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| Hope Comes for Estel by Stefania | 7 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Susana | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/29/2018 |
| I really enjoyed reading this again. Thank you for writing and sharing it! | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/23/2008 |
| A thoughtful and engaging short story about a meeting that must have happened between the Houses of Healing chapter in ROTK and the coronation. I like Aragorn's consideration of not only the mammoth tasks that lie ahead of him in Arnor, but his fair treatment of Faramir, even when he is not sure of Faramir's purposes. Excellent dialogue! And I like the notion, though I'm not sure it's canon, that Faramir had farsight and Aragorn did not (surely Aragorn has enough other talents!)... Author Reply: Hi Raksha - Thanks for reviewing this story. Faramir's concealed purpose--he wants a big job in the Aragorn administration. As far as Aragorn not having farsight, that's a good point. If I were to rewrite "Hope Comes for Estel," I would probably delete this bit. I don't recall specifically in canon where Aragorn shows a particular far sight other than the generic far sight of the Numenoreans. Maybe it's time to reread LOTR and look specifically for Aragorn's incidents of far sight. At any rate, within my own 'verse I partially redeemed Aragorn's lack of farsight in "Dead Steward's Gift." Aragorn certainly felt that someone was using a palantir to survey Middle Earth and quickly grabbed his own palantir to find out who the culprit was. Both King and Steward use farsight to know when the other is "dialing them up" on the palantir. They didn't even have rotary dialing in Arda. - Steff | |
| Edlyn | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/28/2008 |
| I wish I had found this story sooner! Lovely, lovely, lovely! Now I'm off to read therest of your stuff. Author Reply: Thanks Edlyn. I hope you enjoy what you find. - Steff | |
| obsidianj | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/17/2007 |
| I love this story. I wouldn't say that this meeting is totally AU. I think it is more of a gap filler. I always had trouble believing that Aragorn and Faramir met for the first time after the Houses of Healing during the coronation. That whole coronation business seemed very ritualized and for everyone to know their place I thought there had to be some meetings before. Where the meeting took place is open for debate and Cormallen is as good as any place. Author Reply: I'm glad you enjoyed "Hope Comes for Estel," Obsidianj. I totally agree about the Coronation preparations. I'm sure the intimate details of Coronation preparation were not on Tolkien's radar screen when he wrote "The Return of the King." He left a huge gap for us fanfic writers to fill. - Steff | |
| irene | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/12/2007 |
| I like it. I like every story where Faramir isn't devote and humble and doesn't lick Aragorn's boots. The conversation between these two was one of the finest I've ever read. I am a Historian, alas, and therefore: Faramir was born in 2983 and Ecthelion II. died in 2984. Baby Faramir certainly never knew his grandfather but he was in this world before Ecthelion died. I have some little problems with Aragorn since the movie, perhaps this is the cause why I'm not able to enjoy your story thoroughly. Thanks nevertheless, Irene Author Reply: Hi Irene - Re: Faramir not knowing his granddad. Yeah, I checked their birthdays in Encyclopdia of Arda. One nuzgul that bit me while writing this story was the thought that in the Steffverse Denethor might resent adult Faramir because he resembles Ecthelion. Ecthelion did favor Thorongil over Denethor, right? Movie tie-in books attribute Faramir's resemblence to Finduilas as the reason for Denethor's dislike of his younger son. Tolkien suggests that Faramir was too like his dad, and therefore Denethor resented him. So my twist, as usual, is quite different. At any rate, you would be right to imagine Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn and David Wenham's Faramir in "Hope Comes for Estel." Sorry that you don't like film Aragorn more, but individual taste in readers is something I always respect. I would love to have seen in the films Wenham's highly competent and slightly angsty Faramir come to Mortensen's powerful--and angsty--Aragorn (whom I adore as you might guess) and subtly put himself forward for the Steward's job. I make no bones about putting Jackson's actors into the Steffverse. Thanks for your ongoing support. - Steff | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/2/2007 |
| Aragorn also had a degree of far-sightedness as told in the tale of Aragorn and Arwen, although it appears to have manifested differently from that of Faramir. Am so glad these two will now work together. Author Reply: Hi Larner: Thanks for reading this story. I've enjoyed your Aragorn fiction. He's my favorite fictional king. Re: Aragorn's far sightedness. I agree. I thought of giving Aragorn's far sightedness more obvious play in the story but decided instead to show it, rather than tell it. I wanted to contrast Aragorn's formidible powers of persuasion and great leadership capabilities in battle off Faramir's far sight and potential leadership capabilities in peace, and show how they arrive at a happy outcome. Their future as King and Prime Minister/President and Vice President (after all, I'm a Yank) begins in this scene. My concept for "Hope Comes for Estel" was "Faramir's job interview with the best boss in the world--except that the prospective boss has major outstanding issues with the candidate's family." - Steff | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/1/2007 |
| This is a most enjoyable story, Aragorn and Faramir stories are my favourites!I like the way you have them sound each other out. Author Reply: I'm so glad you found "Hope Comes for Estel," Linda. I thought of you many times as I wrote it and hoped you'd like that I made Aragorn and Faramir's first encounter afater the Houses of Healing an emotionally charged job interview!! I didn't start out making Aragorn angsty but turns out he definitely had his moments. I was near to tears at the end as I wrote Faramir's entreaty that Aragorn let the people know he was Thorongil. I love Aragorn and really wanted to give him a Steff tale of his own. Thanks for your support. - Steff | |