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| What's left behind by perelleth | 5 Review(s) |
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| Redheredh | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 9/12/2006 |
| Late as is usual lately, but finally here… OK, so the rider was not Laeriniel. :( But, I still appreciate that you let her remain in Greenwood instead of making her leave the forest to follow her husband. I liked the irony of the opening scene. First one kind of longing and now another - even if it is not as stressful as the first kind. I also like that you then contrasted that peacefulness with violence, restrained as it was. And of course, you always make Laeriniel and her family entertaining when together. ;) Very nice getting Haldir to speak of Celeborn and his namesake while using their mutual connection of the mellyrn. ;) You bring in Tolkien-details so nicely. The memorial tree was touching. The ensuing discussions were very good and what an interesting gathering! A regular who's who of a family. I loved seeing the sea-bird's progeny carrying on in a continuing alliance with Ingil’s! Celeborn gazed at the Bird with wonder – ha! You came back to the point, though, in the last conversation. Sea-longing and love-longing. One or the other would draw the remaining elves West. Tricksy, Valar. Author Reply: You are most welcome, Redheredh, I know you are terribly busy, so take your time! Each of us has her own idea, I think, regarding the end of the elves of Middle-earth. Seeing Tolkien's sources, I suspect he tended towards most of the wood elves refusing to sail and so doomed to fade slowly, thus giving origin to our fairy tales and legends. In this tale, I wanted to find a plausible reason for a last "great" migration of wood elves, and I thought it all depended on the leadership of their King. I am not sure whether Laeriniel was right or rather stiubborn, not abandoning all for her husband, but that's how I pictured her: it took her time to understand her own heart and to brave the unknown. I'm glad you liked it, and most thankful for your words! ;-) | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 9/9/2006 |
| I am glad Celeborn is so encouraging! Even if time passes differently west of the sea, it must be a long wait - especially if you cannot be confident that your beloved will ever heed the call. Yet it's not the same. The elves are hanging on desperately there in Lasgalen and trying to pretend that it's still their forest - but it's not, not really. Time had moved on and they are part of the past. I hope Thranduil has clear enough sight to recognise that. I'm not counting on it, mind, but I do hope that he and his family will gather all those who will go and take them west. They need what Legolas has come to understand - and Celeborn has seen - that the west is home. Fingers crossed. Author Reply: Thank-you Bodkin! Celeborn the Wise was wise enough to pay a visit to his stubborn colleague and make clear that Thranduil was winning that match! You are right, all they can do there is wait and hope. The blessing of those lands, as I see it, would be that even in waiting there would be no despair but deep trust that all would turn out for the best, whatever the outcome, the blessed realm being, according to Tolkien, paradise to the elves. It is difficult for us, but then, as Tolkien wrote, we cannot write tales *about* elves, for we do not know them inwardly, so we just turn them into Men. Sigh. And we keep on trying, don't we? ;-) | |
| French Pony | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 9/6/2006 |
| So it's down to a waiting game now. It is kind of too bad that the Straight Road is a one-way. All those Elves leave, and back home, it must look like they've just vanished, been swallowed up into the void. Of course, the ones who left realize that there really is a Blessed Realm out there, but they can't go back and reassure people of that. And thus you get people like Laeriniel, who holds onto the forest as the last thing she has left of Legolas, even though he himself is but a boat ride away. But if she can't be certain of that, then that's a whole nother ball game. Author Reply: is kind of too bad that the Straight Road is a one-way Or else, all elves would have deserted M-e long ago...;-) As I see it, sailing was a personal decision that came from within, deeper than a rational decision, and sea-longing was the prompt or expresion of a certain inner state. And the timing is so different for each person! Laerîniel thinks that Legolas somehow failed their forest, and that it is her duty to hold on to it for both of them, so she is refusing to see that Legolas was actually pointing the way, warning them that they were running out of their time. It will take her -them- some time to accept that... Thank-you! | |
| Nilmandra | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 9/6/2006 |
| I love that you worked the sea bird in! I like the descriptions of what it felt like when the elves finally passed on to the straight road.. i have loved the imagery Tolkien gave us in Frodo's dream that it is like a veil lifting and they have sudden new sight. Very nicely done, and this must give hope to Legolas that others will come for love, too. I cannot imagine that waiting, knowing that those still struggling, when there is not struggle worth staying for (in the sense of a job still to do, like destroy the ring), and yet they have not way to tell them. Somehow, this is a lesson one cannot learn from another's experience. I can't wait for Legolas to be reunited with his wife and father. Author Reply: Frodo's dream is such a good trick, isn't it? It happens so early in the tale, that I remember that I had to go back and re read it when I first realized what exactly he had dreamed about in Bombadil's house! Somehow, this is a lesson one cannot learn from another's experience. or else, all elves would have desertedd M-e long ago! ;-) Since Tolkien said that Eressëa was elven paradise, I assumed that, once they made the step of sailing, the act of will, they were granted true "paradise": relieved of their burdens, no longer wearied but renewed, not bereft of their experiences and memories, but able to understand them and see their place within the great music, and so not being hurt by them. There would be longing for those who were in Mandos or still in M-e, but a hopeful, patient longing. While, for those remaining, it would be a question of time and ability to accept their role and fate. An act of free will and hope in the end. I can't wait for Legolas to be reunited with his wife and father He, he. I think they will be sailing sometime this week end. I cannot honestly do anything else for this tale. Author Reply: Frodo's dream is such a good trick, isn't it? It happens so early in the tale, that I remember that I had to go back and re read it when I first realized what exactly he had dreamed about in Bombadil's house! Somehow, this is a lesson one cannot learn from another's experience. or else, all elves would have desertedd M-e long ago! ;-) Since Tolkien said that Eressëa was elven paradise, I assumed that, once they made the step of sailing, the act of will, they were granted true "paradise": relieved of their burdens, no longer wearied but renewed, not bereft of their experiences and memories, but able to understand them and see their place within the great music, and so not being hurt by them. There would be longing for those who were in Mandos or still in M-e, but a hopeful, patient longing. While, for those remaining, it would be a question of time and ability to accept their role and fate. An act of free will and hope in the end. I can't wait for Legolas to be reunited with his wife and father He, he. I think they will be sailing sometime this week end. I cannot honestly do anything else for this tale. | |
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 9/6/2006 |
| Nice picture of Legolas's longing, Perelleth. From a writerly point of view, the line that really caught my eye was this: “I am glad to see you too, Aunt; you need not thank me for saving your hide, surrounded or not,” the prince smiled. “Can you explain to us what are you doing this south and on your own?” he added pleasantly. “This is a good one,” he told Thalaűr, showing him one of the axes. I like the cross talk, the way he talks about two things at once. That's the way people really talk. Author Reply: Thank-you daw. It is really tiring, isn't it, finding out ways of conveying dialogue that are believable, and not too boring and all that. In this case I could picture the whole scene, so the conversation came out more natural... | |