Character Bios for Theli’s parents (Pelinel and Eurig) and his much younger siblings in the West
Character Bios for Theli’s parents (Pelinel and Eurig) and his much younger siblings in the West:
Not just Theli's parents, Pelinel and Eurig, but also Theli's much, much younger twin siblings are present in the West at the time of “Trusting the Water,” which takes place not long before the wedding of Theli’s son Nestor to Thranduil’s son Lithidhren. Theli's Ages-younger twin siblings, Tinuviel and Barahir, and Theli’s nephew Calaer, are all about the same age as Theli's new youngest grandchildren, Leander and Rhiannon, who are the human equivalent of about seven and five years old, respectively. Theli’s mother Pelinel named her younger children after First Age heroes, just as she named Theli after Ecthelion of Gondolin, the ‘other’ balrog slayer.
Theli's mother Pelinel looks much like her son. She has wavy hair that is somewhere in color between ash blond and light brown. Unlike Theli's hair, which is always dark blond/pale brown, her hair has mahogany and gold highlights in direct sunshine or lamp light. Pelinel has the same deep, dark midnight blue eyes as her son. Her figure is curvaceous, she isn't quite plump, but she is as close to it as an elf can get.
Most people who know Pelinel think that she is wonderful, if sometimes overwhelming! She is a whirlwind of good cheer and happy bustling about. She takes that far enough that she can be a bit of a busybody. But most people don’t mind that about her, since she does it in such a kind and thoughtful way. She can be a gossip, but she is good about only sharing information about others that they don't mind being shared with her audience at the time. She is also good at keeping secrets. Pelinel is a lot like her son, Theli, in that she is strong willed yet easygoing, and very friendly and caring. Pelinel loves stories of all kinds, and story-telling, and has a tendency towards day-dreaming when she isn't busy.
She loves color and embroidery. Growing up in the reclusive villages protected by Eldun/Eluring, she became an expert at dying wood elven homespun fabrics a variety of colors, and adding what decoration to them that she could with materials they could make, or with supplies that she could buy or barter when the reclusive villages of her home people met trusted tinkers and tailors from the rest of the Greenwood. Later in life, she becomes an expert at commissioning tapestries and consulting on the designs and color schemes, and she enjoys working on the embroidery needed to bring them to life herself.
Pelinel inadvertently gets involved in matchmaking, and in helping friends who are having disagreements to reconcile. Like her son, she loves people and making people happy and helping them to divine their heart's desires and to achieve their goals.
If Pelinel had survived Theli's difficult breech birth, she would have packed up Theli and left their home when Eldun made it clear that he wasn't going to stop trying to 'train' Theli in mind magic despite that causing Theli pain. Theli was about the human equivalent of seven or so years old then, and Pelinel was pregnant with his twin younger siblings. She would have gone south to Amon Lanc to stay with her foster-brother, Lamendir, who was then working as a free-lance accountant of sorts, under Luthavar's patronage. That would have resulted in the future(s) foreseen by the priestess Rithoril at Luthavar's urging in "Not My Home," wherein extra Seers of the line of Luthien in Oropher's army during the War of the Last Alliance saved Oropher's life, and many other lives, too.
In the main AU, Pelinel of course died just after Theli was born, from childbirth complications. Desperate to get back to the child she had left behind, Pelinel struggled to be reborn as soon as Mandos and his Maiar would allow that she was ready and permit her to leave the Halls of Mandos. She had been told, while waiting in the peace of the Halls of Mandos, that she would not be able to return to Middle Earth, where her child and husband were. But she'd heard that one elf - Glorfindel - had been allowed to sail back to Middle Earth, so she hurried, anyway. One chance in millions was better than none. Pelinel, like her son Theli, was an optimist, who never really gave up on the goals nearest her heart, no matter if they were impossible.
Upon being reborn, Pelinel petitioned, repeatedly, to return to Middle Earth. Her petitions were denied, on the basis that Glorfindel had been an exception. He had been sent back to guard Elrond from Sauron, and by doing so, to protect everyone on Middle Earth. Pelinel felt that a mother's desire to protect her child was just as legitimate as a hero's dedication to protect his King's great-grandson, but she eventually accepted that she wasn't getting anywhere, and that she needed to go do something else for awhile, during which time she would try to think up new arguments and perhaps gather support for her being allowed to return to Middle Earth and her child. She also did not let being denied her heart's dearest wish make her bitter. Bitterness wouldn't help, after all.
As a general rule, Pelinel doesn't believe in bitterness, or in blame. She does believe in giving up, for now, and regrouping, to gather allies, experience, and ideas, in order to try again, later. Being willing to dedicate time and effort to a long, back and forth campaign such is that is how she managed to attract her beloved Eurig, and convince him to marry her, despite the obstacle of her comparative youth, and the even greater obstacle of Eurig's father Elurin/Eldun, the Witch of the Northeastern Wood, not approving of Pelinel at all. In Eldun's eyes, Pelinel was too frivolous, too daydreamy, and entirely too interested in stories of the outside world and in people who weren't of their villages. Unfortunately for Elurin/Eldun, his more outgoing twin, Elured/Elboron, did like Pelinel.
After Pelinel was reborn in the West in the Second Age and gave up for a time on convincing the powers that be to let her return to Middle Earth, she joined Denethor and the other Laiquendi living in the forests of Tol Eressea. She was adventurous and liked people and negotiating agreements, so Denethor chose her to be one of his ambassadors to the more 'formal' kingdoms of Tol Eressea, such as the kingdom founded by the survivors of Doriath and the kingdoms founded by the survivors of Gondolin and Nargothorond.
Pelinel was in Doriath Gaeronwest when her mentor and friend Elured/Elboron was reborn in the very late Second Age. He was open about his identity from the start, so he and his wife Anwen ended up living mostly with his parents, Dior and Nimloth, and Elured took his place as the heir apparent of Doriath Gaeronwest. At that point, Dior and Nimloth learned that Pelinel was their granddaughter-in-law, and Elured knew that she was his niece-by-law. They welcomed her into the bosom of their family. She still split her time between Doriath and the Laiquendi, and became respected by both peoples as a representative of the other.
When friends of Theli's who had died during the War of the Last Alliance were reborn, Pelinel went to meet them. If they had family or friends already in the West, she waited for them to be established before going to introduce herself. She thanked them for their friendship to her son, and asked them to please tell her about him. She told them that they could call on her at any time, if they had need. She promised to share anything she heard about the loved ones they had left behind on Middle Earth, and asked them to return the favor with anything new that they heard about her son.
If Theli's reborn friends had no one to greet them, then Pelinel volunteered to welcome them to the West herself. With the support of her grandparents-by-law, Dior and Nimloth, she used her resources as a lady of Doriath Gaeronwest's royal family to make sure that Theli's newly reborn friends had everything that they needed. Even after they became established, she checked in with them occasionally, to make sure that they were making a good adjustment to the West, and doing well. If they were having a hard time, she stayed with them or moved them into her household, and didn't leave them to their own devices until they were happy and well-adjusted. It was, in part, her way of being close to her son. It was also just the right thing to do, in her opinion, and Pelinel was resolved to always doing her best to help people when she could.
Every 150 years or so, Pelinel marshalled her new arguments for why she - and other parents with children on the other side of the sea - should be allowed to sail back to Middle Earth, and presented them to any of the Maiar and Valar who would listen. She pointed out, as time went on, that she would be happy to dedicate her life to not just helping her son, but to helping her son Theli, and his King Thranduil and Queen Minaethiel and their people of the Greenwood, to resist Sauron and his machinations. Since her son was a healer and a warrior and busy fighting the Enemy and his servants anyway, she felt that she - or any other parent whose child was thusly occupied - had just as good an argument as Glorfindel for being allowed to return to Middle Earth.
None of her arguments were persuasive to the Maiar and Valar. So, she was never successful, but that did not deter her from trying, although otherwise she had a busy and happy life and didn't worry anymore than she could help about things she couldn't change. She did worry a great deal about her son, but she knew that Theli wouldn't want her to be unhappy. She was proud of almost everything she'd learned about the adult that her baby had grown into.
The Maiar of the Lorien Gardens grew to enjoy Pelinel's visits to make her petitions to the Maiar of the Hall of Mandos. She was good company, and a good embroideress who enjoyed chatting a she worked. She knew almost everybody in the lands of the Laiquendi, the Kingdom of Doriath Gaeronwest, and the Kingdom of Eryn Brongalen, and she was happy to share any news of her friends and acquaintances which she felt they wouldn't mind the people of the Lorien Gardens and the Vanyar, Maiar, and Valar of [Valdemar] knowing. She was also very good at helping the newly reembodied learn to feel at home in the physical world again. She was also a parent who had left a child behind on Middle Earth under sad circumstances, yet who, despite that, and despite dearly missing her child and desiring greatly to reunite with him, had allowed herself to find happiness and contentment in the West - to flourish, even.
So, the Maiar of Este and Irmo asked Pelinel to counsel some of the newly sailed or reborn parents who were deeply grieving having been forced to leave their children behind. Pelinel accepted this charge, and grew close to many of her fellow parents who missed their children on Middle Earth. She became one of the directors of a large network of informants who collected information on all elves whom a newly sailed elf had known well in Middle Earth, and then passed that information on to the family in the West who would welcome hearing new developments in the lives of their kin and friends on Middle Earth.
Throughout the Third and Fourth ages, every time someone with a friendly connection to her son sailed or was reborn, Pelinel continued to travel to greet them, thank them, offer to share news with them, and make sure that they had everything that they needed. Often, along the way, she also befriended them herself. Amongst the connections Pelinel made this way were her cousin-by-marriage Emlyn and his wife Carys; Thranduil's mother, Queen Felith; Thranduil's wife Minaethiel and her three middle children; Thranduli's cousin Coruthelion Luthavarchil; Celebrian (after she'd healed); Elrond; and many, many other elves from Imladris, Lothlorien, and especially the Greenwood.
After the War of the Last Alliance, Pelinel hadn't been happy to learn that her husband Eurig hadn't left their reclusive people when their son did, to accompany Theli when he went to train as a healer in Amon Lanc. But she understood that her husband would never leave or defy his father Eldun without her support, and she wasn't really surprised by that, only disappointed.
In addition to that unhappiness, Pelinel didn't like the rumors that reached her ears of how Eldun had treated Theli, and of how Eurig had been a negligent parent, but she reserved judgment until actually getting to talk to Elurin/Eldun and her husband Eurig after they sailed in the early Fourth Age. She was wildly unhappy to find out that the truth was, if anything, worse than the rumors, but she didn't waste time on the past. She told Eldun that he could reverse his banishment of Theli and promise never to hurt him again, or otherwise Pelinel wouldn't set foot in any village he governed. Eurig could come with her or stay with his father; either way, he owed their son an apology for not having been a better father.
Eldun refused to change and Eurig dithered, so Pelinel didn't spend any of her time living with them. Eventually, Eldun decided he'd do most of what Pelinel (and his twin brother Elured and parents Dior and Nimloth) wanted him to do. After that, Eurig made amends to Pelinel, and traveled with her between the Laiquendi settlements (both Eurig's villages and the less reclusive villages who owed their allegiance more proximately to Denethor), Doriath Gaeronwest, and Eryn Brongalen (Greenwood in the West). She also traveled more widely to all the kingdoms of Tol Eressea and Aman proper, either as a representative of King Dior and Queen Nimloth and their heirs, or in her role as an unofficial greeter and counselor to the newly sailed and reborn.
I have it in mind that Pelinel and Galad's mother became friends after Theli and Galad became foster-brothers, but I have will have to check with Emma about that. Pelinel did befriend Oropher and Felith, as well as the rest of her Iathrim in-laws. Pelinel also befriended Celebrian and Nestorion's girlfriend Mireth, who was reborn in the late Third Age. Mireth had died when Celebrian's traveling party was attacked in the Third Age after the Watchful Peace. After Elrond sailed, Pelinel befriended him, too. Anyone who had been good to her son was someone she was grateful to, and wanted to spend time with. After how loving of a mentor and, later, a father Nestorion has been to Theli, Pelinel thinks the world of Nestorion. [Check with emma and Kaylee re: references Galad's mother [name?] and Mireth]
After Theli and Mithiriel sailed, Pelinel and Eurig came to meet them. Theli's reunion with Pelinel was happy and largely uncomplicated. They took great joy in getting to know one another and finding out how much they had in common. They always made each other laugh, and they delighted in now always having someone they could count on to help them when they wanted to help someone else, no matter how quixotic the quest.
Theli's reunion with Eurig was somewhat less happy and uncomplicated, but Theli is forgiving and Eurig was profoundly apologetic and besides had only ever done what Eldun insisted on, so things worked out ok. Pelinel had nothing but admiration and appreciation for Nestorion, so she had no qualms with Theli thinking of Nestorion as his father first. Euring mourned the father/son relationship that he could have had with Theli if he'd been a better father earlier, but he also appreciates and is grateful for what Nestorion had done for Theli, and doesn't really resent Nestorion.
In the West, Theli continued to call Eurig 'Da' and Nestorion 'Ada.' Theli thinks of Nestorion as his father, and of Eurig, essentially, as a new family member he is getting to know again under new circumstances. Theli and Eurig forge a friendship based on their mutual interests in healing and apothecary. It helps that Theli is very forgiving, and that Eurig is a genuinely nice person who is kind to Theli and Mithiriel and wants to make things up to them. Theli likes Eurig, and admires him for overcoming his addiction and developing the inner strength to defy his father in order to be with his wife and child. Theli is a big believer in ‘better late than never.’ Theli and Eurig work together as healers on developing addiction relief regimes and medications.
Eurig and Theli develop a warm and friendly relationship in time, but it is not a typical parent-child relationship. This is in contrast to Pelinel and Theli, who do become very much mother and child as well as good friends. Pelinel would do anything for her son and her daughter-by-law and grandchildren. Eurig cares about his son, but not enough to fight for the right to be a real father to Theli, who is an adult who already has that place in his life filled.
In the West, until Nestorion sails, Elrond, Elured, and Dior act as Theli's father-figures (or grandfather figure, in Dior's case) more than Eurig does. Eurig views himself as a quiet, simple elf. He loves his son, and respects him, but Eurig is more than a little intimidated by everything that Theli has been and done. Theli has a lot more life experience than Eurig does, and he is much more worldly. In part because of all of this, Eurig wouldn't dare dream of telling Theli that Theli shouldn't do something because it's not safe for him, or that Theli shouldn't wear something or shouldn't speak so informally at royal get-togethers, because people won't respect him as much if he does. Even after Nestorion arrives in the West, Elrond, Elured, and Dior continue to look out for Theli, although they all respect Nestorion's role in Theli's life as his father. Dior doesn't particularly like having someone who isn't 'family' be the father of one of his grandsons; but he knows that it's not a situation that he can change. He also comes to like and respect Nestorion in time.
During the time in between when Theli sails with Mithiriel, Legolas, and Gimli, and when Thranduil sails with the rest of the Greenwood elves and Nestorion and Galad, Thranduil's father Oropher and mother Felith also look out for Theli. Theli and his wife are some of their newly arrived grandson Legolas' dearest friends and most constant companions. Also, they know that their son Thranduil loves Theli (although Thranduil's letters never say so in as many words), so they look out for him on Thranduil's behalf. They also look out for Theli and Mithiriel on Nestorion's behalf, just as they know that Nestorion is looking out for Thranduil on Middle Earth.
Pelinel was one of the influential elves who helped to fund Legolas' flying machine company. She was also one of the ‘taste makers’ who helped Mithiriel turn that company into not just a recreational and public service remote rescue organization, but also a highly commercially successful business, with branches in every kingdom of Tol Eressea and Aman.
Eventually, after Theli and Mithiriel have already met most of the rest of their family and become established in the West, Theli and Mithiriel went with Pelinel and Eurig to visit Eldun where he and his people had settled in the forests of the Laiquendi. Legolas and Gimli came with them, as did Elured, Elrond, and Celebrian. Eldun began to make nice with Theli, as he had promised Eurig and Pelinel that he would do, and as he'd done with other elves whom he'd banished for leaving 'his' villages for the wider world in Middle Earth. But then Eldun learned that Mithiriel was a descendant of Mithrellas and therefore a descendant of Maglor Feanorion, and Eldun banished Theli again (along with Mithiriel). Disgusted, Pelinel and Elured, Elrond, and Celebrian left, too. They also made it clear that they would not return until Theli and Mithiriel were welcome. Eurig, again, dithered.
Eurig attempted to get Eldun to accept Mithiriel (and Theli), but without success. Eventually, Eurig left his father, choosing to be with his wife (and his son and daughter-by-law).
Nestorion sails West with Thranduil and the rest of the Greenwood elves (at the same time as Celeborn and his adopted sons and their families and the rest of the East Lorien elves). Eurig finds crowds overwhelming, so he doesn't come with Theli and Mithiriel to greet the new arrivals, but Pelinel does. She is very pleased to meet Nestorion, and offers him to consider her his tree-sister.
Tree-family is a concept that the elves of the West came up with to recognize 'family of family.' If, as a father-by-law, you like your son's new wife's parents, you might offer to them to be your tree-brother and tree-sister. Or, if you had died on Middle Earth and your daughter was taken in by new parents, you might offer to those new adoptive parents (or parental mentors) to be your tree-brother and sister.
As Pelinel explains to Nestorion, her offer for him to consider her his tree-sister is a a formalized way of saying that she not only recognizes, and respects, that he is essentially a co-parent to her son, but also that she values him and likes him enough to offer to help him in any way she can at any time that he might call upon her to do so. They are not only formally allies in protecting and loving Theli (and any other children that either of them may have); but they are also (or will also work on becoming) friends who will help one another even outside of anything having to do with their children.
Pelinel also offers to Theli's foster-brother Galad for him to consider her to be a tree-mother to him. This form of tree-family-hood means much the same, only it additionally means that, as her tree-son, Galad would have right of abode and board in any place that Pelinel considers her home.
Even before Theli (let alone Galad) had arrived in the West, Pelinel had become tree-sisters with Galad's mother, Pelassiel. In addition to the above, this meant that they could rely upon one another to help their sons deal with difficult family members. Pelinel would help Pelassiel protect Galad from Breigon, even if Pelassiel wasn't there to do so. And Pelassiel would help Pelinel protect Theli from Eldun or even Eurig, even if Pelinel wasn't there to do it herself. Helping one another to deal with difficult family members and with family feuds is another function of tree-family, and another reason to have a large tree-family. Anyone in your tree-family can be relied upon to protect eachother's children and tree-children, either from bitter family members on the warpath, or from other enemies.
After Nestorion and Galad arrive in the West, every time that Pelinel hosted family gatherings in the apartments she has in the palaces of Doriath Gaeronwest or Eryn Brongalen (or at her and Eurig's house in Doriath Gaeronwest, or at her and Eurig's tents in the forests of the Laiquendi), she would always also invite Nestorion, Mireth, and Galad, as well as Theli and Mithiriel (and anyone else Theli wanted her to invite). I would imagine that Nestorion would eventually become friends with Pelinel on her own account.
In time, Theli's great-grandparents, King Dior and Queen Nimloth of Doriath Gaeronwest, invite Nestorion, and his older adoptive son, Galad, to consider them as their tree-grandparents. This offer means not just formally recognizing and honoring Nestorion and Galad in their roles as their descendant Theli's adoptive father and brother, but also granting Nestorion and Galad the status of honorary members of the Iathrim royal family. Being someone's family tree grand parent (or great-grandparent) implies the same rights of abode and board as becoming someone's tree-parent. Nestorion and Galad were a bit surprised by becoming part of the Sindarin royal family of Doriath Gaeronwest, but they accepted it, for Theli’s sake. Also, having been royal healers for the Greenwood royal family since the Second Age, they already knew how to behave unexceptionably at royal functions (and were actually better at it than Theli was, on average).
After things have calmed down from the excitement of the rest of the Greenwood elves arriving in the West, Eurig eventually meets Nestorion and Galad (he already knew Mireth). However, their meeting is more awkward, and I would imagine that Nestorion and Eurig never have much in common outside of Theli. Although Nestorion is polite to Eurig for Theli's sake, he always disapproves of Eurig, not so much for having been a poor father to Theli due to Eurig's grief and substance abuse problems while Theli was young (although that too), but more for the many centuries wherein Eurig stayed with Eldun despite Eldun's having banished Theli upon threat of death.
Eurig is kind-hearted but rather weak-willed, at least in comparison to his wife and his children. He's the type of person who never wants to hurt anyone. He remains under the sway of his domineering father until well after they sail West, and he always wants to make Eldun happy, even after he chooses Pelinel and Theli over Eldun until Eldun eventually relents. Eurig is also very shy and doesn't like crowds or public speaking. He is a good healer in many ways, and a very capable and creative apothecarist. Theli (and Nestor) consult with Eurig professionally, on occasion. Eurig has much more trouble than Theli when it comes to remembering to dress properly and behave formally during royal occasions, and is more abashed by complaints and corrections than Theli, so Eurig tries not to attend very many formal royal events if he can help it.
A few centuries after Thranduil and Celeborn sail, Eldun finally gives in and decides to make peace with the descendants of Maglor, including his granddaughter-by-law. Theli and Mithiriel visit Eldun again, along with their son Nestor and daughter Ceredisgail and Ceredisgail's husband Rumil and daughter Arwengail (and also with not just Nestorion and Mireth, but also Celeborn and Elrond and his family and Thranduil and his family, who are all suspicious of Eldun). Things go better that time, but are still awkward. Theli and Mithiriel (and their children) continue to visit Eldun on very rare occasions (and only when at least two of Nestorion, Celeborn, Elrond, or Thranduil are available to travel with them, because the four of them don't trust Eldun alone with Theli and his family). Theli and Mithiriel mostly feel up to handling anything that Eldun might do if he decides to take against them again, but Nestorion, Celeborn, Elrond, and Thranduil feel very strongly that several of them should go along, and so Theli and Mithiriel don't argue the matter.
After the successful reconciliation with Eldun, Eurig splits his time between living in Eldun's village and living wherever his wife is currently living (which is often wherever Theli and Mithiriel or their children are living). Pelinel visits Eldun every other year or so when her husband goes there to stay, and whenever Theli or his children do, but not much more often than that.
Eventually, Eurig and Pelinel decide to have another child, and end up with their twins, Tinuviel and Barahir. Before then, Eurig had agreed to live only with Pelinel, except for short visits, until their new child(ren) were of age, and to only visit his father when Pelinel was willing to.
About a dozen years after Tinuviel and Barahir are born is the point at which the second part of "Cat-Swiping-paw Mad" takes place. That is, some months after Lithidhren and Nestor get into trouble during one of their 'humanitarian aid only' trips back to Middle Earth and need to be rescued, along with the children they subsequently adopt.
Their wedding takes place not long after that, but Lithidhren and Nestor have been a committed couple for centuries. When Theli and Mithiriel hosted events such as Nestor's birthday, they always invited Lithidhren and his family, too, and vice versa when Thranduil and Minaethiel hosted events for their son Lithidhren. Pelinel (and Eurig) had already unofficially considered Lithidhren to be a grandson-in-law.
Pelinel and Eurig are both at Lithidhren's and Nestor's wedding, which is hosted at Thranduil's and Minaethiel's private home. Those who know Eurig are proud of him for going through with attending the wedding, because they know how overwhelming he finds it to be around crowds that big at all, let alone at a semi-formal occasion.
During that wedding visit, Pelinel officially invites Thranduil to consider her one of his tree-mothers, since she is a grandmother-by-law of his son Lithdihren (and because she likes, and values, Thranduil). Thranduil accepts, because he likes (and respects) Pelinel. Eurig doesn't offer for Thranduil to consider him a tree-father and Thranduil doesn't ask; they aren't that close. But Eurig also doesn't mind that his wife makes these formal familial alliances with people who are important in the lives of their children and grandchildren.