My heart was heavy as soon as I perceived the chapter concerned
Celebrimbor. What else could it hold besides at least the promise of the future pain, reaching out across vast distances and times to strike down this last son of
Fëanor's House? Celebrimbor's motivations and thoughts were touching, especially those concerning his father, and his attempts to understand '
Annatar' were understandably met with such shining resistance he never thought of looking deeper.
The version of Celebrimbor's accomplishments in
The Silmarillion is general, sweeping over the facts and arriving at the heartbreaking end without us knowing much of why or how
Sauron managed to seduce the smiths of Eregion. I think your more detailed look is very good, both sorrowful in what we all know is its end and marvellous(as in 'causing marvel') in how that end came about. Sauron speaking blessings, shining bright as the sun, as near to being in his element among these smiths as he will ever be now he is cast from
Aulë's company. Celebrimbor not joining in right away, watching as his guest performs little miracles with metal and jewels, making each into something more than either could ever be naturally, and then deciding to be a part of such an enterprise. Celebrimbor's own dream of a legacy not only grasping satisfaction, after all these long years, but granting him closure after all he has suffered and lost. And then, at long last, giving him the strength and defiance to hold off
the one whom he once trusted so well.
Yet did Celebrimbor trust Annatar so well? This version of yours has the son of
Curufin withholding his deepest dream from Annatar, speaking only of his desire to create something lasting. It makes sense, for not only had Annatar no share in the Elven Rings, he had not even known they were to be crafted until Celebrimbor had already done it. Doubtless he would have crafted them with Celebrimbor, so I do not know what held him back, unless his mind saw into that of the
elf, and there perceived the plans Celebrimbor would not speak aloud.
Fond as I am of
The Rings of Power tv show, I cannot help holding it as a touching alternate version of what took place between Sauron and Celebrimbor, and I was heavily reminded both of it and of another which I will elaborate upon in a moment. The desire, deep and yearning, to create some legacy worthy of his grandfather, the vast skill he possessed, and the need to safeguard what yet remained to him and to his people. The failure to see through a disguise so suited to his taste of mind, and the wretched resolve afterward to never reveal what it was too late to regret.
In the video game Shadow of
Mordor, you play as
Talion(a Latin word meaning "retribution"), who wakes from having been slaughtered with his family upon the
Black Gate. That gate had once been held by
Gondor, and now its last
Rangers had fallen to an attack by three lieutenants of Sauron. Talion wakes because he has been in some way attached to a wraith(not one of
the Nine) who had been wandering Mordor for over three thousand years, bound to that land by causes unknown. Part of the storyline consists in uncovering the wraith's past through the discovery of treasures which hold flashbacks. In this version, not much is given of how or why Sauron deceived Celebrimbor, but it is shown the elf-lord once had a wife and daughter he loved. After his forging of the Rings by Annatar's side, the
Dark Lord came to claim them, but Celebrimbor resisted him. Sauron eventually not only overcame Celebrimbor's resistance, but captured him and his family.
The rest of the story serves as an alternate world retelling, since Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War do not quite follow the lore of
Middle-earth very well, but have their own story to tell. Celebrimbor was captured, and brought into Mordor, where his skill served to help complete
the One Ring. But Celebrimbor, though Sauron sought to dominate him, had still enough self-will left to form a final resistance, and he bound what of his own spirit into
the Ring he could, and then seized it himself. With the Ring he formed an army against Sauron and dominated much of Mordor, eventually attacking
Barad-dûr in an attempt to get back his family. But he was captured again, his hands cut off, and his family brutally murdered before his eyes using the very smith's hammer he had used to craft so much. Then Celebrimbor himself was beaten to death, and his spirit fled, bound to Mordor as a result of what he had done to the Ring.
Both of these versions(
Rings of Power and Shadow of Mordor) I find touching and sad in one way or another. I was so vividly reminded of them by what you had written, I wanted to share them. It is, of course, the closest to what The Silmarillion itself says of all the versions, and I wonder what it would look like brought to life on a screen. Very beautiful, no doubt, and long would the hearts of its audience ache.
This has been an incredible story from start to finish. I feel privileged to have read it, and I thank you for laboring over it as much as you have. The peeks into characters heretofore shadowed by general description, the motivations and fears elaborated upon, the
events unfolded, all have woken many ideas and perceptions in me. Thank you, and I look forward to your next work.