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Fannish Fifty 2023: Rec #21
May. 26th, 2023 03:56 pmTitle: Common Tongue Series
Author:![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Wealhtheow21
Fandom: The Hobbit (Peter Jackson films)
Category: Gen
Pairings: None
REC
It's a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so naturally some of you need a way to fill up all that extra free time, right? Because I'm reccing an entire series of fics and while all of them are at minimum novel length, two of them are monstrously long. Very worth it, though.
It starts with To Find Our Long Forgotten Gold, an AU in which Thorin Oakenshield's party is headed for the Lonely Mountain sans Kili, who was taken by orcs during a raid when he was a child and is believed to be dead. Except when the company crosses paths with some orcs on the journey, they find Kili with them--a Kili who has endured decades of abuse and no longer remembers who he is, who his family is, or how to communicate in anything other than Black Speech.
What levels this fic up above standard hurt/comfort fics is the emphasis on linguistics and cultural differences. When the company first calls upon Gandalf, who is fluent in Black Speech, to explain who they are to Kili, Gandalf is hampered by the fact that orcs have no concept of love or family and therefore no words to express those concepts, so the best he can do is 'these people will not kill you.' Trying to teach someone Westron when there are so many words that have no equivalent in Black Speech is a huge challenge, not to mention the cultural differences.
After they all reach the Lonely Mountain, the series continues as Kili tries to rebuild his life (repeated head injuries have left him with some permanent issues), does some traveling, and makes some friends (some of his time in the Shire is adorable). The company also have to learn to adjust to this new Kili who is nothing like the one they lost, except for the innate kindness of his character, which was buried but not broken.
And as a bonus, there's a story in the series that retells To Find Our Long Forgotten Gold from Kili's POV, during which we discover nearly everything we thought Kili was thinking in that story was wrong.
Seriously, this whole thing is just brilliant.
TEASER
Tauriel's brows drew down, then. "You know nothing of wisdom or compassion," she said. "Do you think there has never been a creature like him before? Even an elf cannot full recover if their time with the orcs has been too long." Her face softened a little. "His mind is snapped, Mr. Underhill, he is become nothing more than a beast. If we should set him free, you would wake one day to find him gnawing on the bones of your friends, or worse, you would not wake at all. I would not see that happen to you, trespasser though you are."
"You don't believe that," Bilbo said. "I know you don't. I know you have spoken to him."
"I tell you again that it is forbidden," Tauriel said. "And even if it were not, even the birds of the forest can be taught to make words, given enough time." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I wonder who has taught our little bird to speak?"
"He is not a beast, nor a bird either," Bilbo insisted. "He is my friend."
"Your friend!” Tauriel said. "Oh, master hobbit, your compassion does you credit, but you still do not understand. Your friend was murdered by the orcs. There is nothing left of him in the creature you see before you. Surely it is cruel to both of you to continue so?" She shook her head and spoke as if reciting something. "If he truly was your friend, you must see that he suffers dreadfully. You should think of this not as a punishment, but a mercy."
Bilbo felt anger blaze up in him again, and he remembered Thorin's words, the elf king speaking of death as mercy. Mercy on whom? He imagined Kili lying lifeless for no reason than that the elves thought that he could not possibly have borne what he had borne, and he imagined what that would do to Fili, to Thorin, and to the still-nameless mother who would regain her son and lose him again in the same breath. "I never thought that the mercy of elves would turn out to be the same as the punishment of orcs," he said sharply, and Tauriel's eyes grew wide. He did not let her speak, however, but plunged onward. "But you're the one who doesn't understand. I didn't know him before the orcs took him. This creature, as you call him, is the only friend I know, and I would have no other in his place."
Author:
Fandom: The Hobbit (Peter Jackson films)
Category: Gen
Pairings: None
REC
It's a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so naturally some of you need a way to fill up all that extra free time, right? Because I'm reccing an entire series of fics and while all of them are at minimum novel length, two of them are monstrously long. Very worth it, though.
It starts with To Find Our Long Forgotten Gold, an AU in which Thorin Oakenshield's party is headed for the Lonely Mountain sans Kili, who was taken by orcs during a raid when he was a child and is believed to be dead. Except when the company crosses paths with some orcs on the journey, they find Kili with them--a Kili who has endured decades of abuse and no longer remembers who he is, who his family is, or how to communicate in anything other than Black Speech.
What levels this fic up above standard hurt/comfort fics is the emphasis on linguistics and cultural differences. When the company first calls upon Gandalf, who is fluent in Black Speech, to explain who they are to Kili, Gandalf is hampered by the fact that orcs have no concept of love or family and therefore no words to express those concepts, so the best he can do is 'these people will not kill you.' Trying to teach someone Westron when there are so many words that have no equivalent in Black Speech is a huge challenge, not to mention the cultural differences.
After they all reach the Lonely Mountain, the series continues as Kili tries to rebuild his life (repeated head injuries have left him with some permanent issues), does some traveling, and makes some friends (some of his time in the Shire is adorable). The company also have to learn to adjust to this new Kili who is nothing like the one they lost, except for the innate kindness of his character, which was buried but not broken.
And as a bonus, there's a story in the series that retells To Find Our Long Forgotten Gold from Kili's POV, during which we discover nearly everything we thought Kili was thinking in that story was wrong.
Seriously, this whole thing is just brilliant.
TEASER
Tauriel's brows drew down, then. "You know nothing of wisdom or compassion," she said. "Do you think there has never been a creature like him before? Even an elf cannot full recover if their time with the orcs has been too long." Her face softened a little. "His mind is snapped, Mr. Underhill, he is become nothing more than a beast. If we should set him free, you would wake one day to find him gnawing on the bones of your friends, or worse, you would not wake at all. I would not see that happen to you, trespasser though you are."
"You don't believe that," Bilbo said. "I know you don't. I know you have spoken to him."
"I tell you again that it is forbidden," Tauriel said. "And even if it were not, even the birds of the forest can be taught to make words, given enough time." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I wonder who has taught our little bird to speak?"
"He is not a beast, nor a bird either," Bilbo insisted. "He is my friend."
"Your friend!” Tauriel said. "Oh, master hobbit, your compassion does you credit, but you still do not understand. Your friend was murdered by the orcs. There is nothing left of him in the creature you see before you. Surely it is cruel to both of you to continue so?" She shook her head and spoke as if reciting something. "If he truly was your friend, you must see that he suffers dreadfully. You should think of this not as a punishment, but a mercy."
Bilbo felt anger blaze up in him again, and he remembered Thorin's words, the elf king speaking of death as mercy. Mercy on whom? He imagined Kili lying lifeless for no reason than that the elves thought that he could not possibly have borne what he had borne, and he imagined what that would do to Fili, to Thorin, and to the still-nameless mother who would regain her son and lose him again in the same breath. "I never thought that the mercy of elves would turn out to be the same as the punishment of orcs," he said sharply, and Tauriel's eyes grew wide. He did not let her speak, however, but plunged onward. "But you're the one who doesn't understand. I didn't know him before the orcs took him. This creature, as you call him, is the only friend I know, and I would have no other in his place."
