Please note, this bio is a work in progress. My character notes for Theli, like my character notes for Elrond and Faramir, are particularly short and a work in progress, because I have so much to say about Theli and I have written so much about him, even though he is just an original character, that it is hard for me to compress him for a character biography.
‘Who is Theli?’ in brief:
In (very) short, Ecthelion “Theli” Diorchil and Nestoriohen is:
1) the grandson of Elurin Diorchil;
2) a friend and comrade-in-arms to Thranduil and Legolas (and later Faramir);
3) a healer who is a protegee of Elrond’s, as well as a protegee and foster-son (and later adoptive son) of Nestorion Nestaethchil, and the adoptive brother of Galadaelin Nestorionhil (both OCs belonging to African Daisy and Kaylee);
4) the husband of Mithiriel, who is the magic-using daughter of Faramir and Eowyn;
5) the Lord-Consort of Imladris in the Fourth Age, after Elrohir and Elladan abdicate their claim in favor of their adoptive nephew Faramir’s daughter Mithiriel (Faramir being the biological son of Aragorn and the adopted son of Aragorn and Arwen in this Desperate Hours AU); and
6) a companion to Legolas when he and Gimli sail to the West after Aragorn dies.
Backing up a little, Theli and Thranduil (and everyone else) do not know that Theli is Elurin Diorchil’s grandson until the early Fourth Age. In this AU, Elured and Elurin Diorchil survived the Fall of Doriath and were taken in by one of the most reclusive groups of the Nandor (the wood elves). For more about this, see “Tales of the Lost Twins.” The gen version is here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2742127 and the version with some corporal punishment elements is here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2742124.
Elurin went by the name of Eldun. By the time Theli was born in the late Second Age, Eldun had come to be called ‘the witch of the Northeastern Woods’ of the Greenwood. Theli’s father is Elurin/Eldun’s only son, Eurig, and Theli’s mother is Pelinel, who dies in childbirth. Theli, when he was not quite a yen (144 years) old, left his reclusive people to travel to Amon Lanc, the capital of the Greenwood, to train to become a healer. For his leaving, Theli was disinherited by his grandfather Elurin/Eldun and by his father Eurig. So, Theli took the patronymic “Erynion,” or ‘forest-son,’ a father-name used by wood elves who are bastards, or otherwise unable to use a family name. For a story about a young Theli, just a little before he left his reclusive tribe, see “The Young Healer’s Journey,” gen version available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16878228/chapters/39637932, and the version of that story with corporal punishment elements can be found starting at chapter 3 of the “Tales of the Second Age,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/494518/chapters/39637608.
Theli met and befriended Thranduil during the War of the Last Alliance, during which Theli worked as a healer and, in the final years, fought with the Imladrin irregulars as well as healed. During the Third Age, Theli became a warrior in the Greenwood’s army as well as a healer. See, in the version with corporal punishment, most of the “Tales of the Greenwood,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/232498/chapters/355630. All of the chapters of “Tales of the Greenwood” feature Theli except for chapters 1, 8, and 11-13. See, in the gen series, “Mountains of Mourning,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1936251/chapters/4181916 and “Conversation at the end of the Watchful Peace,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793381/chapters/26598180 and “True Colors” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11817195/chapters/26662794 and “Dribbling Mad” (which I am going to finish) available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887622/chapters/29441016
Along with Elladan Elrondion and sundry other companions, Theli ran certain dangerous errands for Gandalf (Mithrandir) during the late Third Age. See, in the gen version, “Dribbling Mad” (see link above) chapter 18, which is here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887622/chapters/33763326. See, in the version with corporal punishment, “The Firebearer’s Dogs,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/216693/chapters/325862 and chapters of “Dribbling Mad” in the “Tales of the Greenwood” which begins here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/232498/chapters/29439912 starting with chapter 18 of “Dribbling Mad,” entitled “Revelations I.”
In the early 4th Age, Elurin/Eldun sails, leaving Theli, as a bequest, the jewelry he was wearing the day Doriath fell. This jewelry is a sufficient clue for Thranduil to figure out that Elurin was Eldun and Elboron was Elured, which meant that Thranduil’s long-time friend Theli is also his younger cousin (as well as making Haldir, Orophin, and Rumil all also Thranduil’s cousins, as they are the great-grandsons of Elured/Elboron in this AU). See the different versions of “Dribbling Mad,” links above, starting with chapter 15, “The Mystery Box.” As background, in this AU, Thranduil’s father, Oropher, was a great-great etc. nephew of King Elu Thingol of Doriath (Elurin Diorchil’s grandfather).
About twenty years after the events of “Dribbling Mad” in the early 4th Age, Theli marries Mithiriel Faramiriel. See “Cat-Swiping-Paw Mad” (which I am also going to finish) gen version here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37608649/chapters/93877576 and version with corporal punishment elements here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37608070/chapters/93876133
Mithiriel is a magic-user. See, in the gen version, “Burning Mad,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7210286. See, in the version with corporal punishment, “Tales of the Telcontars” chapter 66, “A Few Minutes,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214796/chapters/7719854 and chapter 69, and “Burning Mad,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214796/chapters/16360607
Theli and Mithiriel are instrumental in helping the Reunited Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor and their allies to win the three different Blood Mage Wars which take place in Rhun and Khand when Mithiriel is a young adult – middle aged. The antagonists in those conflicts are former pupils of the Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando, who have turned to human sacrifice in search of power, and who were trying to use dark magic to resurrect Morgoth. In between the First and Second Blood Mage Wars, Elrohir and Elladan abdicated their claim to the rule of Imladris in favor of Mithiriel, who became the Lady of Imladris, and Theli became the Lord-Consort of Imladris and the Chief Master Healer of Imladris’ House of Healing. Mithiriel and Theli oversaw Imladris’s conversion from a primarily elven haven to a haven where humans and dwarves came to live in equal (and then greater) numbers than the elves, who were starting to sail in larger numbers. In other words, Mithiriel and Theli oversaw the transformation of Imladris into a haven which would endure beyond the departure of the elves. When Theli and Mithiriel sail with Legolas and Gimli, their second son, young Elrond, became the new Lord of Imladris.
Theli and Mithiriel are given special permission to sail to the West, even though Mithiriel is human. They sail with Legolas and Gimli, just after Mithiriel’s grandfather Aragorn dies. See, in the gen version, “From the Gray Havens,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6456049 and, in the corporal punishment version, the same story posted as chapter 68 of the Tales of the Telcontars, available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214796/chapters/14774848. For their whole group’s voyage to the West, see, in the gen version, “Songs on the Straight Road,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10173407/chapters/22597367, and, in the corporal punishment version, the same story available here starting at chapter 7 of “Tales of Oversea in the Fourth Age,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3517526/chapters/22597526. For their group’s arrival and welcome in the West, see, in the gen version, “Welcome Travelers,” available here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10629918/chapters/23514801, and, in the corporal punishment version, the same story available here starting as chapter 14 of “Tales of Oversea,” https://archiveofourown.org/works/3517526/chapters/23515059.
The character tag I am currently using for Theli is: Ecthelion “Theli” Diorchil. Some of my stories featuring him can be filtered by that tag, but not all of them. Yet. I am gradually working on making it so that this tag for him as a character is consistent throughout all of my stories.
Physical Appearance:
Theli is a short but sturdily built peredhel, with a merry manner and a cheerful smile. He has dark, midnight blue eyes and ash blond (or light brown) wavy hair. He keeps his hair cut 'short' for an elf, at just past his shoulders, and wears it partly braided back. Theli has a heart-shaped face, a shallow dent in his chin, and dimples in his cheeks when he smiles (as he most often does).
Theli looks rather like a young Heath Ledger, but with dark blue eyes and ash-blond hair. In other words, he looks much like Heath Ledger, circa his roles in "Roar," "10 Things I Hate About You," "Patriot," and "A Knight's Tale." Some of Heath Ledger's shy but sweet, brave, teasing and cheerful mannerisms in the movie "Patriot" (where Heath Ledger played the actor Mel Gibson's young adult soldier son) are like Theli's mannerisms.
Other Sensory Details:
Theli smells like wild mint and clear, clean fast flowing forest streams.
His mind voice is like a cheerful babbling brook, refreshing but soothing.
Theli’s Magic:
When he was young, Theli had available to him some Maiarin and human magic, as described in Chapter 1 (Elrond character bio) and chapter 4 (Magic on Middle Earth in this AU more generally) of this story. Theli also had the potential to develop elven mind-magic as he got older. However, Theli’s access to most of his magic was impacted negatively by his grandfather Eldun/Elurin trying clumsily to teach him to use his powers before he was old enough and mature enough to do so. Even up until the Fourth Age, Theli finds it painful to use most of his magic consciously. I am thinking about posting some supplementary Theli character notes, addressing more of his struggles with magic, at a later date.
Roles Professions/Affiliations:
Theli is a healer, specializing in trauma injuries, emergency surgery, child birth, and poisons and antidotes. Later, in the 4th Age, after he works with a tutor who helps him overcome his Dyslexia, he passes the exam to become a Master Healer. As a healer who specializes in surgery, Theli sometimes thinks of surgical solutions before other solutions. He’s also prone to wanting to try creative or radical solutions, sometimes at points other experienced healers would consider premature. He is very patient with those healing from injuries, and sympathetic to their desire to be active again as soon as possible. He's willing to entertain compromises in that respect, to an extent that some other healers would consider to be ‘moving too fast.’
As a healer, Theli sometimes uses his Maiarin magic in healing and diagnosis. Given that he doesn't know that he is part a Maia until the 4th Age, he often just has 'feelings' and 'hunches' while healing that he cannot explain, a higher than probable number of which prove out. This trait sometimes frustrates other healers, including Galad.
Theli is also a warrior. He has a history of varying levels of insubordination, but he is a good enough scout and battle-healer that most of his superiors are happy to have him under their command. He holds various ranks during his time as a soldier in Greenwood’s army during the Third Age. Theli is clumsy, and had to work hard to become a skilled warrior. Being peredhel, he is a little stronger than the average elf. He specializes in unarmed combat, and is an excellent wrestler. Theli, like Elrond, finds being a warrior challenging, because he is a ‘healer in his heart,’ and he always hates causing harm to others (even orcs). He also finds it hard to learn that he has to keep thinking and acting like a warrior until the fighting is entirely over, instead of stopping to help the wounded as soon as he can.
In the 4th Age, after receiving what Thranduil considers to be the ‘necessary training to behave appropriately as a royal lord in most situations,’ Theli becomes a successful diplomat. First for the Greenwood, and then later also for Imladris. He is good at helping people from different backgrounds to reach compromises that they can all be pleased with.
Personality/ some strengths and weaknesses:
Perhaps his greatest strength is that he is a good friend, and that he wants to be friends with everyone. He believes that everyone is a good person (at least deep down inside), or at least that everyone has the potential to make better choices and become a good person. Theli feels that everyone has the potential to become great at something, and he wants to help them achieve their dreams.
Theli is very creative and he has a great memory for most things that he cares about. He has trouble watching others fumble at tasks that he knows how to do already (unless he is teaching them how to do it better), and he isn't always tactful in such situations. In these ways, Theli is similar to Thranduil (in this AU). The two also share a fondness for jokes, stories, and interesting curse words and phrases, as well as a certain sense of whimsy and willingness to be reckless if they feel they have cause.
In Theli's eagerness to solve problems, he can sometimes be hasty, although he rarely makes the same mistake twice. In giving everyone the benefit of the doubt in terms of their intentions, he can get taken advantage of. Theli does not hold grudges in such cases, but again, he rarely makes the same mistake twice.
Theli is Dyslexic, or ‘reverses his letters’ as the people of Gondor put it, a human learning disability that he inherited from his Great-great Grandfather Beren. This means that he forgets the spellings of words he doesn't use often and has trouble reading words that he is not very familiar with, which means he reads most material at a slower than acceptable speed for a professional. He improves in most of these respects after twelve year old Mithiriel realizes that he reverses his letters (like her sister and her uncle Borimir), and then he gets help learning to read and write well despite that disability.
Theli is skilled at working with younger elves and Men. He is good at going from a mentor/protégé relationship with them, to an equal friendship as they become mature adults. This is part of how he becomes good friends with Legolas (who is thousands of years younger) and many Men, including Men of Dale, as well as Adrahil and Faramir. It is also part of why he is able to fall in love with Mithiriel, despite their great age difference.
Theli is almost perpetually optimistic. It is natural for him to almost always look on the bright side. That said, he has insecurities when it comes to believing that his friends and loved ones will continue to care for him, even after he makes mistakes and/or disappoints them. The root of this insecurity lies in his having been banished by his family for choosing to leave their reclusive tribes to go and live in the wider world and become a healer in Amon Lanc. In part because he doesn’t have any official family in his life for thousands of years (outside of his second cousins in Lothlorien who have adoptive parents who are active in their lives), Theli has a tendency to be excessively self-sacrificing in his work as a warrior. He feels that it is better for him to risk his life, than for someone who has a family who loves them to do so. This is not a trait of his that his friends and loved ones much care for.
Theli is smart, but he is not anywhere near a genius like Elladan, or even a wise scholar like Elrond or Erestor. As one of his former commanding officers once said, ‘Theli is hardly ever the smartest elf in the room. But he has a way of asking good questions, and re-framing situations, that makes it easier for the smartest elves in the room to come up with new possible solutions for the problems that are facing them all.’
Theli’s Relationships:
Relationships: Thranduil:
Theli and Thranduil are friends. Their friendship goes through various vicissitudes during the Ages, but endures. Thranduil calls Theli, who is substantially younger, “Pest” and “Bratling,” and, later, also “Cousin-mine.”
Relationships: Legolas:
Theli is one of Legolas’ favorite mentors. They later serve together in Greenwood’s army, and become close friends. Theli chose to sail with Legolas, in order to help him in his transition to the West.
Relationships: Mithiriel:
Mithiriel is Theli’s wife. Being human, she is Ages younger than he is. For her temper and her forthrightness when she is standing up for others, Theli calls her “Flash-fire.” She calls him “Green-Sword,” which is a nickname for warrior-healers in Gondor, since they wear a green patch on their surcoats to denote that they are healers as well as warriors.
Relationships: Master Healer Nestorion:
Nestorion is an OC of African Daisey’s and Kaylee’s. He is the Chief Royal Healer of the Greenwood. Theli was Nestorion’s apprentice, and, later, his foster-son (then adopted son). Nestorion calls Theli “my little healer.”
Relationships: Elrond:
Elrond becomes a mentor to Theli during the War of the Last Alliance. Elrond didn’t know that Theli’s grandfather Eldun was really his own Uncle Elurin, but he still felt a closeness and a kinship with Theli, from their very first meeting. However, Elrond did know that Theli’s great-uncle, Elboron/Elured, had served as one of Elrond’s guards during the War of the Last Alliance (see Tales of the Lost Twins, above). Elrond would have looked after Theli as the great-nephew of an old comrade-in-arms, even if he hadn’t taken to him upon meeting him. Elrond thinks Theli is a very promising healer, and that he has an exceptionally kind heart. Elrond is very fond of Theli, and had hoped that Theli would return with him to Imladris after the War of the Last Alliance. He respected Theli’s decision to return to the Greenwood, but he continued to look out for Theli until he sailed. Elrond was thrilled to learn, from Arwen’s and Thranduil’s letters sent West, that Theli is his first cousin once removed. When Theli sails and they are reunited in the West, Elrond calls Theli alternatively his cousin or his grandson, since Theli is married to Mithiriel, who is Arwen’s granddaughter (by Arwen’s adoption of Faramir who is her husband’s biological son). Elrond also calls Theli “little Healing Star,” a variation of his treasured nickname from his own childhood mentor, Arandil Glorfindelchil.
Relationships: Master Healer Galadaelin Nestorionhil:
Galadaelin Nestorionhil and Thranorion is a talented Master Healer. He is Theli’s long-suffering senior co-worker, as one of his father Nestorion’s deputy royal Greenwood healers. Galad and Theli later become friends, and, even later, come to value one another as brothers. See, “Trusting the Water, [insert link once posted.]
Theli Wears the Following:
A steel chain covered in midnight blue silk, upon which are separately tied two totems and two rings. The first totem is a bloodstone willow tree, dark green and flame red, which was a gift from Nestorion upon Theli’s first passing the exam to be a full healer. The willow is a symbol of healers, in this AU, as well as a symbol for protection from all harm (which made it a good choice for a former apprentice who was about to train to be a soldier as well as a healer).
The second totem is a dark blue lapis lazuli, carved in the shape of a multifaceted torch, with waving flames on top. It was a gift from Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth during the days when they ran dangerous errands in Enemy lands for the Wizard Mithrandir together, along with Elladan and Theli’s cousin Orophin. The torch is a Dol Amroth symbol for someone who seeks after wisdom.
The first ring is a friendship ring made out of woven steel, yellow gold, rose gold, and white gold. It was a gift from Elladan, who also gave one to Orophin, and to the heirs of their human fellow errand runners, including to Faramir and Imrahil and his sons, as heirs of Adrahil of Dol Amroth.
The second ring is Theli’s marriage ring from Mithiriel. It is a thick-band of white gold etched with healing herbs, set with a large oval midnight blue cabochon sapphire. The sketches of the healing herbs etched around the band were drawn by Theli's adoptive brother, Galad.
Theli and Mithiriel’s Children:
Theli and Mithiriel have four children: twin sons, Elrond and Nestor, then a strong-willed daughter, Illinare, and a sweet youngest child and younger daughter, Ceredisgail. Their children are given the choice of being counted as Men or elves. Elrond and Illinare choose to be counted as Men, and Nestor and Ceredisgail choose to be counted as elves, and sail West at the same time as their cousin Thranduil and their Great-great etc. Uncle Celeborn.
Elrond and Nestor both become master healers. They both inherit healing magic from their father. They are identical twins, both with their father’s features and their mother’s red-gold hair and gray-green eyes. They take after their father in build, but are about six inches taller than Theli (luckily for them). This still makes them of only middling-height, for elves.
Young Elrond, as he is called, even though he is the younger twin, chooses to follow in his mother’s footsteps as Lord of Imladris, and in his father’s (and great-grandfather Elrond Peredhel’s) footsteps as Chief Master Healer of the Imladrin House of Healing. Elrond chooses to be a Man, marries a rescued slave who was born in the Summer Islands off the coast of Khand, named Miyala. Elrond and Miyala have three children, including a daughter, Tandisi, who returns to the Summer Islands, and facilitates them becoming closely allied with the Reunited Kingdoms ruled by her cousin Elros Eldarionchil.
Elrond’s older twin brother, Nestor, apprentices under his uncle Galad in the Greenwood. He lives in the Greenwood, and later sails with the elves of the Greenwood. In the 4th Age in the West, Nestor marries Thranduil’s middle son, Lithidhren. They adopt four children on a ‘humanitarian aid only’ mission back through the Veil of Arda to Middle Earth, and bring them back to Tol Eressea.
Theli and Mithiriel’s older daughter, Illinare, is fiercely determined and stubborn, and completely dedicated to those she loves. Illianre has flame red hair and sparkling blue eyes just a shade lighter than her father’s midnight blue eyes. Illinare meets and marries a warrior of the Lossoth during a diplomatic mission to treat with them as part of the Imladrin delegation. She becomes a leader amongst the Lossoth. She inherits the greatest share of mother Mithiriel’s magic, even though she rarely uses it. She is called “Illinare Storm-Breaker” by her adopted people. At first, for her ability to mitigate the damaging effects of powerful storms upon their shoreline settlements. Later, the name also refers to the one time that she used her magic to divert a storm into the path of a Blood Mage invasion fleet, effectively destroying the fleet (although some of the slaves unwillingly serving in the Blood Mage ships were rescued by the Lossoth during the storm). After that, Illinare slept for a month. Illinare has a number of children and adopted children with her different husbands, as is the way amongst the Lossoth (in this AU).
Theli and Mithiriel’s youngest child and younger daughter, Ceredisgail, is sweet and loving. Ceredisgail inherits her mother’s gray green eyes and her father’s wavy ash blond hair, which she wears long and partially pulled back in braids. Her face is heart-shaped and her eyes are very wide. She is taller than both of her parents, and willow slender. Ceredisgail is clever, a competent warrior, and a superb rider. She serves as a lady-in-waiting in the courts of her grandmother Arwen then her aunt-by-law Jalilla in Minas Tirith, and in the court of the Queen of Rohan. She lives most often in Rohan, where she is one of the Shield-Maidens who accompanies the Queens and princess of Rohan when they travel. She also frequently travels to the Greenwood to visit her brother Nestor, and to Imladris to visit her brother Elrond, and sometimes even to the far northeastern coast of Eriador, to visit her sister amongst the Lossoth. Ceredisgail marries her third cousin, Rumil Emlynion and Celebornchil, who is a great-grandson of Elurin Diorchil (as well as an adopted son of his Great-great etc. Uncle Celeborn and Aunt Galadriel). In the West, Ceredisgail and Rumil have at least one child, a daughter, named Arwengail, who is a playmate of Thranduil’s grandchildren by his oldest blood son, Thandrin. Rumil, as a descendant of Dior, is in the line of succession of Doriath Gaeronwest on Tol Eressea. He and Ceredisgail serve at times as King and Queen of Doriath Gaeronwest, and are also elected to serve to serve as Yen-King and Yen-Queen of Marillaeglir, the Kingdom which represents all of Tol Eressea in dealings with the older Kingdoms of Aman (the Vanyar, Noldor, and Teler kingdoms on Aman, which were founded in the First Age Years of the Trees, ruled historically by Kings Ingwe, Finarfin, and Olwe).
Some Quotes from Various Sources that Make me Think of Theli:
“Some people have inspired whole countries to great deeds because of the power of their vision. And so could he. Not because he dreams about marching hordes, or world domination, or an empire of a thousand years. Just because he thinks that everyone’s really decent underneath and would get along just fine if only they made the effort, and he believes that so strongly it burns like a flame which is bigger than he is. He’s got a dream and we’re all part of it, so that it shapes the world around him. And the weird thing is that no one wants to disappoint him. It’d be like kicking the biggest puppy in the universe. It’s a kind of magic.” ― Terry Pratchett
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” – Colin Powell
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” - George Eliot
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – J.R.R. Tolkien
This last quote makes me think of Theli and Mithiriel, and of their friendship with Legolas (and of Legolas’ friendship with Gimli, too, for that matter, with their sailing to the West together):
“Take me with you. For laughs, for luck, for the unknown. Take me with you.” ― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn