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Ripe for Change by Bodkin	12 Review(s)
Freyalyn	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/1/2015
Beautiful story. Much like a river. Thank you.

Jen	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/12/2009
you wrote that a long ago but i see that only now so i really loved that story and it was very interesting and more just fantastic ;one question i dont understand why you wrote People? Galadriel talk with Celeborn and said ‘People have the wrong idea about life here,’ i hope you will write more stories if yet you love lord of the ring thanks

Inglor	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 7/18/2006
Read it again, Candy, pure, unadulterated candy Would love to see a Vanyar's reaction to Finrod founding Nargothrond West... Author Reply: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Nargothrond West... I'm away for a few days - I shall let a lack of access to the internet focus my mind on what story to pursue next. A Noldor/Vanyar perspective on the New Realms would be interesting. I need to know Amarie better. (I haven't even thought about whether she and Finrod have children...)

Bejai	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/24/2006
It occurs to me, many weeks after reading and enjoying this chapter, that I never got back and left you a review like I intended to do. I hope you will forgive me for being late! Just a few comments - Celeborn, healed and whole and looking like Elu. It is good to see him back in form. As with all of your Valinor stories, I'm so delighted that the adventure continues in paradise, and that they aren't just sitting around doing nothing and basking in the glow of the Valar or some such nonsense. - The teasing that you write between C and G. I really love how you do that. - Interesting that Celeborn realizes he would no longer follow where Elu lead, should he return, but will forge his own path. He's right, it has been too long, and he is not who he was. - I like that Finrod is going. I've always like Finrod. - Ah, Bordain the simple philosopher! Simple, like Orome … which of course means that he isn't at all. Loved that conversation on time, and what it is to be one of the Valar. Glorious. - Beautiful too to see Galadriel serene; truly at peace and without waiting for that other shoe to drop. How exhausting that life must have been for them, although they probably didn't realize it at the time. Wonderful chapter! Again, sorry to be late. Author Reply: Thank you! It's lovely to hear from you at any time - and fingers crossed that you are not so busy that Deific Flame isn't somewhere on your to do list! I just can't see elves being able to cope with a Blessed Realm that was a marshmallow environment of smiling drones. And given the stresses and challenges of pre-Flight of the Noldor Aman, it must have remained a place to grow and develop. And, once he realised that, I think Celeborn was much more likely to heal and become happy there. He needed work - and to be needed: to have a role. (I do think going from superior life form, compared to Men, Dwarves and Hobbits, to the least powerful and youngest group, commpared to Valar and Maiar, must have come as a tremendous culture shock to those who sailed. An interesting addition to the whole trials of transition!) And C and G's relationship - they must have known each other so well. Strengths and weaknesses, fears and loves - and they were equals, able to say anything to each other and know it would be understood. I reckon they really enjoyed teasing each other and saying things that no-one else could. People change. Change and grow and become someone else - and I think this is one of the difficulties with the fear of unhoused elves returning to new bodies. How would they understand their new role in a world where their responsibilities had been taken up and borne by others over whole ages? Elu's kingdom had fallen and others grown to power and tumbled to dust - and Celeborn had stood beside other kings and ruled his own lands and seen the power of the elves fade. He would always be Elu's kin - but how could Elu step back into ruling a people he no longer understood while Celeborn accepted his commands? Hard enough for Finrod to come back and be the king's son rather than the king. I think he might have coped better than many - he seems a very open and curious elf. Which is why I think he would be suited to leading the more adventurous of the Noldor on a quest to live a different type of life. Plus he is a charmer, and that would help him build bridges between the different kindreds. Bordain sees himself as very simple - but sometimes the ability to draw a straight line between two points is beyond most people. Time is another one of those things that just gets to you when you are thinking about about Middle-earth - and relative time, too. Galadriel and Celeborn are free now - of Dooms and Rings and Nazgul and Dark Lords and such - and they have an absorbing task ahead of them and the time to do it. Galadriel will be lighter in spirit, I think. More inclined to laugh. And together they can look forward. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks again.

elliska	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/22/2006
Catching up on fanfic reading--this was wonderful. I went back and reread the earlier chapters and the contrast between Celeborn in the beginning and in this chapter is great. It is wonderful to see him so happy and healed here. I think I really needed all the hopeful, promising images in this chapter. Great ending! Author Reply: Thank you, elliska - I'm pleased you enjoyed it. Celeborn needed to feel that there was a reason for him to heal, I think. He's not one to sit back and watch the grass grow. Not indefinitely, anyway. And a happy, healed Celeborn together with a happy, healed Galadriel is a hot combination! It took so long to get round to finishing this that I rather lost the feel for it - but then it came back with the chapter before this. I was very pleased, too, as I really didn't want it to linger unfinished any longer!

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/17/2006
Oh – I just discovered I had forgotten to review this chapter. Sorry! I’m terribly behind with reviewing. He scowled at her. ‘You would be a lot less annoying company if you refrained from looking smug and made a point of being wrong occasionally,’ he informed her. ‘I have often been wrong,’ she admitted. ‘Spectacularly wrong at times,’ she added thoughtfully. ‘But you have usually been there to save me from the consequences of my folly.’ lol Love that, particularly the first half! As I love your Galadriel and Celeborn and their relationship. They are so affectionate and tender, they know each other so well and how to handle each other – they make indeed a very good team! The same goes for Elrond and Celebrían. Their talk about how to get Elrond to start the journey west was hilarious! I can see the twins doing just that! snicker As for the twins, it’s good to see them so at ease with Finrod. And I look forward to have a look of Galadriel’s brother out there in the woods. Thank you for this wonderful story, I have truly enjoyed it. Author Reply: I do like a good relationship between Galadriel and Celeborn! After all, why would they have stayed together for over two ages if they didn't care for each other? And after 6000 years and more, they really ought to understand each other pretty well. Elrond and Celebrian haven't been together so long - a mere 3500 years - but I think Celebrian is very empathetic and Elrond is very caring, so they make an excellent partnership. The twins have found their feet in the Blessed Realm - I think they were very worn when they arrived, but they have found a purpose. Not unlike their grandfather, really. And Finrod is undoubtedly a charmer. As is Finarfin, I think, although he agreed to keep out of this story to keep the cast numbers down. Finrod is naturally curious and interested in people - he would make a good leader of a group of Noldor who wanted to be the pioneers of a new way of life. Thank you - I am glad you have enjoyed the story!

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/10/2006
I printed out these last three chapters a couple of days ago, in the hopes of reading them to relieve the tedium of waiting for my mother at her doctor's appointment. But I had not so much time to wait as I thought, and the chapters were so deliciously long... This is such a lovely conclusion to this story. I love so much the way you have depicted Galadriel and Celeborn, making, as I said at the beginning, a sweet couple of them. I can so see why Celeborn was accounted among the wisest of Elves--and not as one wag put it, just for keeping his mouth shut when his wife had something to say! I've always resented that sort of characterization of him. It simply did not fit what JRRT had to say of him--but not until I began to read your characterization of him did I begin to realize in what ways his wisdom showed itself. And your Galadriel is so warm and kind--not the aloof ice queen that many show her as being! And you have also succeeded in making life in Valinor seem real. I think so many seem to confuse Aman with Heaven, and think of it as some mystical sort of Paradise where nothing ever really happens. Yet that was not so in the First Age, so of course it would not be so in the Fourth. You people it with real people, with real personalities, you give the Elves who dwell there real challenges to face. I thank you for that. You know, of course, that Elves are not my foremost love. But I have to say that I do very much love your Elves! Author Reply: Thank you! I do think that Galadriel and Celeborn must have been a very close couple - after all, you can't be married for more than two ages and still be together if you don't understand each other extremely well! And Galadriel wouldn't have been happy with a wimp. Celeborn would have to know when to listen to her - but be able and willing to put his foot down and command her in return. Galadriel was made more remote by the ring, I think. Which was probably one of the things Celeborn so resented about it. It detached her from the world and damped her warmth, but she has been in the Blessed Realm for 500 years and more and she has healed - and she is very happy to have Celeborn with her. She must have doubted at times that he would sail. He is the sort of person who would leave it until the very last minute and I think she would have feared that it would be too late. A lot of the Elves of Valinor can be very difficult and I cannot see them living in perfect, harp-playing harmony until the world is remade. Apart from anything else, I get to thinking about things like food, drink, accommodation, clothing, drainage, transport - markets for all that stuff they like making and so on and on and on. They must have had a complex society with people fulfilling all the roles you can imagine in a largely non-industrial society - and that means complex politics and social systems as well. I'm very flattered that you enjoy reading my Elves! Thank you.

Ellie	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/8/2006
What a wonderful resolution to the situation. I think it is funny that the wander lust still ensnares so many. I hope they do go and explore some more for the heck of it as they seem wont to do. I love it that Finrod wants to go so badly and he won't say anything to his wife who is just waiting for him to ask so she can say let's go. How true to life that is! Wonderful story! Author Reply: I think elves are always keen to see what is behind the next tree or over the next horizon. They are so long lived - immortal, even! - that however slowly they take the pace, there must come a time when they just want to get up and go somewhere else. Especially among the Sindar and Silvan - like tree seed scattering and new forests growing. Finrod has the curiosity to want to see more, do more, know more. He was so interested in Men - I can see him wanting to explore - but he's loyal, too and he wouldn't want to distress Amarie. Not again. But this is different - and she is more than happy to join him on this venture! Thank you. I'm glad you liked this - it's taken over a year to get to the end of this one... but what is time to an elf!

perelleth	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/8/2006
Much as I enjoyed Finrod's guest appearances here, what I liked most in this story were all the bits between Galadriel and Celeborn. Since the very beginning she knows what he is going through and she makes her way patiently, artfully, practically, to ease the path of his healing. And she did it so smoothly, in the same undesrtated way that she sees and accepts neccesity as part of the thread of life. They are a good pair, these two, perfectly matched, and it is good to see them home, even if it took him some time to understand it. It was nice to see Celeborn's mental processes until he came to admit that he was home. And I liked the role Goerfer and Bordain had in it, too! A wonderful ending to a wonderful tale with so many threads. Beautiful! Author Reply: Galadriel knows from experience what Celeborn is suffering - I think she's suffered on both sides of the pond, really. First from being exiled - might have been her choice, but I don't expect that was much consolation in the middle of some very dark nights - and later from the effects of ring-bearing. And, when she reached Aman, I'll bet she had the horrible realisation that it wasn't home any more - and that she'd much rather be east of the sea with Celeborn. Except that she was brittle and worn down and needed - well, just what she offered Celeborn really. Only he was able to benefit from her love and support and understanding. He didn't want it to be home - but came to realise that cutting off his nose to spite his face wouldn't work. And it crept up on him while he was busy and not thinking about himself! He has his own trees now - and a people who need his care and a world to explore. Goerfer doesn't bother much with introspection and Bordain is content to be, but between the pair of them, they make good foils for Celeborn and offer him a different perspective. Thank you, Perelleth. I'm glad you liked it!

Redheredh	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 4/7/2006
What an opening conversation! I love this whole chapter - of course! But, Galadriel's thoughts about herself, Celebrian, and Arwen being needed struck a chord. I have always felt that Galadriel would have this perspective. And find it very fearful. At least, until she could see that it would not be like Nimloth's mother, Nimloth, and Elwing's fate - each dying before she sees her child even grown, let alone married with children of her own. Galathil and Nimloss(my name for her)leaving their young daughter behind has always greatly figured in my pov of C&G's choices and hopes. It was great checking in with where the family members were at this high point of accomplishment in their journeys west. I am glad you included Goerfer and Losgael. Cute Haladion! Nice look at what makes the wandering elf tick. Yay! Bordain! Yes, the Lindar are the trees, the stars, and the water. Finally, healing - the gift of Eldamar. ...life in the Blessed Realm was not a stagnant pool, reft from the flowing life of Arda to fester under an unfamiliar sun, but part of it still. They are a part of Arda until the End. How else can they be truly happy. They were both home. Thank you for a happy ending to a beautifully written story. Author Reply: Thank you. Celeborn needed to accept that he could be at home, I think. Realise that life goes on - and that he is needed just as much west of the sea as he was in the ruins of Doriath. There does seem to be an element throughout Tolkien of the female role being one of sacrifice and endurance. Galadriel generally gets the better end of the deal because Tolkien seems to have fallen rather for her glamour, but even in her case, she has to lose some - or even most - of what she most cares for. And her true victory is in submitting - and rejecting the offer of power. Yet she did have Celebrian and Arwen in the first place: you're right. Elrond's line was not as fortunate - although at least Dior got to grow up with his parents. Poor Elwing - and who knows about Nimloth's childhood! The twins are still running the rearguard - but I think there would have been a lot of back and forth over a long time, both for political and kinship reasons. Goerfer is satisfied - and Losgael is a happy great-grandmother. Bordain will, I think, disappear into the trees, wandering back when it suits him. I reckon Orome will keep an eye on him, though. I was taken with wondering about the Valar and their relationship with the elves. Manwe seems to have taken the Vanyar as his special group; Ulmo, of course, guided the Teleri and the Falathrim part of those left behind; Aule seemed to be more prone to error in his dealings with the Noldor (and in creating the Dwarves)... and then there are the other Valar. Orome is a natural for Wood-elves - and I can see him just forgetting about them for a few ages. All people are Namo's - under certain circumstances. Then I was listing the rest - and thinking that the male Valar seem to have gone more for the 'my people' thought, but what about the Valier? Who would see the Sindar as a special responsibility? Or were the Sindar as they were because they weren't adopted as a special people? ... I didn't come to any particular answer, mind. Celeborn needed a living world - he was afraid of stagnating and now he knows he's going to be kept just as busy - except when it comes to slaying the minions of the Dark Lord - he will settle down. And I think his relationship with Galadriel will be even better now she has recovered from the strains of ring-bearing. This may be the first time they have been able to build a home together equally, in the knowledge that what they build will last. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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