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| An Unexpected Meeting by Bodkin | 67 Review(s) |
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| Galathil | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/15/2020 |
| Hi Bodkin once again you have written a beautiful story. Hope someday that Mithrellas and Imrazor will meet again. In the mean time for Imrahil and his family to meet their grandmother would be a special thing indeed. Galathil | |
| Tiinaj1 | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 8/23/2015 |
| I think this was the finest of all your stories that I have read. Thank you. | |
| galathil | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 1/29/2012 |
| Dear Bodkin,I found this story and fell in love with it.I often wondered about Mithrellas and her life.There aren't many stories about her,so it is nice to read one. Espeacialy when she meets with Imrahil and family,before she sails.Hope you do one on Mithrellas in the grey havens very soon.LOL Galthil | |
| galathil | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 1/29/2012 |
| Dear Bodkin,I found this story and fell in love with it.I often wondered about Mithrellas and her life.There aren't many stories about her,so it is nice to read one. Espeacialy when she meets with Imrahil and family,before she sails.Hope you do one on Mithrellas in the grey havens very soon.LOL Galthil | |
| Glory Bee | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 12/5/2011 |
| What an unexpected blessing Bodkin to stumble upon this gem of a story tonight. It is 3 am but I could not stop reading it. I have heard of the elven ancestry of the Dol Amroth lords but never in its fullness in this beautiful and moving way of writing you have. It was very sad and I used up more than a few tissues making my way through it. Since I am a huge Eomer and Lothiriel fan I was thrilled that you included part of their story. I also appreciated the tender moments between Lothiriel and Imrahil. :) | |
| lwarren | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/27/2004 |
| Whew! I'm with Lothiriel...that was some first sight of Imrazor for Mithrellas. Her explanation of the elven ability to remain hidden, or to remain unnoticed was fascinating. You can really tell in this chapter that Imrahil is very much torn about losing his daughter to Eomer...and Lothiriel is absolutely enchanted with the "love story" part of Mithrellas' tale. Even as she tells the story, she is the elder in the family imparting wisdom, both to Imrahil and Lothiriel. Being as she's part of the family, immortal, experienced, and wise, I expect her words had much impact, even if Imrahil didn't like what he was hearing. LOL (Fathers - pretty predictable where their baby girls are concerned!) Another winner of a chapter (I am trying to not repeat myself over and over by saying "gee, Bodkin, that was great! DUH!) :-) linda (You know, in thinking more about the origin of Thanksgiving, the original Pilgrims based their celebration on the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. It's possible the day is set in the Bible and the Pilgrims and later Lincoln carried on the tradition. Just a thought...) Author Reply: It's not easy to have your children leave - and Rohan is a long way from Dol Amroth. Lothiriel and Eomer is a good marriage in social / political terms - but as a widowed father with one daughter who is also his youngest, I wouldn't be surprised if Imrahil would have liked her to marry a local boy. But he does know that his daughter and Eomer are well suited - and having a queen in the family isn't a bad move for the House, so . . . Lothiriel is in the perfect mental state for stories of undying romance! I'm glad you like the explanation of how elves remain unnoticed! I can imagine inhabitants of Minas Tirith trying to tell the stories of the great days of victory and almost doubting their own descriptions of what happened. Myth becomes legend - (was that the way round they said it? Legend becomes myth sounds better to me. No matter.) (Some of these traditional dates are really odd - who, for example, decided to set the date for Easter the way it is? And more importantly, why? They've released a new version of 'Do they know it's Christmas' to raise money for the Sudan here, and somebody last night said, 'Actually they don't. The Christians in the Sudan celebrate Christmas in January.') | |
| lwarren | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/27/2004 |
| My goodness, but Nimrodel was a self-absorbed elleth! Poor Amroth, blinded indeed by a pretty smile,(etc.) and hormones! Mithrellas and her thoughts about the trees and the Silvan Elves' relationship to them was exceptionally elf-y *g*. I love the way the elves relate to the trees, and her description of traveling across a flat land with no trees was almost painful. Even being able to feel the trees not familiar with elves had to be better than being cut off completely. The ambush at the pass was well done - creepy, what with the fog that "felt wrong" and that sound of metal striking stone *shiver*, like the sound of doom, I would imagine. When Mithrellas fell from her horse, I assume the Lorien cloak concealed her from "unfriendly eyes". This was another great chapter, Bodkin - had to laugh at the age conversation when one of Imrahil's sons realizes how much older than Imrazor Mithrellas was. And good for her - never reveal the age of a lady (neither her own nor Arwen's). :-) linda (Thanksgiving - first declared a national holiday by A. Lincoln and he decided, I guess,or maybe it was Congress later, that it would always be observed on the fourth Thursday of November...therefore, it's not a set date at all.) Author Reply: 'More dangerous and less wise' - in more ways than one. I thought that Nimloth had to be selfish, really, to run off at a time like this. You would NEVER get Galadriel abandoning her duty in times of danger. I suppose Melian left Doriath on Elu's death . . . but I think maybe her existence on the 'mortal' plain was probably tied up in his existence and, on his death, she could not remain. And Amroth - well, Nimloth just made it impossible for him to use his brain to do his thinking. Trees not familiar with elves might be quite exciting, in a way, because the elves could build a new relationship (like Legolas in Ithilien) and heal and develop a new forest. The ambush worked? Good - action is hard and fighting even harder. Thank goodness for Lorien cloak's, I say! She probably landed somewhere out of obvious sight among other grey rocks and it was able to affect the vision of those looking for her. The age gap thing is quite weird if you let yourself think about it. Mithrellas returns after a thousand years to see her descendants - and twenty odd generations have passed, yet she was around for over two thousand years before she became their ancestress - which would be forty generations. It's not surprising that elves and men didn't get wed too often. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving - being on a Thursday must mean that lots of people have to take Wednesday and Friday off to make the journeys home possible. | |
| lwarren | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/24/2004 |
| Nimrodel and Amroth...star-crossed lovers if ever there were any! It was interesting to watch Nimrodel's attempts to manipulate Amroth through Mithrellas' eyes. Mithrellas is actually a very practical elleth, if somewhat blind in her loyalty. Maybe not blind...she certainly saw through Nimrodel's little fits and such...perhaps easily swayed by her friend is a more apt description. Amroth knows his duty and should have told Nimrodel where to get off, but as Galadriel noted, he was lost to his "obsession" with her. Question: Was Amroth related to Galadriel and Celeborn somehow? A son, or nephew, perhaps? Just wondering. I loved the way the forest mourned their leaving and how Mithrellas mourned with them. Also, her ending explanation of how Silvan elves, through their more carefree, careless nature could come to harm on the trip to Edhellond revealed a great deal about the nature of those elves. Great chapter, Bodkin! linda Author Reply: You can't help but feel that a couple who head off to safety when their home is in danger don't have a lot of staying power. I thought that Nimrodel was probably one of those very charismatic people who seems to be making a lot of sense when she's in the same room - but the longer you are away from her, the more the bubbles of wonder pop to leave a rather tacky aftertaste. And Amroth of course is also being hormone-driven here - once elves were committed to love, they didn't really seem to find changing their minds easy. (Well, Nimrodel could probably have managed.) One of Tolkien's many possibly threads made Galadriel and Celeborn Amroth's parents, but I decided not to go with that, because I really couldn't see either of them taking too kindly to their son throwing up his duty to chase after an elleth - and felt that Amroth's early training would have made it far more difficult for him to do it. I went with Amroth son of Amdir - who would have been kin to Celeborn, (as was Thranduil,) but wouldn't give C and G the kind of parental authority that might have controlled the situation. (Just started explaining some theory that doesn't come into this chapter. Ooops.) I'm glad you liked the chapter! | |
| lwarren | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/24/2004 |
| Thank goodness for Thanksgiving break! I have a few days to actually sit down and review this wonderful story the way I've wanted to since you started posting it. One of the parts of RotK that caught my eye when I read the book was Legolas' reaction to Imrahil, recognizing a worthy lord and one of elven descent. When I saw this first chapter, I thought how great, because very little is written about this family, yet his daughter goes on to marry Eomer. You write so well and your descriptive phrases turn me literally pea-green with envy. :-) "...the sunrise turn wisps of cloud to molten gold" "...her voice like the song of a flute on the wind" (I love the fact that elven voices reflect the music so inherent to their character) Mithrellas makes some very telling comments to Imrahil during her conversation with him before the children come. I've always thought it very brave that Arwen was willing to give up her immortality to be with Aragorn, but truly, hers was not the hardest road, was it? Mithrellas said it all "You burn like a flame and draw us with the intensity of your lives, but then leave us aching over endless centuries..." Hers is the true tragedy...after all Arwen can join Aragorn after his death, but should Mithrellas die (even of grief), she would not be reunited with her love. She says "I would rather live and remember, than die and forget him." This is just a tragic story, no matter how you look at it. Now she has come back, prior to leaving for Valinor, to see the family she left centuries ago. How sad! And how very well you tell the tale! I was thoroughly captivated, much like Imrahil, and waiting to hear her story. That's what is so compelling about Tolkien's world...the possibilities of "legend becoming reality". Wonderful beginning, Bodkin. linda Author Reply: OK, can you tell me - why is Thanksgiving on a Thursday? It was good to write, because there is information - but not so much that picking through it is a minefield. And there are a few places where you can choose what path to follow - and bits with no information at all! I find it difficult not to get carried away with description (and conversation). And first chapters (with me) get so much more poring over and refining while I decide whether to develop it. I think Arwen's choice was hard - but the effects were possibly harder on poor old Elrond who is left without so many people in his life. (And what exactly happened to Earendil? Where are he and Elwing when he's not piloting Vingilot? Are they stuck in splendid isolation in her tower, just the two of them for ever and ever? Or will they be there waiting for their son?) I'm glad you like it. | |
| SharonB | Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 11/23/2004 |
| How wonderful that Mithrellas remembered to gift her family some things as she left for Valinor, especially the necklace for Lothiriel. She did seem to form a brief attachemnt to her while telling them about her life. And good that Galador did at last understand. It took the loss of his wife to make him realize the problems that his mother would have had to dela with if she had stayed. Her life still continues on both in Gondor and Rohan. This has been a great addition to a hole that Tolkien left in his world. You did a wonderful job handling the characterizations in this sotry. Thank you. Author Reply: I think she did take to them - especially Amrothos and Lothiriel, who reminded her so strongly of her own family. I think a lot of people see things in black and white too much when they are young - as you get older you have a better appreciation of shades of grey. Her inheritance is still there in her descendants - but she is still left waiting for the time beyond the end of days. (The more you think about elf / man romance, the sadder it seems.) Thank you for reading. | |