Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

The Valley is Jolly  by Canafinwe 4 Review(s)
PSWReviewed Chapter: 15 on 11/29/2015
A mortal content in an immortal realm. Hmm...

You describe Gilraen's longing for a life that must have been very hard quite vividly...

Author Reply: Yes, however hard her life was (and I'm sure it was hard indeed), to be uprooted from it and from all she knew and loved (save only her son, of course) could not have been easy. Especially for one so young!

InzilbethReviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/6/2010
This is a superb chapter with a most touching conversation between mother and son. You've really captured the difficulties of Gilraen's situation here. Yes, Rivendell and its people are all that her son has ever known. Its people are his people, but they are not hers. And how hard is that, and yet Gilraen would sacrifice everything for her son. Your comment on her bed being a widow's tomb was particularly poignant as was the ending. Thanks for a really great read.

Author Reply: Thanks so much. My Gilraen's bitterness has its root in this: she's not bitter for the sake of being bitter, but she's filled with sorrow and these feelings of alientation. I'm so glad you liked the chapter!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/6/2010
Poor Gilraen! How hard it must have been for her!

I really like this thoughtful exchange between mother and son-- but these nightmares of Estel's are something that she should discuss with Elrond. Poor little Estel should not be so stubbornly determined to suffer through them alone.

Author Reply: I think Gilraen's burdens are often understated. The fact that she dies in despair is very telling, given Tolkien's writings on a "good" death.

Unfortunately, Elrond hasn't really discussed the nightmares with Gilraen, either. And Estel, of course, is as stubborn as any eleven-year-old child!

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/5/2010
Irmo appears intent on seeing to it this child of the Dunedain appreciate just what that means, even if he has little memory of his earliest childhood among his own people. And I grieve for the emptiness Gilraen knows beyond her son.

Author Reply: You know, I never thought of blaming Irmo for this! Wicked, wicked Vala...

Poor Gilraen: I think her dying words express that emptiness most poignantly of all.

Thanks for the lovely feedback, as always!

Return to Chapter List