I was leaning toward West-- that is how it is drafted, but then I was having second thoughts.
The scope of the story is fairly limited, and she doesn't actually appear in it. But her obvious absence needs some sort of explanation. Since the characters are pretty angsty to begin with, I think death or departure are more likely than marriage-of-convenience. (In fact, if I took the marriage-of-convenience route, I probably wouldn't even have a story, because everyone would just be frolicking away with their partner behind closed doors while publicly being appropriately married!)
Essentially, I'm seeking justification for infidelity. As a rule, I don't break up canon couples in my fanfic (though I've written people in canonical couples with others *before* the canonical relationship, e.g. Elrond and Gil-galad)... but this one is a grey area because the spouse never actually appears anywhere. But I feel like just having the character wantonly cheating while his wife is dead or in Valinor makes him a jerk-- because ultimately, he's still married unless he gets some sort of special dispensation from the Valar a la MÃriel Serindë! I guess that's why I need her to be slightly unsympathetic-- so that her husband doesn't seem like a complete ass for having a moment of weakness with someone else.
no subject
The scope of the story is fairly limited, and she doesn't actually appear in it. But her obvious absence needs some sort of explanation. Since the characters are pretty angsty to begin with, I think death or departure are more likely than marriage-of-convenience. (In fact, if I took the marriage-of-convenience route, I probably wouldn't even have a story, because everyone would just be frolicking away with their partner behind closed doors while publicly being appropriately married!)
Essentially, I'm seeking justification for infidelity. As a rule, I don't break up canon couples in my fanfic (though I've written people in canonical couples with others *before* the canonical relationship, e.g. Elrond and Gil-galad)... but this one is a grey area because the spouse never actually appears anywhere. But I feel like just having the character wantonly cheating while his wife is dead or in Valinor makes him a jerk-- because ultimately, he's still married unless he gets some sort of special dispensation from the Valar a la MÃriel Serindë! I guess that's why I need her to be slightly unsympathetic-- so that her husband doesn't seem like a complete ass for having a moment of weakness with someone else.