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| All Hallows' Day by Marnie | 11 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| whitewave | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/28/2008 |
| Another excellent "what-if" scenario for Celeborn's sailing to Valinor plus the bonus of Elmo! Thanks for sharing this. Author Reply: Thank you! I have to admit to feeling sorry for Elmo, the less famous brother of the other two celebrities :) Though he probably wouldn't have thanked me for making him an orc! | |
| Mirien | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/2/2005 |
| Not sure what made me read this today, just found myself here. Needed a bit of our boy, I think. I still love this, I find myself letting out a breath at the end of it, not realising I've hardly been breathing, and feeling incredibly peaceful. | |
| Nerdanel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/11/2005 |
| This is a wonderful story! The very last line gave me chills; it was so beautiful. I had never thought of Celeborn as you described him, like Michael the Archangel; but once you said it, it seemed so right and appropriate! He is a bright and terrible spirit, as you said. This was truly wonderful. Thank you so much for it. Author Reply: Many thanks for the review Nerdanel! And sorry it took me so long to say so. 'a bright and terrible spirit'? I love it! Thanks! | |
| Vi Janaway | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/9/2004 |
| Very good. I really like the way you wove many aspects together into a believable story. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/31/2004 |
| Thank you. No wonder I couldn't find it in the dictionary! But when I looked in the Sindarin dictionary - there it was! Your Celeborn is just awe-inspiring - terrible in the true way - able to inspire terror. The 'be not afraid' kind of angel indeed. Author Reply: I should probably have put it in the Notes - I do tend to be rather slapdash about notes. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/31/2004 |
| I like this better each time I read it. The phrasing of the elven parts is beautifully poetic and rhythmic - the sort of rhythm of the King James version. I was going to pick some bits to quote, but there are too many. (What does 'morben' mean?) Author Reply: Morben is the Sindarin for 'moriquendi'. But the Sindarin word carries overtones of being an Avari - having refused the Valar's summons to come to Valinor. While he was a Sindar elf Elmo would have been rather insulted to be called a morben, because the Sindar didn't refuse the summons - they came as far as they were able, and then they were left behind because they wouldn't abandon the search for Elwë. However, having refused Namo's summons to come to Mandos, Elmo now thinks he's equivalent to being an Avar himself; a dark elf in the truly dark sense. Oh, I'm glad the elven POV parts had an antique feel! That's just what I was hoping for. Thanks again! | |
| Elena Tiriel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/29/2004 |
| Ah, Marnie, I bow to your brilliance! What an incredible story! I'm speechless! It started out so creepy, I could hardly continue to read... but then it was just so very, very sad, yet at the same time hopeful -- Elmo felt abandoned, but none of the ships he sailed on ever sank, so he was like some kind of protective spirit. And the way the story was told, through the eyes of a man who felt out-of-place in his current environment, who never before believed in ghost stories, yet was so amazed and in awe of the events -- and who was able to convey that awe to a couple of people who I did not expect to be amenable to that emotion -- well, that was just brilliant. I'm sorry for being repetitive, I just can't think of anything else to call it. And the ending was so beautiful, so hopeful, and so perfectly fitting! - Barbara Author Reply: Thanks so much! Yes, I rather liked the idea that Elmo, as a protective spirit, could have been saving lives for generations, slowly atoning for whatever he had done while he was under Morgoth's control. I expect that Dave and Carole will shake the feeling off soon enough, but I do rather wonder what effect it'll have on John. Maybe, like Smith of Wooton Major, it'll end up transforming his life. Writing the ending rather made me like Namo, which is a bit worrying! But I'm very glad you liked it :) Thanks again! | |
| Elena Tiriel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/29/2004 |
| I've only gotten halfway through the story yet, but I was trying to remember what the light phenomenon is called, and it came to me: St. Elmo's Fire!!! Oh, Marnie, that is just **brilliant**! - Barbara Author Reply: LOL! Thank you. Once I remembered that there was such a thing in the world as St Elmo's Fire the whole story became pretty much inevitable. I like to think that Tolkien meant it that way - after all, he did write the 'true' stories behind things like Atlantis and 'Rapunzel'. Maybe he would have been happy to see Elmo the brother of Elu tied in with St Elmo. I hope so! | |
| Eruanneth_Luin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/29/2004 |
| A powerful image in the mind. Knowing Elmo was not among the captives freed from Angband left one to wonder his fate. Celeborn has traveled the Straight Path and gathered Elmo to the Halls after endless ages wandering bereft of hope. No elves should be left in this, our modern world without an avenue of escape. You have gladdened my heart with his resuce, and the note about St. Elmo's Fire was excellent! Another of your tales with a strange twist. Which I enjoy very much. Thank you for the experience. Author Reply: Thanks for the review, Eruanneth! This was a bit of a wierd one, more along the lines of Magnetic Force than Oak and Willow. But well, an obscure tale about an obscure character, and once in a while my paranormal impulses just get out of control, and I have to write Tolkien meets X-Files once again ;) Glad you enjoyed it! | |
| Bejai | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/29/2004 |
| Ah, glorious Marnie! So thrilled to see this story. The email alert popped up on my laptop in the middle of class, and it was all I could do to keep my attention on wills instead of rushing right over to read it. Your description of what Elmo had been through! It is what I feared when we started wondering what had happened to poor Elmo. Broken in body and spirit. This line really got to me: "I have devoured your family," he said. "And you are all alone, my orc." Such despair. And yet, a lie from the father of lies, because Celeborn was still there. Through him, Elmo's descendants would rule all Ennor, although not for lack of trying to prevent it by both Morgoth and Sauron. And oh! crying out to the Valar, who would not hear him. Damn Valar. Forsaken again. (Loved that Osse made his way into one of your stories again, BTW.) I really enjoyed seeing the "rescue" through the eyes of a modern man. As ever, your details were glorious, from the smoke in the Mess to the "taste the diesel below decks and the wailing darkness" to the rain hitting an invisible Celeborn. That image just sent a shiver up me. Loved to that he compares him to an angel. Seems apt; like he is remembering what it was like when the elves were here, and grasping for the only metaphor that would work. Makes you wonder is Michael really was an elf ;) And Elmo finds rest at last. The parting at the gates of Mandos was wonderful, with Elmo thinking for just a moment that perhaps he won't go, and Celeborn telling him "You who would not steal your brother's crown, would no more steal my life," reassuring him that he is still who he was. Really enjoyed this, Marnie. Author Reply: *Phew!* I'm glad you enjoyed it! I feel that you are the Elmo guru of the fandom, and it would have been a disaster if you hadn't liked it. I didn't think I could get away from the fact that he must have been through a lot of mental and physical torture, given that he'd been taken by Morgoth. But I wanted that to have been sufficiently in the past that there were some signs of him starting to get better. It's just too depressing to contemplate otherwise! And I rather liked the irony that in seeing so many of his relations die he should overlook the fact that Celeborn might have survived. Celeborn makes quite a career of being invisible and getting overlooked ;) I do seem to have adopted Osse, don't I? I don't know quite how that happened, except that at least he bothers to get involved, even if half the time he makes it worse. At least he seems to care. Once I had St Elmo's Fire, somehow I needed everything to take place on a battleship. It was just inevitable - probably too much Fortean Times/Bermuda Triangle influence again. And anyway, it gave me a chance to go all fangirly about how seriously cool it is to be invisible :) I hope that Michael wasn't an elf, because the wings are just so gorgeous ;) But on the other hand there is something very angelic-hostlike about the Vanyar's arrival in the War of Wrath. Did you know that one of the theories about the origin of the elves states that the angelic host in Heaven divided into three parts, rather than two. One chose to remain loyal to God, and stayed as angels. One rebelled and became devils, and the third couldn't really choose which side they belonged on - and they became the elves. In Tolkien's world that would be a human explanation after the facts had been forgotten, but it does show that there was a resemblance :) Thanks! | |