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Sons of Fellowship  by Conquistadora 10 Review(s)
mystarlightReviewed Chapter: 16 on 12/16/2019
I really enjoy every moment of this breathtaking story but can't wait for Thranduil meeting Thorin. I am so glad you followed canon with Haldir.

hisielomeReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/20/2004
This chapter allowed one to trully vision Legolas as an ancient Lord. The friendship between Haldir and Legolas was quiet niclely played...different societies and protocols. Well done. As always, Gimli and Legolas were true...finally, the depth of emotion that Legolas feels for his family came across as quite strong and yet very sad.

Author Reply:
Thanks so much; I do try. The "true" rating is the best I could hope for. ^_^

*~SuGaR~*Reviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/20/2004
*sigh* reading about the elves leaving Middle-Earth is always so sad... "we have together fought nothing but a long defeat; we have won our places only to reliquish them, spent ourselves to buy a tomorrow we shall never see." <<< that basically sums it all up rite there and just hits you where it hurts...ouch...i wish i could do that =P

*~SuGaR~*


Author Reply:
I've been told I am a very pensive person, so that is just where my mind goes in spare moments. ;)

merReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/12/2004
I love this story so much!! This chapter, however, tops them all.

Author Reply:
Thank you, thank you. ^_^ I had no idea this would be so well received when I started writing it, but so far it seems to have been a rewarding experience on both sides.

Templa OtmenaReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/11/2004
Oh! What a wonderful chapter!
Firstly you have portrayed Post-Nenya Lothlorien *very* well. Not just visually but you really captured the spirit of its' remaining inhabitants in the sense that melancholy is keenly felt but there is still elation over the battles that they have won.
Legolas and Haldir's conversation was...*enthralling*! It was just so amazingly profound and explored so many perceptions of the sea-longing. I found it especially interesting to read of the contrasts between Legolas and Haldir's viwes on the subject and then relate that to Clelborn and Galadriel. The Galadrims' concerns over their Lord and Lady were really sweet to read!
In the same way I love reading your back-story for Thranduil and Legolas. In this chapter it was especially wonderful and I love the way that you described them as becoming central to each others' worlds. Legolas musing over how exactly he is going to get Thranduil to accept Gimli *and* give his son leave...to take his leave was funny!
Finally, that last bit of the chapter with Legolas helping Gimli was lovely to read. It amazes me how you manage to portray the Elf as being so enigmatic and decidedly powerful in his own right and yet he still retains that young elven vigour *sigh* Amazing...!
Anyway...I found this chapter *almost* on time this time and I look forward to reading the next one ASAP!
UPDATE SOON!

Author Reply:
So glad you liked it! By the time I get around to posting, it's all rather trite to me. I'll come back in a few weeks, and then I can enjoy it.

I have much more for you in the back of my mind. Well, more often in the front lately, but you have to get that schoolwork done sometime. :) If it helps, mom has assigned me nothing but fanfic for grammar this quarter. :D

So, I think we have now effectively reached the halfway mark. On to Southern Greenwood!

mistry89Reviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/10/2004
I read this in one swell foop, and there are so many lovely bits that *should* be commented on, but I'll limit myself to this:

"There was music in the air, and he was warmed by a patch of bright sunlight.
Blinking sleep from his eyes, and turning in his crunching bed of leaves, nd
saw then what must have been a moment out of Old Elvendom.

Legolas had not bothered to wake him, for he was content enough for himself
as it was. He was leaned comfortably against a massive oak, sitting in the
lap of its great roots looking for all the world like woodland prince of
legend in the slanting rays and golden dapples of full morning on a lawn of
soft emerald green, a length of young ivy plaited into a simple but elegant
chaplet in his bright hair. A silver-grey squirrel sat upon his shoulder,
flicking his bushy tail as Legolas sang to the accompaniment of a light
cascade of birdsong from above."

Just wonderful, and very evocative - Legolas is truly an elf out-of-time. And this was too special to trim!

For what it is worth, I am really enjoying this, again (why so often is this the case recently?), despite myself (I subscribe to the "Legolas is young for an elf - less than 1000 and no younger than around 500" school, and I don't feel there was a lady in his life, not (please understand!) because I have a *thing* for him, but because he is truly an elf shaped by parentage, upbringing, and the very peculiar events of his life (many of which are the stuff of great fan fiction!), so (again!) I find an author who writes of events that I don't necessarily agree with ... and I *still* like it!
I have always felt that he was born after the *trouble* and this explains his lack (to me) of understanding of the implications of why he Lorien before - that to him it (the afore-mentioned trouble), was more of the stuff of legends than memory, and that this (this youth and relative inexperience beyond Mirkwood) sets him aside from the other elves (at least the "great and good") we meet in LOTR. You know, those things you *know* and then one day you have a mini-epiphany ... where 2 previously apparently disconnected facts merge ... I see Legolas as pre-epiphany!

Thranduil is described wonderfully (*that* portrayal is very close to my own thoughts, so far!) and Glorfindel is the other (Legolas being the first) elf I feel needs more stories. .. and Celeborn - another of JRRTs elves that are against the norm (although it seems to me that the elves we do get to meet are nearly all out-of-the-ordinary, what with Sinda/Noldo marriage, reincarnation, immortality-shedding, half-breeds, and the rest!), probably *needs* some additional stuff, especially pre-Galadriel, as she is such a powerful character (from Cs pov and ours) that he does seem a little over-shadowed, I think I'll check for stories!

The melancholy is so well done, not quite lump-in-the-throat, but certainly induces an inclination to tear-up. The fading of the elves, and the greater sorrow in it for them (in that they *know* more of there own fate/s tham Men) comes across so clearly.

Sorry I've gone on so much, I'll stop now!
Thank you.


Author Reply:
"Swell foop." Does your family reverse words, too? ^_^

I understand completely the problems of conflicting fanon, something I had to get used to when I was introduced to the general fanfic community. 'Take it with a grain of salt and highlight the good parts', I guess is the rule here. :) For instance, I have a hard time reading stories in which Legolas has siblings, just because no two versions of his family will be the same. *sigh* Such are the woes of inconclusive canon. I have a different kind of *thing* for Legolas, I guess you could say, in that I'd love to see him happily married off to the sweetest Sinda in the world, with a big beautiful family! But, of course, that will have to come later. ;)

As far as his age goes, I just went along with the year appointed movie!Legolas, which really has no solid base in canon, but most foundations are shaky at best. I really wish Tolkien had given us more absolutes where his character was concerned so there would be less blind conjecture.

But anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying it, and if you keep your supply of salt handy, you may enjoy the rest as well! :)

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/10/2004
Wonderful melancholy tone that catches the feeling of fading and longing. The time of the Elves is indeed passing, and for Legolas, the end is even nearer.

Author Reply:
It is that. I imagine it would make you feel rather helpless to live to see the tail end of everything you once knew. Actually, I can sympathize a bit; I really don't have much hope for the economy in this country, and it really is beginning to worry me. But that's another story entirely.

MarnieReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/10/2004
Oh, how lovely! It was lovely for me to see Haldir so well recovered, and didn't Legolas look fetching in white and indigo :) You draw Lorien so beautifully I could see it - the flowers and leaves on the stream. Legolas is clearly coming through his trials to a position of maturity and wisdom, but I admit that I like Haldir's down to earth attitude too.

I loved: 'Their love is strong still, but it would break your heart to see how at times they wish to heaven it was not."

And also: 'Sinda, Nando – we all are Teleri, and we understand one another. If I am pensive, it is because I see our end, and it is not far.'

You really have captured that feeling of fading; of everything worthwhile leaving Middle-earth - the loss of elvishness and magic.

And now home? I can't wait to see what Thranduil makes of all of this :)

Author Reply:
^_^ You know, of course, I had you very much in mind as I wrote this. So I'm glad Lorien came across very Lorienistic. And I was sure Celeborn would have had some admirable fashion sense. ;)

Home is on the horizon, but it may take a while longer yet to get there. Still, they're well on their way!

Author Reply: Btw, the problems within the Celeborn-Galadriel relationship that you so masterfully brought to light always remind me of that bit out of A Man For All Seasons with poor St. Thomas More, at least in the way they rephrased it for the movie:

NORFOLK: Thomas, you're dangerous to know.

MORE: Then don't know me.

NORFOLK: I *don't* know you.

MORE: I mean as a friend.

NORFOLK: I AM your friend. I wish I wasn't, but I am.

Such would be a decidedly awkward situation.

LamielReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/10/2004
Now this is a truly masterful chapter. I just loved the image of Legolas in his bath, of course, and the discussion with Haldir is rich and very profound. A beautiful exploration of the different perspectives on the Sea longing, particularly in relation to Celeborn and Galadriel. And Thranduil's story is deeply moving, as is Legolas' nightmare vision of himself crowned Elven king.

Interesting that you've made Haldir a Noldo. He certainly could be, but since Lothlorien is such a mix of different races he also could be Silvan or even Sinda. I always rather liked the idea of him as a Silvan Elf, just because there are hardly any full Silvan Elves in Tolkien.

The bit with Legolas leading Gimli across the arboreal path is very intriguing, and very well done. I do love these glimpses into the deeper, more powerful side of Legolas as an Elven lord. But it's just as well that they come seldom. His nature is to be more playful, and less overtly awe inspiring. So the occasional glimpse of something more is all the more treasured for that.

Lamiel

Author Reply:
First of all, thanks for the great review. :)

But now you've got me all paranoid that I've missed my spelling somewhere! I certainly imagined Haldir as a silvan elf, hence a Nando, from the Nandor, "those who turn back" at the mountains. Did we just cross wires here, or did I slip and make it "Noldo" somewhere? Unintentional, I assure you!

esamenReviewed Chapter: 16 on 3/10/2004
The full rays of sunset streamed in through the many windows and through the lattice work on one wall, from which the curtains had been drawn away, its effect a beautiful elvish pattern of golden dapples upon the floor. Shadows had begun to lengthen and mingle, the breeze evoking the soft music of silver bells upon the drapery tassels. The dwarf had left his helmet and hauberk behind with his gauntlets and axes, so he could not be far.


Hello Coriel -- beautifully done and a pleasure to read!

I especially liked Legolas's interior debate about feeling torn between his mother and father. A lot of readers will identify with that . . .

And the interaction with Haldir is wonderful

Great job! Thanks!

Esamen/Karen

Author Reply:
Chigger got a kick out of the above-quoted paragraph, just because she was in the know and thought it funny that Legolas would stop to admire the decor while unbeknownst to him Gimli was having his own problems. ;)

Again, glad you liked it. I am here to entertain. :)

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