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

Tangled Web  by daw the minstrel 22 Review(s)
lwarrenReviewed Chapter: 12 on 7/6/2004
Oh my...*g*...oh no!...*vbg*....Poor Legolas! He will never hear the end of it now! I loved the way Thranduil ALMOST let him get away with it, before he put his arm around him and questioned him about his poor attention span during his lessons! *snicker* Well, daw, great chapter..I am behind on reading and reviewing, darn it, but haven't had access to a computer like I normally do during school (darn it twice!). Ahhhhh, Eilien the LOVER, isn't he just too funny....."I'm tired.." yeah, ok, pull the other leg...."I have need of my wife..." hmmmmm, to "unpack", did he say? Those supper scenes were priceless with the family....Eilien finally gets to tease Legolas, and Thranduil gets to tease Celuwen (that was definitely a direct hit by the King!), and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Sooooo, the dwarfs and Hobbit have been spotted at Esgaroth drumming up support from the people there....the road goes ever on.....;-)

linda

Author Reply: It's a good thing that Legolas has spent years as the youngest of three brothers because he's undoubtedly learned how to take teasing! I picture Elves as very good at teasing. The ones who greeted Bilbo and company at the Last Homely House kidded the Dwarves for being nervous at crossing a narrow bridge, saying things like "Don't dip your beard in the water!" It was annoying as heck actually.

I loved having Eilian to write about again. I missed him. I type his name and he jumps to life and starts racing his horse and making sexy jokes and carrying his oh-so-lucky wife off to the bedroom. ;-)

LKKReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/30/2004
Rats! I had hoped that Hobbit's story would clear Sinnarn of the lying accusation. It bothers me that everyone thinks he lied about the one glass of wine. I hope he's cleared eventually.

I guess the word 'hobbit' isn't commonly known in Mirkwood, is it? I wondered why no one recognized it as race name when Legolas kept using it as the child's name. It's a bit cruel the way they're teasing him. He didn't get a good look at Bilbo. And with the cloak and possibly wearing the hood up, Bilbo wouldn't have looked all that different from the dwarves. His feet, a Hobbit's most tell-tale feature, probably couldn't be seen in the underbrush. I don't blame Legolas for thinking he saw a dwarf child. What elf would think that a hobbit was in the woods? It's odd enough just to see dwarves in Mirkwood! Let alone a hobbit.



Author Reply: I didn't think they would know the word 'hobbit.' Tolkien says it's what the hobbits called themselves, but the Elves called them Periannath. The term 'halfling' is in Common and I thought it would be one that both sides would know so it could serve as a bridge to identify Bilbo.

Legolas loves your sympathy and says you have obviously never lived with two older brothers if you think THIS was cruel. You should hear them on the subject of the time he fell off his horse!

esamenReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/29/2004
Hello Daw! I was out of town for a week and couldn't wait to get back and catch up with the doings of the Woodland Realm! Two more gems of chapters! You have truly outdone yourself this time . . . nice work with making Thranduil such a good grandpa . . . and showing Alfirin's anguish . . . so beautifully drawn for us. This story is awesome and should put you in a LOTR Fanfic Hall of Fame for inventive blend of canon and imagination! Not to mention perfect writing and storytelling!

I was completely blown away by some passages--

“I suppose so,” Thranduil sighed. “I must admit I would not mind having some of the dragon’s treasure come our way though. I would like to replenish our armory and lay in wealth to buy what we would need to survive against any further move Sauron might make against us. The long struggle against him has depleted our resources, and my people may have needs that I would want to meet.”

This is a wonderful way of reconciling Thranduil's interest in the treasure with his ethics of leading his people . . . it kind of preserves his good reputation and gives a plausible explanation of his un-Elvish desire for the dwarvish treasure.


With no warning at all, he had remembered Mithrandir’s warning about Smaug at the White Council meeting. What was it he had said? Smaug was one of Sauron’s creatures and could do great damage in the north if he were not disposed of. Slowly, he began walking again. Could there be any connection between Mithrandir’s words and the Dwarves actions? He did not see how, but with Mithrandir, one never knew.

Now, this is a gem. I hope that you give us a little glimpse of Gandalf slipping Ithilden a hint of the part he played in making all this happen. Then Ithilden can walk around with a bemused expression on his face for a while. And please give us a Bilbo-Legolas conversation too, somewhere along the line! That will be a wonderful chuckle!

Well, enough of this back-seat driving. Please carry on as your own talented heart sees fit. Confetti and roses thrown at you from the stands! Bow and enjoy the applause! Thanks so much for all your hard work in sharing your vision with us.

Regards,

Karen

Author Reply: Thank you so much, Karen. You really know how to make a writer feel good!

It is kind of funny to think that the Elves have no idea right now that Gandalf was involved in sending the Dwarves their way. It's just incredible to me that the Elves and Dwarves actually almost come to war here, given that they are on the same side in the fight that really counts. And the fact that Gandalf is a friend to both kind of shows that.

Blending my world into the canon of The Hobbit has been a challenge but it's also been a lot of fun. I'm working on the next chapter and asking myself stuff like "Why did Thranduil take all those warriors with him when he went after the treasure? Who did he think he was going to battle anyway???"

As I've working on this, I've also realized how few and far between stories based on The Hobbit are in fanfiction. There are hobbit stories, yes. Stories of Frodo, Sam, Pip, and Merry, and also stories of every one of their multitudinous relatives, but few stories about Bilbo's great adventure with Thorin Oakenshield. I guess that shows the influence of the movies.

daw

DuchessReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/29/2004
First off, WHAT is with the teensy tiny print of the last two updates? I'm having to copy and paste it elsewhere before I can read it. *confuzzled*

Loved it that Sinnarn seems to be handling things so well and isn't complaining about his punishment. *sigh of relief* Poor Legolas, getting teased about not knowing what a Hobbit was. LOL I'm hoping this means no more dark circles under Alfirin's eyes, now that the family are laughing together again.

Eilian...*snicker, snort* That RASCAL! I'm so VERY glad Celuwen is such a good match for him. *giggling*

As always, the blending of book canon with your story is nicely done as well as greatly appreciated. A very good job, my dear. :):):)



Author Reply: Really??? The font looks normal on my browser. I'll have to ask Nilmandra about it. Is my story the only one showing up like that? And is it only the last two chapters?

I think Sinnarn's situation is gradually easing, but this has been hard on him and those who love him. He's really being very good about it.

I was SO glad to have Eilian home again. I've missed writing about him. And he obviously missed Celuwen. ;-)

NilmandraReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/29/2004
Legolas is never going to live this down. All this interaction with 'Hobbit' and the dwarves are a perfect setup for disliking Gimli and being amused by hobbits in LotR. His family will tease him to the end of Arda for this one. Now there is a disadvantage of the long life of elves!

Celuwen the politician! I love it - her husband is carrying her off for some passion and she is still calling advice back to the king about how to handle the settlement! They need to go practice :D

Author Reply: LOL. All very true! Maybe Eilian has been away for so long that Celuwen does need reminding of what she's missing. I'm sure she remembered soon.

French PonyReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/28/2004
Wstfgl. I am waaaay too sleepy to be writing anything, but I will leave a note now, or else I won't ever.

So Legolas becomes the family joke for his concern over Hobbit, eh? Yeah, sounds about right. That's what families do. They will talk about this for years to come, which is probably one reason Legolas did not choose to get married -- imagine the toast potential for this one!

On the other hand, I'd like to have seen any of the others do better. It's difficult to be smug when you're talking about a critter that you've only heard about in classes and never seen in real life. And we all know that Legolas will more than make up for it not too long from now when he passes Balrog Identification 101 with flying colors.

Author Reply: I agree! I think it was natural for Legolas to identify Bilbo as something he more or less recognized. He probably even thought he was really smart to know that female Dwarves have beards.

And actually, I had never thought about the fact that he hadn't seen a Balrog before. I suppose Gandalf did the real identification job there.

Sleep is good, FP.

Estel_Mi_OlorReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/28/2004
Yay Eilian's home! How exciting! He really does have this amazing ability to make people laugh, because I was smiling nonstop every since he entered the chapter. I hope Eilian will stay home awhile. Everybody really missed him.

Poor Legolas, a Perian indeed! I can imagine if Eilian had not been so "tired" there would have been much more teasing. But then again, he can't remember everything, now can he? :)

I can see the Battle of the Five Armies is coming up very shortly, and I am very excited to see how you will write it with your characters. I am happy that Thranduil has a reason for wanting some of the treasure-I didn't want to believe that it was just his greed. Thranduil wouldn't be that greedy, and put the lives of his warriors at risk just to satisfy his um....greed... I know there is much slaughter ahead. I won't say anything-hoping not to be justified on that score.

Keep writing!

Author Reply: I loved having Eilian to write about again. I missed him (and so did Celuwen).

Poor Legolas indeed! I figured that the elves might not know the terms "hobbit," because that's what hobbits call themselves. The Elves would call them Periannath. The term "halfling" is their name in Common and that's the word that allowed Thranduil to make the connection.

The Battle of the Five Armies is a very big event and I'm a little intimidated by writing it, but it should be interesting to do anyway.

nessieReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/28/2004
Yay! Aww, now they're picking on Legolas! Even Thranduil is amused! So now Ithilden is suspicious of Mithrandir, as he should be. That old wizard is sneaky, he is. Now they're going slightly easier on Sinnarn too, but only slightly. He's taking his punishment very well, if it was anybody else I'd think they'd kill themselves from the humiliation. And yay! Eilian's home! Those settlement elves are always causing trouble.... I loved this chapter as always, update asap!

~nessie~

Author Reply: Legolas can at least take some glum satisfaction in knowing that he's lightened his family's mood a little. They're all enjoying ribbing him. And Sinnarn is showing what he's made of now. He's not complaining and he's facing his situation well. Good on him!

White WolfReviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/28/2004
It was so funny when the truth about 'Hobbit' was revealed at Legolas's expense. Eilian sure had fun with it. I love it when he calls Legolas brat.

Eilian and Celuwne are so cute together.



Author Reply: I like writing about Eilian and Celuwen together. I think I'm going to have to go back and write about the year after they first married when it was Eilian working in Ithilden's office.

Fortunately (?) for Legolas, he has had lots of experience being teased. He's the youngest of three brothers after all.

tigerlily713Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/28/2004
Great chapter! I hadn't thought about Gandalf's reasons for wanting to destroy Smaug. I guess it is obvious, but it had never occured to me. Can't wait for more! Lily


Author Reply: Maybe Gandalf's reasons for sending the Dwarves on the mission to the Erebor were obvious to Tolkien, but they weren't to me! When I was getting ready to write this story, I was very surprised to read what Gandalf had to say about how worried he was about Smaug and how Sauron might attack Rivendell and that's why he was happy to help Thorin Oakenshield get a party together to go after Smaug. It's cool though, isn't it?

First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page

Return to Chapter List