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Elvenhome  by Soledad 4 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 18 on 1/20/2012
At last all alike know Meril's story.

Author Reply: Yep, there was quite the guesswork going on, especially when this story was first posted to FF.Net. The Silmficcers had the wildest guesses about her indentity, and I was quietly laughing to myself.

UT frogReviewed Chapter: 18 on 1/8/2012
I am thoroughly enjoying your very hard work. The research alone is impressive. You write with power. Until I started reading Fiondil's works on Aman, I would never have glanced this story. I am very glad you are working on this again. Your work is much appreciated.

Author Reply: Thank you for taking the time to review. :)

Yes, this is a very research-heavy story, and the fact that there are so many different versions doesn't make it any easier. I'm glad that it has finally unblocked itself and hope I'll be able to work on it more regularly in the future.

FiondilReviewed Chapter: 18 on 1/6/2012
An interesting retelling from various points of view, Soledad. Still getting a kick out of Legolas' repartees. I'm looking forward to hearing Meril's side of the story.

A lot of writers (I'm not one of them) still stick to the Gil-galad son of Fingon version for a variety of reasons. I have no problems with it myself, but I made a conscious decision from the very beginning that in my stories he would be the son of Orodreth and Finduilas would be his sister, as Tolkien apparently intended when he died. I don't think it matters which version you choose so long as you're consistent.

Author Reply: Oh, I'm very consistent with it, no worries. *g* Part of the reason why I do it is that the Silm version makes him part of Fingolfin's House, and I'm very fond of that branch of the family. Yes, they had their faults *coughsTurgoncoughs*, but both Fingolfin and Fingon were great heroes and, IMO, good Kings, and I preferred the High Kingship to remain in their line. Perhaps the Professor's late efforts to make all good things come from Finarfin's line has to do something with it. I'm definitely no fan of Galadriel.

Legolas does grow on you, doesn't he? I did not originally intend to give him such a large part, but the sneaky Elf simply took over when I was not paying close enough attention. ;)

As for Meril's side of the story - she has just made me write something about her confronting Maedhros, which I hope to finish and post on the weekend. Really, these characters keep doing what they want, half the time. How are we supposed to keep a coherent storyline going?

Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 1/6/2012
I was so happy to see this update!

Oh, so we finally know just who Meril is! Gil-galad's mother, of course...

Despite the darkness of the tale that's being told, I must say how I love everyones interactions, how well they know each other, and how they tease each other. :) I also loved the descriptions of all the beautiful clothes!

Poor Celebrian, she's hurting so much, and is so alone, really... I hope that she can start to heal and make good friends soon - I'm really looking forward to her meeting Olwe and Arafinwe. :)

I hope you continue to be inspired and post the next chapter - or other stories - soon!

Author Reply: I had my great, evil fun making her GG's mother - it's so annoying that mothers and wives are barely around and even less frequently given any names in Tolkien's tales. And Meril was a character that had fascinated me from the first time I came across her in The Book of Lost Tales. It is a shame that she got ejected from the later mythology.

I've already written small fragments about Celebrían meeting Arafinwë, but they will belong to a later chapter. I hope I'll be able to come up with more, soon.

Thanks for the kind words and the encouragement. It's greatly appreciated. :)

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