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Fiondil's Tapestry  by Fiondil 4 Review(s)
SitaraReviewed Chapter: 57 on 3/29/2009
The friendship between Narvi and Celebrimbor is from a point a view even more moving than the one between Gimli and Legolas, nearly two Ages after. And far more tragic. When I think about Celebrimbor, "inexorable fate" is the only thing crossing my mind. As I understood, he too was among the Exiled Noldor and, along with his family, under the Doom of Mandos, even if he didn't take their Oath. His fate and Ost-in-Edhil's destruction are representing for me, evem more that what happened after the War of Wrath, the final blow received by a dispossessed House and the fulfiling of that Doom. "wiping tears"

Such an irony, regarding Celebrimbor's destiny. Tolkien says that the Noldor craftsmen belonging to Gwaith-i-Mirdan wanted to enjoy both Middle-Earth's joy of life and Aman's knowledge , which ultimately made them to welcome Sauron in disguise among their midst. They didn't want power or to conquer, like Melkor or Sauron did, but, taking into account the Three Rings' purpose, they still wanted to "defy " somehow their destiny: to fade if they had chosen to linger on the Hither Shores. Middle-Earth was not anymore their home, as was stated after the War of Wrath, but they still clung to it. Granted, in the end, what they did suited Eru's plans and thusly they helped to bring Sauron to his downfall.

I read again some parts from LOTR books and I recall Gandalf' struggles to remember the password which he had heard long ago. Very nice gap-filler and a very interesting story behind those words. Also, the scene from the movie was very impressive and we had a nice look over the work of Narvi and Celebrimbor. I personally I have to confess that last time I saw the movie, instead of staring at Legolas, I stared long at that Door and , particularily, at the star in the middle of it. "grin"

I love the way how you're using the words, both in Sindarin and in Quenya. "sigh" I'm not able to get even the subtleties of English, let alone Elven languages. Very impressive, from my point of view.

And, speaking about Celebrimbor' single braid, is it something canonical? Or it was his own chosen style, because of some obvious reasons?





Author Reply: I don't think that Narvi and Celebrimbor's friendship was tragic since no doubt Narvi was dead long before Celebrimbor died at Sauron's hands, though granted we don't know when they met and became friends. I'm merely assuming that it was early in the history of Ost-in-Edhil and it was during that early period of the friendship between the two races that the West-Gate was constructed.

The single back braid is actually from the movies. If you look at Legolas from the back you will see a single long braid. When I started writing "Elf, Interrupted" I decided that the elven males wore a single back braid as a House braid, indicating to which House they belonged. This was the custom in Aman at least. I 'invented' that concept as a means of contrasting that braid with the warrior braids of the Beleriandic elves that the Amanian elves found so barbaric. In this fic I decided that while Celebrimbor probably did take up arms during the War of Wrath, if nowhere else, once the war was over he undid his warrior braids and returned to his first love: metalsmithing.

KittyReviewed Chapter: 57 on 3/28/2009
Narvi was only too right - there will come a day when Moria is deserted of Elves and Dwarves and no one will know the password, having to lose precious time with finding it. In that, he was wiser than Celebrimbor.

Great look at another friendship between these two races and how they worked together on this project that proved important even so many years later.

Have a wonderful time away! And hopefully better weather as we have here!

Author Reply: Well, I think Celebrimbor simply assumed that things would continue as they had and that the elves would still be there, or barring that, the Dwarves would still be there. Neither foresaw the destruction of the elvish city by Sauron only a millennium later nor that Khazad-dûm would be deserted and left for a balrog to inhabit. So Narvi's concern was legitimate even if he did not know the reason for it. In that, he was indeed wiser than Celebrimbor who should have taken into account the history of his own people and the destruction of Beleriand. I suppose that he just didn't want to believe that anything like that could happen again.

AiwenReviewed Chapter: 57 on 3/25/2009
I enjoyed reading this. Celebrimbor is one of my favorite characters and there is too little written about him. Thank you for writing.

Author Reply: Thank you Aiwen. I appreciate you letting me know how much you enjoyed this. It would be nice to see more Celebrimbor stories; his was such a tragic one.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 57 on 3/25/2009
Somehow a more delicate relationship than we see a few thousand years later between Gimli and Legolas, but as close, I think.

Nice banter here, and well done.

Author Reply: Thanks, Larner. It was fun to write about "the other elf/dwarf friendship". I think we forget (I certainly have) that there was an earlier friendship between an elf and a dwarf. Legolas and Gimli are not as unique as they or we like to think. *grin*

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