WARNING: Many spoilers are contained in this biography
No seriously, this one's enabled me to get EVERYTHING off my chest; I think it's got pretty much all the main points of Almari's history. After this, I don't think I'll be keeping anymore secrets from you-- well, unless I think of more things of course ;) I hope this just reinforces all that I've been trying to say.
But before I get to it... A few points about the story. If you'll remember back to the song dedication thread, I think it was, and you wrote a moment from the 'Last Battle', with Erelith dying in Varsis arms? (*sniffs*) Well, the 'Last Battle' has being playing out in my head ever since...
As I saw it, Tîwele won't play a big role in it. Varsis, as you established, was there at the battle, but Tîwele will be preoccupied elsewhere, and isn't going to be there, primarily because the meeting between Almárean and Tîwele is not here- their story is not set here- since, from my viewpoint, this is mainly the story of Erelith and the Môrelen fued. After all, that's what the quest to Amon Lanc is all about, isn't it?
Abandoned Ways, though, is very much focused on Tîwele and Varsis, and their story and legacy, though, and, being the last pair left alive in Arda amongst our original characters, after the tumultuous events of the third/fourth age, I think that has some significance in itself. But I'm not going to go on a tangent about their fate just yet (fighting the impulse, anyway) :)
And... another point about the ending... because I'm very much in love with it *sniffs* What shall happen during this terribly fateful day, is, as we know (if I have interpreted it all correctly), Erelith and Meren confront each other for the last time, which I envisioned to be at the gates of Amon Lanc (because it somehow reminds me of the gates of hell!). Hell breaks loose, tempers flare between father and daughter, and they duel precariously close to the death [In my mind's eye, I always love this moment, because you've done such a good job of building up the tension between those two, I hope the climax will be as good as I imagine it to be!]. This is also the moment where Almárean confronts Meren again for the last time.
PS. No, he's not evil like Meren, he's just... torn. This is the reason I love the guy, and tragedy as a genre.
Almárean Iapheus
Family~ The second child of Meren Môrelen, Almárean's only known family, he does not discover he has an elder sister, Erelith, until her fated death at the hands of Meren. His mother, Élaine, suffered at the hands of his wicked father. His fostered parents, the only family he ever loved as his own, were Ulysses and Ceileth Iapheus.
Race~ Inevitably, of the Moriquendi.
Birth~ Almárean was born in the year 499 of the Third Age.
History~ Believing Almárean to be accursed, Meren believed he had murdered his second child when he took the life of his pregnant wife, Élaine. Yet it was by a pure twist of fortune that Élaine was discovered in the confines of a boat, caught in the rushes by the banks of Anduin, mauled and wounded to an inch of her life, by a poor Gondorian peasant. Stricken with disbelief at the Elf maiden's condition, the man made a desperate attempt to save her life, believing that she had been the victim of a brutal, inhumane enemy. He was, perhaps, right. Élaine had already lost the will for speech beyond a whisper, and her last words, 'Please, save my child', was a sentence breathed in no more than a last whisper of effort. Learning her name, the man, a goodhearted Gondorian who bore no child of his own, felt determined for the dying maiden to have her last wish. He bore her the short way to his home in Lossarnach, and sent word for the help of healers of Minas Tirith to save the baby that the woman bore. As Élaine took her last breath, the small lifeform was lifted free of her, helpless and grasping onto its life by a mere thread.
That baby was weak in its early days, but was nursed gradually to health by the skilled healers of the Steward's Court in Minas Tirith, and survived beyond hope.
For most of his former years, Almárean was a weak child because of the impairable harm he had been done in the womb, but his orphaned parents, Ulysses and Ceileth, were overjoyed. They took him to live with them in Lossarnach, a flowery vale of the Southern Ered Nimrais. The name Almárean they gave to the child, believing him to be blessed by the kindness of the Valar. They poured into him the love he needed to flourish and grow, and vowed to protect him until he was old enough to learn the truth of what was known about his ancestry. Almárean was an innocent child, and loved his home and his lord, Tharlen of Lossarnach, whom he respected greatly. Ulysses and Ceileth he loved dearly as his own mother and father, and cherished them as he did all other things... the fields, rivers, and the White Mountains that surrounded this homeland.
The growing shadows and promises of darkness ever lingered in the minds of the Gondorians, and so, too, was Almárean affected by its presence, but something else weighed on his mind. Believing himself to be of the race of man until his 33rd birthday, he had never imagined in his wildest dreams that his fate would be connected with the lands beyond Gondor. When Ceileth, his fostered mother lived her last days, she urged Almárean to seek the truths he needed to know. Upon questioning Ceileth about his true identity, she refused to disclose the truth, not wishing her child to be scarred by his past. Learning from Ceileth before her death that he had been denied the truth of his ancestry, Almárean felt both confused and betrayed.
Several years later, Ulysses came down with a chronic illness, and, determined finally to help the boy he loved as a son find his true father, he gave to Almárean the name of his mother and the story of how he found Almárean, and urged him seek for his true family. With a childhood friend, Almárean sought long and hard in vain of some sign or lingering hope in his past. At last, one stormy eve, wearied by his endless search, he called out in vain the name of his lost mother. By an act of fate, this led to an unhappy meeting, for he was approached by a cloaked stranger who stepped from the shadows of a veiled night. Learning quickly from Almárean's tale that he met a son of his own flesh and blood, Meren was overcome by both unexplained fear and surprise. However, feigning kindness, he led the unknowing Almárean into the depths of a dark forest, convincing him that Almárean's parents were known to him. In the dark of night, Almárean, wearied deeply, knew not where he was lead. His trust in the stranger led him into the heart of the fastness of the Greenwood, and Amon Lanc.
Unknown to him, he would never leave Amon Lanc until years had passed, and that dreaded place chilled Almárean's heart deeply. The moment he stepped within the confines of Dol Guldur, he had misgivings about the place, though he knew not his whereabouts as yet. But at last, disclosing to Almárean that he was his father, Meren turned Almárean's shortlived joy to unexplained fear. Meren lied to him, telling him they were akin to the Silvan Elves of Greenwood the Great (earlier known name of Mirkwood), kindhearted souls refined in archery, and so too, would Almárean be taught their art in time.
Almárean's innocent trust in the man he believed to be his biological father hindered him from seeing Meren's true nature. Almárean made friends with the woodland Elves, from whom he learnt to use bow and arrow, and from his father, these skills were refined towards darker arts, twisted by Meren's cunning teachings. Almárean never hated his father, for he was never treated wrong, but he feared Meren and was never at ease near him, though he did not know why, and in all the time he dwelt in Mirkwood, he was ignorant of his own identity as a Moriquendë. Meren, aware of the curse he himself was placed on, carefully estranged Almárean from his sister, not telling him that she had escaped into exile in earlier years (S.A. 3434), to prevent his children, Almárean and Erelith, uniting against him and bringing about his own downfall. For Almárean, he now had other plans.
In his 551st year, Almárean learned at last from the Silvan Elves about Dol Guldur, and about Sauron the Great whose evil shadow was beginning to threaten the entirety of Taur-nu-Fuin (Mirkwood), deducing at last that his father was in league with the Dark Powers. The Elves had never met Meren and did not believe this, telling Almárean that only the Moriquendi were Elves that ever allied with the Dark Powers. Almárean, however, grew wary with suspicion. Confronting Meren at last, Almárean learned the truth, and fell into black despair for a period. His father, however, had already planted in Almárean a seed of black thought even Almárean himself did not know existed. Almárean was ever against Meren's ties with Sauron, but he did not have the heart to abandon his father, though himself strove never to ally fully with Meren's allies, and kept a strong resistance.
During this time, Almárean sought the help of Mithrandir, a wise pilgrim whose frequent comings to and from Mirkwood lended him aid and knowledge in times when his heart eluded him.
As Sauron's hold over Mirkwood grew, so too did his stronghold of Barad-dûr in the dark East, until his presence grew into an unbearable veil of night over Almárean's heart. Unable to stay under the shadow any longer, he fled far from Amon Lanc in secret many years later, with aid from the Elves. From then he made a living in the wild under the stars for several years, away from the confinement of Meren, developing a great love for the nature of Arda. It was his wanderings which brought him far across the wide lands to the West of Middle-earth. There, his eyes beheld the vast sea, and it was a sight he never forgot. It the banks of the River Lhûn in the far West that he first met Tîwele, and fell in love.
Not long afterwards, Meren, desperate for allies to fulfill his dark desires, waged war on the hidden city of Órelindë, causing sorrow and death. Disguising himself as 'Môren', he attempted to secure an alliance by unearthing an ancient tie: that the people of Órelindë were, by blood, ancestors of Moriquendi. When King Lólindír failed to comply, Meren sought one price to end the war: the blood of the Queen. Grief-stricken, believing her mother to be lost, Tîwele sought solace in Almárean. As she tells him of the siege, Almárean reveals that Meren is his father, a tie he wished he could deny. Devastated by Almárean's betrayal, Tîwele vowed never again to speak to Almárean. The remorseful Almárean, having never known of Meren's plans, nor advised his father in any way, having been estranged from him for so long, attempted to explain matters-- but he had already created a chasm between them that words could not remedy.
It was a misunderstanding that tainted their lives for years afterwards.
After departing ways, Almáean returns to Amon Lanc, much less his only home left than refuge-- there was no longer another place he could go. Exploiting his lost passion, Meren persuades Almárean to accept the mantle of the Môrelen house and bear this name as a son of the Môrelen line. In this way, Meren estranges Almárean from those he once loved and called his kin. Almárean, deceived once more, convinced himself, out of weariness, that the only person left in the world who still possessed an inkling of caring for him was his father: he joins forces with Meren. Meren, satisfied that betrayal is no longer possible, grants his son freedoms he did not grant his daughter. Almárean, however, finds no healing, nothing to mend his broken heart, in his renewed kinship with his father, even while becoming immune to the cruelties of his father's plans. Part of him longed for his earlier life, the other part dismissed those memories as a shadow which had, ultimately, ended in sorrow-- one he never wanted to experience again.
Though shadows of his former life sometimes unearthed themselves, Almárean managed to bury his past until the Last Battle. On one return to Amon Lanc, he stumbles upon a confrontation at the gates of Amon Lanc between Meren, and two strangers (Erelith and Varsis). Ignorant of their identities, Almárean demands to know the tidings. Meren, hoping once more to deceive Almárean, cries out for aid from his son. Yet Erelith, immediately identifying that Meren possessed a son, sorrowfully accuses Meren of concealing that she had a brother. A confused Almárean demanded the truth from Meren, demanding to know the reason behind his fierce vendetta against a daughter of his own flesh and blood. Refusing to explain, Meren dismisses Almárean's words, mortally wounding Erelith, who had briefly lowered her sword. A remorseful Varsis rushed forward and cradled the dying Erelith in his arms. As Meren readied himself to deal the defenceless Erelith a last, fatal blow, Almárean acting upon impulse and anguish, confronts Meren. He rushes forward to defend Erelith, driving Meren backwards with fierce swordwork, an attack that amounted to the summation of his grief-- blaming Meren for the tragedy he had brought upon the Môrelen house. In that moment, it was the passionate fighting spirit that Lossarnach had ingrained in Almárean against the devil-- the originator of all sins, the master of evil. Yet sometimes, evil has the greater power. Meren wrenches Almárean's sword from his grasp, and tells him that the death blow he was about to deliver was not originally meant for him, before wounding his son in the stomach. However, Almárean refused to admit defeat. Struggling to his feet, he used his last strength to deal the Meren a wound straight to the heart-- vengeance both for himself, and Erelith. The wounded Almárean goes to Erelith's side, to learn from Varsis that she would not live to see the sun set. Brother and sister finally embrace, rejoiced by their meeting, until the sun dips beneath the skyline, to signal darkness.
Though Almárean survives the ordeal, his guilt plagues him for a very long time: His inability to know his sister Erelith, and regret for murdering his own father, the individual, who, while ruthless and callous, may, deep within, possess some remnant of goodness-- lost now beyond hope. Leaving Amon Lanc, and all its memories behind, he sets out in search of the land of his childhood-- the flowery vale. During the night, he takes the long, gruelling journey to Lossarnach, but the journey proves physically and emotionally exhausting. Still wounded, the resigns himself to his fate in Ithilien-- accepting that he too, would soon walk the fated route of the Môrelen house-- death. In the depths of blackness and despair, if it were not for Alatar the Blue, then his saviour, Almárean would also have been lost.
[This takes us to the beginning of Abandoned Ways, which is another tale in itself!]
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There. I've let it all out. In some ways, it's a relief. I hope you love it as much I do, Ere' (I do hope what you had in mind moulds in with mine)-- the whole thing is a masterpiece, and I'm ecstatic about it!
So, what did you think?