Fram

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Fram
Image of Fram
Gender Male
Race Northmen

Fram was the son of Frumgar, a Northman of the Ai-thúda tribe that is of particular historic reknown.

As told by the scholar Léothred:

Six years after Fram's birth, Angmar fell. The kingdom's demise was sudden, coming only a year after the Witch-king's final victory over Arthedain and the fall of Fornost. The chronicles of this time say an army of Elves and Men of Gondor, having come too late to save the northern Dúnedain, put the Angmarim to the sword and sent the Witch-king flying back to Mordor. Angmar's fall had an important connexion with the Éothéod.

At this time, Gundabad no longer had the Iron Kingdom at its back, and the moors and glens of the Welling-folds no longer seemed so daunting as they had to Marhwini a hundred years before. Fram saw this as an opportunity to lead his people to great things.'

A year after Durin's folk departed the Ered Mithrin to follow King Thráin to Erebor, the great long-worm Scatha spilled forth from his secret cavern. Angry and ravenous, Scatha attacked the Ai-thúda, ravaging their herds and scorching Fasthálla itself with his destructive breath.

Frumgar faced the dragon among his slaughtered household, Wrothbláda in hand. Frumgar nearly slew the beast, but was bested in the end. Frumgar's arm was horribly gnawed by the worm's sharp teeth.

Fram came to his father's rescue. He picked up his father's sword and fought the dragon. Scatha was so badly wounded that the beast fled into the night.

Frumgar's arm had been horribly gnawed by Scatha's sharp teeth. While Fram saved his father's life, Frumgar would never fully recover from that day. Scatha's bite carried a flesh-rotting poison, such that Fram was forced to cut off his own father's sword-arm to save his life. Even after this maiming, Frumgar remained sickly and weak for the rest of his days.

The Ai-thúda were badly hurt by Scatha’s onslaught, and Fram knew another attack might be the end for his people. Taking up Wrothbláda, he left the ruins of Fasthálla and set out alone into the wild. None saw him again for two long years.

Fram’s wife, the shieldmaiden Sigrith, soon despaired that he would not return. Frumgar's mood grew blacker and blacker. He had led his people out of danger and into death, it seemed. Now it looked as it might have cost him the son he had hoped to spare. Fasthálla remained a broken keep, haunt of a fading people. Hope was not lost, however.

In his absence from his people, Fram had meet Karazgar, the Warrior of Rust who held a hatred of the drakes of the north as strong as Fram's. Together, they sought out Scatha in his lair, and slew him on a pact that Fram could take the treasure he wanted, while Karazgar claimed dominion of the lands.

On the first day of spring in the year two-thousand, Fram returned. He emerged from the woods bedraggled and dirty, yet unharmed. With him Fram bore two great sacks, which he poured out amid the rubble of his father's hall. One was filled with treasures, gold and silver and jewels of dwarf-make - Scatha's hoard.

Fram's people hailed him as a hero, and at his bidding Fasthálla was rebuilt in a manner grander than what came before. The Ai-thúda named it Framabárg in his honour. The treasures of Scatha's hoard adorned it. The other held Scatha's teeth.

He made for his father a necklace of the dragon's teeth. When Frumgar received the gift, he was glad to be thus avenged. His happiness was to be short lived, however. Frumgar's illness only worsened, and he died of it a few years later.

Fram then took the dragon's-tooth necklace for himself, and set about ordering the lands of his people. Fram's heart only held admiration for his father. There was never an ill wish between the two while their lives overlapped.

Fram invited the lords of neighbouring lands to his hall for a great feast to celebrate the slaying of Scatha. Both Thranduil of Felegoth and Thráin of Erebor sent emissaries, as did the lords of the Wood-men and the Lake-folk, distant kin to the Ai-thúda.

Fram's celebration of the death of Scatha caused great excitement through neighbouring lands. Lords and emissaries prepared themselves for the feasting and revels to come. All the guests arrived, excited to meet the one who had slain Scatha, the Worm. The feast began with lively song and joyous laughter. Matters took an untoward turn when Fram revealed the prizes he had brought forth from Scatha's lair.

The Longbeard herald recognized the treasures as heirlooms of his people. Fram blew a note upon the silver horn to begin the feast, but emissary insisted the treasure be shared with Durin's folk. Perhaps the request was ill-timed, while he still mourned the father he had lost to the Worm's bite. Perhaps he was afflicted by dragon-sickness from the hoard itself. Perhaps some other dark thoughts weighed upon him. Regardless, he was wroth at the dwarves' request, and rebuked them for it.

Discussions grew heated, and might have come to blows but for the counsel of Wandalb Greyhame, who had come to attend the feast out of curiosity. The Wizard stayed hands that had strayed to sword-hilt and axe-haft, but when he prevailed upon Fram to see reason the lord refused to be moved.

What began in celebration might have ended in a declaration of war, had it not been for Wandalb who was able to steer the Men and dwarves back from the brink of battle. He suggested Fram send the necklace of Scatha's teeth to Erebor to placate the Dwarves.

Fram assented to Wandalb's proposal soon after the Wizard's departure, for in truth he had come to dislike the reminder of his father's undoing, and was glad of an excuse to be rid of Scatha's teeth.

When Thráin’s herald returned to Erebor with the necklace, Wandalb had accompanied the herald to speak on the Ai-thúda’s behalf. The Grey Wizard did all he could to help ease the tensions between the two people.

The emissary also bore a message from Fram: "Jewels such as these you will not match in your treasuries, for they are hard to come by."

It is said that when Thráin received the gift of Scatha's teeth, he was furious. He believed Fram's missive to be a taunt, and would not be moved even by the Grey Wizard's most cunning words. He cast the necklace aside, proclaiming that such trinkets were poor substitutes for his people's birthright, and sent Wandalb away.

Wandalb remained at Erebor for weeks afterward, pleading for Thráin to see reason, but the Dwarf-king never again spoke to him or counted him friend.

Sorrowing at the failure of his own wisdom, the Grey Wizard returned to Framabárg bearing grim tidings. Fram was, unsurprisingly, enraged in his turn; he sent the Wizard away as well in scorn.

One would assume that Wandalb departed in sorrow, with the hope that he might return in time to bring together the two stubborn lords and make them understand each other when their heads had cooled. It would not be so.

Fram was taken aback by his own demeanour. He loathed his unwillingness to mend the rift between the dwarves and the Ai-thúda. When he understood the curse upon him, he made a plan and acted upon it. Fram set out towards Scatha's hoard, as he often did. On this journey he had no intention of taking riches, however. His only goal was to confront [[Karazgar]. He did so, and was in turn slain by the Warrior of Rust through trickery and deceit.

Fram the Foremost never got the chance to make proper amends with Thráin. He set forth from his hall on a journey to Scatha's hoard, but never returned. When his sons went forth to seek him, they found him slain, pierced by dwarf-arrows and surrounded by the bodies of several dwarf warriors. But it was Karazgar who had staged this death to make it look like Fram and the dwarves had clain each other, thus stoking the fires of hatred and mistrust in the North.

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