Thranduil personally writes down every single name of any elf who dies in his kingdom.
The names arnt in alphabetical order, but by date. He writes the name, the cause of death (usually) and then something everybody loved about them.
He’s certain that others are in charge of far more thorough record keeping but that isn’t his concern. He keeps this list for himself, and flips through the pages often enough he has started to memorize some of the names. Perhaps most of the names by the time he leaves Middle Earth.
He does this for two reasons.
1) inspiration and motivation. Trying to keep going relentlessly forward is difficult, but it’s a lot easier for him if he can look back on how far his people have already come. How much they believe in this fight. How much they need him to keep fighting it.
And 2) He plans to personally thank each and every one of them once they come back from the halls. He will not be satisfied until every single name is crossed out.
In the bottom corner of the cover page is a tiny little note written in code; A sort of enchantment thats meant to bring the attention of Lady Yavanna, and a plead (not a prayer, Silvan elves as a rule didn’t pray.) that his sons name would never stain the pages.
*Tour guide voice* And if you look above us, you’ll see the headcanon that led to this user writing perhaps the most heartbreaking fic she ever has
‘He Would Suffer No More Loss’ A brief history of Thranduil (that may shed some light on his motives) summarised from the Unfinished Tales and the Appendices of LotR by JRR Tolkien; composed and Illustrated by Soni Alcorn-Hender
I would like to see everyone faces at Valinor when Thranduil arrives this way…. How I love Thranduil, he does whatever he want and is amazinly fabulous always…. Adorable Thranduil
Ohhhhh Legolas dreaming that one day he will use his Ada’s sword and it will be so powerful like Thranduil ….. He still have to grown a lot, he is still the little Ada’s leafling, for now he need to use both hands to hold just one sword….
While Thranduil need just one hand to hold one sword
