QUESTIONS AND INFORMATION
QUESTION: What does Elrond make of Astoeth starting an apothecary and using what he's taught her to help people other than just Elves? Personally, I imagine Mr. "Kind as summer" would appreciate it, but perhaps you have a different reading of him, especially considering how he's characterized in the films?
ANSWER: My ocs exist in a strictly book-canon verse. I love the movies with all my heart, they were the ones to introduce me to Tolkien but I disagree with some of the choices that were made. One of them is definitely Elrond’s portrayal.
The Apothecary was opened sometime before the War of the Last Alliance and Asoteth went to apprentice with Elrond a couple years past Arwen’s birth, just to give a timeline of events. I would imagine Elrond is quite happy that the knowledge he bestowed on his apprentice was used in a way that benefits so many.
Do you know who definitely minds her apothecary? Some of the other residents of Celondim. Celondim is north of the Grey Havens on the river Lhûn, just south of Duillond and can be considered a small settlement. Until Astoeth opened her apothecary, Celondim was strictly home to the elves, as it lies in the kingdom of Lindon.
Yet, the more word got around about Astoeth’s expertise and skill, more humans started to make the journey to Lindon to either buy medicine, get treated by her or become her apprentices. It was only humans at first, but then dwarves started to frequent the roads around Falathlorn and heard of her apothecary and became avid customers. Word got around so much that Celondim became a frequent hub for all the races. Astoeth’s neighbors were definitely unhappy that the quaint and quiet of their town was replaced by noisy dwarves caravans, wandering humans and travelling hobbits.
In order to pacify her increasingly frustrated neighbors, Astoeth opened a small clinic/hospital (I wish I knew of a more fantasy sounding name, “clinic” sounds so modern) on a hill halfway between Celondim and Duillond and kept the apothecary in Celondim only as a shop for selling ingredients, balms, medicine and the such. Her hospital was a raging success as more and more people traveled there to become her apprentices. They would apprentice for a number of years, then bring the knowledge back to their villages. Astoeth is personally responsible for so many communities gaining a village healer. Her clinic also houses a lot of patients with either long term or rare diseases as she is incredibly interested in studying them. Elves cannot get ill in any way, so she relies on studying the mortal races in order to discover cures.