Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit-Imagines and Oneshots

Imagine Thranduil and Tauriel

A/N: This imagine takes place shortly after BOTFA. Thranduil helps Tauriel with her devouring grief over Kili's death, which takes place right after the scene below. The scene always makes me cry. 😭 It should be in one of those "Try Not to Cry" challenge videos.

Also play this song from Return of the King. It aligns with the plot.
Onto the story...

King Thranduil had removed Tauriel's banishment. The Battle of The Five Armies had humbled him. Gandalf made him realize how insensible his ambition was and his son had left him. And then there was Tauriel, in a state he had been in many years before.

The king new the pain of losing one dear to you, a lover, to be specific. He shared Tauriel's pain and anguish as the rode home to Mirkwood. Though she wanted Prince Kili buried, she could not bare to stay for his funeral. So she didn't.

Back in Mirkwood, Tauriel didn't eat. After months, she grew unhealthily thin. Her face was white and her voice was silent. She never smiled or showed any emotion aside from sorrow.

Thranduil had been through the same mourning when he lost his wife, but he had responsibilities as a king that took him out of the shadows. Tauriel, however, was no longer loyal to him and wouldn't forgive him for as long as she lived, even though he had welcomed her back into his care. There was nothing holding her back from fading.

She stayed locked away in her chambers at her own will. When Thranduil went to check on her daily, the curtains always covered the windows, refusing to let the light in. The room wasn't clean and organized the way it had been before the battle. Her weapons lay scattered on the floor, right where she had thrown them when she returned.

On this day, it was no different. Tauriel sat on her bed, staring numbly at her fingers. She had been in the exact same position yesterday. Thranduil sighed.

"Tauriel, my dear," he said and sat on her bed, but not to close to the mourner, "You are fading. You shouldn't stay here in Mirkwood. I'm arranging for you to be sailed to the Undying Lands, where you can rest peacefully. There is nothing more for you here in Middle-Earth except memories."

Tauriel looked at Thranduil with eyes that held more anger and pain than it seemed possible. She looked away without responding.

"Pack whatever you wish to bring," said Thranduil as he got up and made for the door. "We depart at first light tomorrow."

The journey was uneventful. There was no danger or threatening weather. Thranduil, Tauriel, and a few guards rode westward on horseback. Tauriel never spoke a word, but she did seem very observant of her surrounding during the three weeks it took to reach the west coast. Probably trying to remember every detail of her last days in this land, Thranduil guessed.

They traveled through the mountains east of Rivendell and the lovely grasslands of the Shire before reaching the blue western waves.

At The Gray Havens, there was a ship with white sails waiting to embark. The guards stayed behind as Thranduil walked the elleth he had grown to love as a daughter to the docks. Tauriel carried only a small knapsack of memorable tokens to take with her.

"I hope you can rest peacefully among our kin and be free of the weight of you sorrows," Thranduil said tenderly. Tauriel looked at him and, for the first time in what seemed like ages, smiled. It was a small smile that still shielded the grief inside her, but it was genuine. What she did next was just as unexpected.

"You were right," she spoke softly. "This land has nothing to offer me anymore. My love has already left it, and one day, I intend to join him in the Halls of the Valorin." She turned to look at Thranduil. "I will not forget your forgiveness, my lord. And I cannot begin to describe how thankful I am for taking me in six hundred years ago when I was alone. You are like a father to me."

Thranduil could not hold himself back anymore. He engulfed the she-elf in a hug which was unhesitatingly returned. Thranduil wove his fingers through her orange hair, knowing that it may be the last time he ever sensed it.

"I hope to see you again one day," Tauriel said hopefully once they had parted.

"You will, my dear elleth," Thranduil promised. "You will."

Tauriel smiled once more before readjusting the straps of the bag on re shoulder and walking confidently towards the ship. She shot Thranduil another glance as she climbed aboard. He stayed in place until the the ship weighed anchor and begin to drift into the west. The king waved after her, wishing she wasn't so far already. She waved back, a peaceful and soft smile on her face.

And Tauriel's soul passed into the west.