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| Blood and Fire by Clodia | 5 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| perelleth | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 12/28/2009 |
| Wow! You set it all up so nicely that even knowing that Galadriel sails with Frodo, for a minute I feared she would be hacked down as Dior was! But what a blow for her, to be the one who lost Dior's sons! THat was awfully dramatic! I was wincing all along. Author Reply: I'm so glad you thought it was dramatic! It does make me happy to hear that even though Canon Says Galadriel survives, there's a sense of danger in this chapter. The fact that everyone knows the outcome before they begin this sort of story is a drawback in some ways, but on the other hand -- it let me play with a lot of black irony all the way through, and in this chapter especially. And this scene really underlies my idea of later events at Sirion, although I may never write that directly, just as the whole story is pretty much key to my idea of the various characters involved, so it's always such a relief to hear it works. | |
| WendWriter | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/16/2009 |
| Galadriel's helplessness in the face of her cousins' soldiers' kidnapping of the sons of Dior would have haunted her for ages afterwards. Her claim of Elwing being her own child was a great idea. It's interesting to see how maternal she becomes at this moment - trickles of inspiration are flowing through my mind as I consider the fun I could have with the scenario you have presented here. If I do get around to writing about this, I'll credit you. Author Reply: I'm sure Galadriel would have been very much affected by the fall and her own helplessness during it. Her later relationship with Elwing certainly has a lot of potential and I'm considering writing about it one day myself; but there's room for everyone to play, of course! | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/19/2009 |
| This chapter really gets to me; encapsulating the worst horrors of war. Earlier, you showed us the heroics, the courage and initiative displayed by warriors defending their home. Here, we see the terror that happens in too many wars - battle-maddened warriors attacking women and children. The paragraph where the nurse tries to cling to Dior's little boys, and gets brutally beaten for her efforts, is heart-rending. This is where Feanor's charisma, his obsession with the Silmarils, his Oath, has led; the high and mighty Noldor reduced to carrying off children to a sinister fate and hurting their nursemaid as she tries to protect them. Just sickening and tragic. Galadriel's characterisation is excellent - she is a warrior who doesn't want to be passed over for what she thinks is a lesser task. And she hasn't had much to do with children. Yet she rises to the task of shepherding the non-combatants; and holds baby Elwing closer and closer, saving her from the Elven wolves who carry off the infant's older brothers. We see Galadriel's confidence and courage in the face of danger, and her grit and ingenuity even when frightened, and also her worry for her Celeborn, not knowing whether he is alive or dead. Galadriel earns her title of Great Lady here; power, charisma, courage and dignity. And in the flashback to Dior's interaction with Galadriel, we see his faith in her, and that fate justified; his calmness contrasting with Galadriel's more fiery nature. A tragic but brilliant chapter. Author Reply: Again, you summarise everything I wanted to say so beautifully. Thank you so much! ^^ | |
| Calenharn | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/17/2009 |
| I have to say that I almost didn't read this story; the summary wasn't all that enticing (made Dior sound like an idiot) and I like a *story*, not "fragments". However, I DID start reading it (because I liked your 'Goldilocks and the Three Balrogs' so much - though I am still scratching my head over that title (and sorry for not reviewing on that story)). I never had any sense of who Dior was (other than the obvious) and you've done a nice job of portraying him. You've done an even better job of the whole pitched fighting-off-the-barbarians-at-the-gate (because, seemingly, that is what these Noldor have become), and I am enjoying seeing the canonical characters whom we know well (Galadriel, Celeborn) in this story. (I have to keep reminding myself that it is millenia too soon for Galadriel to be whipping out any Ring, though under the circumstances she is doing her best to be queenly and commanding. Too bad that the Noldor aren't listening...) Perhaps with the focus on Dior and the battle and the jewel and the fate of Dior's children (I think I know where that jewel is at), I am missing much of a sense of Oropher's character. We see that he is brave and loyal, and capable of working in the trenches with the other Dark Elves (hence, he will be capable of ruling them), but I do not get a sense of a "prince of Doriath" in this tale. (I'm not even sure what I mean by that, either - just that I am missing some sort of a defining connection here with this particular character.) Neither do I get a sense of his rashness (or whatever it was - perhaps merely intense dislike and mistrust of the Noldor?) that led to the disaster at the Last Alliance. (Though maybe that is one fallout of this entire sad episode...) Erestor and Melinna, of course... what a wonderful background you have given Erestor, and how can one not like Melinna? And the whole gallery of women archers - now that was wonderful. Looking forward to more... Author Reply: I have never been particularly good at summaries; I'm so glad you started reading anyway! And thank you so much for such a detailed and thoughtful review! My response is probably a little lengthy, I hope you don't mind. ^_^ In case it isn't clear enough by this point, I *don't* think Dior was an idiot at all and in fact my sympathies throughout this piece are entirely with the Sindar; but I will retain the 'fragment' description, because while the story is perhaps more coherent than that implies, in the long run it *is* about Doriath being smashed into pieces and that proved surprisingly hard to write as a single coherent story. (I originally meant it to be more or less an exact companion piece to one of my other stories, Nightingales and Starlight, i.e. roughly 10,000 words plus a brief epilogue, but it simply wouldn't write itself that way.) This may be why Oropher's characterisation is a bit sketchy; the fragments are loosely arranged around his experience of the sack, but my real interest is in the sack itself and Dior's fate (and Dior's family), rather than the Oropher who will eventually die regrettably in a different battle. There seems to me plenty of time and plenty of other experiences (settling Sirion, the sack of that settlement, rebuilding Middle-earth after the War of Wrath, and so on) for Oropher to develop into the King of Eryn Galen who died in that later battle. But perhaps this reasoning is more convincing to me than to anyone else. I'm glad you like Dior and Galadriel and Celeborn, though! And I'm immensely glad you like my background for Erestor and (of course) Melinna. It's always terribly reassuring to hear that she works as a character, firstly because one is naturally nervous when creating OFCs and secondly because she and Erestor are the common theme in all my stories. The gallery of women archers seemed only sensible; Menegroth was initially conceived as a fort and no fort without a way to make successful intruders very sorry indeed deserves the name, and putting those women who could use bows and arrows in a relatively safe place seemed like a sensible allocation of forces. (But this is me babbling about my imaginary reconstruction of Menegroth, so possibly I should stop now.) Again, thank you so much for a wonderful review! PS. I'm very glad you liked Goldilocks as well. ^_^ That title comes (mostly) from the children's story mentioned in the epilogue; I have actually written that, although I'm not entirely sure whether I'll archive it here, but in any case it can be found on my FFN and LJ accounts. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/17/2009 |
| If only Maedhros had come first. Now we know precisely why he searched so assiduously for the children afterwards. Alas that he did not find them. Author Reply: Yes, the fate of Elured and Elurin is yet another of those tragedies sprinkled through the Silmarillion. As ever, thank you for reading and commenting! | |