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Bear Me Away!  by Armariel 2 Review(s)
AntaneReviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/15/2006
A strange journey indeed, but wonderful that he got through it and defeated his enemies. Reminds me that patients are sometimes told to imagine defeating or containing their illnesses in such a way, though probably less dramatically! I loved the idea of candles in human form for that is how Elves really look like - so full of light and how even Frodo appears in a dimmer form for those they can see them with their heart like Sam and Gandalf and Faramir. I forgot to mention in the last chapter, poor Elrond, having all that guilt for thousands of years over not being able to stop Isildur from leaving with the Ring and I thought Frodo's guilt was bad! My sister and I were having just that same wondering shortly before I read this - why didn't Elrond just take it and throw it away himself - paralysis of the will is a great explanation. You could see how much Frodo was straining in the movie and just couldn't do it. Have you seen the new behind the scenes documentaries of the films? There's one neat, unused scene when Sam is shouting for Frodo to throw it in and Frodo is looking so lost, child-like, confused, vulnerable and then he looks at Sam and you can see him thinking "Oh good, Daddy's here and now I don't have make these grown-up decisions all by myself." It's a very interesting expression, not at all like the finished film, not even when he says "I'm here, Sam" which is the closest to it. Okay, now that I've written a novel of a review, I'll sign off.

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)


Author Reply: Oh my...hadn't heard that one (about patients defeating their illnesses etc.), I thought it was my own idea, but hey, if it works! A friend and I were discussing the scene with Elrond and Isildur--I had forgotten when I wrote the story that it wasn't in the book, but that's ok, I'm not above using movie elements in my fanfics, do it rather often in fact. She was looking for theories as to why Elrond didn't make Isildur throw the Ring in, and was asking some of us for our opinions. My first (smart-alecky!) reaction was, because if he did, there wouldn't be any story! Then I came up with the theory that the Ring had paralyzed his will just as it paralyzed Isildur's and Frodo's, and needless to say, she liked that one much better! She was toying with the idea of using it in a fanfic of her own, and she came up with a first chapter, but I don't think the rest ever materialized, and then I thought, well, why don't *I* do something with it, since I did come up with the theory? And I figured, well, surely poor Elrond would have suffered some monumental guilt over his failure worse than Frodo even, being an Elf and immortal and powerful, not some puny little mortal hobbit who at least has an excuse....and so the underlying idea of "Bear Me Away" was conceived, and the rest of it gradually came into being, and so instead of it all being on one side, in the course of the story Elrond and Frodo could help each other overcome their guilt together!

Thanks for the "novel of a review"--I love the really big ones!:D

~~~{~@

Author Reply: P.S. Oops...I haven't seen that outtake but would very much like to, it sounds really interesting!

hugs
Armariel
~~~{~@

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 2 on 9/18/2005
Yes, quite a different vision than mine, but still fascinating.

Author Reply: Thank you! Even more different than I expected, actually, but I never quite know what ideas the Muse is going to dump into my head while I'm writing, and that's a big part of the fun of it! I think I got rather caught up in mythology, with the idea of the hero's purification by trials of water, fire, blood, the "Confrontation with Nothingness" and the Eternal Feminine, and the Shaman's journey to a higher plane and symbolic death and rebirth, water as a womb symbol, and so on and so forth. I think it's rather nice Tolkien says so little about life in the Undying lands, so we can just kind of invent our own version of it, although I'm aware of the challenge of writing about a place where all conflicts must be internal, since there can't be any bad guys....

But I do think I've soaked up quite a bit from you, both consciously and unconsciously! And from other authors as well but I'm thinking from you mostly........

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