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| Arwen's Heart by Bodkin | 214 Review(s) |
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| jules | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/30/2006 |
| Oh dear, the twins aren’t getting any better at this, are they? After all those years of hanging around with the dunedain you’d think they’d know a bit about the psychology of boys who think they’re grown up already… But they seem to manage the protective big brother role quite admirably as far as Arwen is concerned. Author Reply: The twins prefer to avoid deep contemplation. Or perhaps they prefer to make you think they avoid deep contemplation. I think they shelter behind their reputation a lot - but they are very protective of their little sister. (Who can manage them nearly as successfully as Celebrian did!) | |
| jules | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/30/2006 |
| Poor, gullible Haldir, he has no idea he is being played. And Arwen is devious, ingenious and so very brave. It must be desperately hard for Galadriel to realise she can safeguard an entire realm with her ring and her powers, but she couldn’t protect her daughter, and can’t protect her granddaughter, from what goes on outside it. Author Reply: I feel mean, picking on Haldir! He just happens to be about the only named elf of Lothlorien I can think of - apart from his brothers. Galadriel had to learn, I think, not her strength, but her weakness - that was part of her redemption. And part of what made her reject the Ring. | |
| jules | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 3/30/2006 |
| I liked the depiction of Arwen putting her trainee queen of the realm skills into practice. Trust a woman (of any species, apparently) to cut through the rubbish and tell it like it is – just a matter of making sure the right things are in the right place at the right time. And her comment to Curaniel that she would like a patient kind of love, one prepared to wait and learn and grow. Maybe that foresight runs in the family, because that’s what she got! Aragorn may not have waited 1000 years for Arwen but in terms of his lifespan it must have felt like it, and there’s no doubt the Aragorn she met again in Lorien had learned and grown a lot since Rivendell. And I got a laugh out of the poor bemused twins suddenly realising that Estel is not really all that in awe of them as figures of authority. Author Reply: Right place at the right time! Very important - and a skill she has mastered. Together with managing people, which I think will also be vital in the life she will choose. Foresight definitely runs in the family - as does power and determination - and acceptance of duty. Poor twins. Estel is growing up far too fast for them. Good thing I don't think they know what is coming. Yet. | |
| jules | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/30/2006 |
| Hello Bodkin Read your story as it was posted but haven’t been able to review until now. Love the detail you convey with your writing – you really paint the scene so the reader can visualise it rather than just read the words, yet somehow it doesn’t distract from the flow of the story. Really enjoyed the wordplay between Arwen and Galadriel, with poor Celeborn realising that they’ve started to lose control of the situation despite all their best efforts. Nice sibling camaraderie with the twins, but what comes through most strongly is Arwen’s quiet strength and composure, even though she must have begun to suspect Galadriel had foreseen some terrible doom for her. Author Reply: Thank you! I can get a bit carried away with scene-painting and have to keep an eye on myself there! I think it works OK as long as it doesn't interrupt what's going on. Celeborn should count himself lucky that Galadriel and Arwen love and humour him - but then so should they, because he makes a perfect husband and grandfather. The twins are always good value - and can lighten a mood that has become a trifle too serious, but I'm so pleased that you feel Arwen comes over as strong and composed - and aware of the tug of destiny. I was so fed up with stories that didn't seem to appreciate her as a strong-minded, nearly 3000 year old elf who made her own decisions - and was doubtless instrumental in enabling a ranger from the wild to establish himself in the political cess-pit that was probably post-war Gondor. | |
| viggomaniac | Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 3/7/2006 |
| Have read through chapter eight and continue to find your story enthralling. I like the way you present Arwen and company as mature, thoughtful characters that we can care about. Would like to comment more, but I'm off to review more stories. If this was a 'real' job I'd never sleep. Great story. I'll be reading it all though it might take me a while to get to it. Author Reply: I'm glad you like seeing the characters portrayed as mature and thoughtful - it was another of those things that made me want to write this. I had seen rather too much in the way of 'pranking' twins, petty Elrond and dumped Arwen and was wanting to show them as I see them. (I'm sure the twins could have been a pest when they were adolescents - but they're nearly 3000 here! Light-hearted at times - they are elves - but not petty, spiteful or juvenile.) Reading and reviewing is such fun - I love it. Much more fun than the printed word these days. Thank you, viggomaniac. I'm glad you're enjoying it! | |
| Kathy_SFF | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/31/2006 |
| What a wonderful story. I loved how you wrote Arwen. She was an elf (woman) who knew what she wanted and was willing to pay the price for it. You did an excellent job depicting her as daughter to a father she will "loose", a lover and wife to the man she loves (and who loves her - I could see Aragorn/Awren love oozing all over), and a sister who loves her brothers but chooses her own path. This last chapter was like desert after a great meal. I loved her waking up to a place without time. Loved it!!!!!! Author Reply: Thank you - I'm so pleased you liked it. Arwen was a strong character, capable of making uncomfortable decisions for reasons that were important - and I was feeling a little impatient with wimpish/unnecessary Arwen stories when I started. She clearly accepted her role in these events - long before Aragorn was born, I suspect - and the love she and Aragorn shared was a reward. And I was unable to resist offering not only a reunion with him, but also with Elrond and the rest of her family. Although when you start thinking about a place without time, it really does begin to make your head spin! | |
| perelleth | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/30/2006 |
| What a lovely, intelligent paradox! jumping into no-time was a clever, elegant solution, Bodkin! It made me smile! It was a lovely ending, congrats! (And apologies for the delay but I'm on the run again...) Author Reply: The absence of time - the idea makes your head spin when you try to think about it! But it has a sort of logic - beyond the end of days, and all that sort of thing. And if there is no time, then people wouldn't arrive in a linear way... And that's when you have to stop thinking! I'm glad you liked it as an ending - although it now has me thinking about how the elves would have felt after who-knows-how-many ages of life in the Blessed Realm. Would they have been worn and drained? How long would it have taken them to recover? Or wouldn't it work like that? Head spinning!! Thank you, Perelleth. On the run? Sounds worrying - I hope you have your keeper with you! | |
| Dot | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/29/2006 |
| I seriously need to start sticking post-its to my forehead to remember to come back to things… Anyway, this is beautiful. I figured you might want to see them have a happy ending and I’m so glad you took that route! There’s a lovely, dreamy tone to this epilogue that makes it seem a little unreal and yet so peaceful – it’s just perfect. And what an interesting idea too, that not only is she reunited with those who went before her, but she gets to see all those she ever loved because there is no Time here. I’m afraid to think about it too much because I end up getting very confused so I’ll just be happy that they are all together! You did an incredible job with Arwen in this story, allowing us to see the tale from her point of view and showing us her strength and wisdom that took her right through to the end. It’s fitting that you don’t end with those in Blessed Realm but with her ending. We see that her choice was the right one and that she really did get to see her loved ones again. I’ll miss this story! But the wonderful ending has left me with a smile on my face :-) Author Reply: You wouldn't know you had post-it notes on your forehead unless you looked in a mirror though. And then you would have to write back to front on them, like on the front of some vans. And SECNALUBMA. And on a totally random note, I am told that when I started writing aged 5, I mirror-wrote. The whole idea of no time does tend to make your head spin if you do more than touch the edges of it - but it has a sort of logic to it. And how could I resist the urge to reunite Arwen with her elven family as well as Aragorn. I wasn't at all sure about this bit - it is the section that had me wavering weeks ago. The rest of the story was sort of inevitable, but this is speculative - which is why it ended up as an epilogue. Thank you, Dot. I am glad you liked the Arwen of this story - I did want to show her as strong and wise and dedicated, like her adar. And with the courage to see through something that would have been very difficult for her, despite her love for Aragorn. | |
| Tigger | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/28/2006 |
| What a beautiful end to such a wonderful well written story. Hannon le for this lovely take on Arwen and her choice. Author Reply: Thank you - I am glad you liked the end. I am too soft not to want to make clear that, in time, Elrond and his daughter - and Estel - were reunited. I shall miss writing this story! | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/27/2006 |
| Ah--the great joy beyond the End of Days! Delight to be received by those she will receive.... Thank you again, Bodkin! Author Reply: The whole concept of timelessness made my head spin - I could empathise with Arwen! I could not resist the desire to reunite those who had missed each other and yet still carried on to do what they must. Thank you for reading! | |