kareenvorbarra:

just thinkin again about my headcanons for huor and rian when he goes off to the nirnaeth

about how he’s hopeful, he really thinks this attack has a good chance of succeeding, but he has absolutely no confidence that he himself will come back alive because all his paternal male relatives have died in battle, it’s practically a family tradition at this point, and even if it’s not in this particular battle he has a feeling it’ll happen to him one day

so he rides off to war knowing that he may not come back and he’s come to terms with that if it means his lands and his family can be made safe for good. if he has to sacrifice himself for this, he will. and that would be fine, he could handle that, except that rian is….really not fine

rian is 22 years old and has been married for two months and has only just realized that she’s pregnant and now her husband is riding away to war. she experienced a lot of trauma at a very young age, trauma that will never completely go away, and as huor’s departure grows closer she starts to fray at the edges a bit. recovery is fragile, and non-linear, and rian can feel the shadows of her childhood pressing in on her and threatening to undo some of her hard-won happiness and peace of mind

huor wants to comfort her, and he does his best, but he knows there’s not a damn thing he can say that will truly make her feel better. he’d never promise to return, because he knows that’s not a promise he can keep, and he knows that rian knows it, too. all he can do is tell her that he’ll do everything he can to come back to her, and ask her to take care of herself while he’s gone, because some days she falls back into that empty listlessness and when that happens he’s more afraid for her than he is for himself