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| The Sailor and the Sea King's Daughter by Bodkin | 5 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Denise | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/8/2007 |
| I'm not entirely sure why I plucked this particular story out of all your many offerings, but I'm so happy that I did. I really loved this. It has a wonderful and compelling depth despite its short length. The legend that Finduilas recounts is perfect, very high-myth and Tolkienish but with a poetic feel of its own, too. (I had just read "The Little Mermaid" and so drew some very loose parallels with that, although I don't know if that was at all your intention.) The ambiguity surrounding the location and time fit very well; the reader can draw his/her own conclusions to fit their personal vision of Arda, plus it adds to the "legendary" impression. Finduilas and Boromir make excellent bookends for the central story, as well as a contemporary link to Middle-earth. I love the ending, with Boromir's sweet memory of his long-dead "elvish" mother and his finally meeting one of the immortal elves - to ask a very pertinent question. :) One question: Do you think elves have pointed ears? I noted in a reply to an earlier review that you didn't think they'd be able to tell the mystery woman was an elf. I think the story works either way, as I had just assumed that they could, although in retrospect it makes the old mother's reluctance a bit odd. Then again, a bedraggled and mute elf might not have been her idea of the perfect princess anyway... Author Reply: I'm sorry to have been so long in getting round to answering this! I'm delighted that you enjoyed it - it was, I think the first story that I wrote and I seem to recall having thoroughly enjoyed working on the rhythm of the language. I think Finduilas would have relished the elven element of her heritage just as much as the far more obvious Numenorean ancestry - and certainly can't help but think that it added a certain something to the make-up of, at least, her younger son! I wasn't thinking of the Little Mermaid at all - but certain legends just sort of transcend time, I think, and are part of many cultures. I certainly know more about the Middle-earth background now than I did when I wrote this - and I know that there wasn't an Elven Sea-King - unless you count Cirdan ... which would, I think, put an entirely different twist on the tale. (No, come to think of it. Much too late.) But then, I'm not of the people to whom this was a legend. And legends and myths - well, you sometimes wonder how they became part of popular culture. Do elves have pointed ears? Yes, I think so. Although not as pointed and sticky-outy as I've seen them in various illustrations. But they could just be a personal deformity - like an extra finger - if you don't know anything about elves. And knowing she was an elf might not help, either - I mean, elf/human relationships don't tend to have very happy outcomes, and mothers want happy - or at least advantageous - relationships for their children. I thought Boromir would be very indignant at being called anything other than a proud Numenorean - got a very firm idea of his own worth, young Boromir, even at this age. And not, I think, one much given to flights of fancy. Poor Boromir. And poor Finduilas. They didn't have very long to be together - but maybe, like Gilraen, she would have found it difficult to endure his long peril. | |
| Nancy Brooke | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 6/13/2004 |
| Excellent! The story within the story ... the ending returning to the future, as it were ... not a word out of place. Great job. Author Reply: Thank you. Actually the central story came first - before I started doing any of this. Then I realised how it fitted in with Boromir and his family. I really enjoyed writing this. I'm glad you liked it. | |
| Hiro-tyre | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 4/22/2004 |
| Lovely. Very nice. Shall I point out that the parents of the House of Dol Amroth were Imrazor, a Numenorean, and Mithrellas, one of Nimrodel of Lorien's attendants? Probably you already know this, which is why I'll just applaud you for telling such a nice legend. It reminds me of The Selkie Girl, a short story by an author whose name I forget. But it's very nice. Author Reply: I'm sort of working on the theory that what happens once will probably happen again somewhere, sometime. Arpharion and the Sea King's daughter are representing that idea. They are not (probably) from Dol Amroth, but another house (I don't know which, because I'm not entirely clear on the geography.) Also, I know she's an elf (possibly swept out to sea from the Anduin), and you know she's an elf, but they didn't - after all, if she never spoke, they didn't really know anything about her at all, did they? | |
| Chibi-Kaz | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 4/22/2004 |
| Ah, beautiful. Like a piece of art by Jim Fitzpatrick: a single simple subject, rich in details. I'll bet Faramir could tell anyone who asked which noble house it was! :D From your reply to a review: I know just what you mean about brooding over fics secretly. But, like children, you eventually have to let them out. Cheers, Chibi-Kaz Author Reply: Of course Faramir could tell you which noble house - and exactly how they were related to him, both by blood and marriage. He wouldn't even have to look it up. It's so nice to be able to talk to people about all these twisted imaginings. | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/22/2004 |
| This story is so well crafted it appears effortless, as though you scanned some unknown Tolkien manuscript and posted it here for our perusal. Author Reply: This story was actually the first one I wrote, so I spent quite a lot of time going over it and adjusting the phrases and selecting the words to make it flow like the ritual telling of an old tale. It's so nice to have others reading them and commenting. I forced my younger son to read one once, but mostly I brood over them in secrecy. | |