Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

The Queen's Orc  by jodancingtree 7 Review(s)
powerwriterReviewed Chapter: 30 on 8/23/2004
Ah! Radagast is back! You know how much I adore him :) What has he been up too? It'd be nice to know if he found his istari brothers.

Rose SaredReviewed Chapter: 30 on 8/18/2004
Ah, at last some of Canohando's champions come out of the woodwork, so to speak! Horay! Looking forward to seeing Rivendel through his eyes.
Rose

Author Reply: Oh, Radagast had to turn up again - I missed him!

jo

TieAillin AlcarionReviewed Chapter: 30 on 8/17/2004
Oh, and another thought. It would be SUPER cool if someone as old as Elrond or even older recognized Canohando for who he was before (if he is truly first-generation)! Perhaps Glorfindel is still around? Possibly recognizes something like a birthmark that all others think is just dirt? Or a habit of motion, like always scratching his ear back to front when thinking? And then says his REAL name?

Oh, shoot. Wish I had time to write!! But if you want it, take it, with gladness!

Smiles,
Tracey
Walking towards Reunions with Elves?

Author Reply: Oh my, what a glorious idea! Unfortunately Canohando is already well-established, from way back in Following the Other Wizard, as being about 1000 years old. He told Frodo in that story that he was just "old enough to go to war" when the Witch King came to Mordor. And he confessed to Arwen that he murdered his own brother when he was a child, so he couldn't have been one of the original Elves who awoke under the stars.

Too bad I hadn't thought of that - what fun it would be to write such a reunion!

jo

TieAillin AlcarionReviewed Chapter: 30 on 8/17/2004
Oh, JOY!!! I'm so glad Radagast is still around!

I've been following this closely, Jo. Thanks for writing such wonderful stuff!

Just thinking here; is Malawen in the very first stages of becoming an orc? I'm thinking that with the twistedness she's already showing physically, and the darkness in her spirit, that if she had not been rescued or had been abducted a second time she might have gone all the way had she survived it.

Smiles,
Tracey

Author Reply: Oh, I'm so glad you're reading, Tracey! It's nice to hear from you again.

I don't think Malawen could really become an Orc without the direct agency of some power of evil: Morgoth, Sauron, or Saruman. But she is certainly under the shadow of evil - "Orc-marked" as she expresses it - because of her response to the abuse she suffered. I've thought of her as an Elf who is leaning toward Orkishness - as Canohando is an Orc becoming ever more Elf-like, tho' he'll never totally become one...

jo

esamenReviewed Chapter: 30 on 8/17/2004
But I will not see the Ringbearer's sworn brother dragged behind a horse into Rivendell. Unfasten that rope, and I myself will lead.

Whew! I'm sure glad that Radagast showed up! Poor Canohanos's feet!

I was surprised that the elf didn't follow up with a question about the halfling who helped kill the bear . . . Nice work, keeping Frodo's legacy alive in Canohando's and Radagast's memories.

I look forward to every chapter you post, and there's only one thing I would change -- they are way too short. Just love this story! Thank you! Happy typing!

Author Reply: I think perhaps the Elf's greater question, in his own mind, was why he felt he could believe what an Orc told him. He's gotten to the point that he thinks Canohando could be capable of good as well as evil, and that idea is enough to blow a big hole in his inherited prejudices.

I'm so glad you're enjoying this - I feel like it's dragging on and on, but I find it hard to leave any of it out...

jo

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 30 on 8/17/2004
That last bit set me thinking. Malawen does see Canohando clearly, which suggests that she is not all in shadow. That's encouraging. I'm so glad to see Radagast again. I should have remembered that he was still around but somehow I forgot.

Author Reply: No, the Shadow overhangs her, as Canohando said, but she hasn't given in - she still hated to kill, even for food, back in Lothlorien. And she has enough integrity to feel guilty.

jo

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 30 on 8/17/2004
So Radagast is back! I'm glad to see him, for I think that his patience will be needed when Celeborn is confronted with reminders of the past. (For all that Galadriel called Celeborn wise, his wisdom is somewhat buried to my mind.) And now someone with a long memory will be there to testify to the truth of Canohando's history. Arwen was Celeborn's granddaughter: I wonder if he understood her choice, and how he will take the news of her death?

Author Reply: Yes, for all his wisdom, I'm not sure how Celeborn might have judged an Orc - he has more reason than most to hate them. I've often wondered why he remained in Middle Earth after Galadriel and Elrond left. Perhaps he felt he should stay until the last Elves made their final choice, to go over the Sea or to fade to insignificance - he would be the only Elf leader of proven wisdom who remained, I think, for Thranduil was always suspicious and rather insular in his thinking. I've been trying to trace Celeborn's history & figure out if he was ever in Valinor, but I'm not sure.

jo

Return to Chapter List