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Elf Academy 4 - The Unfinished Tales  by Fiondil 14 Review(s)
LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 6 on 3/7/2016
Oh! I'm so glad to have found this.

Thank you, Ellie, Mari and Shemyaza, and thank you to Fiondil's family, for bringing his storytelling voice back to Mondays again, while this story lasts. How I've missed him (and I know it is only a fraction of what you have been feeling. Blessings and comfort to you all).

Alas, poor Glorfindel. I must admit that the chapters leading up to this one had more and more of a dreamlike quality, with the time- and place-shifting, and then the dead showing up. And the Dreamshaper not in control of who/what showed up? How interesting. Who or what is interfering? Fascinating to contemplate... (So Charles' words of comfort and encouragement were part of Loren's own subconscious, trying to tell him something, or were they perhaps someone or something else interfering in the harm being attempted...? I'm becoming muddled, even though I know what I am thinking/saying, I'm not sure I'm communicating it.)

Farrell is dead? I need to go back and read the earlier EA tales... The last thing I remember was him waiting to go on trial, and after that my mind is blank regarding what happened to him.

The counseling session was interesting to read. Is Vorundur's counseling philosophy common in his field? I know one person who is benefiting and growing from therapy, and another who fled therapy and refuses to go back to talk to anyone else (not because of an inability to cope, but the therapist's malpractice -- my heart is grieving and I don't know what to do to help). Not a very big sampling, admittedly. Still, I highly admire the way Fiondil has shaped Vorundur. (As well as other characters. He exhibited an ultimately optimistic vision, even though there are rough spots in the road.)

I don't know much about elves' fading. It seems from what was said here, that it involves them losing their energy? Where do they go when they fade? Is it the same as physical death, or different? When they die physically, it seems that they get rehabilitated and re-released into the world, from what I've read of Fiondil's tales of Glorfindel and Finrod (and other Reborn), but does Fading entail a different fate?

I am once again teased by the reference to Daeron, and what happened to him before he was rescued (which I think even Fiondil admitted not knowing all the details). And ironic that Glorfindel wasn't sure they'd be able to keep him from fading, and yet he was "stronger than even he knows".

Perhaps the words are prescient, and can be applied to Loren himself, though he doesn't know it yet.

Gladly taking up my usual chair in the Cliff House, bringing gourmet chocolates and a few bottles of good wine to share.

Author Reply: You are very very welcome Lindelea. We are ALL grateful to Arthur's family for allowing us to publish this, his last work. It was important for all of us who knew him, closure was important. I still have difficulty with the fact that he is no longer with us as does Ellie and Mari, but hopefully this will allow us to move forward.

I did wonder at first whether readers might be confused at the time jumps. We don't really know who is manipulating Glorfindel's dreams. You aren't any more muddled than the rest of us!

Yes, Farrell is dead, it might be a good idea to read the earlier tales because they do set the scene for all of the varied characters who turn up. #

I personally believe that most therapists form their own counselling philosopy based on what they take from their studies. The problem with Therapy (and I am what they call a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Co-Counsellor) is that so many people go into it believing that the therapist has some sort of quick fix. They don't provide answers, what they do is provide the patient with coping mechanisms so that they can find the answers relevant to them and their particular situation. I admit that I did have a few discussions with Fiondil/Arthur simply because he knew I had PTSD and was a co-counsellor.

As far as fading is concerned, first of all, it's important to get some distinctions in terminology out of the way because Tolkien can be rather confusing where the fates of the Elves are concerned. There is death, as in when the body of an Elf loses its life. Then there is fading, which is something totally different and to make matters even more tangled, Arwen's situation is rather unique, even within all that.

The Elves are, by their nature, immortal, meaning that they will live as long as the world (Arda) lives. However, they are not invincible. A beheaded Elf doesn't keep wandering around like the Green Knight, groping for his head. Tolkien conceived of his fictional beings as divided into body (hroä) and spirit (feä). The body can be destroyed, but the spirit remains bound to Arda for as long as Arda endures. "Of the Beginning of Days" in The Silmarillion says:

"...For the Elves die not till the world dies, unless they are slain or waste in grief (and to both these seeming deaths they are subject); neither does age subdue their strength, unless one grow weary of ten thousand centuries; and dying they are gathered to the halls of Mandos in Valinor, whence they may in time return."


What happens to their feär or spirits when the body dies? This is a bit more complicated and is explained in the text Laws and Customs among the Eldar, found in Morgoth's Ring. The feär of slain Elves are summoned to the halls of Mandos in Aman, where after a time of healing, they may be given new bodies and resume their lives in Valinor. (For example, although Tolkien was unclear on this matter, one possibility is that Glorfindel from The Lord of the Rings was Glorfindel of Gondolin, reembodied.) However, going to Mandos is no guarantee of reembodiment; Fëanor, for example, is said never to have returned to life (The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor"). Other Elves refuse the summons, and their feär become attached to the area in which they lived, as spirits that Laws and Customs suggests could be malicious.

Fading is also discussed in Laws and Customs and related to the duality of feär and hroär. Here, once an Elf reaches a certain advanced age, the spirit is said to overpower the body so that the body becomes invisible. These Elves still technically live, but they cannot be seen, and their exist in almost purely spiritual form.

I hope this helps with regard to fading and the Elves.

Enjoy the chocolates and the wine. I will be along to Cliff House shortly!

xxx Shemyaza

UTfrogReviewed Chapter: 6 on 3/7/2016
Interesting that even Namo and Ulmo are confused too. I am so happy they are still in Wiseman. That town has become so real and so dear. Thank you.

Author Reply: You're welcome, although I personally had nothing to do with that! Keep reading!

xxx Shemyaza

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 6 on 3/7/2016
Hugh Sigh! of not quite relief. Oy Fiondil What a start!!!

Author Reply: Hahaha! Fiondi still keeping everyone jumping even after death! So typical of him.

xxx Shemyaza

SarahReviewed Chapter: 6 on 3/7/2016
Oh thank goodness. For a minute there I wasn't sure if I'd be able to push through the craziness for this one. Still very not good for Glorfindel, I'll grant you, but not nearly as doom and gloom as I feared. Fiondil, good sir, you got me on this one.

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