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Therefore, I Have Hope  by Emily 9 Review(s)
Frodo3791Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/24/2004
That tricksy Elrond! I know he means well for both of them and perhaps he was very sincere on both stories he told Legolas and Arwen, but I hope he realizes that these two do not love each other. Poor Aragorn. Things are just not working out for him. I have a feeling Legolas is going to be recieveing a permanent broken nose by the end of this.
-Frodo

Author Reply: I like to think that Elrond was sincere with them. He definitely was with Legolas, because he truly fears for his daughter. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions with the story he told Arwen, but it was in essence truth.

Poor Aragorn. At least we all know that he does get the girl in the end.

AnneReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/21/2004
Really clever. Easy reading. Very believable characters. Good job!

Author Reply: Thank you, Anne. Your input is always valued.

LamielReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/20/2004
Ah yes, this is much better! It reads far more smoothly now, and the betrothal is a perfect cliff hanger, this time with more explanation to back it up. Well done. Oh, and I forgot to mention how much I liked Aragorn's thought about Legolas' arrow - "doesn't that dratted Elf use any other color?" Hee!

Author Reply: Well, that's a breath of relief! I'm glad this is more effective. Ha, that's one of my favorite lines from part two!

calenoreReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/19/2004
Orc-haired elf! hahaha!
Poor confused Aragorn! Someone should have explained the whole story to him, that Legolas was not courting Arwen. Was he told that Arwen and Legolas were marrying because someone overheard Arwen telling Legolas that she loved and respected him? Hmmm. Talk about inconvenience!
Once again, good chapter!

Author Reply: I'm glad you liked the pun. I thought Legolas needed some revenge for the 'leaflet' comment.

You'll see about the betrothal in the next part. Yes, poor confused Aragorn!

OakWolfReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/19/2004
(clap clap clap)Well done!Jolly Good!Woo!Loved the idea of Glorfindel and Legolas battling-battle axes,oh my!The honor the elves have is astounding,marrying for duty instead of love,(sniff sniff)so terrifically tragic!Again,well done!

Author Reply: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the review.

LamielReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/19/2004
Ooh, puns in Elvish! Now this has to be good.

The formatting of this story threw me a little bit - if you put asterisks to signal the transition/flashback to Legolas' POV they didn't show up in the posted story. It might have been smoother to work the transitions between Estel and Legolas POV while still keeping a linear timeline. But the tale itself more than makes up for that bit of roughness.

I was grinning at the slow revelation of all the rounds the Legolas and Glorfindel fought - bow, wrestling, swords, battle axe, horsemanship... and all before lunch! My goodness! Of course I expected Legolas to win the archery contest - you might have had a small riot on your hands if he'd lost - but I wonder if he'd really be able to pin Glorfindel. I guess I just visualize Glorfindel as being bigger and stronger than Legolas in my mind. The guy wrestled a Balrog, after all.

Now having Elrond pressure Legolas to save Arwen is a twist - it seems that he realized what was going on with her and Aragorn even before they themselves did. Coupled with the responsibility put on Arwen to give hope to Mirkwood (perhaps a small stretch of imagination required there - I just can't picture Thranduil asking for that kind of help, myself) it makes for a plausible triangle, and lots of good tension between Legolas and Aragorn. Excellent.

I laughed at Aragorn visualizing each of the archery targets as Legolas' head - even after seeing that demonstration with Glorfindel, perhaps sheer testosterone poisoning will drive him to challenge the leaflet. I still like that nickname, though I guess it ought not to be overused. Oh, and I am glad that you explained where the Twins are, and mentioned Gilraen as well. I was wondering about them.

Nicely done. I hope that RL allows you to update regularly - I'm enjoying this a great deal.

Author Reply: I'm going to work on the timeline and see if it can't be smoothed out.

I'm not sure that I'm convinced Glorfindel of Imladris is the same as Glorfindel of Gondolin. I myself see him as a warrior (as we are told in Appendix A) and an advisor of Elrond. Therefore, he'd be as strong as any Elf. Legolas, on the other hand, is a Wood-elf and an archer. He's been climbing trees and firing that bow of his for years. His upper body strength must be something awesome.

So glad you still like it!

LiannaReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/19/2004
I absolutely loved your description of the competition between Glorfindel and Legolas. I felt as though I were there, watching them beat the stuffing out of each other. Wow!

The rest of the chapter confused me a bit, though. I found the timeline hard to follow, and I'm still not quite sure what happpened before what.

Author Reply: Glad you liked Glorfindel and Legolas!

I'm sorry about the timeline. I went back and fixed the spacing so that different sections are obvious. I'll definitely go over the part again and see if I can't smooth it all over.

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/19/2004
Watching the contests was a lot of fun! I can't believe Glorfindel broke Legolas's nose. And I was amused when Elrond refused to let them in the house. He didn't even trouble to be too polite about it. He'd seen this before, you could tell!

I have to say I'm so glad you've let poor Gilraen appear. She seems to have vanished from most fanfic. I also like the way you use the canon fact that Elrond saw Aragorn's love of Arwen even before he told about it. But Elrond is so manipulative!

Author Reply: One of my pet peeves if leaving Gilraen out of stories. I like sticking to canon as much as possible.

Elrond might be sneaking (and fibbing) a bit, but he loves his daughter! And maybe in his heart of hearts he knows that Arwen and Aragorn are fated for each other. He's delaying the inevitable, perhaps.

LOTRFaithReviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/19/2004
What! That isn't how it is supposed to happen!! Hmm... A couple of different points of view:-P Aragorn thinks Legolas is mad at him, Legolas thinks Aragorn is mad at him, Legolas thinks Arwen is going to die, and Elrond sees a secret in Aragorn's heart... Hmm.. Poor Aragorn:-S Please post soon! I am looking forward to seeing why Arwen and Legolas are now 'betrothed':-)

Author Reply: Everyone's all mixed up. Nobody's very happy right now, and things aren't going to get better immediately.

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