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| Weeping Iron Tears by ErinRua | 4 Review(s) |
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| Darkover | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/7/2011 |
| Dear ErinRua: This is a most appropriate tribute to the Man who was Aragorn's friend, kinsman, and support for so long, throughout so many years of exile. Aragorn's friendships did not begin with the Fellowship, and stories like this serve as good reminders of that fact. I especially like the title, for the life of the Dunadain Rangers was a stern but not loveless one. Thank you for writing and posting this. Sincerely, Darkover | |
| Nessime | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/8/2005 |
| I remember reading this when it was first posted at HASA - in fact, the faint scent of a "familiar pipe" in the last paragraph was one of the many wonderfully evocative details that I noted then. In re-reading it this time I was struck anew by the very apt choice of words in this line: I stand upon fertile earth blessed by the blood of our fallen... The etymology of bless traces it to the Old English bletsian, bledsian, "to consecrate, make holy," from Proto-Germanic *blothisojan "mark with blood," and originally referred to the blood spinkled on pagan alters. This word was chosen in O.E. bibles to translate L. benedicere and Gk. eulogein, both of which have ground sense "to speak well of, to praise"; those words had been used to translate the Heb. brk "to bend (the knee), worship, praise, invoke blessings." (Romanized as barak; Pronounced baw-rak'; ref. Strong's Dictionary) Those who fell on the Pelennor most assuredly "consecrated" the fields with their blood, but for Halbarad especially it could also be seen as barak; he knew full well that the throne of Gondor was Aragorn's by birthright. There's a fascinating bit of word play in the Genesis story of Jacob and Esau involving the words blessing/berakah and birthright/bekorah, and how the two are inextricably connected. And to receive the blessing, there must first be the shedding of blood (ref. Gen. 27 where Issac instructs Esau to hunt and prepare game for him to eat so that he may give Esau his blessing, and therefore validate Esau's birthright before Issac dies). As ever, your writing is moving, evocative, and oh, so true to Tolkien's vision. Blessings and peace to you, always. :) ~Ness | |
| Lindorien | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/6/2004 |
| This one made me cry the first time I read it. It is still very moving. And a lovely companion to the Fields of Green. Lindorien | |
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/24/2004 |
| This does a nice job of capturing the melancholy tone of much of Tolkien. It seems to me that the story of LOTR is one of loss as well as gain. Nobody emerges whole from the fire and you have shown us one of the sad sacrifices. Author Reply: Hello Daw ~ Thank you for your comments. You feel much as I do, that loss was as much a theme with Tolkien as triumph, that no gain was without cost. I'm very pleased you enjoyed this vignette, as it came to me quite unexpectedly. :-) Cheers ~ Erin | |