They hadn't tried this yet, but they know how to do something that should make it impossible to re-form a connection enough to even think of someone and they know how to make enchantment effects last indefinitely. Can't touch oaths yet, but if this works they can mind-control the test subjects into effectively living in a Melkorless world.

Which handles most of the oaths.

Well, even if they aren't forced to fight for whoever that person is that their captors call the Enemy, their opinions on Elves haven't changed.

...could they also make them unable to form an opinion on whether someone's an Elf?

It might be possible? It wouldn't be a natural extension of this; the category "Elves" isn't a person they can break the victim's relationship with.

...this might work on the Fëanorians. It'd mean they couldn't identify a Silmaril if they saw one, but the oath wouldn't be making them do things...

...I don't think they'd ever agree to that.

Not to mention the Everlasting Dark. Not knowing what's a Silmaril wouldn't help their odds of succeeding at the oath. I know I wouldn't agree, in their position.

So were you thinking of doing it anyway?

Thinking about thinking about it. I don't think I could go through with doing it even if I had to, but it's– might be– a possibility.

I am not at all sure they wouldn't go to war with us if we attempted it.

And I'm not sure they wouldn't be right to.

I'm very in favor of not thinking about it unless the oath does start a war.

Sounds good. Especially since if they realize they can it'd be useful to be able to say we have absolutely no intentions of using it except against the Enemy.

That too. And the fact that it's terrible, but there can be multiple reasons to never do it.

Yes. ...if they start playing around with this will we notice? I'm not sure how good their spying is.

We should be able to notice. Unless they've been playing around with this and practicing enough that they can make it look like an organic change, and that should be a lot harder than doing it at all.

Okay. Does the library change the calculus on needing to be able to trust them?

Depends, do you mean change it because we're much more powerful than they are or because they're much more powerful than we are? I've been assuming they know most of the contents of the library same as us, since we've barely been speaking English out loud and they got it from somewhere.

I just meant 'now that we both have bigger guns, should it be reevaluated whether it's worth fixing'.

Oh. I've mostly been thinking of it as both groups needing each other less now. It'd be more urgent if there were much risk of the newly big guns being pointed at each other?

Which we did sort of just consider. And diabolism seems right up Maitimo's alley.

What, really? I'm not going to say he's not risk-tolerant enough, but he didn't strike me as that destructive–

No, he just likes negotiating and expects he'll always end up with the upper hand.

Not a good thing to expect with demons. I mean, even if he's right it wouldn't necessarily be enough– anyway. Diabolism isn't a factor yet, unless the palantiri can read a closed book.

But it's another consideration before we open them. Can we tell if my beloved cousins are summoning things from the Abyss?

Not from here.

That might actually work. Bogeymen have a lot more variation than demons do, it at least wouldn't be categorically stupid.