August 30, 2004

There have been a couple of reviewers who have wondered with trepidation whether I am "slashing" Legolas.  I thought I'd best answer these queries publicly, so that all my readers understand why I'm writing what I'm writing, and why I'm writing it in this particular fashion.

First of all, I do not slash Tolkien.  (I'd like to say I don't slash at all, but sadly, I do take David Eddings' characters out to play on occasion, as anyone who's visited my page at AFF.net knows!)  I have been reading LotR since I was ten and consider the Great Professor to be one of my favorite authors; also I know that he, as a devout Catholic and a rather conservative fellow, would have been appalled to know how many times his "fans" have put these beloved characters in such compromising homosexual positions.  I have a great deal of respect for ol' J.R.R. and wouldn't dare risk incurring his post-mortem wrath should I have Legolas start making goo-goo eyes at an underage Hobbit.  (And let me add my response to that thought right now:  ICK!)  It's true, in one of my AU stories I made Faramir gay, but it wasn't a slash story, it was definitely het, and most certainly far from canon; also, within the confines of the "Pottymouth" universe a gay Faramir made a lot more sense than a straight one.

Secondly, I have attempted (and only marginally achieved) an Ivanhoe-esque style to "The Green Knight" and its sequel; the flowery language and declarations of love between those of the same gender fall within the reasonable bounds of this genre.  And let's face it; Tolkien did the same thing, didn't he?  Aragorn kissed Boromir, Sam kissed Frodo (and admitted he loved him on top of that), and I'm fairly certain he didn't mean for his readers to assume Aragorn, Boromir, Sam and Frodo were homosexual.  We have gotten away from using the word "love" in a non-sexual sense; I would rather we used the old Latin terms (based on Hebraic philosophy) of agape, phileo, and eros.  Legolas as an Elf "loved" the entire earth (agape) and "loved" Aragorn and Gimli (phileo), but Tolkien never hinted he "loved" any women (eros).  So when I'm using the word "love" between Legolas and Gimli, or Legolas and Bandobras, I'm using the word "phileo" and not "eros," which, as Americans (as I'm assuming most of my readers are), automatically assume the word "love" implies.

As an addendum to this second point, let me say that, as an American who has traveled around the world extensively, and lived in Europe for a time, I have formed certain opinions of Americans and their views of sex and physical contact.  We seem to be both terrified and fascinated by our sexuality, and it pervades all our thinking, coloring every phrase and casual kiss we see.  My thoughts on this are, personally, that this is a waste of perfectly good emotional expression; sex does not equal love, nor does love equal sex.  Do you love your mother?  You ought to.  Do you tell her you love her?  Well … most Americans do not.  Do you love your best friend?  Do you tell him/her?  Why not?  Are you afraid of seeming "gay" by saying such a thing?  It's a pity we're so afraid of others' opinions we won't express our affections for another!  Kissing and embracing fall into the same category; the French bisou is a splendid example.  We Americans are very casual and informal; this is good up to a point, but it does make us awfully clumsy around each other.  The French walk up to each other, kiss each other in greeting, and no one thinks anything of it – it is simply a formal way to greet a beloved friend.  Men kiss men, women kiss women, men kiss women, women kiss men.  Does it lead to making out?  No – that would be improper.  The kiss is customary, and frankly a charming way to indicate to someone else you consider them a good friend.  For those of you who read "The Green Knight," remember that Baranil and Legolas kissed in Chapter 33; no one seemed to be offended by that, and I certainly would have been surprised if anyone had – the kiss was ceremonial; Baranil and Legolas had been living and working and fighting side by side for centuries, and it was a perfectly proper way for the Head of the King's Militia to greet the Crown Prince.

That said, let me reassure my readers I am in no way slashing Legolas and Bandobras!  They love each other very much, and miss each other, and want to be with each other, but it is the affection between a lord and his esquire – much like the love Frodo and Sam shared – and it does not involve their sexuality in any way.  I apologize for any confusion, and hope this clears the air somewhat!

Thank you for reading – I hope you're enjoying it!

Le Rouret