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| Handmaiden of Lorien by Marnie | 19 Review(s) |
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| Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/10/2013 | |
| What a delightful read! Well-written and I love how you weave the gentle,subtle sadness behind her justification of having to flee...It is nice to see this side of her character after reading 'Oak and Willow'... | |
| whitewave | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/17/2008 |
| Another addicting and different "portrait" of Melian. My favorite line was the last one--it works so well to explain why she left Doriath after Thingol died. You also did a good job in describing the tempestuous Thingol and I especially enjoyed it when you compared him to Osse. I'm enjoying reading your work very much and I have Marta to thank for leading me to this treasure trove. Author Reply: Thanks Whitewave! And to Marta too! I seem to be constantly inspired to see if I can do a different take on things. I suppose my Elu Thingol fangirlism is coming through :) | |
| whitewave | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/17/2008 |
| Another addicting and different "portrait" of Melian. My favorite line was the last one--it works so well to explain why she left Doriath after Thingol died. You also did a good job in describing the tempestuous Thingol and I especially enjoyed it when you compared him to Osse. I'm enjoying reading your work very much and I have Marta to thank for leading me to this treasure trove. | |
| Kalima | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/21/2005 |
| Ah, so besutiful. From the sketches of the Silmarillion come some lovely stories, and the fleshing of the skeletons in your hands are my favorites. (If that is not repulsive a way of putting it.) NOW she makes sense to me. I'll never see her any other way. Thank you! Author Reply: LOL! I suppose it's a bit disconcerting when you think about it, but I know what you mean :) Thank you! I'm so glad you think she makes sense now. I feel a little more sympathetic towards her now too :) Thanks! | |
| Sulriel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/19/2005 |
| Beautifully done! Author Reply: Thanks :) | |
| adn_heming | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/19/2005 |
| Wow. I know you don't like Melian, Marnie, but you really made me feel for her here. This is a beautiful vignette, and wonderful insight into Melian. (Now, if only the people who don't *like* Thingol could do the same for him.) (post the others from yuor journal! You know you want to! *g*) And yes, I must echo the question everyone's asking too. What MIGHT Elwe have said to her the minute he got out of Mandos? 8} Just becuase he might tell his kin to back off on her, doesn't necessarily mean HE will. Author Reply: *g* Thanks! Actually I just don't like super-perfect, serene, know-it-all Melian. I have this resistance to goddess-types, I suppose, or maybe just stereotypes. I quite like this powerful but unselfconfident, wise but feckless Melian - she has the flaws I need to be able to sympathise with her :) I might post the Eol one :) As to what Elu said to her... I can't imagine it would be pretty, but then he would have felt sorry for being so mean afterwards, and maybe even said to himself that it was all his fault in the first place. All would be well in the end, I think :) | |
| Dot | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/19/2005 |
| Now this is interesting! I’ve always felt a little uneasy about Melian. In many ways she comes across as wise, otherworldly, untouchable somehow. But then, enchanting Thingol is a nice story, but what about keeping him from his people for so long? They loved him too. They stayed behind for him. I suppose that’s probably too simplistic a view, though! Anyway, you’ve done a tremendous job here. As always, you’ve written an incredibly beautiful piece, made the world about which you write come alive for us and allowed us to see this character in a completely new way. You actually had me feel real sympathy towards her! You’ve really captured the sense of someone young for her kind caught completely unawares by a love so deep that it changed her world. I just loved her descriptions of Thingol – how could anyone not fall in love with him?! There’s such a wonderful sense of his strength, his dignity, and his love. I was particularly touched by the line “In all things he was magnificent, even his mistakes." I thought that was a marvellous summation of his character. Of course he made mistakes and he paid for them dearly but boy, they were the stuff of legends! You made me stop and think for a moment when I came to the end. I always figured that apart from grief, she fled Doriath because she never really belonged there. But I never imagined the confusion she might have felt, the helplessness and simply not knowing what to do. People may think that it was she who had kept them safe but as long as he was there, she was safe. Without him, she was nothing. And that certainly makes me see that even the Maiar are not the all-powerful, indestructible and perfect beings that I think we sometimes see them as. I thought it was interesting that she doesn’t show much remorse, though. She just begs us to understand and is afraid that he might not. And I suppose I do understand a little better now. What their reunion will be like is something I can’t even begin to imagine. There’s no doubt that she loves him, and she was always there for him in life, but if he was the kind of ruler that he appeared to be, abandoning his people is one of the worst things she could have done to him. Sometimes I wonder how Valinor could possibly be the peaceful, happy place it’s supposed to be ;-) I found this really thought-provoking and as wonderfully, insightfully written as all your work. Bravo, Marnie! :-) Author Reply: I’ve always felt a little uneasy about Melian. In many ways she comes across as wise, otherworldly, untouchable somehow. But then, enchanting Thingol is a nice story, but what about keeping him from his people for so long? They loved him too. Yes, in a way it's such a faerie story - the 'man steps into elfland and when he gets back, centuries have passed' thing - that you tend to forget that this is Melian doing *exactly* the same thing as she does at the end; pursuing her love for Elu at the expense of his people. It should have been obvious then that she didn't care about the rest of them, only him. you’ve written an incredibly beautiful piece, made the world about which you write come alive for us and allowed us to see this character in a completely new way. Glad you liked my Thingol too :) He's my second favourite elf in Tolkien canon, so I'm always glad to sing his praises. He doesn't get enough respect, IMO. if he was the kind of ruler that he appeared to be, abandoning his people is one of the worst things she could have done to him. Sometimes I wonder how Valinor could possibly be the peaceful, happy place it’s supposed to be ;-) Lots and lots of forgiveness is required, I feel. Otherwise it would soon turn into a war zone, with all the 'you killed my brother!' 'Well, you stole my ship/Silmaril' etc going on :) Anyway, thanks for a fascinating review! Marnie :-) | |
| Eruanneth_Luin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/19/2005 |
| Ah, Marnie, thank you for this poignant tale of the fragile strength of Melian and her love for Elu Thingol. The romantic encounter, the tragic separation; you weave it together with your delicate touch to bring forth the mystery of this unique couple. Her surprise and delight at first seeing one of the Children and her desire to learn more of the mind of Ilúvatar through him was superb. That she saw more in Elu than merely a ‘pretty Elf’ is obvious. Her humbleness in admitting that it was Elu that the people followed and her ultimate despair and helplessness at his loss would certainly explain her ‘desertion’ of Doriath. What WILL Elu say to her when he re-housed? Is there a possible next chapter? Please say yes Author Reply: Thanks for the review, Eruanneth! Yes, I think people miss the fact that the Maiar and the Children of Iluvatar are actually on an equal footing in the sense that both were directly created by God. In that sense Elu is as much of a wonder and marvel to her as she is to him. Why didn't Iluvatar create Elves and Men with awesome power like the Ainur? Could it be because He gave them something different but equally valuable, in the same way that Elves and Men have different but equally valuable fates? I'm glad that came across :) People do seem to be so mystified as to what she saw in him, and I just wanted to balance the score a little. No next chapter, I'm afraid. But if this fits in with SoOT we can at least be sure that he forgave her in the end :) | |
| L*M | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/18/2005 |
| I like Melian throughout the Silmarillion, right up until she runs away. There's not much that can redeem that. Doriath's position was bad, for many more reasons than Thingol's death, and her reaction was to take care of the stupid Silmaril and then hightail it out of there. Running away like Melian did always smacks of cowardice, and in her case it was hugely irresponsible, a complete failure to fulfill her duty. After reading your story, I still think Melain's actions were cowardly, selfish and unfaithful. But I can understand and sympathize with her. Thingol, however, was a different case. I didn't much like him in the Silmarillion - I was solidly on Beren's side, and on the side of my own race - but your story gives me a much different picture of him. Exulting in his radiance, shivering in the blast of his grief, patient, capable, a king, the heart of his people - and gentle! That is one trait I, reading the Silmarillion, would not have attributed to him. I like your Thingol immensely. All the same, I will have trouble thinking all of his mistakes "magnificent". His little rant to the Dwarves was stupid. Memo to Thingol: You may be beautiful, magnificent, one of the Firstborn of Eru, millenium old, but you are NOT immune to sharp, pointy things, even if the wielders are ugly and uncouth. And, um, I have a question pertaining to that part about "the Children". Did Melian have those feelings of protectiveness, and the desire to teach and learn, for all the Children? How do you think Thingol's contempt for the Second Children played with her, did she agree, argue, let it slide? Your story is beautifully written and gives a wonderful perspective. Thank you. Author Reply: Thanks for the review L*M :) I'm sort of your opposite - I don't like Melian even from her first appearance, but I do like Thingol. I think Melian's feckless disregard for anything but her own love for Elu is apparent in her first action - of enchanting him and making him disappear, so that those of his people who really cared about him missed the boat to Valinor and wandered around in grief and berevement for centuries. I suppose it should have been clear from that moment that she didn't care about anything but him, but we still expect her to do something to protect the people she's ruled for millenia; we expect her to have at least *learned* some responsibility. But no, she lets them down again. I find it hard to have even minimal sympathy for her - so this is a way for me to understand her which allows me not to be quite so harsh. I think if you try to see Thingol *not* from Beren's POV, but from the pov of his own people, he is a much more sympathetic character. The story of Beren and Luthien sets him up essentially as an antagonist in Beren's story - so you're not going to get a balanced picture of him there. But I think if you take the big picture he comes out as someone very attractive, though in a Brian Blessed, larger-than-life sort of way. For a start, his whole nation gave up Valinor because they cared more about him - that has to tell you something. As far as the rant to the dwarves go, I agree it was stupid, but it showed a blatant disregard for his own safety that is rather magnificent, in a Viking warrior sort of way. No one can say that Thingol is a coward who runs away from a confrontation. No one can say that he cares or even thinks about his own personal safety when he reacts to things. There are characters in Viking sagas who react just like this, and would consider it contemptable weakness and cowardice to pay attention to miserable details like whether your enemy is armed and you're not. It's the same kind of stupidity as Feanor riding into the Balrogs, or Fingolfin challenging Morgoth - there are some things you don't put up with, even if it means you're going to die as a result. I suppose it's a matter of interpretation :) As far as gentle goes, I suppose I could have used 'forgiving' or 'softhearted' instead. When he sees Beren beaten and in pain he's moved by pity, he relents. The same thing goes with Haleth and her people, he doesn't want them there, but he allows himself to be argued round, and once he's accepted them there, he takes responsibility for them and sends an army to aid them when they're attacked. He's not implacable and merciless the way Feanor and Maedhros are - he might have a tendancy to mouth off, but he has a good heart. And as far as Men goes, I'm not sure that I agree with you that he had contempt for them. We know that he was 'troubled in dreams' about Men long before they arrived - he had some kind of foresight which caused him to ban them from his lands. We don't know what it involved, but I think it's a fair bet to assume it was something to do with the fact that Men (or a Man, at least) would cause the death of his daughter and (indirectly) the downfall of his kingdom. That, I think, is enough to excuse some antagonism on his part. And Melian - with her foresight - must have been quite in agreement that they should keep them out, if possible, except that she must also have known that it wasn't really possible. Terrible position to be in! Is there any wonder that when it came to it they both reacted quite badly - Thingol overreacted, and Melian underreacted. Anyway, sorry about the essay! Thanks for the review! | |
| Ms. Whatsit | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/18/2005 |
| This is a wonderful short story. It's rather a nice change from all the stories I've read that show Melian as perfect and omnipotent. Of course she's neither. She's rather like Galadriel, only less queenly. Both are married to leaders who are more truly connected to the land and the people than their wives are. This pattern--an earthy, involved king and a holy, remote queen--repeats itself a lot in LotR: Aragorn and Arwen, for instance. And even Eomer and Lothiriel, who's Numenorean and therefore closer to the Elves than Eomer. And your writing is so beautiful. You're amazing when it comes to describing the glittering, magical world Tolkien envisioned. Author Reply: It's rather a nice change from all the stories I've read that show Melian as perfect and omnipotent. Thanks! It was all those stories which finally drove me up the wall enough to write this one, because it doesn't make sense that Melian should be perfect - if she was perfect she wouldn't have left her people to be massacred. But then the Valar themselves aren't perfect and make mistakes. It bugs me, I suppose, that she gets depicted as perfect when she's so feckless. Fascinating insight about the pattern of kings and queens! You're right. It's obvious with Elu/Melian and Celeborn/Galadriel, but I hadn't thought how it extended to the others. That's quite a role-reversal from the typical masculine=spiritual feminine=material dichotomy isn't it? Good for Tolkien! And thank you :) | |