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| Stirring Rings by Larner | 12 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| French Pony | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 9/28/2006 |
| Well, the White Council doesn't seem to have done much good. It took a very long time to establish very few facts, and the Elves still don't seem to grasp the importance of the different time scale under which mortals live. It's interesting to think how much grief could have been avoided if the races had been better able to work together earlier. Author Reply: Isn't this true of every committee--hashing around the generally known before looking at even the least proper of new and needed information, and paying more attention to protocol than business? And as little as most Elves deal with mortals, I doubt many of them beyond Elrond or perhaps Cirdan have any idea how Men deal with time or the constraints it places on them. Only mutual cooperation will work against Sauron, as was proved in the last battle as each played his or her own part, and it was the sum of those parts together that in the end brought about the end to the power of Mordor and Sauron's downfall. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 9/28/2006 |
| What an interesting version of the first White Council. It is quite clear that Saruman failed to truly impress the other members, and I found it very interesting that it seemed as though the Council *really* got down to business after he left. I found the participation of the Dwarves, and their conclusion that they would not do so any longer also interesting, as were the reasons no hobbits attended. Yet that latter was all for the best, for it enabled most folk to forget about their existence until the time came when the "halfling forth shall stand". I was fascinated on the speculation about the nature of the spiders, and on Sauron as a Balrog--is any of that from HoME, or is that some original theorizing on your part? It all seems very plausible. Saruman continues to simply miss the point of what he should be doing. It is no wonder that Galadriel tried to get Gandalf to take the headship of the Council. But I wonder now if he had his own sort of foresight, when he refused to take up his own part on her behalf. And I really like Celebrian and Arwen in this! Author Reply: Yes, sometimes after the officious chairman leaves the true business gets enacted. I doubt that Saruman truly felt that mere mortals would be any proof against someone like Sauron, ignoring the fact that the Last Alliance managed to bring him down before. Dwarves have always been indicated to be insular in nature; and only their dealings with Bilbo and their eventual respect for his cleverness and integrity in the end led them to send anyone to the Council of Elrond; and I doubt many among Men other than the northern Dunedain would come to a council including Elves and Wizards in its participants. As for the Hobbits, I think you hit the nail on the head here. Ungoliant was apparently a Maia who'd taken the form of a great spider according to what I take from the Silmarillion; and the different shapes Sauron could take are what I remember from reading it. As for him being able to take the shape of a Balrog--in the Council of Elrond his hand is described as being hot as a glede, which I learned means hot as a glowing coal, and that was why the Ringspell could be discerned and copied by Isildur when he took the Ring; he theorized It missed the heat of Sauron's hand. Much of the discussion of how Gil-galad died is rather a paraphrase of what was told years later in the Council of Elrond, in fact. Then later after they confront the Balrog in Moria Legolas makes a reference to the one sitting in Barad-dur, comparing it to the one with which Gandalf fell. As for why other Maiar, once they'd taken fell shapes they'd remain in them indefinitely, that's my own speculation on known facts. I suspect Gandalf didn't actively campaign for the leadership of the White Council. As I've already had Manwe indicate he felt Olorin would have more freedom to move effectively if he wasn't first among the Wizards, that Olorin/Gandalf would feel much the same way regarding the Council seems logical. | |