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Battle of the Golden Wood by Marnie	7 Review(s)
whitewave	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 1/1/2009
I enjoyed the meeting of the two armies very much. Your version of Thranduil gives a refreshing new perspective to the "drama". Sorry for all these reviews, but I felt that this is the only way I can show how much I really enjoyed the story.

Orophins Dottir	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 2/13/2004
Oh, Thranduil! One cannot take you anywhere. Loved the line: "'Thranduil,' said Celeborn, 'We have only just begun speaking again. Let this not be the shortest truce in Eldarin memory.'" So satisfying to see that horrid place destroyed. I feel so sad at the distance between Galadriel and Celeborn. Umm, is anyone going to tell Rumil that Orophin is still alive? He might like to know! Good chapter. Humble Scribe to his Majesty Thranduil the Tactless

Sphinx	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 2/7/2004
You know....everytime you bring out a chapter of this story, I somehow manage to convince myself that each is the best. Yet, every time the next surpasses the preceeding one. Good Lord, Marnie. Your prose. bows Seeing it through an unbiased POV was a great touch. Your Thranduil was just how I'd like him to be - harsh, unwilling to allow the so-called 'greater' elves to lord over him. Celeborn's acceptance of his kinsman was searingly felt - though I wanted to wallop Thranduil for acting so pricey. But the unpredictability of this story in terms of emotion never fails to stun me. It is subtle - yet so very profound. No one else, at least none that I can recalle, have given Celeborn and Galadriel such vibrance. Sorry for taking so long on this.;) I tried to review on ff.net, but that kept collapsing on me, so I headed here.

Nilmandra	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 2/6/2004
From this final battle to the throwing down of Dol Guldur - from despair to hope to despair - you showed us the end and the beginning and the end. Yes, for Thranduil's realm - and for Men, it is new life and a new age. But how you remind us that the curse of the Noldor remains, and Thranduil does not forget it. Anything, even beautiful things wrought for good, turn to ill, and Thranduil will not take that chance. Galadriel knows it, but how you have shown Celeborn's despair! He married into the curse and is torn between love of a wife and love of his land. This chapter was well shown through Oswy's eyes, for I don't think we could have borne the emotion of the elves. I liked his seeing men with the wood elves, and his view of the destruction. But my heart breaks for Celeborn - and the wonderful imagery of Galadriel as the stormy sea. Wow.

daw the minstrel	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 2/3/2004
Poor Celeborn, caught between these two. I do like your Thranduil, although he is kind of a pain. I think you're very true to what Tolkien has told us to have Thranduil's army mixed with other races. But the elves of Lorien do sound so very beautiful. I also liked Galadriel's song. That's very much in Tolkien's world.

Bejai	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 2/3/2004
Here I was, about to email you a "so ... how's BotGW going?" prod, and the author alert is right there! The description in this chapter was so powerful. The elves dragging the dawn behind them and bringing life back to Mirkwood, the description of the men as "noisy, clumsy, but full of swift impatient life and bearing their own strong beauty," the sunshine in Galadriel's palms, the shuttering, clammy air. In a long story like this, it is so hard to come up with ways to describe the sights and sounds and smells of Middle Earth in an interesting way. But those details are so important -- they absolutely animate the story. And you do it so masterfully. An original turn of phrase, an unexpected image, and you paint this world in wonderful, otherworldly colors that delight my soul and stick in my head. The details of your imagery are simply breathtaking. I also really enjoyed that moment where the orc was standing there, panting, surrounded by elves. A beat in the middle of a battle, a moment of pity for the things that had been the slaves of darkness -- just before they ended it. It was a lovely touch. I could imagine the smell of the orc, the sound of his breathing, the movements of the horses, the reluctant hesitation of the elves. A wonderful detail. Loved too the discomfort between Celeborn and Thranduil and the men of Thranduil's army distrusting the elves of Lorien. "No songs about a Lord" of Lothlorien cracked me up. Poor guy is so overlooked! And the ending of this chapter was exactly what I hoped it would be. First his realization that "This was his lady - unaccompanied, unmuffled, unchanged by the cold white voice of arcane craft in the form of a worthless ring. She needed it not. She never had" and his hope that "surely now she would see it." And he's right. She doesn't need the ring. She just brought down a building with a SONG. His hope is so heartbreaking! And the Thranduil, refusing to let her sing of beginnings for fear of the curse it would bring. Jaw-dropping material there. I knew it was a theme you've been weaving around, but for Thranduil to just come out and say it ... utterly unexpected, and simply perfect. The blunt, bitter truth for both Galadriel and Celeborn. Perhaps they could have avoided speaking of it, but now it is in the air, and can not be called back. She will sail, and both will remember that what they began is ended. Was there really a curse? As Celeborn says, all things have an end. But this moment -- and the curse, whether it exists or no -- is now irrevokably a part of their parting. She thinks there is one, and so there is. What a powerful chapter! I'm looking forward to seeing how you resolve this between them. I dare say that it will be harder for the two of them to find a measure of peace than it was to fight a war and bring down a tower.

Coriel	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 2/3/2004
Ah, yes! Very nice. I'll have to keep this in mind when I put an ending on my side of it, if you don't mind. :) I hadn't expected Thranduil to be there for the fall of Dol Guldur, but it seemed appropriate. Dates may be a bit iffy, but I suppose it could work. How like Thranduil to stop Galadriel mid-song without so much as a by-your-leave. It may have seemed rather froward of him, but he had a legitimate grievance, and she knew it. After all, she's been kicking herself over Lorien for a while now. (BTW, I think you posted two copies of your last chapter! It won't seem so intimidatingly long if you delete one of them. ^_^)

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