Philophobia - Thorin Oakenshield - English version

Part 1

It all began with three elves returning to their home in Rivendell from a visit in Mirkwood on a cold winter day. Cadhrion the leader of the elven army of Rivendell walked towards the Mist Mountains along with two of his most loyal soldiers. The Mist Mountains looked menacing under the dark clouds and mist that hung around them.

A bleak wind and snowfall made it difficult for the elves to move forward, their horses running on the tips of their toes, but they pressed on. Resting in the shadow of the Misty Mountains was not a good idea at all.

Just as the elves entered the narrow path that was to take them through the mountain peaks, they heard a not so unfamiliar sound. Cries of a small child echoed through the mountains. Cadhrion brought his horse to a halt to listen where the cries were coming from. Just as he was about to step forward again towards the child's crying, they heard wolves howling from another direction "Quickly Celebion, run like the wind!" The elf then called to his horse, who immediately ran at a smooth gallop in the direction of the howl.

The moment the elves arrived on the scene, they saw a pile of cloth lying against the steep rock face. Cadhrion saw a shadow running away from the distance "hey!" he called out but the shadow ran on, causing Cadhrion to give chase. Just as the road split, however, he was stopped by a pack of wolves storming down the mountainside.

"Uthred get the child and make haste to Rivendell, the two of us here will keep the wolves at bay!" shouted Cadhrion.

Uthred therefore immediately did what was expected of him and ran back towards the child. When he jumped off his horse and picked up the child lying in a heap of cloths however, he immediately saw that it was no ordinary elf or human child. Yet he had no time to engage in conversation about this. So without further hesitation, he took off again and rode towards the valley of Imladris with the child in his arms. Cadhrion and his companion who managed to keep the wolves at bay therefore followed him a little later after which the three of them arrived back in Rivendell without wounds or even injuries.

In Rivendell, they immediately brought the child to their lord's quarters. Only lord Elrond would know what to do with the child. Elrond too had immediately realised that this child did not belong to an elven mother, not even to humans. The child was deformed, it did have something dwarven in it, Elrond cared for the child and healed the wounds. Since Cadhrion had no longer been able to follow the shadow, Elrond would never know to whom the child belonged, he did have an inkling of where the child came from and how it ended up in the mountains. The child had clearly been conceived by a dwarf woman but also had something orc-like about it, since no dwarf would be so deranged as to mate with an orc Elrond could only imagine that an army of orcs had again assaulted dwarf women in their humiliating battles after which the weak unwanted baby was left for dead. Middle Earth had hard times and the dwarven people in particular suffered from the attacks of the orcs, who made a habit of slaughtering an entire army to then invade the mountain and use the women as slaves or for their own pleasure.

The child was lucky that Elrond found her before she froze to death or any other creature found her for any purpose. This is why the elves gave the child the name Terwyn because she was brave to survive and lucky to end up here. Elrond was able to heal the child's wounds almost completely, only a small number of scars remained visible, he was also able to cover up her orcish features perfectly. For instance, this girl had beautiful red-brown hair, light blue eyes, a rather pale but plain skin colour and also normal human teeth and not fanged teeth meant to bite throats open like real orcs had.

There was just one small problem with Elrond's gift, no matter how strong it was, the child herself was still in charge of her own body and her actions. Everyone knew that orcs had a bad temper and so they were rather quick to get angry. This too was true about Terwyn, once she was challenged she could lash out rather quickly like a savage, at such times Elrond's healing gift also seemed to have no hold over her causing her eyes to turn red and she became uncontrollable. This child also ate excessive amounts of meat, even raw meat, which posed a fairly big problem for elves who did not eat meat. Thus it became increasingly clear that Terwyn did not belong to the elves and never would, after about three years Elrond decided that the child could control herself well enough and that it was time to find her a proper home. A dwarf home, which is how he immediately thought of Erebor, at that time the most powerful dwarf kingdom of those times.

After all preparations were made, everyone said goodbye to the child after which Elrond took her with him towards Erebor. 

On the way, they briefly took up residence in the Greenwood as they could not travel to Erebor in one go with such a young child. In the Greenwood, not everyone was so fond of the dwarven girl, especially the elf king Thranduil who had already heard more than enough about the mutilated child preferred not to have her near him for too long. Then again, his (for elves) still young son Legolas who had just lost his mother prematurely and always wanted a sibling or at least some support as a family seemed to be the opposite of Thranduil and he did nothing more than tease the child and take her around the kingdom. 

Yet however sweet the prince was to the girl she did not belong here and soon Elrond continued his journey until he arrived at Erebor again on a winter day as cold as the day he found her.