When Adar, Father of the Orcs, survives the betrayal of his Children thanks to Galadriel, the two start a dangerous journey exploring the power of the Elven Ring Nenya, while an unusual connection seems to bond their mind and souls.
If you enjoy Tol...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The cold metal of the chains on Adar's ankles and wrists are painfully wounding the skin. His tortured and scarred body, left at the mercy of the elements, is covered by a thin layer of frost. The frigid wind hits him with violence, making him retreat against the hard rock.
He can't remember the last time he has eaten something; he has even forgotten what food tastes like. All he can remember are endless days and nights on that nameless peak - how many, he can't tell. Morgoth had played with Adar's body, using it for unnamed experiments that gave him an unusual strength but also interminable pain.
He can feel his mind unravelling, his will at its weakest, his tortured heart falling into an abyss of desperation.
Suddenly, he hears a noise. At first, he thinks it is just the wind. No one has visited him since Morgoth chained him there. But he hears it again - a footstep. He painfully opens his eyes and glimpses a light approaching. He slowly sits up, his teeth chattering and tears of pain blurring his sight.
The light is moving quickly, almost floating in the storm. Adar blinks his eyes a couple of times, no more pride or strength left in his heart to fight anything or anyone approaching. He can see that the light comes from a firing torch and starts to distinguish the figure of the person who is holding it. A tall, regal figure with long blonde hair and a beautiful, godly face. He is holding a cup of wine in his pale hand...
Adar jolted awake with his heart beating like a drum in his strong chest. He sat up on the bed, his ears ringing, gasping for air in his lungs. He looked at his hand; it was shaking. He closed it in a fist, looking around the small room he was in. The first light of dawn was starting to glimpse through the little window set in the rough stone wall. He looked down again. His hand was pearly and translucent, with no scars in sight. He slowly raised both hands and touched his face. His delicate features were smooth under his fingers.
He sighed deeply, slowly coming back to reality after a horrible nightmare. But was it really just a dream? Adar had never had a dream that felt so real.. He could still feel the cold wind in his ears. He could still see that godly face looking at him from the place where now just a wall stood in front of him. He covered himself in the blanket, trying to warm up, but he continued to shake.
Suddenly, the trill of an early bird broke the silence. A beautiful melody filled the room as the bird decided to greet the sun from Adar's small windowsill. His brain could finally focus on something real, and his first rational thought was "This bird is a Rümilwe", recalling a dialogue with Galadriel he'd had the week before. That thought seemed to break the trance he had fallen into after waking up from his vision. His body finally started to warm up; the shadows of the past slowly retreated to the back of his mind.
Galadriel. His heart bounced with joy recalling that he would see her that evening.
Gil-Galad gave Adar and his children a hidden place in the forest, where they could live under the shadows of the trees, as they had established that day in the clearing - the day of his healing. Some moons had passed since that day, but he felt like it was just the day before. The uruks had built simple constructions among the trees with stones and rocks, trying to create their own homes there.
Galadriel was involved in helping the Elves set up an outpost where originally there was the Elven camp. No more meetings between Uruks and Elves had happened, but she visited Adar once a week, an encounter that was awaited with trepidation by both. They used to walk endlessly through the forest, hand in hand. They talked a lot about Middle-Earth. Galadriel loved to talk about birds, animals, and especially about herbs and trees.
Adar's Elvish knowledge was already deep - perhaps deeper than hers - but he let her talk, pretending to learn. He loved to see the sparkle in her eyes and the rouge of joy in her cheeks while she talked about nature. She reminded him of things he considered lost, and every time, he became more entangled in her beauty and internal strength. He would not exchange those moments for anything in the world.
"It is said that the Rümilwe's song has the power to avert the darkness of the night dreams", Galadriel's voice rang in his mind, her smile replacing the face he still saw on the wall.
Adar smiled and passed his hand through his black, thick hair. He felt he had smiled more in the past few months than in his entire life.
The light had increased in the forest, as the sun slowly rose. The Rümilwe flew away from the windowsill, while the noise of uruks awakening in the camp replaced his melody.
A knock at the door diverted Adar from his pleasant thoughts.
"The breakfast is ready, Lord-Father"
"Thank you, Orek" he responded, dressing in the black tunic that Galadriel gifted him some weeks before. It had silver lining and decorations that reminded Adar of his old armor. Galadriel didn't know what the lines represented, but her gift warmed his heart nevertheless. He took his sword and weighed it a little in his hands, enjoying the black lines under the sunlight coming from the window. He swallowed, a mix of emotions and memories battling in his mind, then he put the sword in the sheath at his waist.
Adar opened the door and stepped outside. An acrid smell of burnt flesh hit his nostrils.
"You still haven't learned how to cook a few damned rabbits, Orek?" he ironically asked the young uruk, who was anxiously waiting for him by the fire at the center of the clearing.
The uruks had been used to eating the most horrible, putrid rubbish and raw meat since their species was created. After Adar had killed Sauron (after he thought he had killed Sauron) and had lived for centuries with his children, he hadn't cared much about their habits. His only goal was to protect them and help them survive. But now things were different, and with the Elves so near, he felt the need to civilize his children a bit. He had decided to start with Orek, a young uruk who seemed interested in learning something new, but his efforts were not having good results so far.
"I'm sorry, Lord-Father" Orek responded, lowering his head and staring at his big, hairy feet.
"You will do better tomorrow, my young son", Adar exclaimed, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
Orek raised his red eyes, suddenly heartened, and hinted at a crooked smile that was almost ridiculous on his deformed face. He happily approached the fire and brought his Lord-Father a big portion of meat.
Adar looked at the almost charred remains of what once was a rabbit and sighed, then sat on a trunk nearby and glimpsed the desolate breakfast again. His hunger was too strong, though, and he took a bite. He had to admit it was slightly less charred than the day before and continued to eat.
He looked around at the other uruks around the fire, wondering what destiny he could give to them. They couldn't stay with their peers in Mordor and would never be accepted by the other races of Middle-Earth. He frowned, seeing their grimaces of disgust while eating cooked meat, and pondered if he was just asking too much of them.
