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Celeritas' Birthday Bash 2010  by Celeritas 5 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/2/2010
Tempered in the fire. A great temptation to place before him, and I'm certain he felt he'd been able to fight it....

Author Reply: I'm certain he felt so, too. Hubris is always a butt.

cathleenReviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/31/2010
Poor Boromir, but I am glad he passed the test.

Author Reply: For now, at least! It must have been difficult to stop thinking about it after that.

LinaewenReviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/30/2010
Wow! This is really powerful!! In all my wondering about what Boromir might have been offered by the Lady, I never thought of something like this -- but it fits. I like how you paint Boromir here; considering Aragorn as King, full of good intentions, faithfully supportive and loyal to the Company and to Frodo -- and yet, there is that vague sense of disappointment that Aragorn is leaving him, and that single thought of "not yet, not before it has been of use" when he thinks of the Ring. And that's what changes everything, so that his resolve to not harm Frodo is truly tested once more later, when his resolve is at its weakest.

A most excellent tale which I love very much -- and I thank you for being willing to attempt it as part of your Birthday Bash!

Author Reply: Thanks!

I think that any sort of temptation scenario would have to be as innocuous and as in keeping with the tested's character as possible--Galadriel is a whole lot more subtle than the Ring is. It's only when Boromir begins to tease at what he would have had to have done to get the Ring that he rebels and realizes he's only been offered a fantasy. I'd like to think that his desire not to betray the Company and especially the hobbits was what caused his swift repentance when he actually gave in.

Thank you very much for the review--and for the prompt itself! It was fun to work with!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/30/2010
Oh, yes, definitely this looks like the shape of Boromir's test.

I love the implication at the end though, that this could lead to a Boromir-lives AU..

But I also like that you are ambiguous with it. Very nicely done!

Author Reply: Maybe... or maybe it's just him speaking out of bravado, or maybe his passing the test means that, when he does fall, he's able to pull himself out of it in time to do some good... who knows?

Kaylee ArafinwielReviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/30/2010
Ah, and so Boromir, too, is tested, and passes the test...for now. But I think, in the end, though he failed he passed as well. As Fiondil, my atar indonyo, says in "Drawing Straight with Crooked Lines" (through Lord Namo), Boromir had to do as he did, and no other could have done it. He saved Frodo, and therefore saved Merry and Pippin, too. If Boromir hadn't died there, then the others might have in his place.

I don't think I know Linaewen, but I hope Linaewen enjoys this as much as I did.

Be at peace, son of Gondor...

Kaylee Arafinwiel

(who loves Boromir)

Author Reply: Well, from the descriptions afterwards, it looks as if everyone was tested. If Boromir had not done as he did--who knows? It was certainly the catalyst for a number of events that had, ultimately, a good ending. One of my favorite AUs of all time (it's up for the MEFAs this year) does a slow reveal of Boromir being the one to meet Frodo and Sam in Ithilien. It implies that everyone else (Faramir included) is still all right, but you get this really chilling feeling for what's going to happen next.

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