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Once Upon a Blizzard  by Fiondil 15 Review(s)
ellieReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/17/2009
THe elves of Aman just don't get it, do they? I can believe that they would act with so much prejudice and that they would suffer for it in battle, too. I'm glad that Amanian lord got put in his place for the mean comments he made. I like Beregond alot. I saw much similarity between this conflict between elf and man and between Turin and what's his face in Doriath. Teh loyalty of the House of Beor is commendable indeed. Wonderful tale! I also liked Legolas enjoying his daddy time so much! Very sweet and true to life that is!

Author Reply: Hi, Ellie. I'm glad you enjoyed this tale within a tale within a tale. Beregond just sort of came full-blown into existence at the very beginning of the story; the others, except for Gil-galad, showed themselves less willingly at first, and I had the orc's own time getting Nambaurato to even tell me his name! *lol* Little Legolas with his Ada just made the whole tale that much more interesting, IMO.

Thanks for your review. I really appreciate it.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/17/2009
So, Beregond has been a named carried well and with pride by worthy Men for many generations, then? And rightfully so! And the Edain are in the end as much children of Iluvatar as are the Eldar. The Amanian Elves would do well to remember what the Elves of Beleriand already know from experience.

Author Reply: That is true, Larner. Unfortunately, most Amanian Elves will never meet any of the Edain or any Mortal period. A pity... they may have learned something to their own benefit if they had.

SunnyReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/17/2009
Those Elves (and Edain) certainly have the right idea about what bad weather is for: staying inside, preferably next to a crackling fire. _They_ spend the time telling tales, _I_ would curl up with a good book – which is a tale in physical form (and an arrangement of electrons on my iLiad can arguably be described so, can’t it?), and if I also have a pot of tea and some nice snacks … Bliss!

So the Amanian Elves didn’t care to fight beside the Edain and the Elves from Beleriand, did they – until _someone_ realized that the mixed companies fared noticeably better. Which only makes sense. The Amanian elves would not have learned the bitter lessons of war that the Edain, the Sindar, the Nandor and the Exilic Noldor would now know down to their bones. For all intents and purposes the Amanians were raw recruits for all their technical skill with weapons and theoretical grasp of tactics and strategy. I suppose they _would_ have learned on their own eventually, but this way they could draw on the knowledge of their experienced fellow warriors, while also keeping the body count down.

So Beregond didn’t like the Elves being nitpicky about details? Well, neither would I have been, and just who was telling the tale, anyway?
Nambarauto certainly has a bad case of foot-in-mouth disease. An attitude such as his is certainly one that deserves to be corrected. It would be interesting to see just _how_ such an attitude correction would come to be – do you have plans for a story on that subject? I would make the assumption that the attitude correction would not be a part of a journey to the Halls of Mandos – which would be effective, yes, but not particularly interesting as a story.
And after the meeting with Nambarauto’s attitude, Lindir’s choice of music was obvious!


Author Reply: You are correct, Sunny, in thinking that the Amanian Elves, even the Noldor who never left Aman, were more like raw recruits rather than seasoned warriors. I even allude to this in "Elf, Interrupted" when Glorfindel learns that Ingwë had ordered that the Amaneldi continue practicing fighting with swords in preparation for the Dagor Dagorath because they lost so many of the elves in the first engagements of the War of Wrath, for they were not a prepared as they should have been.

It's tough telling a tale based on an historical event where the details might not be exactly accurate when some of your audience actually were present at said historical event and remember more accurately what happened. Takes all the fun out of telling a tale. *grin*

As this story takes place only seven years into the War of Wrath, which lasted forty-two years, I'm sure there were many opportunities for Nambaurato to have his attitude corrected. At the moment I have no plans for such a story but you never know what the Muse will demand. *grin*

Thanks for the review. It's much happreciated.

KittyReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/17/2009
Lovely story, Fiondil! Yes, that was the perfect occasion to huddle around a fire and tell tales.
I really liked Beregond - something that can't be said of Nambaurato, who was arrogant and rude. Somehow I hope he has a nice little encounter with a reborn Findárato in 'King of Nargothrond mode' waiting somewhere in his future *evil grin* It is so nice to know that these Edain still remember Finrod and love him so much; he certainly deserves it, no matter what certain stupid Amanians think. It is embarassing that an Adan has to defend one of the great elf lords against another elf.

The question how much the details of the story have changed reminds me of an experiment we made at school long ago: The class had to stand in a line and the teacher told the one at the one end a joke. The first one had to tell it to the second, the second to the third etc., and the last one in line had to write that what he heard on the blackboard. The result had not much to do with the story told to the first one - interesting to see how much these few lines changed in such a short time, going from one to the other. It is inevitable, I guess, that oral history gets changed in the retelling.

Oh, and I love the end, Thranduil telling the story to little Legolas during another snowstorm. And I was glad to know Beregond survived the war and went with Elros and his descendants remained faithful.




Author Reply: Hm... Nambaurato returning from the War of Wrath and encountering a reborn Findaráto in, as you say, 'King of Nargothrond mode'.... now that's an interesting plotbunny. I'll have to remember that. Thanks.

We used to play a similar game in school called Telephone where the first person whispers a message to the second person and so on. By the time the message got to the end of the line it had no connection to the original message. A perfect example of how oral tales change over time so that the tale as told has no bearing on the original historical event that inspired it.

Glad you liked the end, as well. Thanks for reviewing, Kitty. I appreciate it.

eilujReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/17/2009
And the memories of the elves are such that several thousand years later, Oropher's son is telling the tale he heard from his father.


Reading (in such cold weather that the faucets are still trickling to outwit the freeze; no snow now, but probably tomorrow) about a story being told (in snowy, cold weather) about a story being told (in snowy, cold weather) about events that may or may not have occurred in winter....

So was it snowy and cold when you *wrote* the story? *lol*


I always like to see allusions to Oropher being Thingol's kin; almost everyone seems to have missed the possibility that Oropher was related to Celeborn, if not to Thingol/Elmo/Olwë as well.

And now Legolas has older brothers! Though I spose if this is the same universe as "Tâd Edhel a Firion" they must have met a tragic end....

Author Reply: Actually it hasn't really snowed here in this part of Germany where I'm living at all but what's winter without snow? It has been very cold though, the coldest on record in over 100 years. And I've lived through enough blizzards in my life so it was easy enough to write about one. *lol*

I have always thought that Oropher and Celeborn were related to some degree even if Oropher was not related to Thingol directly.

As for Legolas and his older brothers... although this story is in the same universe as "Tŕd Edhel a Firion" it does not preclude the possibility that Legolas' older brothers are still alive. They simply were not introduced in the other story. In one of my other stories (can't remember exactly which one) I do mention that one of Legolas' older brothers did meet a tragic end and was now residing in Mandos. The vagueness of Thranduil's family life as Tolkien gives it leaves much open to speculation and debate.

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