This Present Darkness
is a The Lord of the Rings fanfic by Lamiel.
Four years after the end of LOTR, Aragorn is behaving increasingly erratically. He is convinced that the Haradrim are raising an army, there are spies everywhere, and even his best friends are plotting against him. Legolas, Faramir and Arwen try to discover what is wrong with him, but time is running out.
Contains examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Absolutely no one mourns Dragaer or those of his men who are killed.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Averted. Arwen is afraid to tell Aragorn of her pregnancy for fear he'll see the baby as a threat.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Faramir and Éowyn's daughter is born during a battle. Faramir meets her for the first time shortly after hearing of Imrahil's death.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Aragorn's behavour is the result of Dragaer using the palantír to influence him.
- The Cavalry: When it seems as though the Corsairs will win, the army of Mirkwood arrive.
- Converse with the Unconscious / Please Wake Up: Gimli says the latter trope's name when speaking to a unconscious Legolas.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Nine Corsairs must duel one Elf to the death. Simple, right? Said Elf has over six thousand years of military experience and a very good reason to want them all dead. Guess who ends up dead and who walks away with mere scratches.
- The Corsairs' attack on Minas Tirith nearly becomes one for the Gondorians, but the Elves show up in time.
- Darker and Edgier: Than Lord of the Rings.
- Death by Despair: Legolas teeters on the verge of it after being raped.
- Doorstopper: Sixty-one chapters long.
- Duel to the Death: The Corsairs who helped Dragaer rape Legolas must fight one of these. If they're victorious they can go free.Amdir: [looks at the soldiers surrounding them] You mean that we have to fight all of them?Thranduil: No. You have to fight me.
- Epigraph: Each chapter starts with one.
- Heel Realization / My God, What Have I Done?: Aragorn, when he realises what's happening to him.
- Killed Offscreen: Imrahil and Aelon. On the villainous side, Amdir and his companions.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Legolas is one of seven children, five of whom are still alive.
- Maternity Crisis: Éowyn goes into labour just before the battle begins.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We don't get to see Thranduil's fight with the Corsairs, or Imrahil's charge against them, which leads to his death.
- One-Man Army: Thranduil. When he first meets him, Faramir "could easily imagine whole armies crumbling before [Thranduil]'s wrath alone".
- Papa Wolf: Thranduil.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: The Captain influences Aragorn through the palantír.
- Wham Line: "I have lost the longing for the sea."
