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The Cursed Queen of Angmar  by khazar-khum 1 Review(s)
NilmandraReviewed Chapter: 31 on 9/8/2003
That they are a family and love each other comes through very nicely in these last chapters - really throughout the story. You see the Witch-king trusting Ariashal, and you see the delight he takes in his children. He is such a strong person - if those torture scenes were indeed accurate, he has withstood much - more than it seems any of flesh and blood should be able. Because he is strong, one can see where he dares love a wife and children. Yet, I wonder deep inside, if he fears for them? Or if he is comforted, perhpas, by their mortality - that he will enjoy their natural lifespan (which he seems to believe he can protect them through) and know that if Sauron does rise to power again, it will not be within their lives.

I eagerly await the next chapter.

Author Reply: I sincerely appreciate all your kind words. It is very encouraging to know that someone else is enjoying this! ;-D

He is extremely fearful for their safety. He's had a long time to learn all about Sauron, and what that twisted mind can create. This is why he is staying as far from Dol Guldur as he can--Sauron can't exert much pressure on him. Sauron may be disembodied and ringless, but he's still a force to be reckoned with.

To address some of your earlier comments: Ariashal is still rather confused, lost and vulnerable when she has her first serious disagreement(chapter 6). She does not want to spend the rest of her life in a palace, her role reduced to ornament for display on special days. She has begun to hope that she might have a real marriage, and she doesn't want her clumsiness to destroy that.

As for Good/Evil: Tolkien himself said that the stories were not as cut & dried as some wanted to believe them to be. I find it hard to believe that all Nazgul would be identical in terms of personality or biography. To me it seems likliest that at lest a few of them would claim the rings in the hope of improving the lot of their people.

Of course, this is a rather disturbing thought--how many of us, I wonder, have said to ourselves--Heck, I could take that ring & not screw up!





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