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Light on the Way  by Larner 4 Review(s)
Raksha The DemonReviewed Chapter: 9 on 12/2/2004
Sorry, I was wrong about the fading of the elanor and niphredil - JRRT does leave the possibility open for the loss of those flowers, though he does not state that they fade immediately or even soon after Arwen's death. "There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea." From the 'Tale of Aragorn and Arwen', Appendix A, ROTK.

Author Reply: I referred to the same section below as the reason I had the flowers fade as I did. Yes, it is very sad indeed, each loss Middle Earth endured as the Fourth Age, the Age of Men, took hold.

grumpyReviewed Chapter: 9 on 12/2/2004
what a great couple of chapters, Arwin's leavetaking of her sons and daughters, and of the city. I also love her teaching of the boy in Cerin Amroth. Aragorn hovering arround waiting for her. The whole chapter was beautiful.

Author Reply: I'm glad you found it moving. Thanks.

Raksha The DemonReviewed Chapter: 9 on 12/2/2004
This story is getting a bit too sad for me. Of course Arwen died; but I don't recall JRRT implying that all traces of the Elves' existence would fade so soon from Middle-earth, down to the elanor and niphredil. Sigh.

The writing, as always, is excellent. I'm just not ready for Middle-earth to lose the elanor for which Sam's daughter was named, nor the niphredil. There should be some remnant of the Elves that endures longer, other than Eldarion's genes.

ImrahoilReviewed Chapter: 9 on 12/2/2004
And so it came to pass that Imrahoil tried to sniff quietly into her coffee mug. The dying flowers are a beautiful idea.

Author Reply: The dying of the niphredil and elanor flowers was Tolkien's own idea, which caused me a lot of concern as I'd had Hobbits spreading them all over the place. How do I reconcile the flowers growing at Bag End and in Minas Anor with the dying of the flowers in Lorien? And this was what came out. From the story of Aragorn and Arwen in the Appendices: "There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea."

I think this passage also led to the feeling of lack of awareness of the people of Minas Anor for the Queen once Aragorn was dead, and the forgetting or ignorance of her Elven heritage, and is why I wrote it as I did.

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