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I Try To Make The Rurouni Wander Through Middle-Earth
Okay, so me and creating fusion crossovers with The Silmarillion, of adapting and dumping my favorite characters for other stories in the Silm?
Well, as much as I wanted to I couldn’t think of how to integrate Rurouni Kenshin with a premise that sat well with me. The core of the story is a pacifistic red-haired warrior wandering after a civil war in an era that promises new peace, atoning for the violence of his past via a personal vow to no longer kill and to fully live his ideals of helping others. This warrior is accepted in by an orphan girl who fights and tries to uphold her family honor and ideals of peace and protecting others. Add to this makeshift family the brash orphan street kid who wants to learn to be strong, the tough brawler with an easy humor and a heavy resentment of the current government because of betrayed promises. The doctor who was forced to make drugs because she fell in -against her will- with a crime boss and who also wants to find her missing family and repent for her crimes. The antagonists from the other side of the war that become friends and allies. These characters I love and know so well.
And not even toying with the Exilic Noldor was pleasing me or finding a fit for a good fusion story.
But then, it hit me- they don’t work for me as inserts into The Silmarillion- but for the Third Age I can see a spot for the Kenshingumi.
Namely, the Kin-strife of Gondor.
We have a civil war(Bakamastu) when Eldacar takes the throne and the fight to restore the rightful king. But the opposing side isn’t completely villainous- Castimir himself is a cruel man, but for characters like ‘Saitou’ and 'Aoshi’ it could make sense to have these honorable people on the opposing side who supported out of geography or earnest belief in their righteousness, but also still be in Gondor after the war working for the crown (supporters of the Master of Ships and purer Númenor blood translates to the Bakamatsu side that followed because of their traditional support for Shogun).The mixed resentment of Westernization of the Meiji paralleled to the influx of Northmen and fear of waning.
So here’s our cast, ten years after the Kin-strife. 'Kenshin’ as a young man (red hair = Northman?) who joined with Eldacar when the king fled to Rhovanion and called for support to reclaim his kingdom. A swordsman who grew disillusioned by the fierce and bloody fighting and now wanders trying to do what little to rebuild and protect the reborn Gondor. That he ends up helping a young lady in Minas Arnor (easier to set our story here, methinks) who lost her dad in the fighting with the new foe, Umbar, and is struggling to uphold the knightly family name and holdings on her own, fighting off unscrupulous men trying to steal her lands and minor title. Kaoru looks like a Númenorean lady with a hint of elvish kick-your-butt but also compassionate blood. “I don’t care that you’re not a knight, or a full-blood Dúnedan- or that you were the most feared berserker of the war. It’s the wanderer I asked to stay with me.” Cue finding the pickpocket thief Yahiko and training him to become the knight that loves not the sword for its brightness but for what it protects. Sanosuke as the dockside brawler and fighter for hire, who was with a group that joined up from one of those regions of Gondor to fight for Eldacar but suffered greatly in the war/got betrayed, heck even Sano's full backstory of the peasants’ army fighting for promise of equality that the monarchy reneged on I can keep because it fits. Saitou as an officer who sided with Castimir until the worst of the cruelty convinced him to defect or just decided his duty to his country kept him from fleeing in exile to Umbar (Saitou as one of the naval officers?). Eck, even the Oniwanban can stay as a group of royal bodyguards/spies and secret service agents (seriously, why can’t there be a branch of spies of the stewards of the royal residences? OHshi- the secret real history of the House of Húrin?) that never got to protect either set of kings. That they weren’t in Osgiliath and thus failed their job? And trying to cope in a new world. Kyoto is so Osgiliath. Shishio as a ship burning lord preaching survival of the fittest and blood superiority coming up from the south. Tomoe as the noble lady from Dol Amroth, dead fiancee, dead wife, same sad back-story.
this can all work
So yeah, I have a way to drop the characters into Arda now, and best of all, it’s a cast of characters to give me a focus on an area of the story I would otherwise sort of gloss over. And I just made not!Aoshi and not!Misao the distant ancestor of Denethor, Boromir, and Faramir, I think. Which is a plus.
Mulling over my plans, here’s what I have so far for the background war and geographical parallels. I need to set this up anyway before I start assigning backstories and place locations to all the characters I’m fusing from Rurouni Kenshin and Real Life Japanese history into Gondor of the 1400s.
Bakumatsu Kin-Strife (AKA Weirdest Head-Canon Post From Heget In A Long Time)
Now I still need to go bug the experts on Gondor, especially those with maps that understand it in the first and early second millennium of the Third Age, so I can peg my history for the crossover. But I'm going to try my best at:
- sync up the Bakumatsu and Gondor during the Kin-strife -
Osgiliath works for the most part as the Kyoto analogue, with Minas Anor as Tokyo. Pelargir actually picks up elements of Edo and Kyoto as well. What becomes interesting is trying to peg which regions of Gondor would support Eldacar, and which Castamir.
And the funny thing is- to connect back to a recent Númenorean debate- the true king that the text supports is the one that supports his ordinary mortal side. He [Eldacar] draws support as much from the ‘lesser’ 'un-elven’ non-Dúnedains as from his kingly bloodline. It’s the usurper[Castamir] who is obsessed with a reactionary blood purity based on the more 'elven-like’ long lifespans.
But to go with the areas to parallel the Bakumatsu and me desperately trying to assign hans: Castamir proves himself very unpopular in Osgiliath after his victory with obsessively harsh crackdowns and violence. Which, this is so easy to place the Mimawarigumi and Shinsengumi as the extreme knights templar police forces against rebel forces and the stuff we see in RuroKen and Ryomaden. Oooh, instead of the Ikedaya, have it being a meeting of the Eldacar supporters planning to rescue Eldacar’s son Ornendil. Perfect! (the text suggests a lag between Castamir conquering Ostgiliath and the death of Ornendil)
So, the big thing in the Bakamatsu is the three outsider Hans, the feudal territories less trusted by the Tokugawa Shogunate because they were originally enemies or late supporters of the first Shogun, the three that will rise in rebellion. Namely Choshu, Satsuma, and Tosa- which if you look on the map are those areas in the south- Satsuma is the southernmost before you leave the main four islands to Okinawa, Choshu is the southern end of the big main island, and Tosa is the the island between the two in the south. Wheres the main Tokugawa domains and Aizu ('northern’ area closest to Edo, therefore also naturally strong Shogunate supports) are the areas are going to spearhead the opposition. And eck, I’m really grossly simplifying because for one the Hans aren’t the same as what we think of in the feudal system because they weren’t directly connected to land possessions, but again, the geography underlying this civil war is pretty easy to see.
And the other funny hiccup? Choshu and Satsuma were traditional rivals. In fact Satsuma, as more moderate (and trading a lot with outside powers), fought on the behalf of the Tokugawa in the early days of the Bakumastu. Which is why the Satcho Alliance was such a big deal. Tosa was one of those more moderate rebels, and that’s where the main character of Ryoma-den is from. He helps to broker the Satcho Alliance and then, with Tosa, the first transition of power from Shogun to new Meiji government in an attempt for peaceful transition. (Boshin War is the last leg, where by force the remaining Tokugawa forces are fought and expelled, ending up in Hokkaido with the failed government in exile that loses in the Battle of Hakodate.)
Let’s not even go into how much I’m switching around the sonno jou policy of repel the foreigners and revere the emperor. Well, let’s save the actual issues of colonialism and how to deal with it and/or counter it for some story in Middle-earth where it can be dealt with justly. Because hey- the Númenóreans and their descendants were colonizing Middle-earth and in more places to the south of Gondor and Umbar. Speaking of which, Umbar was a outsider, stronghold of those colonizing Númenóreans and not the nicest bunch, imposing its rule on Harad. (Castamir’s great-grandsons have Quenya names for a reason) So one day I want someone to write the story of a small island nation to the unknown south, seeing the threat of the encroaching Númenóreans with their outsider higher tech. This nation has a revolution to become strong enough to fight off those tall men from the sea. Here’s what one of the Blue Wizards was up to.
But back to Kin-strife. The actual war in this story is a return to power of a deposed king, but it’s easy enough to call Eldacar the emperor and Castamir as Chief of Ships the Shogun. Keep the sides simple.
Now, Hokkaido becomes Umbar, with the government is exile staying a threat, easy enough. Aizu and the other Tokugawa strongholds, which I need to have my close analogy anyway, becomes Harondor and the areas of Pelargir and Lindir and Belfalas.
Yes, Dol Amroth is on the racist losing side of the war this time. Actually, the funny hiccup is that Amroth dies in 1981. Imrazôr who marries Mithrellas and starts the line of Princes of Dol Amroth is born in 1950 of the Third Age, a full 310 years after the Kinstrife. And it’s not really clear just how big the elven population in Edhellond is or what their involvement would be in any of Gondor’s history. But we are told there is a Númenórean presence and Elendil was the one to bestow the ruling family the title of Prince and the lands Dor-en-Ernil. Which I think is supposed to be synonymous with Belfalas. Blaugh. Big thing is, this place wouldn’t be called Dol Amroth yet and the lords would stay as traditional Númenórean lords very hung up on their elven heritage and ship-faring culture without having the extra influx of elven blood via Mithrellas yet. But pretty obvious they’d be supporters of Castamir.
In terms of Rurouni Kenshin, in case you were wondering, that makes Megumi Takani, daughter of Aizu doctors who can’t return home, from Harondor. Tomoe is from Belfalas (there’s something untouchable and elegant, nay elvish, in her reserved beauty, eh?) Mibu, first home base of the Shinsengumi and in an area between Edo and Kyoto, becomes a village either outside Pelargir or Lindir.
Now another big assumption I’m making to change the details of Kin-strife as to fit the realities of this crossover fusion we have in the LotR is this set up. Where after Eldacar is forced to flee Osigiliath back to his mother’s people in Rhovanion in 1437 he only returns ten years later in 1447 with Rhovanion troops. Paired with a sudden(?) uprising in Gondor the pro-Eldacar forces are able to retake most of Gondor and kill Castamir at the Battle of the Crossings of Erui. Castamir’s family and supporters flee, are besieged in Pelargir for a year (control of the fleets means could gather support and hold out), and finally flee for Umbar. What makes more sense to me is that there is rebellion and activity in Gondor during the decade Castamir is in power - our Bakumastu street warfare we see in Kenshin. With the successful repulsion of the Second Choshu Expedition and the battles of the Boshin War being Eldacar’s return and victories. But the point is that there is more going on than Eldacar licking his wounds and gathering troops for ten years up in Rhovanion.
Which brings us to the pro-Eldacar factions. Now the tribes of Northmen supporting Eldacar are more than just the parallel of Western modernization weapons and techniques (still laughing at how I’ve warped joui in this 'verse). After Eldacar’s Restoration large numbers of Northmen are going to settle in Gondor to restore its numbers and find themselves in positions of power. And we’ll also have the actual Gondorian populations that will support Eldacar. Now Castamir is going to not only destroy the Dome of Stars (and the loss of its palantir) after he besieges Osgiliath, but we are told he orders a slaughter and destruction in the city not proportional to needs or acceptability in war. (Oh heck, what war crimes is this glossing over?) And that this harshness turns Ithilien and Minas Anor against him, especially after he neglects them for the power-base of the fleets and Pelargir. (Again, he 'cares little for the land’? This sounds a lot more than Aldarion versus Erendis here.)
Now when Eldacar returns the three provinces we are told explicitly come out in force for him are Calenardhon, Anórien, and Ithilien.
Now not all Northmen tribes were friendly with Gondor, and in fact the reason Valacar is sent to Vidugavia (marries his daughter, has Eldacar) is to broker a strong alliance to have peace and protection for that area of Gondor. Therefore Eldacar is going to be overwhelming popular in Calenardhon. There’s probably a lot of intermarriage and intermingling between the people already; Eldacar is one of them and also a very real symbol of the King’s desire to protect them. Anórien is the land right to the south of it and also the land around Minas Anor.
Ithilien… Here’s the tangle. Because that’s the term of the lands of Gondor to the west of the Audiun River. There are two regions of Ithilien- North and South, split by the Emyn Arnen. North Ithilien easily enough fits the inland northern Gondor near to the big cities of Osgiliath and Minas Anor that are going to hate Castamir and support Eldacar.
But what of South Ithilien, which is very much inland? And what of Anfalas? And the areas north of it?
And here’s the other funny little detail I have to remember with Gondor in this time period- Minas Ithil is still a city of Gondor. Now it had been captured by Sauron in the war at the being of the Third Age, but it should be restored and still home to a sizable population. It gets ignored mostly in these tales of Gondor’s history except when to note the city (fortress?) gets captured or overrun by the enemy- but Gondor doesn’t lose Minas Ithil until 2002. What are you up to in this war, Minas Ithil? (Which character can I say comes from Minas Ithil?)
Now we have our three big 'rebel’ Hans of the Bakumastu- Choshu, Sastuma, and Tosa. Choshu is definitely the most radical, which in this crossover fusion means the one in most support for Eldacar. Which means Rhovanion and Calenardhon. (and because our main character in Rurouni Kenshin starts off as a member of the Kiheitai, the revolutionary auxiliary troop founded by Takasugi based on modern discipline and weapons and allowing members from all social classes, I’ve already set up his back-story as a Northman orphan. More details in following post).
The funny part is deciding who Katsura Kogoro is, actually. As the leader of the Choshu faction and one of the great statesmen of the Meiji (plus the nickname 'Running Katsura’ because through luck and disguises he was able to escape and survive things like the Ikedaya Incident) I’m a bit uncertain. Because the Emperor returning to power equals Eldacar returning to power, but in the context of the Meiji Restoration the Emperor is a figurehead. And Eldacar is pretty active. In fact, the question becomes is Eldacar our Kastura parallel or is there another figure?
While I’m on this subject- Aldamir, Eldacar’s second son and successor, was born in 1430. Eldacar gains the throne in 1432 -okay, please clear this up for me. Would the Kin-strife and civil war be starting in 1432 when Eldacar first comes into the crown, or is the 1437 the year it boils over into war? Slowly growing tension or straight from the start? Basically does Castamir declare himself king after Valacar’s death or a few years into Eldacar’s rule? (Which honestly makes the better story?). But the thing is Aldamir is seven when his family flees Osgiliath and his older brother is killed, and returns to Gondor in 1447 as a teen. I fully expect all conventional Kin-strife fics to be using Aldamir as the protagonist, by the way. Since I’m writing crossover of doom about a country ten years into the end of a civil war, I’m not, but if I was actually writing about the Kin-strife, here’s the story. (At least from this side of the war.)
So Katsura as Eldacar himself or the leader of the Calenardhon or Rhovanian troops supporting him?
Takasugi Shinsaku, by the way, is going to be a character much like the one from Ryomaden and Rurouni Kenshin. Complete with shamisen playing as his troops storm the beach. And he’s a human. Northman, even a bard, perhaps. Because this quote-
That is not an elf. That is a repudiation of the later Númenórean obsession with clinging to life and prizing a long lifespan.
Now as for “Satsuma”, with their traditional rivalry with “Calenardhon” and switch from lukewarm support of the “Castamir side” to working to restore the rightful ruler - and with important figures like Saigo and Okubo- I need to pin down a place for them. Anórien or Ithilien, I’m unsure. (Also, do I keep the Satsuma Rebellion with our Saigo who was the leader that allied with Katsura to overthrow the Shogunate but finds himself left behind in the new era? Where he rebels and must be put down by Katsura and his former disciple Okubo? And yes, I have to figure out who 'Okubo’ of Gondor is, because he needs to be here as the statesman that spearheads the rebuilding of the restoration but gets assassinated as the kick-start to the big arc of our Rurouni Kenshin plot)
Or do I make either Choshu or Satsuma one of the Rhovanion tribes/territories, distinct from Calenardhon, a enmity between the two places?
And where is Tosa, with Sakamoto Ryoma as a Finrod Felagund bringing people together? Is it the Ithilien if neither of the first two are? Or Anfalas/Langstrand?
Oh, Anfalas. Sparsely populated in this time period or not, one wonders. And with a mix of forestry and fishing villages, but also far from the main hubs of Ostgiliath, Minas Anor, and Pelargir- where did this territory side? With Eldacar? with Castamir? Stay out of the civil war? Having its own difficulties with the northern kingdoms- Cardolan and Rhudaur had fallen to Angmar in 1409. Cardolan’s last prince died in the Barrowdowns, but there is still people and what looks like enough of a country to keep the name Cardolan until the Great Plague (1636) wipes them out.
(Jin'eh the crazy assassin with the heart-stopping fear powers is from Angmar or corrupted Rhudaur. He has second-hand Nazgul stamped all over him it’s almost easy how simple the fusion is.)
And Lebennin and Lossarnach? Lossarnach as a fertile inland place near Minas Anor - would it definitely be siding with them and away from the fleet-focused Castamir? Lebennin as a fishing area and close to Pelargir would be heavy supporter for Castamir (and ironically like most of these sea-lying regions the ones to suffer the most from Umbar).
On trying to figure out where Sanosuke would be from- probably his farming village of Shinshu matches up with Lossarnach. And the false army Sekihotai would fit with this region. - I’ll explain in back-story post, but basically let’s have kings breaking promises on both sides. Or just make sure Sano comes from whatever area of Gondor that sided with Eldacar but lost the majority of its population in the war.
bento boxes to any that bother to read and comment.
Well, as much as I wanted to I couldn’t think of how to integrate Rurouni Kenshin with a premise that sat well with me. The core of the story is a pacifistic red-haired warrior wandering after a civil war in an era that promises new peace, atoning for the violence of his past via a personal vow to no longer kill and to fully live his ideals of helping others. This warrior is accepted in by an orphan girl who fights and tries to uphold her family honor and ideals of peace and protecting others. Add to this makeshift family the brash orphan street kid who wants to learn to be strong, the tough brawler with an easy humor and a heavy resentment of the current government because of betrayed promises. The doctor who was forced to make drugs because she fell in -against her will- with a crime boss and who also wants to find her missing family and repent for her crimes. The antagonists from the other side of the war that become friends and allies. These characters I love and know so well.
And not even toying with the Exilic Noldor was pleasing me or finding a fit for a good fusion story.
But then, it hit me- they don’t work for me as inserts into The Silmarillion- but for the Third Age I can see a spot for the Kenshingumi.
Namely, the Kin-strife of Gondor.
We have a civil war(Bakamastu) when Eldacar takes the throne and the fight to restore the rightful king. But the opposing side isn’t completely villainous- Castimir himself is a cruel man, but for characters like ‘Saitou’ and 'Aoshi’ it could make sense to have these honorable people on the opposing side who supported out of geography or earnest belief in their righteousness, but also still be in Gondor after the war working for the crown (supporters of the Master of Ships and purer Númenor blood translates to the Bakamatsu side that followed because of their traditional support for Shogun).The mixed resentment of Westernization of the Meiji paralleled to the influx of Northmen and fear of waning.
So here’s our cast, ten years after the Kin-strife. 'Kenshin’ as a young man (red hair = Northman?) who joined with Eldacar when the king fled to Rhovanion and called for support to reclaim his kingdom. A swordsman who grew disillusioned by the fierce and bloody fighting and now wanders trying to do what little to rebuild and protect the reborn Gondor. That he ends up helping a young lady in Minas Arnor (easier to set our story here, methinks) who lost her dad in the fighting with the new foe, Umbar, and is struggling to uphold the knightly family name and holdings on her own, fighting off unscrupulous men trying to steal her lands and minor title. Kaoru looks like a Númenorean lady with a hint of elvish kick-your-butt but also compassionate blood. “I don’t care that you’re not a knight, or a full-blood Dúnedan- or that you were the most feared berserker of the war. It’s the wanderer I asked to stay with me.” Cue finding the pickpocket thief Yahiko and training him to become the knight that loves not the sword for its brightness but for what it protects. Sanosuke as the dockside brawler and fighter for hire, who was with a group that joined up from one of those regions of Gondor to fight for Eldacar but suffered greatly in the war/got betrayed, heck even Sano's full backstory of the peasants’ army fighting for promise of equality that the monarchy reneged on I can keep because it fits. Saitou as an officer who sided with Castimir until the worst of the cruelty convinced him to defect or just decided his duty to his country kept him from fleeing in exile to Umbar (Saitou as one of the naval officers?). Eck, even the Oniwanban can stay as a group of royal bodyguards/spies and secret service agents (seriously, why can’t there be a branch of spies of the stewards of the royal residences? OHshi- the secret real history of the House of Húrin?) that never got to protect either set of kings. That they weren’t in Osgiliath and thus failed their job? And trying to cope in a new world. Kyoto is so Osgiliath. Shishio as a ship burning lord preaching survival of the fittest and blood superiority coming up from the south. Tomoe as the noble lady from Dol Amroth, dead fiancee, dead wife, same sad back-story.
this can all work
So yeah, I have a way to drop the characters into Arda now, and best of all, it’s a cast of characters to give me a focus on an area of the story I would otherwise sort of gloss over. And I just made not!Aoshi and not!Misao the distant ancestor of Denethor, Boromir, and Faramir, I think. Which is a plus.
Mulling over my plans, here’s what I have so far for the background war and geographical parallels. I need to set this up anyway before I start assigning backstories and place locations to all the characters I’m fusing from Rurouni Kenshin and Real Life Japanese history into Gondor of the 1400s.
Bakumatsu Kin-Strife (AKA Weirdest Head-Canon Post From Heget In A Long Time)
Now I still need to go bug the experts on Gondor, especially those with maps that understand it in the first and early second millennium of the Third Age, so I can peg my history for the crossover. But I'm going to try my best at:
- sync up the Bakumatsu and Gondor during the Kin-strife -
Osgiliath works for the most part as the Kyoto analogue, with Minas Anor as Tokyo. Pelargir actually picks up elements of Edo and Kyoto as well. What becomes interesting is trying to peg which regions of Gondor would support Eldacar, and which Castamir.
And the funny thing is- to connect back to a recent Númenorean debate- the true king that the text supports is the one that supports his ordinary mortal side. He [Eldacar] draws support as much from the ‘lesser’ 'un-elven’ non-Dúnedains as from his kingly bloodline. It’s the usurper[Castamir] who is obsessed with a reactionary blood purity based on the more 'elven-like’ long lifespans.
But to go with the areas to parallel the Bakumatsu and me desperately trying to assign hans: Castamir proves himself very unpopular in Osgiliath after his victory with obsessively harsh crackdowns and violence. Which, this is so easy to place the Mimawarigumi and Shinsengumi as the extreme knights templar police forces against rebel forces and the stuff we see in RuroKen and Ryomaden. Oooh, instead of the Ikedaya, have it being a meeting of the Eldacar supporters planning to rescue Eldacar’s son Ornendil. Perfect! (the text suggests a lag between Castamir conquering Ostgiliath and the death of Ornendil)
So, the big thing in the Bakamatsu is the three outsider Hans, the feudal territories less trusted by the Tokugawa Shogunate because they were originally enemies or late supporters of the first Shogun, the three that will rise in rebellion. Namely Choshu, Satsuma, and Tosa- which if you look on the map are those areas in the south- Satsuma is the southernmost before you leave the main four islands to Okinawa, Choshu is the southern end of the big main island, and Tosa is the the island between the two in the south. Wheres the main Tokugawa domains and Aizu ('northern’ area closest to Edo, therefore also naturally strong Shogunate supports) are the areas are going to spearhead the opposition. And eck, I’m really grossly simplifying because for one the Hans aren’t the same as what we think of in the feudal system because they weren’t directly connected to land possessions, but again, the geography underlying this civil war is pretty easy to see.
And the other funny hiccup? Choshu and Satsuma were traditional rivals. In fact Satsuma, as more moderate (and trading a lot with outside powers), fought on the behalf of the Tokugawa in the early days of the Bakumastu. Which is why the Satcho Alliance was such a big deal. Tosa was one of those more moderate rebels, and that’s where the main character of Ryoma-den is from. He helps to broker the Satcho Alliance and then, with Tosa, the first transition of power from Shogun to new Meiji government in an attempt for peaceful transition. (Boshin War is the last leg, where by force the remaining Tokugawa forces are fought and expelled, ending up in Hokkaido with the failed government in exile that loses in the Battle of Hakodate.)
Let’s not even go into how much I’m switching around the sonno jou policy of repel the foreigners and revere the emperor. Well, let’s save the actual issues of colonialism and how to deal with it and/or counter it for some story in Middle-earth where it can be dealt with justly. Because hey- the Númenóreans and their descendants were colonizing Middle-earth and in more places to the south of Gondor and Umbar. Speaking of which, Umbar was a outsider, stronghold of those colonizing Númenóreans and not the nicest bunch, imposing its rule on Harad. (Castamir’s great-grandsons have Quenya names for a reason) So one day I want someone to write the story of a small island nation to the unknown south, seeing the threat of the encroaching Númenóreans with their outsider higher tech. This nation has a revolution to become strong enough to fight off those tall men from the sea. Here’s what one of the Blue Wizards was up to.
But back to Kin-strife. The actual war in this story is a return to power of a deposed king, but it’s easy enough to call Eldacar the emperor and Castamir as Chief of Ships the Shogun. Keep the sides simple.
Now, Hokkaido becomes Umbar, with the government is exile staying a threat, easy enough. Aizu and the other Tokugawa strongholds, which I need to have my close analogy anyway, becomes Harondor and the areas of Pelargir and Lindir and Belfalas.
Yes, Dol Amroth is on the racist losing side of the war this time. Actually, the funny hiccup is that Amroth dies in 1981. Imrazôr who marries Mithrellas and starts the line of Princes of Dol Amroth is born in 1950 of the Third Age, a full 310 years after the Kinstrife. And it’s not really clear just how big the elven population in Edhellond is or what their involvement would be in any of Gondor’s history. But we are told there is a Númenórean presence and Elendil was the one to bestow the ruling family the title of Prince and the lands Dor-en-Ernil. Which I think is supposed to be synonymous with Belfalas. Blaugh. Big thing is, this place wouldn’t be called Dol Amroth yet and the lords would stay as traditional Númenórean lords very hung up on their elven heritage and ship-faring culture without having the extra influx of elven blood via Mithrellas yet. But pretty obvious they’d be supporters of Castamir.
In terms of Rurouni Kenshin, in case you were wondering, that makes Megumi Takani, daughter of Aizu doctors who can’t return home, from Harondor. Tomoe is from Belfalas (there’s something untouchable and elegant, nay elvish, in her reserved beauty, eh?) Mibu, first home base of the Shinsengumi and in an area between Edo and Kyoto, becomes a village either outside Pelargir or Lindir.
Now another big assumption I’m making to change the details of Kin-strife as to fit the realities of this crossover fusion we have in the LotR is this set up. Where after Eldacar is forced to flee Osigiliath back to his mother’s people in Rhovanion in 1437 he only returns ten years later in 1447 with Rhovanion troops. Paired with a sudden(?) uprising in Gondor the pro-Eldacar forces are able to retake most of Gondor and kill Castamir at the Battle of the Crossings of Erui. Castamir’s family and supporters flee, are besieged in Pelargir for a year (control of the fleets means could gather support and hold out), and finally flee for Umbar. What makes more sense to me is that there is rebellion and activity in Gondor during the decade Castamir is in power - our Bakumastu street warfare we see in Kenshin. With the successful repulsion of the Second Choshu Expedition and the battles of the Boshin War being Eldacar’s return and victories. But the point is that there is more going on than Eldacar licking his wounds and gathering troops for ten years up in Rhovanion.
Which brings us to the pro-Eldacar factions. Now the tribes of Northmen supporting Eldacar are more than just the parallel of Western modernization weapons and techniques (still laughing at how I’ve warped joui in this 'verse). After Eldacar’s Restoration large numbers of Northmen are going to settle in Gondor to restore its numbers and find themselves in positions of power. And we’ll also have the actual Gondorian populations that will support Eldacar. Now Castamir is going to not only destroy the Dome of Stars (and the loss of its palantir) after he besieges Osgiliath, but we are told he orders a slaughter and destruction in the city not proportional to needs or acceptability in war. (Oh heck, what war crimes is this glossing over?) And that this harshness turns Ithilien and Minas Anor against him, especially after he neglects them for the power-base of the fleets and Pelargir. (Again, he 'cares little for the land’? This sounds a lot more than Aldarion versus Erendis here.)
Now when Eldacar returns the three provinces we are told explicitly come out in force for him are Calenardhon, Anórien, and Ithilien.
(map of Gondor at its farthest reaches)
Now not all Northmen tribes were friendly with Gondor, and in fact the reason Valacar is sent to Vidugavia (marries his daughter, has Eldacar) is to broker a strong alliance to have peace and protection for that area of Gondor. Therefore Eldacar is going to be overwhelming popular in Calenardhon. There’s probably a lot of intermarriage and intermingling between the people already; Eldacar is one of them and also a very real symbol of the King’s desire to protect them. Anórien is the land right to the south of it and also the land around Minas Anor.
Ithilien… Here’s the tangle. Because that’s the term of the lands of Gondor to the west of the Audiun River. There are two regions of Ithilien- North and South, split by the Emyn Arnen. North Ithilien easily enough fits the inland northern Gondor near to the big cities of Osgiliath and Minas Anor that are going to hate Castamir and support Eldacar.
But what of South Ithilien, which is very much inland? And what of Anfalas? And the areas north of it?
And here’s the other funny little detail I have to remember with Gondor in this time period- Minas Ithil is still a city of Gondor. Now it had been captured by Sauron in the war at the being of the Third Age, but it should be restored and still home to a sizable population. It gets ignored mostly in these tales of Gondor’s history except when to note the city (fortress?) gets captured or overrun by the enemy- but Gondor doesn’t lose Minas Ithil until 2002. What are you up to in this war, Minas Ithil? (Which character can I say comes from Minas Ithil?)
Now we have our three big 'rebel’ Hans of the Bakumastu- Choshu, Sastuma, and Tosa. Choshu is definitely the most radical, which in this crossover fusion means the one in most support for Eldacar. Which means Rhovanion and Calenardhon. (and because our main character in Rurouni Kenshin starts off as a member of the Kiheitai, the revolutionary auxiliary troop founded by Takasugi based on modern discipline and weapons and allowing members from all social classes, I’ve already set up his back-story as a Northman orphan. More details in following post).
The funny part is deciding who Katsura Kogoro is, actually. As the leader of the Choshu faction and one of the great statesmen of the Meiji (plus the nickname 'Running Katsura’ because through luck and disguises he was able to escape and survive things like the Ikedaya Incident) I’m a bit uncertain. Because the Emperor returning to power equals Eldacar returning to power, but in the context of the Meiji Restoration the Emperor is a figurehead. And Eldacar is pretty active. In fact, the question becomes is Eldacar our Kastura parallel or is there another figure?
While I’m on this subject- Aldamir, Eldacar’s second son and successor, was born in 1430. Eldacar gains the throne in 1432 -okay, please clear this up for me. Would the Kin-strife and civil war be starting in 1432 when Eldacar first comes into the crown, or is the 1437 the year it boils over into war? Slowly growing tension or straight from the start? Basically does Castamir declare himself king after Valacar’s death or a few years into Eldacar’s rule? (Which honestly makes the better story?). But the thing is Aldamir is seven when his family flees Osgiliath and his older brother is killed, and returns to Gondor in 1447 as a teen. I fully expect all conventional Kin-strife fics to be using Aldamir as the protagonist, by the way. Since I’m writing crossover of doom about a country ten years into the end of a civil war, I’m not, but if I was actually writing about the Kin-strife, here’s the story. (At least from this side of the war.)
So Katsura as Eldacar himself or the leader of the Calenardhon or Rhovanian troops supporting him?
Takasugi Shinsaku, by the way, is going to be a character much like the one from Ryomaden and Rurouni Kenshin. Complete with shamisen playing as his troops storm the beach. And he’s a human. Northman, even a bard, perhaps. Because this quote-
“If I have little time, than that little time I will use to live with meaning.
Give a big bang, explode like fireworks, then disappear.
That is the Takasugi Shinsaku way of life. ”
That is not an elf. That is a repudiation of the later Númenórean obsession with clinging to life and prizing a long lifespan.
Now as for “Satsuma”, with their traditional rivalry with “Calenardhon” and switch from lukewarm support of the “Castamir side” to working to restore the rightful ruler - and with important figures like Saigo and Okubo- I need to pin down a place for them. Anórien or Ithilien, I’m unsure. (Also, do I keep the Satsuma Rebellion with our Saigo who was the leader that allied with Katsura to overthrow the Shogunate but finds himself left behind in the new era? Where he rebels and must be put down by Katsura and his former disciple Okubo? And yes, I have to figure out who 'Okubo’ of Gondor is, because he needs to be here as the statesman that spearheads the rebuilding of the restoration but gets assassinated as the kick-start to the big arc of our Rurouni Kenshin plot)
Or do I make either Choshu or Satsuma one of the Rhovanion tribes/territories, distinct from Calenardhon, a enmity between the two places?
And where is Tosa, with Sakamoto Ryoma as a Finrod Felagund bringing people together? Is it the Ithilien if neither of the first two are? Or Anfalas/Langstrand?
Oh, Anfalas. Sparsely populated in this time period or not, one wonders. And with a mix of forestry and fishing villages, but also far from the main hubs of Ostgiliath, Minas Anor, and Pelargir- where did this territory side? With Eldacar? with Castamir? Stay out of the civil war? Having its own difficulties with the northern kingdoms- Cardolan and Rhudaur had fallen to Angmar in 1409. Cardolan’s last prince died in the Barrowdowns, but there is still people and what looks like enough of a country to keep the name Cardolan until the Great Plague (1636) wipes them out.
(Jin'eh the crazy assassin with the heart-stopping fear powers is from Angmar or corrupted Rhudaur. He has second-hand Nazgul stamped all over him it’s almost easy how simple the fusion is.)
And Lebennin and Lossarnach? Lossarnach as a fertile inland place near Minas Anor - would it definitely be siding with them and away from the fleet-focused Castamir? Lebennin as a fishing area and close to Pelargir would be heavy supporter for Castamir (and ironically like most of these sea-lying regions the ones to suffer the most from Umbar).
On trying to figure out where Sanosuke would be from- probably his farming village of Shinshu matches up with Lossarnach. And the false army Sekihotai would fit with this region. - I’ll explain in back-story post, but basically let’s have kings breaking promises on both sides. Or just make sure Sano comes from whatever area of Gondor that sided with Eldacar but lost the majority of its population in the war.
bento boxes to any that bother to read and comment.