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| Paths of Memory by daw the minstrel | 23 Review(s) |
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| Red Squirrel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/11/2013 |
| The little leaf scene was so full of sweetness! I love it when children are at this age! Such precious and trusing little creatures! The Troop Commander needing a bankie is quite an amusing picture! Such a sweet little scene and of course Ada saved the day. Eilian seemed a little "Turgon-ish" here. You could just feel the excitement radiating from him! LOL I really enjoyed each scene here...we saw three distinct personalities for each son. Thranduil is such a good ada. Author Reply: Sometimes I wonder what Thranduil's reaction would have been if Eilian and Turgon were the same age and friends. LOL. But I do think that when Eilian was little, Thranduil was more relaxed with him. He worried more as Eilian grew older. It was hard to imagine Ithilden as a toddler actually. He had to have been one. It was just hard to picture. | |
| Kalima | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/8/2004 |
| I was just searching for your name in Stories of Arda, and when I saw the stories, I clicked on your name to email you to tell me what order to read them in. I'm so delighted you thought of your readers and provided the list unasked! I did have trouble telling who was who (of the when-the-children-were-young segments), but I can see by the way you have the elfling's name only at the end that you did this on purpose. For the first segment, I assumed all the way through that we were speaking of Legolas until the end, because Thranduil had been just talking to him. In other words, the flashback wasn't clear to me, but perhaps I am alone in this. I've been trying to think of why you might want to leave us in the dark about who was who until the end of each, but I can't think of any. But I certainly enjoyed the chapter. I am so pleased by your sure hand as you draw and draw the characters. I am reminded of when I was in art school; there was one young man, extrememly talented and who could draw quickly, I just loved to watch. I was a lot older than he, and I didn't have any designs on him (from his speech with our teacher, I don't think he was particularly interesting to me) but oh! The pleasure I took from watching him. One day our teacher was speaking to me, praising my work, and I said so he (the young man) could hear: "But I want to be able to do THAT!" My teacher laughed and didn't insult my intelligence by pretending I could ever be as good, and that pleased me somehow. He said we were all different, with our different styles, but that was the beginning of the end for me. I knew I would never be a professional artist, and I had no interest in teaching it. But I digress. The pleasure I take in reading your work is like that: beyond enjoying the story for itself, and I always do, I take pleasure when I think I glimpse your hand working behind the scenes. That doesn't say it right: I take the pleasure in your stories that I take in any well-done thing. It's one of those things that make life worth living. Thank you. Kalima Author Reply: You are so right: I did leave the children unidentified until the end of each flashback. I thought it would be fun to fool people who would never expect that Ithilden would have a "bankie" for instance. Theoretically, it's supposed to be fun to guess! I can't draw at all, but I am warmed by your saying that my stories are well-crafted. I like to play around with things in the stories and I truly appreciate perceptive readers noticing them. | |
| Dot | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| Oh, daw, this is just…wow. I love it. I can’t even begin to thank you for this chance to see not only a more vulnerable side of Thranduil but snatches of beautiful and loving moments from a clearly cherished past. The little glimpses of Thranduil’s elflings are adorable but overall there’s quite a melancholic feel to it that I found really touching. Thranduil seems absolutely drained. There aren’t too many things that would bring him so low. Nor his eldest sons for that matter. Lorellin, right? What a lovely thought, the three pictures on the table. LOL at Thranduil not being too pleased about Lorellin going to this artist who was “half in love” with her. I get the impression that Lorellin pretty much did as she wanted anyway. And I bet Thranduil was fairly glad afterwards that she’d had these pictures done. You know, Thranduil must have received so many similar dispatches over the years. I don’t know how he does it. I had that same thought about Ithilden’s language in it. Of course, it doesn’t take much insight to know how Ithilden must be feeling. I’m so glad Thranduil decides to send him a letter just father-to-son. Can I add my own ((hugs)) to the end of that please??! “Now he paused at the top of the steps leading down from the doors and looked across the green at the brilliantly colored trees, flaming red, orange, and yellow. He inhaled the scent of wood smoke and fallen leaves.” Oh, how beautiful. I just love that time of year. I think those days are just about drawing to a close here now, though. It’s bitterly cold. *shiver* Anyway, it’s such a wood-elfy picture, Lorellin and Legolas twirling and playing amidst this autumnal scene. Lorellin is clearly well used to playing with her little son and seeing Thranduil so relaxed and relishing the moments with his family is an absolute joy. And of course, it wouldn’t be Thranduil if he didn’t have at least one moment of possessive protectiveness. The vivid colours of the autumn trees as well as the greens and red of their cloaks are a very powerful and quite poignant contrast to the encroaching darkness of the world around them, where another son is struggling with grief and probably anger in the threatened south and not too far away a family must deal with the pain of a lost child. Still, it’s just lovely to see Thranduil play with his child who doesn’t yet know that the world outside this garden isn’t full of laughter and love. O.k, I just LOVED the part with Ithilden as an elfling!! So my all-time favourite OC was once a cute elfling who needed his ‘bankie’ at night?! I’m guessing he’d strongly deny it if anyone mentioned it now. I was grinning from start to finish of this part. I mean, *Ithilden* in Thranduil’s arms being called “sweetling”. I love it! I can just imagine him deciding one day that he didn’t need the blanket any more. Apparently the night before my third birthday I threw my soothers (what do you call them, ‘pacifiers’?) down the stairs and announced that I didn’t need them anymore because I was a big girl now. My mother hid them then incase I changed my mind… I can see some of adult Ithilden in this elfling as he so solemnly explains to Thranduil that he only doesn’t need it when Nana is around. “Is my bankie lost?” the child asked, horror in his voice.” LOL! The poor thing must have been rapidly losing faith in his father – and I can just feel the rising panic in Thranduil too. I was beginning to think Nimloth had taken it off to wash it, as I recall she has a tendency to do. But never fear, Ada finds it in the end. “Good night. I love you, Ada.” *sigh* Lovely The Eilian part was, of course, absolutely priceless. I imagine they didn’t know what he’d get up to from one minute to the next. He has so much energy! He’s lucky he’s cute. “Ada!” the child cried, his face brightening.” That one moment brought tears to my eyes. Wasn’t it in ‘Spring Awakenings’ that Thranduil wonders if Eilian’s face had ever lit up at the sight of his father? Well, it seems it did! It appears too that Eilian always had his talent for getting off on a technicality. “The guard came” indeed. I’ve actually just realised how good Thranduil is with elflings. He obviously has a playful spirit himself and can relate to them, although he did lose it somewhat a little later. And who knew he had a little bit of Eilian in him?? I’m still smiling at the thought of Thranduil and Oropher sliding down steps on a sled. But yeah, maybe he finds younger children easier to deal with than when they start to grow up. I like how Thranduil and Lorellin each do their best to prevent the other from worrying. Although, Eilian doesn’t seem to have quite understood if he tries to reassure Thranduil that he doesn’t have to take a turn if he doesn’t want to! There’s such ease between Thranduil and his little daredevil. It’s just wonderful to see a time when Eilian brought him such enjoyment rather than worry. Oh, the ending of this chapter… To see Thranduil as I’ve never seen him before, so completely exhausted and Ithilden so concerned… I don’t know what to say, really. As much as it makes me sad, I really love it. Everything about this is just fantastic, daw. You’ve left me feeling quite privileged to see these personal moments when Thranduil lets his guard down, be it to simply be Ada, or at a time of obvious vulnerability. :-) Author Reply: I tried to write fluffy, and melancholy just kept coming through. And you are such a good guesser, Dot! I added those framing scenes last at my beta's suggestion, and Thranduil just came through so weary and worn. Even the room was dark. And I have to admit that I liked the fact that Ithilden cares for him and he worries about Eilian, who has been drinking. I too think that Lorellin did as she pleased, and he was mostly glad about it. She was so good for him. She loosened him up. He's not insensitive to his sons' feelings, but he does have more trouble dealing with them as adults than as elflings, particularly once she dies. One year there was a fire in a fraternity house at a college where I was teaching and a student died. I remember going home and feeling very possessive about my son, who was young at the time, when these other parents' son had died. I think Thranduil must have felt that way sometimes. But I did like the image of Legolas playing with Nana and dancing like a leaf in the wind. "Pacifiers" is indeed what the plugs are called here. My son never used one but he did have a blanket. And here's something he doesn't know: that very ragged blanket is in a box upstairs. I loved the idea of Ithilden having one. Wouldn't the troops he chews out love to know that? I was thinking about that "face lighting up" thing too. And my beta said she wanted to know that love was expressed between these two easily at one time. It's still there but they do have trouble. Good observation about Eilian getting off on technicalities. He has no time for these rules! He's on a mission! | |
| sofia | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| its nice to read about Lorellin. Nothing better than some elfling fluff. :) -sofia Author Reply: Thank you, Sofia. I enjoy writing about Lorellin too, but it's hard to do because Legolas was so young when she died and I like to have him in the stories. Elfling fluff is good! | |
| Brenda G. | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| This is the story I have been dreaming of from you, Daw! I read this chapter like someone long starved, not able to consume it fast enough. Then, once half-sated, read it again, slowly this time so I could savor it - each word - each emotion - each precious vignette. Oh, my... I think this is some of your very best writing yet. You have made me feel like I am with Thranduil, an eye-witness to each moment as it plays through. Each word glows with its own special meaning and richness. I have a feeling I will be reaching for a box of Kleenex soon, for--I guessing--but is this the story where you will give account of the loss of Lorellin, the actual event? If not, this is the perfect vehicle with which to ply your readers with perhaps more angst than they may wish to experience, especially for those of us who feel like these particular Elves are members of our own family. Thranduil looms larger to me in this story than in all your others combined. This window you've opened for your readers to the "human" side of this formidable warrior king is awesome. We are privy to some of Thranduil's most intimate moments with family and self. These are the glimpses we have long been greedy for of this stern, aloof, often fearsome Elf. Lucky Lorellin! She knew the real Thranduil behind the crown, and now you are giving us a share in him, too. Thranduil's moments with each child are just too beautiful to adequately describe with words. Only the heart, overfull and overflowing, can express it is own secret language how precious those moments truly are. I am breathless with anticipation of the next chapter. Please don't make us wait too long! Author Reply: I can't thank you enough for your kind words here, Brenda. You make me blush. This story started out as pure fluff and a chance to show each of Thranduil's sons as children, but I found that I couldn't resist the angst and then my beta suggested that I frame it. I'm glad she did because those glimpses of Thranduil and the older two in the "now" were interesting to write. I'm a little worried that I haven't done what you're hoping for in the next chapter. It was interesting to write about Thranduil with these little kids and his wife, because he felt so much freer and happier. I think for him this is a kind of idyllic time. | |
| Duchess | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| Oh I liked this a whole lot! A very nice story, letting Thranduil get lost in memories of his sons like that. Too cute to get to see Ithilden as a child for once! I never would have thought he'd have a security blanket. *vbg* The one with Eilian was so completely believable, mud and all, I giggled all the way through it. And Legolas with his mother, *sigh* sweet, very sweet. :):):) Author Reply: I'm glad you like the story, Duchess. I too was surprised that Ithilden would have a blanket! Wouldn't the warriors he chews out like to know that? I found that these three were very easy to write as children though. I could see the adult in each of them. | |
| Jebb | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| This was so lovely and full of love, joy and happiness but with each little memory was a feeling of loss too an omen of what is to come perhaps? The love Thranduil showed for his wife and children and theirs for him shows what a happy family they must have been and points up even more the devastating sense of loss they must all have felt at the death of Lorellin much appreciated Author Reply: I think that Thranduil found himself being freer that usual with small children and his wife. I suspect he found the sons harder to deal with as they grew up and especially as adolescents. And once Lorellin died, he was a bit at sea. Thank you for the review, Jebb. | |
| Jay of Lasgalen | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| What a lovely glimpse of good!ada Thranduil with all three sons. The mud for sliding down the stairs just *had* to be Eilian's idea! The scene with 'bankie' was lovely, and a neat twist because I had thought it was still a memory of Legolas. I love the image of stiff, controlled, But what is wrong with Eilian in the 'now' part of the story? And why is Thranduil so troubled? Jay Author Reply: I was so hoping I was fool people into thinking that was Legolas with the bankie! I amused myself by giving in tot "correct" Ithilden. Wouldn't the troops like to know that? There's one more chapter coming soon. | |
| vic | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| Daw, What a wonderful chapter! So sweet and loving. I really missed this kind of writing as I've been reading nothing but very boring reports and statistics. Thranduil is always such a pleasure to meet up with once again. I do hope there's more to come. Take care and thank you for a lovely chapter, vic Author Reply: Thank you, vic. There's a second chapter coming and then that's it. I can't write this kind of sweetness for too long, I'm afraid. But I am happy to hear that it's better than statistics! :-0 daw | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2004 |
| PS On rereading - there are some great Eilian comments 'it can be hard to stop him' - can't it just. I don't think Thranduil would disagree. 'children had to make noise sometimes, and this one especially' Thranduil seems more tolerant of it in the elfling Eilian. (It's great to see some Thranduil / Eilian moments that are clearly full of love rather than disapproval.) '“Nana says you worry,” the child confided, “and I should not scare you.' Prophetic. And Ithilden - “When Nana is here, I am too big, but when she is gone, I need it,” I wonder what he needed to comfort him when Nana had gone somewhere she wouldn't return from. Author Reply: "It's great to see some Thranduil / Eilian moments that are clearly full of love rather than disapproval." That's exactly what my beta said. :-) And I did it was funny that Eilian thinks that what would scare his father is riding the sled, when really it's Eilian himself who scares the wits out of him. It's hard to see who Ithilden turned to when Nana died. Even Eilian had Maltanaur. Although I guess Ithilden wound up with Maltanaur for a sort time too. But I don't think either one of them was comforted completely until they married. | |