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| Wood-elves by daw the minstrel | 31 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| mystarlight | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/1/2019 |
| The sword dance is awesome. Love Thranduil and his friends. Wonderful characters full of life. The only bad point is that it ended too quickly. Thank you for your story. Author Reply: Thank you! I see you're on here and ff.net. The review reply system here is great. I liked trying to imagine what Thranduil and his buddies were like when they were young. | |
| Eirinn Leigh | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/22/2016 |
| Oh Goodness! It's a good thing Legolas - or forbid, Eilian - do not know of what their father and keepers got up to when they were their age! Author Reply: No kidding! No wonder they had to swear not to tell one another's children. I liked the chance to write about Oropher. He's an interesting figure. | |
| endorearwen | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/12/2013 |
| Very entertaining story, Daw! So nice to see Thranduil as something other than the 'Elvenking'! Oh dear, how I do see glimpses of Eilian and Ithilden in this vignette - perhaps they are not so much like one parent or the other as I had thought! ;-) Thoroughly enjoyed the experience of seeing the friendship between Beliond, Maltanaur and Thranduil before they were 'important' too! Thanks for telling me about this one. I'll definitely be looking for more once I get through the Legolas series! Author Reply: I'm still not sure I have the canon right for this story. Tolkien was maddeningly vague sometimes. And I suspect Thranduil would not be pleased if his sons did some of this stuff or knew he'd done it. On the other hand, Oropher rolls with the punches. Now there's an interesting characer. Glad you enjoyed it. | |
| Agape4Gondor | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/16/2008 |
| What a great tale - especially the last line! Honestly, I don't know how this happens - I thought I had read everything you'ver written (big fan here) but I missed this one. When I get a moment, I'll have to go back and look at the rest of your 'list' and see if there's anything else I've missed. I truly loved this - especially the little things - like Oropher stroking the leaves... but the axe-spinning and sword dancing were exciting and breath-taking! Great job. Author Reply: Thank you, Agape. I remember having a hard time picturing these three when they were younger, and I'm still not sure I have the canon of the early Second Age worked out right. But this was fun and I'm glad you liked it. | |
| Kalima | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 9/15/2006 |
| Hi Daw, I just read your story here. I've been wandering all over in my spare time, so I was delighted to go back over my emails and see Jasta's recommendation to catch this one. It was delightful! A young and rather carefree Thranduil . . . I've never seen him like this. The story provided a rather good insight into how the line of Oropher ended up ruling wood elves, though I would welcome a story that evolved that line more, because I never quite understood it. Nice repartee. I meant to copy some parts I liked best to use here, but then I kept reading. I also liked to see how Thranduil avoided worse trouble by getting back his own (and so preserving their honor) without bloodshed. Yes, I can imagine what that insult would mean. I have read the Silmarillion, but I forget it. Was Doriath sacked by the dwarves? I would guess from your story, it must be the place they were after the necklace, right? Oh yeah, Celeborn of Doriath. I think some of this is coming back to me now. (And I don't really mean you should write me and tell me -- I'll be rereading it again soon to help out some facts in a fan fic I'm writing.) Anyway, I'm supposed to working on many projects here (Yes, I'm at home -- I would never do this if being paid by someone.) Thanks for writing this. It was very real to me, and had a good flavor of an earlier time. Author Reply: Thanks, Kalima. This was a great opportunity for me to think about a young Thranduil, and a young Maltanaur and Beliond too. I had to sort of rewind their history in my mind to guess at what they might have been like. You're right that it was the necklace with the Silmaril that caused trouble between Elu Thingol and the Dwarves, and Dwarves did sack Doriath. Then later the Sons of Feanor came, which was even worse. I have trouble sorting all this history out too and always have to look it up. I've probably got some stuff here wrong because this story was a birthday present for Nilmandra, so I didn't have her beta it because I wanted to surprise her. She's the one who keeps me on the right track for canon. | |
| pipinheart | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/23/2006 |
It is nice to see Thranduil in his younger years, with his freinds Beliond, and Maltanaur. They seem to became good friends. It seems Thranduil was even cautious as a youth and one who could think on his feet. I don't like thier commander that well. Kinda interested in his father and how much alike Thranduil is to him. Good job, loved it! Author Reply: It was interesting to try to imagine Thranduil as a young elf. I felt sort of like his sons, unable to picture him as anything but an adult. Wouldn't the sons like to hear this story? :-) | |
| erunyauve@lycos.com | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/7/2006 |
| >>Beliond shrugged. “What was he like in Doriath? Did he drill you in the proper way to hold a rattle? Make you polish your toys and line them up just so? Tell you he despaired of your ever becoming even an adequate elfling?” Thranduil could not help laughing. “He saves his most scathing remarks for you wild wood elves. He is trying to teach you to exercise some sensible caution.” I love the mix of cultures in this story. By the time Legolas comes along, Thranduil hardly stands apart from the Wood Elves and his children don't even know the difference. >>Beliond waited until Laegcened was well out of earshot, then took his time expressing his opinion of the captain’s parentage, physique, and personal habits. Thranduil listened with interest. He was always trying to expand his Silvan vocabulary. Hee! And Legolas thinks he's the first to have heard Beliond's expressions of delight. Author Reply: Thinking about those cultural mixes was interesting. I love it when canon suggests some problem that wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise. Thranduil looks so permanent in "The Hobbit," that it's hard to realize he had to adjust to living among the less wise and more dangerous. | |
| Noor | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/3/2006 |
| Daw, What a fabulous story. I came back from a great holiday, feeling a little blue only to be heartily cheered by your story. It was lovely to read about young Thranduil, Beliond and Malthanaur.....I also though that you were going to put in Thranduil and the 7 knives! It was a real insight into these "youngsters" - as well written as I would expect from you....you know Thranduil and your OCs so well! Thank you! Noor Author Reply: Thanks, Noor. Glad you had a good holiday. Coming back is often pretty grim. I had fun doing this. I was trying to imagine Thranduil choosing to be Silvan rather than Sindarin and also to think of what these three would have been like when they were a lot younger, like thousands of years and no Dagorlad yet younger. Knife throwing is so last year! Thranduil needed a new trick. :-) | |
| Sadhbh | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/2/2006 |
| Hello daw I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this. It is fun to see Thranduil, Maltanaur and Beliond as youths. I can certainly see that Beliond has not changed a bit over the centuries! I really like your Oropher. Thranduil is similar to him but not so rash, I think. I would really like to read about Oropher's fall at Dagorlad. It obviously had an impact of Thranduil and made him the king that he is. ~Sadhbh Author Reply: Thanks, Sadhbh. I had fun writing it too. I hear that Gwynhyffar is planning a story about Dagorlad. I'm looking forward to reading it. I don't think I've ever seen one. | |
| The Karenator | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/26/2006 |
| Oropher was an absolute delight to see! I wouldn't mind seeing more of him. In the short time he was on screen, you did a marvelous job of creating a visible character. I'm always amazed at how you can mold the essence of your characters in so few words. I especially liked how his feelings about the dwarves and Doriath bubbled up--for lack of a better way of describing it. I could feel the emotion in his reaction. I also smiled when he trailed his hand over the willow branch. Thranduil might have been reminded of his mother, but my thought was he was like someone who had just stepped off a boat full of yahoos doing his rendition of kissing dry land. Ah, really, it was a lovely moment, but I can't get over my glee at seeing the merry trio of youngsters I know well as grownups. You also did a great job of showing Thranduil's reserved nature in contrast to the 'less wise and more dangerous' wood elves. It was obvious Thranduil liked and respected his new people, but he wasn't quite one of them yet. But there's nothing like bonding over a haughty dwarf that needed taking down a few notches for solidarity. I think Thranduil was surprised to hear himself described as a wood-elf, but it was an important moment for him. That's who he was. Perhaps not by birth, but choice, and perhaps that's even better. I love this line: “Paah,” Laegcened spat. “Then you can ‘lead’ your friends straight to the manure pile.” It has a direct meaning and it also has deeper meaning that gives Thranduil something to chew on. He has responsibilities and he has choices. Loved it. Great story, Daw. I embarrassed to tell you how excited I got to see this. It had everything: Oropher and three of my favorite characters. Author Reply: Thanks, Karen. I had a great time trying to figure out what these three would have been like as youths, given the circumstances and the times. I really do think Thranduil was more restrained than his father, but Oropher made the wood-elves love him somehow. I think he was always one of them, just temporarily out of place. | |