Varna's Family History

[Varnafindë]

Varnafindë is my Elven identity, and this thread is meant to explore some of her family history.

She appears in Long Lost Leaves and in Other Worlds Than These, RPGs here on Entmoot. I've played her (and other of her family members) in other RPGs on other boards as well, so some details of their history have been worked out over the years.

This first post will function as an index (as far as one is needed) of relevant links for the Original Characters, mostly to the stories and RPGs where they appear, but even links to later posts in this thread if this seems useful. Many stories are listed for more than one character, and are bolded the first time they appear.

Varnafindë aka Barufiniel
story: How Rameldir's daughter got her name
RPG on a different board: Road to Rivendell (my own RPG)
RPG on a different board: If It's Possible
RPG on Entmoot: her first post in Long Lost Leaves
RPG on Entmoot: Other Worlds Than These

Rameldir
story: A Narrow Escape (with his mother)
RPG on a different board: Zâira Nênud (with his wife's cousin Ainon)
RPG on Entmoot: Journeys (with his wife's cousin Ainon)
RPG on Entmoot: Son of the Evening Star
story: High King of the Noldor
RPG on a different board: Shadow over Arnor (with his wife's cousin Ainon)

Nimlothel
RPG on a different board: her first post in The Theft of Umbar

Galadhlin
RPG on a different board: After the Battle
RPG on Entmoot: Erebor Rebuilt (not started yet)

Ainon
RPG on a different board: Zâira Nênud (with his cousin Glaerien's husband)
RPG on Entmoot: Journeys (with his cousin Glaerien's husband)
RPG on a different board: Shadow over Arnor (with his cousin Glaerien's husband)

Arindis
story: A Narrow Escape (with her son)
story: The Treacherous Ice (with her husband)

Erufailon
story: The Treacherous Ice (with his wife)

Calimon
story: Blood and Fire (with his father)

Vórimon
story: Blood and Fire (with his son)

[Varnafindë]

This second post will just summarize Varnafindë's family tree, so far as it consists of Original Characters:

Varnafindë (the Sindarin form of her name is Barufiniel)
Varnafindë's father is Rameldir
Varnafindë's mother is Glaerien

(Then we step aside to look at her cousin's family tree as well)
Varnafindë's cousin is Nimlothel
Nimlothel's father is Galadhlin
Nimlothel's mother is NólemÃ*re

Galadhlin and Glaerien are brother and sister

Rameldir's father is Erufailon
Rameldir's mother is Arindis

Galadhlin's and Glaerien's father is Galathilion
Galadhlin's and Glaerien's mother is Ealcalinda

Ealcalinda's nephew (son of her sister and of a Sinda who survived Doriath) is Ainon

NólemÃ*re's father is Calimon
NólemÃ*re's mother is Alcarohtare

Calimon's father is Vórimon


Then let's look at some non-canon family links between OCs and canon characters:

Erufailon's maternal grandfather (unnamed OC) is the brother of Elenwe, who is Turgon's wife, and of Lisseriel (OC), who is the mother of Glorfindel.

Arindis is the daughter of Angrod (son of Finarfin), and either the sister (as I prefer) or the niece of Orodreth, depending on which version of Orodreth's lineage is chosen as canon.

Galathilion is the son of Galathil, who is the brother of Celeborn and the father of Nimloth (Elrond's grandmother). Galathil's grandfather is Elmo, brother of King Olwë of Alqualondë and of King Thingol of Doriath.

Vórimon is the cousin of Nerdanel (Fëanor's wife), with his father (unnamed OC) being the brother of Nerdanel's mother. Vórimon also worked as secretary to Curufin.

Calimon is thus second cousin of Curufin and his brothers.

[Varnafindë]

In TA 2758 Rameldir and his wife Glaerien had been living in Rohan for about a hundred years. Then with the war approaching, they fled, meaning to go back to Rivendell where they had been living previously.

On their way through Rohan they stumbled through a portal and ended up in Narnia, about five hundred years after the reign of the Pevensie children.

In Narnia, their daughter Barufiniel was born.

After about five hundred years there was some unrest in Narnia (the one that would end eventually with the Telmarines taking over the power), and they fled again, hoping to find the portal and go back to Middle-earth.

Instead they met Aslan. He said that it was time for Barufiniel's parents to leave for Aman (and sent them there without any need of a ship), and time for Barufiniel to get to know her own world.

Aslan sent her back through the portal her parents had come through five hundred years earlier - and she came back to the very same minute they had left from.

So Barufiniel is born in a different world, but prefers not to talk much about it. It's so very difficult to explain to the people she meets.

[The Telcontarion]

I like it. You have to work hard to sell that Narnia thing though.

[Varnafindë]

That Narnia thing is a cross-over thing, and in non-cross-over RPGs I try to play it down as much as possible. I'm not insisting on including it in an RPG, and will go by the wishes of the threadmaster.
In this thread I'm telling it as part of her history (I could also tell how the idea developed OOC).

In a cross-over story I suppose it would work.

[Varnafindë]

Rameldir is a Noldorin Elf, tall, with golden hair and blue eyes. He dresses in traditional Elven style.

Rameldir is the Sindarin version of his amilessë. It was Rameldo in Quenya. His ataressë is Eruannon, but he doesn't use it.

He was one of the children who escaped from the fall of Gondolin, being only ten years old at the time. He lost both of his parents: Erufailon, who was related to Glorfindel, and Arindis, who was the daughter of Angrod. As Arindis, his mother, had been a close friend of Idril's - and as they were second cousins - Tuor and Idril took care of him and fostered him. After the Third Kinslaying, he was rescued by Gil-galad's and Cirdan's people and taken to the Isle of Balar, and after the fall of Beleriand, he stayed with Gil-galad in Lindon. He fought under Elrond in the force that Gil-galad sent against Sauron in SA 1695, and went with him to Rivendell when Elrond established it two years later.

Rameldir is a friendly soul, and prefers to have friendly relations with everybody, as far as possible (apart from the Orcs, who are the enemy). As an officer in the army, he knows that war may be necessary. But he would agree with Faramir that "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend". He does not "slay man or beast needlessly, and not gladly even when it is needed".

Nor is he ambitious (he is a descendant of Finarfin, after all). He belongs to the Noldorin royalty - although not very high up in the line of succession - but he's not very much concerned about it. He is not one for pulling rank unnecessarily, and is trusted and well respected by his band of archers. He is an excellent archer himself, and the Captain of the archers in Gil-galad's and Elrond's armies.

He has a childhood trauma: At the age of ten, on flying from Gondolin, he saw his mother being cut down by an Orc. He can't handle a sword after that, it brings back those terrible moments, so he doesn't own one. Even using a dagger is bad enough - it will give him nightmares the next night. Bow and arrows is his chosen weapon, but he also carries a dagger, which he only uses in extreme necessity.

In peaceful times, he enjoys peaceful activities. He has always been interested in history, and he enjoyed developing his abilities as a scholar in the library of Gil-galad's palace.

[Varnafindë]

Calimon is a Noldorin Elf with black hair and grey eyes.

He was born in Aman as a member of Curufin's people. His father was Nerdanel's cousin, and both father and son worked as scribes to Curufin and his brothers, sometimes even to Fëanor himself. During the flight of the Noldor, he took part in the Kinslaying at Alqualondë (his father was killed there), and he later crossed the sea on the ships to Losgar, where he took part in the burning of the ships.

He went with Curufin to Nargothrond, and became a close friend of Celebrimbor. He regretted both his own actions at Alqualondë and Losgar, and Curufin's actions in Nargothrond, and stayed behind with Celebrimbor when Celebrimbor refused to leave Nargothrond with his father.

In Nargothrond he also got to know a maiden of Finrod's people. They both escaped the sack of Nargothrond and got to Ossiriand. When they left Ossiriand after the ruin of Beleriand, they got separated for a while. But after some years, well into the Second Age, they finally found each other and got married.

[Snowdog]

Nice summary Varna!

Its too bad Shadow Over Arnor didn't progress too far. I did take its outline and wrote up a bit of fan-fic pertaining to that period. Cleaning up the drafts now and will post it on Henneth Annun.

[Varnafindë]

Galadhlin is a Sindarin Elf with long black hair and grey eyes.

He was born in Lothlorien in the Second Age. Around the change-over from the Second to the Third Age, he got married and had a daughter, Nimlothel. About a thousand years before the Battle of Five Armies, his wife was killed by Orcs.

A couple of centuries before the same battle, he moved from Lothlorien to Mirkwood, where he later lived in a small village at the outskirts of the wood, working as a raft-elf and moving goods going between the Elven-king and the Lake-town in the Long Lake. Most of this time, his daughter was living there as well.

At the Battle of Five Armies he fought against the Orcs as a spear-man in the Elven-king's army, and helped in the rebuilding of Dale afterwards.