Project File: Arnica and Apple Blossoms – SOABA

This AU series is adjacent to “The Language of Flowers”, which I wrote back in November of 2023 for NaNo. Many of the same concepts will be used and it is basically going to be a canon-divergence from that story. “Arnica and Apple Blossoms” is the first of many planned episodes in this series, which I’ve titled “All Who Took That Road With Me“.

Fair warning, I am not going to be kind to Dáin in this series – I have always hated that the Dwarf who refused to help Thorin reclaim Erebor, and really only showed up after the Dragon died because he thought he was going to get to fight some Elves, became King Under the Mountain. I read the Hobbit for the first time in the 3rd Grade and the ending of the book felt like as much of a betrayal then and still does now. You have this beautiful story about adventure and friendship and reclaiming a home, and then the expected happy ending is just ripped away from you. 

As I said, this story is very much set in an alternate universe, so expect any adherence to canon to be minimal and I’ve screwed with timelines and ages and geography and more. I used the movie timeline for the Ring’s destruction, meaning there was no 17-year gap, so Frodo will be much younger here than he was in the books. There is also a lot of magic, as a primary focus of this series is going to be heavily focused on magic and restoring it to Arda.

If you read some of my other Hobbit fics, then you’ll know that, a few years ago, I created a whole damn species bible for the orcs in Middle Earth because it makes me uncomfortable to refer to any race as goblins. I’m aware that the mythology of goblins has existed since long before any connection between the creatures and the Jewish peoples was created, but the way goblins are often portrayed in modern media is extremely anti-Semitic and I want absolutely no part of that. I don’t judge other authors for using the term; this is simply a personal choice.

• I use Gorgûn-hai as my replacement for the g-word. They’re the Lesser-Orcs that live in the mountains, descended from the original orcs that tried breeding with mortal Men in ages past. They breed via a queen – kind of like insects.
  
• The Rukh-hai, the Mordor-Orcs, are the direct descendants of the first Orcs in Arda, which were Elves tortured into insanity by Morgoth in the First Age. Three distinct classes are Snaga [“Slave”, Labor-class], Girmus [“Scout”, Scout-class, the trackers – I cannot bring myself to use Snuffler], and Kordh [“Sword”, Soldier-class, the warriors]. New Rukhs are created via Black Magic carving stone; they have hearts of granite and disfigured bodies of solidified slime.
• Finally, we have the Uruk-hai, the Great-Orcs, who are basically immortal and believe themselves better than the other two Orcs species. Like in the movies, Uruks are created by Black Magic violating the earth – Tolkien’s Cabbage Patch Babies. My personal headcanon is that Azog was the first, the prototype, and that Sauron passed the knowledge of his creation on to Saruman.