Stories of Arda - Lord of the Rings Fan-Fiction Archive


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Masters of Horses by Nesta	3 Review(s)
Rian Steelsheen	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/31/2010
Hello! I've read all your stories at fanfiction.net, but to my great shame never reviewed once! I truly loved them all (particularly Elboron's reminiscences, they are wonderful). I've been in love with Faramir for maybe three years now, and I've never found any author who portrayed him the way I feel he really is. Most people see him only as a sort of weakling who probably has been beaten by Daddy Dearest and lacks confidence. I often wondered if we have all read the same book! I was beginning to let myself be influenced when I found one of your stories. Your Faramir is my book Faramir, the strong perceptive garden-lover beloved captain Tolkien wrote! You're my favorite author ever! You are my hero, seriously, I love you. Ok, I'm finished telling you about my life, don't worry. I think the relationship between Faramir and Eomer is quite plausible and interesting; they are very different physically and mentally. But I don't imagine Eomer that jealous of Eowyn choosing a Gondorian husband, he does look happy for her in RotK. In fact I tend to think Faramir would be good friend with about anyone: Frodo and Sam, Pippin and Merry, Eowyn, his men, Boromir and Aragorn all have various personalities, but he seems to get on with all of them. I loved the banner-episode, it is so funny! "The banner was left, damp but triumphant, to proclaim the superiority of Ithilien" I see it the same way lol Author Reply: I'm so glad you think my Faramir rings true. I can't stand the wimpish film version - the real one is not like that at all. I've been in love with him for more years than I dare admit - he's one of the fixed points in my life. I'm sure Eomer was very pleased to see Eowyn married to the top man in Gondor (excepting the king, of course). Personally and politically it's obviously a splendid match. Still, I think he'd find Faramir a bit disconcerting, particularly as Eomer's notion of the ideal Gondorian is Boromir, whom he admires because he's so like one of the Rohirrim. To me this, among other things, suggests that Eomer has a certain difficulty in seeing past the end of his own nose. Not that he's stupid - far from it - but he isn't intellectual, whereas Faramir is.

Raksha The Demon	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/19/2010
Family tensions can be difficult enough without throwing in different languages, cultures, and customs. This chapter vividly portrays the difficulties, beneath the great alliance between Gondor and Rohan, of a king who has trouble being reminded that his beloved sister preferred another realm and a man of that realm, and of the rivalry and confusion between the new generations of their families. Of course, I loved the bit about Eowyn reminding Eomer that Faramir had understood her better in five minutes than Eomer had throughout her entire life! Author Reply: Bringing Rohan and Gondor together can't have been that easy, can it? And I'm sure that Faramir had to do most of the politicking, because he's more capable of adjusting. Eowyn, of course, would have enough to do adjusting the other way. I think it's true that Eomer never understood her - he's obviously quite taken aback by Gandalf's words in the HoH. He seems to think entirely in straight lines, and while that may make a good warrior, it doesn't make for empathy. Do you know TOm Shippey's books about Tolkien? Far and away the best criticism of him ever published. The first one, 'Master of Middle Earth', has a brilliant comparison of Eomer and Faramir as representatives of their respective cultures. I think I had that in minda mong other things.

Linda Hoyland	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/18/2010
This seems oh so very plausible. I cannot imagine Faramir and Eomer ever being very close. Author Reply: No, they're really chalk and cheese, aren't they? To be honest, I've always found that in-laws are best at a distance. Aragorn certainly had the advantage there! Elrond couldn't have gone any further away than he did. You can see from the 'Tale' that Elrond feared Aragorn and didn't really like him. Elrond comes over as the classic jealous father in folklore, who sets his daughter's suitor a series of impossible tasks. The hero always succeeds in those tasks, of course. Tolkien's innovation is to make you feel sorry for the jealous father.

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