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| Interrupted Journeys 10: Finding the sun by elliska | 11 Review(s) |
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| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 6/25/2013 |
| I was really interested in the part of the opening section where Thranduil says Legolas is too old to be commanded in certain areas, that he should be making more of his own choices. That shows how Legolas is on the cusp of adulthood and his parents are trying to gradually let him get there. That conversation also makes it clear that Legolas doesn't run home and complain about every little thing that happens. I kind of cringed at the amount of detail Tureden appears to be passing along. If I were Legolas, I'd feel spied on. And the thing about Tureden is that not only does he think he can command Legolas, he thinks he should. To me, that is so totally not his role. He's a guard, not a parent or superior officer. And another elf on elf killing. It was necessary, of course, and Berior learned something from having participated. Poor kid. I liked the way Legolas set priorities and gave information about the bad guys afterwards and how the guard captain expected him to, thus again showing respect for Legolas's growing maturity. He was especially good to ask permission from Tureden to sent Anastor with a guard. I don't think I could have done that. I'd have been flipping Tureden off at that point, assuming I wasn't howling over my damaged ribs. It had to be good for Tureden to see Dollion's respect for Legolas's order about clearing the Green. "My lord." Hear that, Tureden? I had to laugh at Galion's horror over leaving a half-full barrel on the Green. As Thranduil was reaming Legolas out about using the secret passage, I suddenly remembered the owl. Tolkien tells us Thranduil used birds as spies. Is Manadhien doing that too? If so, ack! Legolas made a real mistake. I loved the idea of him hunting the bad guys to make up for it. That was somehow counter intuitive for me. I thought he'd be punished by being forbidden to do stuff like that, but it makes much more sense for an almost-adult to try to undo the damage he's caused. Lindomiel was wonderful when she said she couldn't have endured to be imprisoned after being released from captivity. That gave me new insight. Author Reply: Your comments made me so happy. Of course, what I'm trying to show here is Legolas making (mostly) good decisions, even under pressure, like the nearly-adult that he is. So I am very glad that came across. And, as you said, the people who know Legolas already recognize that he is nearly an adult, the king's son and therefore is owed...well, at the very least something much different from what Tureden is giving him. You are right, of course. Tureden is totally outside his job responsibilities. He's got nanny (from Hell)/spy confused with guard. He's going to be disabused of that misunderstanding. ;-) Meanwhile, generally speaking, I think Legolas is showing tremendous patience and restraint. I'd be with you on my reactions to Tureden. At the very least, I wouldn't have pulled that gut punch Legolas got in on him in the duel. I'd have let Tureden have it full force. And I wanted to write that for Legolas, but I decided he had to take the high ground. That was hard. ;-) I couldn't resist poking a little fun at Galion. That owl. :-) He will definitely be showing up again. My first reaction when planning this part was to send Legolas off for punishment too. But when I gave that more thought, I realized it didn't really fit with the 'Legolas is nearly an adult' idea. Adults fix their mistakes, if they can. Moreover, later on, when Gollum escapes, I see Legolas arguing to go to Imladris as him feeling the need to do what he can to fix that mistake, or at least own up to it. So, this sort of is a precursor to that. And parents have to allow their adult kids to face their mistakes, even if it's painful. It is hard here for Thranduil--it will be very hard for him to send Legolas to Imladris. So I decided to go that way and I liked it better. :-) 'Course, I'm not a parent, so I'm glad it ended up making sense to someone who is too. :-) And I'm glad you liked Lindomiel's comment. In my little world, the way I imagine Thranduil's family's past, Lindomiel is the only one who shares with Legolas the experience of having been held captive (her, for a much briefer time than Legolas, of course). Given the emphasis Tolkien places on elves' 'will' and their 'free will' being held or made to do something against their will strikes me as something that would be very disturbing to them. Legolas and Lindomiel understand that. Thanks so much for the reviews daw. I appreciate them so much! | |