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Stirrings of Shadow by Fiondil	6 Review(s)
Agape4Gondor	Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 1/8/2008
Sorry I didn't get a chance to post my review. Reach this awhile back, but the RW has been zooey! Loved the 'welcome was les heart' - the people of Rohan are definitely skeptical (wary) when it comes to elves! I loved the smack across the head! Good grief, it was a surprise, but deserved and definitely made me laugh, once I got over the shock! I might possibly have expected Aragorn to do it, but Gilhael??? Wow... I guess his having traveled with these three has made him a little more comfortable (?) with them! And I LOL with the reference and their response to Glorfindel's name! Whoo hoo - they better watch out! Wow - anything that has to do with a Balrog-slayer would definitely dampen any levity. Wow again. I LOVED the part with the shepher's hut. Very nicely put and very wise! And very very nice for Thengel. Well done, Elladan! And Morwen's welcome was beautiful and touching. Now to wait for their tale and where the heck they've been! Thanks for another 'stirring' chapter. runs off giggling Author Reply: I think you need to preview your reviews, Agape, before posting them. I had a time trying to figure out some of your typos. grin At any rate, I'm glad you enjoyed this chpaster, brief though it was, so much and that you found much of it amusing. Yes, I think Gilhael, being older and having had to put up with five elves in the last few weeks has lost his fear of them enough to do what he did. And mentioning Glorfindel's name was a stroke of genius on Aragorn's part. grin Facing Elrond's ire might be bad enough but facing Glorfindel's wrath would be a hundred times worse. LOL Still, Elladan, at least, proves that the elves can be polite when they put their minds to it. grin I'm glad you found Morwen's welcome touching. I tried to model it on what little we know of Germanic customs of welcome based on such scenes found in Beowulf. Oohh.... a pun. Bad... very bad. LOL

	Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 12/23/2007
Another lovely chapter! My favorite quotation: Gilhael effected a surprised look, as if the answer were obvious. "But of course!" he exclaimed. "You elves were much too busy hugging trees and singing hymns to Elbereth to pay attention to anything that was going on around you." ::giggle:: Still enjoying the yule-feeling you've created. And your continued use of Anglo-Saxon is very nice. Truely, though, you can't keep side-stepping those funnyfunny moments when people say things that get a severe reaction! Tell us what they said to make Thorongil blush so! lol I like the 'Canterbury Tales' cadence you're going to introduce with the tale-per-chapter plan. I'm still waiting to see if anything sparks between Thorongil and Thandir (or Wídfara and Thandir) re a certain confrontation. ;) I'd be very interested to know how far you're planning to take this story. Personally, I'd love to see it go on for a while, to begin to see Aragorn grow as a leader under Thengel's tutelage. We know that when he comes to Rohan, he's young and in need of growning. I've always had the impression that by the time he moves on to Gondor, he's is fully self-possessed, self-confident, and ready to lead armies (which he does with great élan). I'd love to see you take him fully down that path! Happy Christmas! Shoshi Author Reply: Hi Shoshi and Happy Christmas to you! Now, in this case I purposely do not tell you what Thandir and the other elves say because the POV is that of the Rohirrim looking on. The only other time I did that, I told people that if they truly wanted to know what Aragorn said to Thandir, you could always send me a PM and I would tell you. Only one person bothered to ask. sticks out tongue The 'Canterbury Tales'-like chapters will take up some time and we won't see any personal confrontations, if any, between Aragorn, Wïdfara and the elves until after Yule. I do have an endpoint to this story, but that is not to say that I will not extend it if the muse allows. Frankly, I do not want another epic like "Elf, Interrupted" on my hands if I can possibly help it. One such epic is enough for any writer. grin

Ainu Laire	Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 12/22/2007
What a delight to see this continued- and I am so happy to see Gilhael and the elves all well and good! And I am very happy to see Elladan and Elrohir- so far I enjoy your interpretation of them, though I shall delight in seeing them in private with Aragorn. I must apologise right now, because in the past I have called you "female", and have just learned very recently that you are one of the few male writers in the fandom! Again, my most sincere apologies; there are too many females here, and I forget that there are some male fan fiction writers too grin I imagine that the elves will bother Aragorn concerning his foresights and whatnot. That shall be interesting to see. I loved Thengel's little interception with Thorongil; very true, very appropriate. I do love how you display the king, and I imagine that as Aragorn stays there longer and gets older that the King shall grow closer to him. I do wonder if Gilhael shall stay there the whole time, too, or shall let Aragorn go once he is a bit older and more experienced. Again, I love how much language you put into your stories. I am blown away by your grasp on different languages. You definitely have talent. I am looking very much forward to the continuation of this story. Edoras still must be retaken! :) I hope you have a very Merry Christmas (and if you don't celebrate it, just have a good week and a Happy New Year!) Cheers, Laire Author Reply: I put this story and "Wars of the Valar" on the back burner for a month or so while I finished up "Elf, Interrupted", but now I'm back, though I might not be able to update this story a regularly as I have been, I still intend to complete it. The next few chapters will actually be retelling what has happened to Gilhael and Thandir and why Elladan and Elrohir are there, then we will get back into the storyline of plotting to retake Edoras and deal with the situation in the Westmark. I'm sure there are more male writers of fanfiction than most people are aware of, but I can understand how you would think otherwise, so I'm not really offended. Alright Námo, wipe that smirk off your face, or I'll do it for you. Anyhoo.... I think it's important that we get a male's perspective on the LOTR characters and such and I hope that mine is sufficiently different from how a woman might write about various characters or events to offer a different POV. And a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you, too. I do indeed celebrate Chriatmas though not the same way here in China as I would were I back in the States or even living in Europe. grin

Linda Hoyland	Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 12/21/2007
I'm glad Gilhael stuck up for Aragorn,though i wonder what on earth was said. I never realised before just how ancient Glorfindel is. Another enjoyable chapter. Author Reply: Hi, Linda! Glad you liked the chapter. >>I never realised before just how ancient Glorfindel is.<< And of course that's only how old Glorfindel was from the time of his death. We don't know how old he was when the Noldor rebelled. In my story, "Tad Edhel a Firion" Glorfindel tells Thranduil that he is only a few decades younger than Galadriel and we know that Galdariel was born about 1300 years before the Tree were destroyed. That, of course is purely hypothetical, but there you have it. At any rate, he is indeed quite ancient, even older than Elrond.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 12/19/2007
Well, of course they would tell on him! Poor Gilhael. But he's now found and returned, and we would indeed hear his story that we might understand what has happened to him. Although of course Aragorn wishes to know about the others who disappeared from his hunting party as well. Author Reply: Yes, we will learn what happened to him, Thandir and the other elven scouts, as well as the reason for Elladan and Elrohir's arrival. That should take a few chapters as each person tells their story. Whether we will learn what happened to the missing hunters remains to be seen.

eiluj	Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 12/19/2007
Even those who remembered Thandir, Celegrýn and Gilgirion from before were hesitant to greet them when they saw the two stranger elves, as alike as two peas. Some noticed a marked resemblance between these two elves and the Dúnedain cousins, with their dark hair and grey eyes -- Is it simply that the Twins are twins, and therefore a bit more uncanny than usual (even for elves), or something else? I’m also wondering what the speculation will be about the resemblance between the Dúnedain and the Elrondionnath. Mae govannen, brennyn nîn -- I have to give myself serious kudos for recognizing the plural. The singular I’ve just learned in the last few weeks, and I’m wondering how the connotations might differ for “brannon” and “hîr.” I’ve also just discovered that “hîr” can also be translated as “master” (which Hiswelókë doesn’t give for “brannon”) -- which I find particularly interesting in view of Elrond being addressed as “Master Elrond” by Bilbo and referred to by that title by Glóin. We see a lot of “Lord Elrond” in fanfic (and the films), but Tolkien didn’t use that in LotR (though Elrond is mentioned in the narration as “the Lord of Imladris” and “Master Elrond” (once each). Arwen is “the Lady Arwen” at least once. Celeborn and Galadriel are usually given titles. Gandalf refers to Glorfindel as "an Elf-lord of a house of princes" (which I just realized is probably a reference to Turgon rather than to royalty in Glorfindel's own family), but no one ever addresses him as "Lord Glorfindel" or refers to him as such. Glóin says he sees “Elf-lords” at the Council, but no titles are ever used (how does Glóin know? does he deduce it from their circlets? can we deduce circlets from Glóin's remark?). Wondering what Thandir and the Twins were saying in Quenya. Brave Gilhael! Doing his job of protecting his Chieftain. And Aragorn gets a bit of his own back by invoking Glorfindel’s name (more to be feared than Elrond). snicker Sixty-nine hundred years ago -- Maybe sixty-five or sixty-six? And while we’re on the subject of words and languages, there’s “urîkthôrim,” which would appear to have the famous plural “-rim” suffix that always reminds everybody of Hebrew. Here the “-rim” seems to be Adûnaic. But then there’s “naug” and its plural “naugrim:” while I knew those were words the elves used, it was only recently that I realized they were Sindarin. So why the "-rim"? Have I driven you mad yet? He took a sip from his tankard of ale and then began his tale -- Evil cliffie! Evil cliffie! And a Merry Christmas to you! Author Reply: Actually, when I redid the math (I'm terrible at math which is why I'm a writer, not a mathematician grin) it works out to be a bit more than 6400 years ago [78 years from the fall of Gondolin to the end of the First Age + 3434 years of the Second Age + 2957 years of the Third Age = 6469 years] so I"ve gone in and made the correction. Thanks for questioning the time length. I used _brennyn_ here simply because there is an obvious plural form. _hîr_ can be both singular and plural depending on context. And while Tolkien may never have used specific titles for certain elves, it does stand to reason that Mortals at least would use them out of deference to the Firstborn, even if these titles would not necessarily be used among the elves themselves. Also, in using the less familiar _brennyn_ as opposed to the more common _hîr_ I wanted to convey that the Sindarin spoken in Gondor might have dialectical differences from the Sindarin spoken by the Elves and the Northern Dúnedain, though still understood by other Sindarin speakers. As for the Adûnaic...._urîkthôrim_ is "urîk-thôr-im", literally "orcs (plural) + son + plural suffix", so your whole premise is incorrect. However, there are many loan words from Sindarin in Adûnaic, which makes sense considering the close relationship between the Adûnaic-speaing Edain and the Sindarin-speaking Elves of Beleriand. It's not really an evil cliffie... I just want to have each "traveller's tale" be a separate chapter, is all. grin And a Merry Christmas to you as well. Thanks for reviewing.

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