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| Duty Bound by Bodkin | 19 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Redheredh | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/19/2006 |
| This was an unhappy tale... A tragic ending was anticipated, but it hurts the heart unexpectatedly. I am happy for the good times you gave them and feel terrible over the loss, all the same. They were two good people caught in a crisis, becoming its victims. Well-told with reallistic touches, which make it all the more sad. Author Reply: It had to be unhappy, really. Poor Boromir cannot be gifted with a happy ending. But I think it is important that he learned to love Emeldis and that he was prepared to love the son who did not live to know him. Between that and his love for Faramir, I think it prepared him to care for the hobbits - and made his sacrifice for them even more likely. (Not that he got a lot of choice, really. But the willingness is important.) And maybe Emeldis and the child will be awaiting him in whatever afterlife is there for him. | |
| Pearl Took | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/18/2006 |
| "She mewled, a haunting cry, like a screech owl floating on the breeze in the summer twilight." Again a beautiful statement. Something tells me you've heard a screech owl's call. This chapter could not have been more beautifully written. Not sappy nor maudlin, beautiful in its paiinfulness and painful in its beauty. Author Reply: The end of their relationship was inevitable - and he was never going to have a happy marriage and children. Poor Boromir. Owls make very unearthly noises. | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/17/2006 |
| This is so heartrending,I guessed something like this would happen but it was still a shock.Emeldis' foreshadows Faramir's near death by burning. I alwaysimagine that Finduilis did die of some sadly common tragic disease, YOu capture the fever ridden city brilliantly. Author Reply: So sad. But inevitable, I'm afraid. Boromir was never going to be allowed to have a happy marriage and a quiverful of children. I'm glad you found the fever-ridden city effective. Minas Tirith must have been vulnerable to epidemics - and disease is a silent enemy. While Finduilas's death, I reckon, was something that Denethor would want to suppress - whatever his faults, I think he loved her dearly and put her on a pedestal. She couldn't die of any mundane illness, not as far as he was concerned. | |
| meckinock | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/16/2006 |
| His son should have lived to run free in the gardens of the Citadel, to ride over the Pelennor, to play in the sands of Dol Amroth – grown to be a true heir of his house, a son of the line of Mardil, holding Gondor staunchly against the shadow of Mordor. But it was not to be. There's nothing sadder than a future lost. Wow, Bodkin, this is just devastating. I can't imagine it was easy for Boromir to get past this, but I'd sure like to see it. Author Reply: Poor Boromir. Poor child - and his mother. I think Boromir would have felt very bad about his failure to protect them against an enemy he couldn't fight. Might even have made him more vulnerable to the Ring's seduction, in a way. There's just a short epilogue - I'm afraid Boromir has to recover with just the help of his kin. And his duty, of course. | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/16/2006 |
| This is so sad! But very plausable! Do we get to hear Pippin's reaction? Great Bodkin. Author Reply: It is sad. Glad you enjoyed it. I thought that Denethor was very likely to have wanted to secure the succession - until matters grew too distracting. And poor Boromir grew to love a wife and child he was bound to lose. There is a short epilogue! | |
| SlightlyTookish | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/15/2006 |
| This is a lovely story, Bodkin. Very sad, but very lovely. I like seeing this version of Boromir for a change. Author Reply: Thank you. It is a sad story - couldn't be happy, really. But I liked Boromir the husband and father-to-be. And I hope he sees them again sometime. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/15/2006 |
| So very sad, and yet it had to be. It was not Boromir's destiny to be a happy husband and father. And he would have been good at it, too, I think, for his heart was a large one, in spite of his warrior's calling. Such a hard thing for him, to realize there was no way he could protect his wife and son from an unseen enemy--one that could not be fought with sword or bow or even bare hands. And that last sentence was perfect: no, he never came there again, not even in his own death... Author Reply: No, he never came there again. Poor Boromir. In some ways the elven boat seems a better end for a man of action like him than a stone tomb - but he deserved more. He wished to protect - and it led to his learning to love his wife, but I don't think it took any effort for him to love the child. Enemies he couldn't see and couldn't fight. Disease - and the temptation of a hope for Gondor's survival. | |
| Armariel | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/15/2006 |
| Really beautiful, sad and sweet and believable. Poor Boromir and poor Emeldis and poor baby...I hope they will meet in the hereafter! Wonderful use of detail throughout. ‘He talks to him,’ she confided, ‘and he likes to rest with his hand on my belly singing to the baby songs that he said his mother used to sing to Faramir.’ *sniff* I love a good tearjerker!! Author Reply: It had to be sad - Boromir wasn't a proud father. I, too, hope that they will be together in whatever afterlife they face together. And I loved the thought of Boromir singing and talking to his unborn child. | |
| Agape4Gondor | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/15/2006 |
| Very glad you wrote this. Great moments - The bath; Emeldis' crabbiness and Boromir's trying to understand/help; Boromir's remembrance of the hammock and trying to figure out how to help his wife be more comfortable; the story of Finduilas' death and Ioreth's defense of her Lady; Almiriel's presence (fate was kind in this for Emeldis); the disease; Boromir's inability to protect those he loved; Imrahil; and finally - Rath Dinen. Some laughter - The fact that nothing was thrown away... MY FAVORITE - 'He talks to him' - incredibly telling of Boromir's new-found attachment to his heir and to Emeldis. Thank you! Author Reply: I think Boromir softened toward Emeldis as he came to see her as in his protection - and felt he had let her down when he had promised to look after her. He would have made a good father - and been much loved by his son. Thank you for picking out the moments you liked. I enjoyed picturing Boromir with his head resting on Emeldis's belly as he talked to his son. Happy moments in a hard (if privileged) life. | |
| perelleth | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/15/2006 |
| Look at that, how the circle comes round! So many efforts, such a struggle and "waste" of illusion and feeling, to come back to the starting point: heirless and all of them carrying another painful wound. Curious, how things come out at times, no matter how hard we try. I liked very much the way you introduced illness in Minas Tirith. "No-one noticed its arrival" I loved that device. The illness was embodied, disguised,treacherous, but it *was* as well the people who were sick and to whom no-one paid attention in the hustle bustle... I really liked it. And I cannot help thinking that, had this happened indeed, it would have been another bending blow to poor Denethor, that all his toils were turned to dust by the enemy. A sad but curious tale. Author Reply: An inevitable loss really - the Boromir of the Fellowship wasn't a husband and father - but sad. I have a sneaking feeling Denethor would have wanted heirs of his blood and training to complicate the arrival of any pretender from the north - he would have preferred dissension to defeat, but then he grew too dependent on the Palantir to think much about the mundane. Minas Tirith must have been vulnerable to illness - and disease does come creeping silently on a breath. And didn't Sauron use illness to weaken his opponents or am I imagining that? Hard times - and growing harder. | |