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Tales from Vairë's Loom  by Fiondil 7 Review(s)
pnzrmkvReviewed Chapter: 18 on 9/8/2011
Wonderful possible scenario for what happened to the two wizards. Your imagining fill in the blanks Tolkien left with believable plausibility . I have read The Wars of the Valar and am following In Darkness Bound as well as A Long Expected Wedding eagerly awaiting each chapter. Thank you for submitting your stories in a free forum,without which I would not have access to such a rich source of Middle Earth fiction. I'm a relative late comer to Tolkiens writing but this site particularly,through its fan submissions,have only fueled my desire to learn more about Tolkien and his work. The first half of my life has been spent studying non-fiction until I got hooked by the films. After reading a wiki bio on Tolkien I checked out The Silmarillion from the library and have been reading everything about Middle Earth since. Sorry for the long review,I've been meaning to leave one for a while but not such a windy one. Anyway,thanks again.

Author Reply: Hi pnzrmkv. I'm so glad you found this site and that you enjoy my stories. Tolkien is a rich source that is virtually endless and the more I read and study his writings, the more I find there that I didn't see previously. And I love 'filling in the blanks' that Tolkien left, this story being one of them. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. I appreciate it very much. (And I actually like long reviews, so no worries there. *grin*)

KittyReviewed Chapter: 18 on 8/6/2010
Nice to get a glimpse of what these two were up to.

You know, Alatar was asking something I had been wondering about, too – what would happen if one of the five wizards was killed? I know what happened to Gandalf/Mithrandir/Olórin, but you could say these were special circumstances and it may not have been the 'standard treatment' how he was sent back so fast.

Anyway, I'm glad they took care of the refugees. For their own mission it may have seemed more sensible to go and seek advice, but I doubt Olórin could have been of much use here, and it would have been cruel to leave these people to their fate.

Author Reply: Hi Kitty. I'm sure all of the Wizards wondered about what might happen to them if they died, but we only have the two examples of Gandalf and Saruman and their fates were completely different after they died.

I'm glad you enjoyed this story. It was fun to write about these two and imagine what might have happened to them, how they may have disappeared from history. I like to think that they didn't so much fail in their mission as changed their mission when they decided to help the refuges. Whether that was a good thing for the West or not, we will probably never know.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

TariReviewed Chapter: 18 on 7/14/2010
I do hope there will be more to this tale. I'd love to know what happens next. Will the Maiar be successful in rescuing the refugees and with the mission to follow?

Author Reply: Hi Tari. I honestly don't know if there will be a sequel to this story. I didn't really envision one when I wrote it but the Muse will let me know if there is more to write about these two Wizards and the refugees. In some ways, I think people should decide for themselves what might have happened afterwards, since we know that no word of them ever reached the West. Tolkien believes they failed in their mission and became the originators of the mystery religions and such of the ancient world. Perhaps. Perhaps not. We will probably never know. This story was sort of an explanation of why we never hear about them... like the ten tribes of Israel, they disappeared into the East and were lost to history.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 18 on 7/8/2010
Interesting that you have the Blue Wizards arriving in Middle Earth before the Last Alliance! I'd be surprised had Galadriel not recognized them as Maiar, and hope they enjoyed the recognition.

As for the situation with Zamin and her son--all, all too likely a possibility. I've wondered if just such things might have happened more than once--with long-term plans for growing peace might have been flouted by the intemperate actions of the very ones whose descendants should have benefitted from them.

Excellent look at the Umbari situation.

Author Reply: Hi Larner. In HoME XII, Tolkien speculates that the Blue Wizards might actually have arrived in Middle-earth in the middle of the Second Age, traveling with Glorfindel, since their mission was to travel to the East and South while the other three Wizards worked in the West.

I'm sure that the situation presented here happened more often than we would like to think (and possibly happens more often than we would like to think even in our own world!). History, I'm afraid, is replete with 'what-might-have-beens' and 'if-onlies'.

I'm glad you enjoyed this, Larner. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I greatly appreciate it.

Raksha The DemonReviewed Chapter: 18 on 7/7/2010
A nice portrayal of the Blue Wizards; who perhaps were eventually undone, in terms of the strict accomplishment of their mission, by their own compassion. They obviously are caring, thoughtful wizards who lack Saruman's arrogance. I wonder what became of Zamin and her child; who are very well-written as well.

Author Reply: Hi Raksha. I'm so glad you liked this. I have no idea what might have happened to Zamîn or her child (and thank you for saying how well written they are). Perhaps someday I may find out, along with the ultimate fates of the two Wizards, should the Muse deign to let me know. Thank you for reading and reviewing. I greatly appreciate it.

SunnyReviewed Chapter: 18 on 7/7/2010
It can be easy to forget that the faceless "Enemy" - at least in the sense of the soldiers and population of "the West's", or Gondor's, enemies - are simply people. And not necessarily bad people either.

Certainly not here! Good to see that Alatat and Pallando managed to get their friends out of the way before the so-called "good guys" could get there and kill them.

Author Reply: Yes, it's very easy to forget that before people became faceless enemies they were just people with their own hopes and dreams, good days and bad. The Gondorians might have felt they were doing a good thing, wiping out the hated Corsairs, but they would have comprised only a small portion of the entire population of Umbar; most would have been innocent women and children and non-Corsairs. And thus we have the situation presented here and the dilemma in which the Blue Wizards find themselves.

Thanks for reviewing, Sunny. I appreciate it.

6336Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 7/7/2010
I have not seen many stories about the Blue Wizards, this was an interesting answer to the question of what happened to them.
History is filled with 'if onlies', how differant things would be if they had occured.
You do realise you will have to write a sequel to this, we have to know what happened to Zimrathor and his followers.
Yes, I know you already have too many stories to write, just put it on the back burner and let it simmer for a while!
Huggs,
Lynda

Author Reply: Glad you liked this one, Lynda. A sequel... oh Valar! Well, you never know. Stranger things have happened. *grin* I will definitely put it waaay on the backest burner I can find and let it simmer to its heart content, as long as I don't have to stir it. *LOL*

Thanks for reviewing. I appreciate it very much.

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