Fathoms Below Progress Log

This is my fix-it for Tauriel and Thranduil's argument in The Hobbit

How Tauriel and Thranduil's argument should have gone, FYI, Kíli and Tauriel are queer-platonic, and their love goes beyond friendship, but they aren't lovers, so when Tauriel refers to her love for Kíli, she doesn't mean it romantically.

⚠️Trigger Warning: suggestive language and content, violence, war, and death.

As Thranduil retreated from the battlefield, he was surprised to see a redheaded elf standing in his way.

Tauriel sighed, remorseful for disregarding Thranduil's orders. "I owe you an apology for disobeying you, but let me explain," Before she could, however, Thranduil cut her off. "Get out of my way!" He barked, too enraged to listen to reason. "What is there to explain!? Do you think your life is worth more than theirs!?" Thranduil gestured to the corpses of his fallen people, clearly blaming Tauriel and her bond with the youngest nephew of Thorin for their deaths. "You think this is love!? Are you willing to die for it!? What you feel for him isn't real, and even if it was, he's an uncivilized, unfeeling dwarf!"

Tauriel didn't flinch despite Thranduil's harsh words. If they stung her, she didn't show it. "That's rich coming from you. Everyone knows what you did with Thorin at the palace. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones." Thranduil squeaked, and his face turned scarlet-red before he glared at her for revealing his blasphemous display of hypocrisy.

Tauriel rolled her eyes. "What? Don't look at me like that. With how you were screaming like a simple whore, it was never a secret, to begin with. Besides, this isn't about Kíli, Thorin, the dwarves, or the elves. It's about all of us. Gandalf is right. If Bolg and his forces win this battle, then The Necromancer wins the whole war. Erebor's location will allow his armies to go around Gondor and Rohan and meet up swiftly, and Erebor and the dwarves are the only obstacles in his way. If the dwarves don't reclaim their home, there will be nobody to beat Sauron back or stop him, and he will be able to conquer Middle-Earth and, eventually, all of Arda, with or without the one ring." Thranduil's eyes widened as the weight of Gandalf's words fully sunk in now that Tauriel confirmed that he was correct, "The Necromancer will be able to reach Gondor, Rohan, Lothlórien, Rivendell, The Grey Havens, The Shire, and not even Mirkwood will be safe. I'm trying to save my people and YOU. My life is not worth more than theirs, but the lives of all living beings, mortal or otherwise, are not worth less than ours."

Thranduil was stunned into silence. That...was a valid point. Maybe Tauriel was right, but Thranduil would sooner bathe in poisoned wine than admit it. "If we don't pull out of this attack, we'll die, then no one will be left to oppose that monster."

Tauriel knew that Thranduil was right about that, but she had been aware of that from the very beginning. "You're right, but if we pull back, we'll still perish. I understand that you desire to protect our people: a good monarch should put their people first, but not at the risk of all else. Withdrawing from this fight won't protect our people. It's hardly a fair fight as it is. If you abandon the Men of Laketown and Durin's Folk, this will become a massacre. Don't you understand!? If you forsake this battle, you won't be protecting our people: you will kill them!"

If Thranduil wasn't angry before, he was infuriated now. Though Thranduil loved Tauriel like a daughter, sometimes he thought she was a self-righteous ass who acted as though she was the only one in the right when that wasn't true, and Tauriel just came off that way without meaning to because she's as stubborn as Thranduil is. It worsens when Tauriel is genuinely in the right, and Thranduil disagrees with her regardless to spite her. At the moment, this was one of those times.

"Did I not tell you to get out of my way!? If you don't, I'll move you by force, even if it means hurting you." Thranduil snarled, his voice dripping with venom. At this, his soldiers began to hesitate. Harming or killing other elves was serious business because of the kinslayings, and Thranduil did not make idle threats. Tauriel's eyes widened in fear as a result. Thranduil had crossed the line.

"What happened to you!? You're not the Thranduil I remember, nor the king I swore my loyalty to," Tauriel inquired, her voice quivering.

"That version of me is dead, and I'll never be that person again. Are you satisfied with that answer?" Thranduil sneered. That's when Tauriel found her courage.

"No, I'm disappointed. From the moment Laegnis died, you've been a selfish, wicked, lack-witted cur! This isn't what she'd want, and you know it. Do you know what she'd think if she saw you now? If she saw the person you've become, she wouldn't recognize the elf she loved. She'd run away screaming!" At those words, Thranduil completely lost it. This time, it was Tauriel that went too far. Thranduil's deceased wife was a sore subject, and Tauriel shouldn't have brought it up. "YOU MILKY-EYED HAG-SEED!!!!!!" Thranduil raised his hand and prepared to slap Tauriel across her cheek. Tauriel immediately shielded her face with her hands and cowered in fear, tears forming in her eyes. Suddenly, Thranduil saw the look on her face, and he stopped. His eyes widened and flashed as he recalled a moment in his teenage years with his older sister and father.

The crack of Oropher's hand hitting Calemir's cheek resounded in his ears. "You are a princess! I expect you to act like one! And you, you are confined to the palace and barred from archery for the rest of your life!" Oropher's scolding echoed in the back of his mind, his words haunting him. Calemir had not wanted to get married, and Oropher tried to meddle by finding her a suitable husband without asking for consent or why she didn't want to wed. All Oropher knew was that someone at Calemir's age should be married and that it wasn't "normal" that an elleth at her age wasn't tied down. Thranduil intervened for Calemir's sake, but neither realized they had put a large portion of their alliances in jeopardy by doing so. The wailing sobs of an elven princess whose wants and needs never got considered and the crunch of the bones of an overprotective and worried father from being punched by his angry son was the only thing Thranduil could hear before he came back to the present moment.

Thranduil immediately lowered his hand. "I'm sorry. I went too far. I shouldn't have brought her up." Tauriel choked back a sob as she apologized to Thranduil. Thranduil brought his hand to her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "No, don't be. I'm the one that should apologize. I threatened to hurt you and raised my hand against you. I have no excuse for that." Thranduil's lip trembled, his eyes threatening to well with tears.

"You sound like Laegnis, and that's a good thing. At least one of us does."