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Neath Anor, Ithil, and Gil  by Larner 14 Review(s)
Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/13/2009
I loved this and it seems most appropriate for this season.I love to imagine the North restored and Aragorn in his rightful place.What a clever idea of Ruvemir's!

Author Reply: Oh, am so very glad you think so, Linda! I, too, love to think on Aragorn able to return at last to find Annuminas is rebuilt into the capital it was meant to be! And of course Ruvemir would be so clever!

CeleritasReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/10/2009
As soon as I saw the word "sculptor" in your story I started going, "Please let it be Ruvemir, please let it be Ruvemir..." Very nice way to rework the stone. But though I'm all up for scriptural references at this time of year, I'm curious as to how the quote at the beginning fits in other than a general reference of reworking things: this stone has already served a high and mighty purpose, and is being restored to it. As far as I can tell the only people who rejected it were the forces of the Enemy.

Author Reply: So glad to have Ruvemir revisit my laptop. I think he's a bit confused, as he was introduced via the Toshiba, and I now have an HP Pavilion. He seems suspicious of it, and has resisted other attempts to tempt him to return.

True--it was the Witch-king's people who destroyed the building; but the stone has found a new place and new purpose. And now that Elendil's statue is no longer viable we have instead a depiction of Frodo.

Anyway, thank you! A joyful Easter and Passover season to all!

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/9/2009
Beautifully written!

Even Frodo would have liked this sculpture of himself. For it does not show him as a "typical Gondorian hero", nor as the Ringbearer. It shows him as the storyteller and scribe AND as a hobbit.

I'm quite sure that no other could have done this job better than Ruvemir!

Author Reply: Oh, I'm certain you are right, Andrea. And NO one could do better than Ruvemir!

Thanks so!

inzilbethReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/8/2009
How wonderfully appropriate! A lovely story, Larner.

Author Reply: I'm so pleased you think so, Inzilbeth! Thank you so.

SunnyReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/8/2009
Ah – ”That fic” is _Angainor_, in case you didn’t figure it out. You know, that story _still_ makes me shudder, even though I haven’t cared to revisit it after you published it. Which makes it a very successful fic, I suppose – for certain values of “successful”.

I tend to favor happier stories, though. Though pain and tragedy (in carefully measured amounts) have their places even in those. There are even a very few of my favorites that make chills chase one another up and down my spine. And one or two that always make me cry.
I am a true sucker for happy endings, though. Or at least – completion (as there are certain stories that won’t support a true Happily-ever-after without getting twisted into a pretzel. Which makes my illogic-detector start howling)


Author Reply: "That fic" makes me shudder, too. I'll be spending a few days with my former college roommate, and hopefully will get the next chapter of Rings done while there. Now I need to get going or I'll not make it the licensing bureau and complete everything else I need to see done before the training I have to go to this afternoon for my job before I start my drive southward.

Take care, and a joyful spring to you! I'm celebrating Easter, and other friends are celebrating Passover. Wish I could attend a Seder dinner tonight, but I'll probably pick up some KFC along the road.

SunnyReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/8/2009
Waste not, want not. And recycling is an admirable concept. (And did the piece that eventually became a sculpture of Frodo “discuss” its disposition with Ruvemir, like the stones for the memorial in Minas Tirith?) ;-)

Is the Muse quietly creeping out of whatever hole she appearantly has been mostly hiding in (except for providing you with short items) since That Fic? I hope so. I am hankering for an update of your longer fics. If it will help, I have some cookie-bribes for her. The cayenne-and-chocolate cookies of my latest batch were particularly popular, despite certain necessary adjustments to the recipe (couldn't use butter, due to a guest's allergy to milk products)… ;-)


Author Reply: Oh, I do suspect that having found it no longer properly depicted Elendil, the stone was perfectly happy to do so for Frodo, and let Ruvemir know that fact!

The Muse is allowing advancement at the moment of "Stirring Rings." I'd hoped to have the latest chapter there posted, but became ill with migraines and found myself not working on anything that requires much in the way of thought or concentration. I have that chapter mostly done--need to finish it up and go over it for continuity and search out the errors. Plus I have a good portion of the next chapter for "Or Perchance" done as well, and need to get THAT done.

Now I must get up and head out to get my drivers license renewed--it's my birthday Monday, and the bureau won't be open then.

The chocolate in those cookies sounds wonderful, but not the cayenne--I suspect the acid reflux would object violently to that. At least I have no problems with milk....

Thanks so, Sunny!

ArianneGReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/8/2009
Oh, indeed! Elendil would've been mighty chuffed to know that, I'd think! He'd probably consider it as partial payment for his debt--he was bested by Sauron, and Mandos must've had to counsel him some before he could go on--especially with Isildur his eldest coming to such a sticky end courtesy of the Ring. If Elendil had details about at least part of Frodo's journey--I can imagine he'd feel rather guilty (misplaced though it might be) in the Halls of Waiting if Elendil was anything like his descendant Aragorn in temperament. He'd probably be thinking that had he managed to hold out a bit longer, or been a tad luckier, or his son possessed of a stronger will, Frodo would've never needed to leave home and kin behind and die by inches (nearly) in Mordor. Frodo however would be blushing madly if he ever knew where the stone came from; that there'd be so many statues of him all over the place would've flummoxed him. Probably insist it wasn't right for him, the dear silly hobbit.

Oldies are the best goodies, really--and perhaps only old stone, great and noble in its original form but shattered from its original purpose, then later renewed and remade into a new purpose and design as honourable as the old, much like Frodo himself, would capture the Ringbearer's spirit as it truly is now after the Quest--the hints of the promise that Bilbo saw and nurtured in his heir kindled through trial and hard-earned grace into the full glory it was always meant to be. And the irony--delicious indeed! Now is the Kingdom truly renewed, when even the meanest of broken things has found new purpose. And your quote--not being Christian, I'd forgotten it was Holy Week; but your story is very much in keeping with Easter and Christ's sacrifice. Indeed, the stone that was thought unworthy of serving any great purpose has been raised by the Builder to become the keystone of the magnificent Edifice! Your writing, suffused with this theme, never fails to lift my spirits. And LOL at Ruvemir's clever play on words! Worthy folk, all of them.

Author Reply: Thank you so for these comments and observations, ArianneG. Yes, Frodo and Sam managed to see things done properly to allow for the finish at last to the very evil Elendil died in an attept to dispel.

I am Anglican, so we are definitely observing Holy Week at the moment, and I am heading out soon to spend Maundy Thursday night, Good Friday, Easter, and then my birthday Monday with one of my best friends. Together we will celebrate the renewal of the season much as Gondor under the Telcontars did each year on the anniversary of the destruction of the Ring. If that theme is visible in my works, it's because the Master put it there in HIS works first.

Indeed, worthy folk indeed! And it was nice to find Ruvemir again willing to pay a call! Thank you once more!

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/8/2009
What a great gift for Aragorn to have in his garden and showing Frodo as scribe also. I would love to have a statue of him myself and of course of Sam also - and Merry and Pippin, if such could be managed! :)

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: I'd rather like the model for the memorial Aragorn had raised before the Citadel of Minas Tirith, myself! And this is one pose I doubt Frodo would have criticised too much, really.

Thank you so very much, Antane.

KittyReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/8/2009
Would you be surprised that I saw the word 'sculptor' and knew that could only be Ruvemir? *grin* Glad to see him again.

Love the symbolism to use a piece of the ancient Citadel to build Aragorn's new home in Annúminas. And Ruvemir is right - I'm sure Aragorn would appreciate the irony to sculpt Frodo from the remains of the statue of Elendil. After all, Frodo managed what Elendil fought and died for - the fall of Sauron. And to place this new statue in the King's garden is just perfect :)

Author Reply: Well, of course it could only be Ruvemir--who else? It was wonderful that he agreed to visit with me again!

Oh, yes--this was how Elendil died, doing his best to see to the destruction of this manifestation of the Shadow, a goal that was reached only through Frodo's own sacrifice. No, I'm certain he'd approve.

All is being renewed, and as much as possible the old is being mixed with the new that the continuity with the past is clear. And for the King and his family, they will always have a memorial of Frodo as he was before he truly became one with Arda Marred.

Thanks so! Am so glad you enjoyed it!

FiondilReviewed Chapter: 50 on 4/8/2009
A lovely story, Larner, and a lovely moral: that even that which has been shattered beyond its original purpose can still be molded into a thing of beauty for the enjoyment of all. Very apropos for the Holy Week. It was also good to see Ruvemir again.

May you have a blessed Easter.

Author Reply: Thank you so, Fiondil. I doubt that Elendil would begrudge seeing his damaged statue redone, and particularly for such a purpose, particularly as it's a given other statues of him will be raised here in what was once his city. And had it not been for Frodo the ruins would undoubtedly have languished for at least another age of the Sun.

Yes, it was wonderful to have an excuse to include Ruvemir again. He has another story in the works, but I don't seem to be making much headway with it.

Thank you so very much, and may Holy Week be uplifting for you as well.

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