Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search
swiss replica watches replica watches uk Replica Rolex DateJust Watches

Beneath the Surface  by Canafinwe 14 Review(s)
SnehaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/27/2016
This is a such a beautiful story! The bitter exhaustion, the slow revealing of layers until the hidden, kingly element is revealed, so like Aragorn. I think your story shows so tenderly how much Arwen's hope and faith meant to him, it must have been so comforting to know that someone looked out for him and loved him so dearly when most people treated him abysmally

LisaGReviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/15/2010
Brrrrr! I can just feel the bone chilling cold Aragorn suffered. Funny how poorly he lives and is treated, when one day, he will be king. This was a enchanting little story.

Author Reply: Thank you so much. Really, though, I think that is precisely what will help him to be a good king!

RSReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/3/2009
This is a beautiful piece. I will never tire of it. One of my favorites. Again...I am so glad you are posting here.

Author Reply: I'm so glad you like it. It was great fun to write!

Baggins BabeReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/3/2009
What a beautiful and marvellously descriptive story - I could feel that biting wind and Aragorn's despair when he thought he would be refused admittance to Bree. Poor man, the hardships he endured over so many years.

I love the line in the appendices about Arwen watching over him in thought - that shirt is a tangible reminder of that and of her love for him.

Bless Barliman for his kindness - I'm so glad that poor weary Aragorn had some supper after all.

Author Reply: It's certainly nice to know that someone was watching over him, if only in thought. Aragorn must have taken a great deal of comfort from that.

Good old Butterbur... he's so gruff and pedantic (and not infrequently rude to poor Strider!), but he means well!

Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/2/2009
I've been meaning to read this for ages on another site but never got round to it. I'm so glad I did today as it is an outstanding story.I just loved the way you depicted Aragorn's cold and weary state and the hostility shown towards him and then the shirt and the unexpected kindness of dinner. A beautful,outstanding story.

Author Reply: I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I think the hostility, especially, must have been dreadfully wearing at times. Fortunately Butterbur's does not run too deep.

Minerva OrganaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/1/2009
Oh, this was wonderful. Such a fantastic portrayal of the little details of the hardships Aragorn faces in the Wild. Your writing is beautiful, and the ending was just perfect!

Author Reply: Thanks so much! Though Aragorn's life was filled with dramatic dangers and great errantries, I think that the small, daily hardships would have been just as difficult to bear. Luckily, one sometimes finds kindness where one least expects it!

EstelcontarReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/1/2009
I've told you once before, but it bears repeating. I really enjoye your beautifully written, and most perceptive vignette. You really do Aragorn justice. You did a great job of showing us the hard life, he led, and what strenght will he needed possess just to keep going.

Well done.

Author Reply: It's very sweet of you to repeat it, and I'm so glad you like the story! He did have a very hard life (he tells us so himself!), and it's truly amazing that he endured all that he did!

ShemyazaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/1/2009
As with all of your works, your writing is evocative and your characters sensitively penned, perhaps more so than any other fanfiction writer I have come across so far.

Your portrayal of Aragorn is both realistic and empathic. You can actually see the exhausted Ranger with layers of dirty clothing and fully understand why people reacted to him the way they did. The folk of Bree lived in their town with all of the conveniences of the town, which in ME would have meant access to laundry facilities, if only the river and the fact that they only had to layer their clothing in winter to go outside. Most of the time they would be inside beside a nice roaring fire.

Aragorn's life boasted nothing so fine and they had no way of realising that it was because this dirty, smelly, disreputable looking Ranger sacrificed his own comfort, that they could live in what was relative comfort compared to his life.

I can't stress how much I enjoy your writing.

Author Reply: I'm so pleased you found Aragorn to be well-portrayed. You're very right: the Bree-folk would have seen the grime and the coarse, outlandish clothes, and looked no further. It didn't occur to them until after all the Rangers went away just what these bedraggled vagabonds were doing on their roads and in their inns.

Thank you for your delightful feedback!

InzilbethReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/1/2009
I'm so thrilled to see you are posting your wonderful Aragorn stories here, Canafinwe. It's an absolute joy to discover such beautifully written stories that capture so perfectly the essence of Aragorn and this one is no exception. I'm just staggered by all the little deals that you give us and how you turn something so potentially mundane as checking into an inn into a fascinating glimpse of our ranger's everday existence. And Butterbur bringing him his supper was the perfect end. Quite outstanding!

Author Reply: Thank you for the lovely welcome! I'm looking forward to exploring this site: from what I'm told it's a good place to be.

It's sweet of you to review a second time. I'm glad you liked the ending: underneath all the bluster and the disdain, Butterbur has a good heart. I enjoyed exploring it.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/1/2009
What a beautiful description of a horrible night! And bless Barliman so for the dinner brought!

Lovely description of the cambric shirt.

Author Reply: Thank you! Aragorn must have endured a lot of unpleasant weather in his years of wandering, but once in a while he must have encountered unexpected generosity, too.

First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page

Return to Chapter List