Authors are often discouraged from describing their characters by having them look at their reflection in a mirror (or a pool, or a puddle, or whatever). For this one exercise, we want you to embrace the mirror cliche! Write a scene where your character sees their reflection. What do they see? What do they feel as they see it?

I didn't expect myself to focus on Angbang when I took this character study challenge, but today's drabble is again about Mairon's time in Angband and his complex relationship with Melkor. Here's my 100 word drabble: Obsidian Mirror.

comments

30-Day Character Study: Mairon | Day 7

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 10:49:45 GMT

Day 7 of SWG 30-Day Character Study. My character is Mairon | Sauron | Annatar.

Today's prompt: Affiliations, Part One. Think about an important relationship your character has to another character in your verse. Spend at least a half-hour exploring that relationship in any way you choose.

Mairon's relationship to Melkor was probably the most important relationship in his life, changing his whole life and the future that awaited him. I wrote a 100-word drabble about their relationship after some musing about the nature of it. I don't necessarily see it as a romantic one.

Here's the drabble: To Not Appear Weak.

comments