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Eärendil’s Tale by Bodkin	72 Review(s)
Elvenesse	Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/28/2005
I'd never thought of that before; but I like the idea of Elwing and Celebrian being together, mourning the children they may never see again. The same of Elrond and Eärendil - father and son both losing a child to mortality. ouch I very much like the way you portray the Valar: great and powerful, but definitely not human. I have real trouble with them - I hate the way they abandon Men, and Middle-earth, and the exiles. I suppose the way they measure time is to the elves as the elves' measurement of time is to men. So maybe it is simply that those three Ages are almost nothing to them. I like the idea that Eärendil can see Arwen and the line of Kings to come. Author Reply: It's one of the really good side-effects of writing this - suddenly something just hits you and a whole new layer appears. Elwing and Earendil can't really be parents to Elrond - he's x thousand years old now and doesn't need a nana and ada, but they share a bond that no-one else does (with a sort of Melian-the-Maia exception). That in itself must make them close. The Valar are difficult - they have a touch of classical god about them, although they are rather less brattish - and I can't relate much to the way they just let Morgoth get on with it, so I think they have to be working on a different plane. Able to focus intently for a century on a single bloom, but not able to see how a bitter winter can affect mortal creatures. Caring, but in a distant kind of way. I wanted there to be some point to Earendil sailing Vingilot across the sky - although again, it seems a bit of a Valar-ish good plan for the War of Wrath followed by a 'what do you mean, he has been doing it without a break for over two ages? What is an age to an elf?' If Earendil is not to expire from the sheer boredom of it, I thought he had to be able to see something of what was happening - and I like him being able to see his granddaughter. Thank you for commenting.

daw the minstrel	Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 5/28/2005
It's interesting to see the parallel between the Silmarils and the Ring of Power, both of which apparently took hold in the bearer's heart and became hard to surrender. Lovely moment at the end between the two mothers whose children are lost to them. The Valar look both kind and unfathomable, maybe even capricious by human standards, but then, I guess that's too bad for us. Author Reply: Maybe it's the old 'all power corrupts' bit. I had to think that Earendil was willing to surrender it - because only then would he be able to bear it through the pathless void. And then, the effect of the Silmaril on him has to have changed him - made him more suitable for a Higher Destiny stuff. In the Blessed Realm, only Celebrian, Elwing and Melian - perhaps they should get to know each other - have children lost to mortality. And only Celebrian and Elwing know what it is to wait long centuries in the hope of reunion with other children. It's an understanding that should bring them close. The Valar are working on a whole other agenda, I think, and a completely different timescale. Even compared to elves. Have a good break.

Redheredh	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/23/2005
I have just now finished reading this chapter. And I will probably read it again after I post this. But, where to start with a review? Oh dear, I know it is a disgraceful cop-out but I always like what elliska has to say and how eloquently she says it. I find myself nodding and saying 'Yes, brilliantly said!'. There are a only a few other things that I'll add to her remarks on this chapter. Voronwe is wonderful as usual. Your writing is wonderful as usual. Your telling of this story continues to be wonderful - as usual. You brought out a greater wonder for the Silmaril in me as you described its changing, increasing light. There was one question raised along with all those of love, sacrifice, justice and revenge I particularly liked. Elrond asks whether the Noldor noticed the difference between Aman and Beleriand. He ponders asking Galadriel and how she might answer him. I loved this being in juxaposition to Celebrian asking Earendil how it felt to become Calaquendi. His answer makes me think the same sort of thing happened with the Noldor Calaquendi's slow dissipation. No one noticed the change in themselves for a long time. "And if they have the courage to challange Morgoth for the other two jewels, then we can hope that his revenge on them will be long-drawn-out and unpleasant." Aerandir makes a good doomsman too. Another great part in a marvelous whole. Author Reply: I'm so glad you are enjoying it! There are moments when I feel quite sorry for Feanor's sons. And then I think - what on earth made them undertake the Second and Third Kinslayings? But I don't like unending dooms and eternal suffering - even though they should have had enough moral courage to decide that their father was wrong, the oath was wrong and they should simply stop. A very enjoyable part of telling history through lots of conversation is the opportunity to muse about things for which you don't then have to provide a definitive answer! I wonder whether long-term Silmaril exposure is partly why the Valar wanted to keep Earendil - and make him a star. (I hadn't until I was writing this chapter.) Not so much his half-elvenness, but more his intense exposure to the light of the Two Trees. I think there will only be two more chapters. Unless they talk so much it makes three. Thank you for commenting.

Ellie	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/23/2005
This was excellent! Very full of emotion and very well written. Especailly loved the bit about Elrond secretly being glad that his ada abandoned the fate of Arda to try to save him. Can't wait for more! Author Reply: Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. In some ways the bits where you have to keep the Silmarillion in front of you all the time are more tricky, but in some ways it makes it simpler. Elrond has had over two ages of being brave and understanding, but it must be heart-warming to know that your world-saving parents are able to feel that you are more important. More soon. Perhaps two more chapters.

elliska	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/22/2005
I had to go back and reread Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath before I left a review. Bodkin this is so incredibly good. In truth, that chapter of the Silm (like too many others) is really just an outine--what you've done to flesh it out really makes it so much better. I read this and reread the chap, as I said, and the Silm really looks very pitiful now compared to this. Here is where the way you have done this--having Eärendil tell this tale to Elrond and Celebrian--really pays off. I felt so good for poor Elrond when he learns that Eärendil turned back for him. All the effort he had certainly made to justify his father's absence was now no longer necessary. I so loved that. And I loved the discussion on the ship--especially the part where they discuss why the Silm came to him. Use it well, my lord loved that. And the advice that he be willing to give it up--I remember reading somewhere (one of the letters maybe, I can't think of it right now) Tolkien saying that was exactly the problem--unwillingness to give things up, the evil of hoarding somthing for oneself at the expense of others as opposed to fellowship and being willing to sacrifice for others. That theme was even in the Silm. and you portrayed it really well in that dialogue. ‘No loyalty to liege lord excuses what happened at Alqualondë. What happened in Doriath – in Sirion. There are times when each must make a stand, even should it be at the cost of his own life. Better to be foresworn and offer yourself to your lord’s vengeance than do what you know is wrong.’ That was one of my favorite lines--so true and written with such wonderful language. But as I said earlier the part of this that amazed me the most was the part that is most directly from the Silm--when they land, leave the ship and Eärendil goes to seek the Valar--that was just so well written. You used some of the dialogue from the Silm and took the two or three sentences Tolkien wrote outside the dialogue (And he went up alone into the land, and came into the Calacirya, and it seemed to him empty and silent; for even as Morgoth and Ungoliant came in ages past, so now Eärendil had come at a time of festival, and wellnigh all the Elvenfolk were gone to Valimar, or were gathered in the halls of Manwë upon Taniquetil, and few were left to keep watch upon the walls of Tirion. not much there) and made them really come to life. I won't be able to read this part of the Silm again without imagining it the way you described it. And then I read the last line and I just groaned. You and your subtle and just frustrating little cliffhangers that you seem to be getting so good at recently. I am really dying to hear the answer to that question. You have really done an incredible job with this whole thing--taking the outline Tolkien put in the Silm and really making it come to life. This is one of the best 'gap fillers' that I have ever read. It's really more than a gap filler because it tells a story about which Tolkien only wrote a few lines. I just love it. Author Reply: Oh goodness. I'm blushing. I've spent so much time on about three pages of the Silmarillion here - it's great actually, because there is very little said that it give plenty of room for expansion. Some of the difficulty comes with the bits that have to be lifted and used. (There's something Earendil says in the next chapter that really grates. But it has to go in because he said it.) Tolkien's writing has quite a biblical tone here - and I'm trying to avoid sounding too Authorised Version, but it can be tricky to make the actual words slightly less formal. Tolkien saying that was exactly the problem--unwillingness to give things up, the evil of hoarding somthing for oneself at the expense of others as opposed to fellowship and being willing to sacrifice for others. I didn't know that! But it is what comes out when you think about the characters who dealt with the Silmarils and those who were obsessed by them as opposed to those who weren't. In a way, the honour and principles thing is what comes into my head when thinking about Finarfin. It must have been incredibly difficult to do what he did - and it required maturity and self-sacrifice - and not minding that he looked a wuss in comparison to the defiant warriors. Just that he felt it was right. If Feanor's Noldor had just told him 'no' when his fury led him into indefensible acts, then so much would never have happened. The next chapter is more or less done - it just needs a lot of rereading and refining. I'm so pleased you like this. It makes me want to go away and write some more. (If only I didn't have to go to work.)

Jay of Lasgalen	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 5/21/2005
This chapter is beautifully descriptive and evocative. It reminds me a little of the Ancient Mariner - 'a painted ship upon a painted ocean', and the enchanted isles in 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'. Earendil's words about Feanor ' Even to sacrificing his own sons to a terrible fate.’ are a little ironic, considering what happened to his own sons' childhood! Jay Author Reply: Funnily enough, both the Ancient Mariner and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader were in my mind here! Not that I've read either of them for years - but the influence remains! There is a difference, I think, between Feanor, his sons and the oath and Earendil's quest. Intention, perhaps. Earendil did leave his sons at home with their mother in a supposedly relatively safe haven. But they were tiny and in need of their father. Feanor, on the other hand - well, his sons were adult and could have refused to take his oath, I suppose, but he bound them to an eternal commitment and then led them into the First Kinslaying - took them to Arda and burned the boats so they couldn't go back for their kin. Perhaps it's that Earendil's mission was generally humanitarian (elfitarian?), whereas Feanor's was selfish - the defeating of Morgoth being, to my mind secondary to revenge for Finwe's death and, most particularly, getting the Silmarils back. But you're right - knowing what we do about what happened to Elros and Elrond, his words are ironic.

daw the minstrel	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 5/21/2005
Earendil's comments about his mother ("She was a child!") really struck me. The curse of the Valar seems so unjust to me. I wonder if we're supposed to believe they eventually regretted it. They did make the Elves as a race atone for the sins of their relatives for a good long time though. It's also interesting to think about the Sils. Surely they weren't corrupting in the way that the rings of power were. But they seemed to inspire people to do the most horrible things. I was smiling to myself as Earendil asked Elwing how it felt to fly. Take a look at your future, star-man! It never occurred to me before to wonder what because of Earendil's crew, but I'm wondering now. Author Reply: I'm drowning in chapter 10 and I think the Valar just don't look at time like other people. Even elves are aware of the passage of yeni - but not the Valar. (Sometime they just seem a bit spoilt brattish to me for transcendent beings of omniscient power.) The Doom of the Noldor - if aimed at the guilty, it would seem fair enough, if rather heavy handed, but most of those who followed Fingolfin were guilty of nothing but a desire to move out from under the paternalistic care of uber-beings. (Tolkien's Catholicism shows rather at times, I think.) I can't admire the Silmarils too whole-heartedly. Not evil, any more than any jewel, but perhaps just too much for most people. Feanor isn't my favourite elf, even before Alqualonde - just too self-centred - but he could have been so much more. I don't know. I feel bad for him. Abandoned by him mother, feeling rejected by his father, heavy-handed treatment by the Valar - he was one crazy, mixed-up elf. And the flipping Silmarils just sat there and scintillated and made themselves objects of desire. Yes. You, Earendil, will find out how it is to fly. To the point where your little tootsies will crave the opportunity to rest themselves on terra firma. And as for the crew . . . . . (censored.) Thank you for commenting!

elliska	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 5/15/2005
So sorry it took me so long to review this chapter. I've been at an encampment since Friday (no electricity, and thus no computers, in 1597). This review may not be entirely literate either because I am just exhausted. Nonetheless--I really loved this chapter. I really like when you delve into explanations/explorations of things like why Elrond's line gets a choice when others didn't. That was one of my favorite parts of this and I agree with it. I also liked the discussion of the Silmaril. That is a tough debate. On the one hand, they are the greatest work of the elves and are made from the light of the trees. On the other hand--look at everything they caused! That is one of the things I love about Tolkien. Not a lot of black and white here. Elrond has the right idea on the Silmaril, I think. The departure was sad, given that we know its the last the children will see of their adar for a very long time. And the whole part on the island was just really tense. I didn't know that part of the story at all and I had no idea what to expect so I was really on edge waiting to see what would happen. Great job with that. This is a really wonderful story and this was a great chapter. So glad to come back and get to read it. :-) Author Reply: Why 1597? I suppose I could investigate the significance, but it seems simpler to ask. Sit in a comfy chair, drink coffee, enjoy plumbing. All other things that were missing from 1597, too. I'm glad you like the sitting around and talking! I like doing that - and writing from several people's view means I can offer all my thoughts without having to come to any good conclusions! Yes, the Silmarils. Very hard one. They weren't evil in themselves, but they seem to have aroused a possessiveness in those who held them that was definitely bad news. The shades of grey and inconsistencies - not to mention all those books of background, throw-away information - are what makes this such an exciting world to play in. There isn't really any compulsory story when Earendil is at sea. There are about five threads where Tolkien outlined stuff, but it is contradictory and little more than a list of ideas. The Sleeper in the Tower of Pearl being Idril is one of them - I put Tuor with her, since it seemed the best way to have them survive until the time comes to decide what to do with them. The whole story of Earendil is quite sad, really. A triumph, in a way, but sad too. And you have to feel for them - isolated in their corner of Valinor, flying Vingilot, cut off from their children - and knowing that they will not see Elros again while the world endures. Not much more now, I think. A couple of chapters, probably. Thank you for reviewing. Now get some rest.

Redheredh	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 5/15/2005
Elwing's take on the nature of Melian and her children was very insightful. That she would be the best reason the Peredhil would have a choice. After all, Elwing - not Earendil - was the one who decided to be of the Eldar. But this does not competely answer the question of Dior. He was born after Luthien returned from Mandos as a mortal. Was he actually entirely mortal or half-elf? If elf, then his children would be 3/4 and definitely eldar. If mortal, they would be 1/2 and mortal. So, if only Melian's blood makes them eldar as well, then Earendil would be mortal... Unless Tuor was not exactly a regular mortal... Then maybe that is part of the reason Ulmo chose both father and son... But what about Elwing's choosing Earendil for a husband... interesting this whole matter of bloodlines... Putting Tuor and Idril into an enchanted sleep was itself an enchanting idea and an enchanting episode with just the right amount of exciting fright. Personally, I liken this to King Arthur on Avalon, waiting for the time for his needed return. Perhaps for the War of Wrath because someone should teach Finarfin what he needs to know about waging a successful campaign in Beleriand. 'I am but a simple sailor.' Yeah, right. But, it was gracefully said with true humility. His leave-taking at the docks was reminicent of all those in this and ages who take up service in a cause and may not return. Simple soldiers and sailors, not so simple heroes. I do so love your Voronwe. So, another great chapter, written in you wonderfully lyrical, descriptive style, and you say 'tis almost the end. doggone it Author Reply: This is going to be painfully long. I'm at work and can't do an e-mail and I've already written a page and a half of my random thoughts. Apologies in advance. Right. Well. My musings are doubtless going to be wallowing in inconsistencies and non-Tolkien specifics and contradict loads of things, but. . . I’m not sure that immortality is something that can be taken away and replaced with a mortal life – Lúthien was half elf/half Maia and immortal. On death she would have gone to Námo’s Halls, eventually to be re-embodied, unless her Maiar half took over and she just put off her body to become spirit. Equally, mortal life cannot be returned – so, once Beren had popped his clogs, that should have been it. And playing with the rules (except for Tuor) doesn’t really happen anywhere else. Frodo and Sam – and Gimli – went to the Undying Lands, but they still died, because they were mortals. So why did it happen for Lúthien and Beren? The only reason that hits me is because they had not done something that was essential for the Fate of the World, and since they had already liberated the Silmaril, the only other thing they did was have Dior. But was their essential being changed? Lúthien was still the child of Elu and Melian, Beren was still mortal – but how many other mortals have been returned to life, produced children and then gone on to die again? (Doesn’t that, in some ways, make him more likely than Tuor to have been the one who ended up in the Undying Lands?) Maybe the suspension of the rules needed to enable Dior to be born meant that Lúthien and Beren’s continued existence challenged causality in some way, so that they had to be removed from Arda – or I can just imagine Lúthien bargaining with Ilúvatar and fast-talking (singing?) him into agreeing that, if Beren needed to be removed from the world, then so did she. For whatever reason, their return was limited and rules set on it. Despite this, the essential nature of each of them was unchanged. Dior inherited the genes of elf and Maia from Lúthien, and human genes from Beren. He had to, because the reason for their union in the first place was to bring together the first and second born. Lúthien / Beren and Tuor / Idril were designed by fate / nature / Ilúvatar to bring about Elros and Elrond and, eventually, Aragorn and Arwen. That, to my mind, makes Dior quarter-Maia, quarter-elven and half-man, (even if the man was a unique re-embodied man), because that is what he needed to be. He married an elf, so, when the time came for him to leave the Halls of Mandos, he would have been offered the choice of the half-elven – and decided to return to his body and Nimloth. Tuor is a different problem, because, as far as I know, he is pure man, but, on the other hand, Tolkien actually says that he was the only man in the Undying Lands. I suppose he could have done a Frodo – gone to Valinor and then died – but I find that unsatisfactory. Why would Ilúvatar/Tolkien go out of his way to arrange these particular cross-species marriages and ensure that they had surviving fertile offspring and then abandon them? So I am working on the theory here that Ulmo imbued Tuor with his spirit in order to make him a suitable messenger. Once he became the Vala’s messenger, Tuor was no longer entirely a man – so Ulmo was able to swing it in his favour by pointing out that Tuor was to him as Eonwë was to Manwë and he therefore needed him in Valinor. And then, there’s the balance theory. Lúthien should not have passed beyond the circles of the world, but she did, so to plug the hole, Tuor is allowed immortality in Valinor. The elves are tied to Ea while it exists – so Lúthien’s absence could have led to a – I don’t know – a hole in the space-time continuum or something, which could only be repaired by taking someone equal and opposite and using him to repair the damage. And to stop it happening again, Ilúvatar tightened up the rules. The descendants of these two elf/man + (/Maia/messenger-of-the-Valar) couples were allowed to select their race, (even Dior, the dead descendant), but later born scions of their houses only got to choose if their parents had chosen to be counted among the Firstborn. The choice of Secondborn was irrevocable on the chooser and his/her descendants. Any other elf/man pairings would result in the children being counted among the Secondborn and the parents enduring division after the death of the mortal partner (eg: Mithrellas and Imrazor). The Mortals-cannot-live-forever-in-the-Undying-Lands rule might date from the same time. Not well-thought-out, I know. I’m doing it all the wrong way – starting from a desired (or written) outcome and trying to fix the arguments to support what I want to happen while fitting it in with what Tolkien wrote. I suppose the thing is that I don’t really like the story of Beren and Lúthien much. It’s one of those tales that seems romantic – in the way of Romeo and Juliet. When you look at it more closely, there seems to be something quite nasty underneath all the marshmallow. Which is, after all, so often the way with fairy tales. Now - moving on from thoughts of mortality! I put Tuor in an enchanted sleep - but Tolkien is responsible for Idril. She was the Sleeper in the Tower of Pearl in the UT - woken by a gong rung by Littleheart who was Voronwe's son. Changed it a bit. More Sleeping Beauty in a remarkably dust-free castle. But, since Tuor was feeling his years when he sailed, and yet Tolkien himself puts him in Valinor, it seemed a good way to get him to survive the interim. And the idea of having him act as a military advisor is brilliant. The perfect role for him - and it should get him in the good books of Uncle Finarfin. I feel for Earendil and Elwing. Being the pawns of fate isn't a lot of fun. But they are true heroes. Possibly two more chapters. I've a feeling that telling the end bit might take up more space than I think. Thank you for your review. Sorry to yabber on so.

Karri	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 5/13/2005
I think I tend to side more with Elwing in my view of the Silmarils. ;-) Terrific chapter! Author Reply: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. Tuor did make it into this one, although he was unconscious at the time! I'm on Elwing's side with the Silmarils. For pure, beautiful jewels containing the perfection of the Two Trees, those three wretched stones caused a lot of trouble. On the other hand, Earendil has got to feel a bit more positive about them, because he is stuck carrying one on his brow - presumably until the world is remade. Probably not too much more now.

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