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| More Faramir drabbles by Nesta | 5 Review(s) |
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| Rian Steelsheen | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 6/11/2010 |
So sad! I really feel sorry for Eowyn… I've always believed this can easily turn into a problem in their marriage, that Eowyn will grow old and die while Faramir will remain nearly unchanged... He would dread the day she would leave him, and she would fear his reaction to her physical changes. After all, she must know how he loves beautiful things, and he seemed quite taken with her beauty in RotK. So I think her concerns are somehow understandable, if not justified: Faramir will always be deeply in love with her no matter what. I can imagine it would be hard for her to speak to him about it, but I'm sure she eventually would and then they will speak about it at length, and he will find a way to reassure her, won't he? Or will it be difficult nonetheless, in spite of his love? I wonder how others will react to them. I mean, an old man with a young wife is more or less ok (that would be the case with Eomer and Lothíriel), but the contrary is rather….strange? But, thinking about it, maybe they can take it well and have fun about it. How do you view it all? Very good as always! Author Reply: JRRT was writing a romance, and like all romancers he assumes that beauty in woman is a prerequisite! Faramir certainly is taken by Eowyn's beauty, but it's very significant that the first emotion he feels for her is pity for her mental anguish. He isn't somebody that would abandon a woman if she lost her looks. In any case I think Eowyn was probably worrying unnecessarily. There's a certain type of beauty - the clear-cut kind rather than the voluptuous kind - that doesn't vanish with age but simply changes. I rather think she would be like that. Several people have written movingly about this problem with Faramir and Eowyn - Raksha the Demon is one. As for general disparity in life-spans, it's a tragic theme that runs right through LoTR. It's obviously far more acute when it comes to elves being mated with humans, but long-lived humans versus short-lived humans is the same thing on a smaller scale. A critic, I forget his name, pointed out that when elves and humans form unions, it's always an elf-woman with a human man. No male elf ever abased himself to marry a mortal woman. Now is that sexist or what? | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/24/2009 |
| A dream we all face, I fear. And she calls for a champion? Not one she can best herself. Author Reply: Faramir will be her champion, I think. She'd always be beautiful to him. There's a sad little footnote to Rider Haggard's 'She' - a novel about another beautiful woman who never grows old - to the effect that 'we' (meaning men)tend to love women for their beauty. 'If we lost them, and found them again dreadful to look upon, though otherwise they were the very same, would we still love them?' But in the sequel, when 'She' turns up again and *has* become old and hideous, the hero sticks by her - except that she immediately turns beautiful again. There ain't no denying it, men want female beauty and it sometimes seems that women spend half their lives (and incomes) trying to give them what they want. Sigh. | |
| AspenJules | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 2/8/2007 |
| Poor Eowyn, though I'm not exactly sure I know where/when she's dreaming this. Is it in Minas Tirith? Or just later on in Ithilien, or when Faramir's not beside her? I firmly believe that Eowyn would have aged beautifully, and that Faramir would be able to help her believe it. Some of the most beautiful women I know are older, happy women, whose lives of love and happiness have aged their faces with grace and beauty. I feel strongly that Eowyn would also be one of those women. Hopefully Faramir will be able to slay that wraith for her. Author Reply: She could be having the dream anywhere. I've a feeling she doesn't dare tell Faramir about it; he is rather keen on her beauty, after all. Once she does manage to tell him I'm sure he'll be able to reassure her. I quite agree that youth and beauty don't always have to go together, but you'd have a job convincing anybody young and beautiful of that. | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 2/7/2007 |
| Sad and scary dream; poor Eowyn. Her possibly aging faster than Faramir is something that even the hands of a King can't heal. I choose to believe that she aged gracefully, and was not terribly decripit when she died; but we don't really know one way or another. Author Reply: I'm sure Eowyn would age gracefully, and I'm also sure that Faramir would continue to love her in any case. Nonetheless all beautiful woman must be haunted by the fear of what will happen when they are no longer beautiful. It's a theme that runs powerfully through literature - from Villon's 'Regrets de la Belle Heaumière' to Rider Haggard's 'She' (and the sequel, where the hero does accept the heroine when she's old and hideous, and the narrator comments that this was 'one of the greatest, bravest acts ever done by man') to JRRT's depiction of immortal elven women - and of course it sustains an obscenely massive cosmetics industry nowadays. There's something to be said for being a plain Jane... | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 2/7/2007 |
| Poor Eowyn,it must haunt her that she will age more quickly than Faramir.A chilling piece,very effective. Author Reply: There's been a lot written on that theme - and it's a very haunting one. I suppose Arwen and Aragorn must have the same problem in reverse? Though the situation is very different, of course, when it's the man who ages. I don't thnk women generally do choose their partners for their looks - in particular, not their youthful looks. Or do they??? | |