What quiet delight Faramir and Beregond must find in a world so at peace that the terrors of the past are now disarmed by a child's innocence. I love that Elboron is a child of such joy that he cannot imagine a creature that would not be smiling; I also love the detail of his tall uncle towering above all other men!
Author's reply
I also love the detail of his tall uncle towering above all other men!
Much more honest than using accurate perspective, LOL! Sort of like the Egyptian tomb paintings where the pharaoh is three times as tall as anyone else in the scene. I love how children draw in such an uninhibited style; it's a shame that we unlearn it. I think Elboron would be very upset if he realized that any of the Oliphaunts were actually killed in the battle; hence Faramir's careful remark that it was not impossible that the Oliphaunts found their way home.
Thanks for your kind words!
annmarwalk
· 22 January 2006
· Chapter 21: The Oathbreakers (Aragorn)
*weeps*
Alas for Boromir! That his own sense of guilt caused him to number himself among the faithless. And poor Aragorn, noticing his presence too late to offer forgiveness and reconciliation.
annmarwalk
· 22 January 2006
· Chapter 20: The Household Accounts (Eowyn)
I feel for the poor housekeeper - keeping tally of the household's loss by the fabric left behind. Denethor; Boromir (the imagery of his surcotte swirling as he paces is exquisite!); most heartrending of all, the unborn daughter Finduilas longed for in vain.
The details you've added - the dyeing and weaving terms, and line about Eowyn's rough skin catching on the silk - are like embroidery, adding richness and texture to the somber fabric of your tale. Lovely.
Author's reply
For the housekeeper, her memories of these beloved people are bound up with common household objects, and she is probably afraid that Eowyn will want to use the fabric or give it away. But, fortunately, Eowyn is sensitive enough to understand that these are mementos of the dead.
Thanks for your kind review!
Raksha The Demon
· 1 November 2005
· Chapter 19: The Turning of the Year (Faramir, Eowyn)
A lovely little reminder, amidst their happiness, of the losses Faramir and Eowyn have suffered, and the kinsmen who perished - Theoden, Theodred, Boromir and Denethor. Well done as usual.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 4: Midwinter (Finduilas)
Yes, a reminder of growth and live in the stone city of the Tower of Guard....
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 2: The Armsmaster (Boromir)
And how long did he linger here, I wonder?
Author's reply
I like to think that he lived out his life with these people. He would have trained and led the local militia, helped organize the large hunts in the autumn, taught swordsmanship to the children and then the grandchildren of the lord. They would treat him with the utmost respect, recognizing his skill and guessing at his noble background. In the end, he would find peace and a measure of fulfillment.
Thanks for all of your reviews yesterday--I thought I had been visited by the Halloween review fairy. :-D
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 3: The Muster of Rohan (OC)
For the first attempt, it's probably brave enough. Lovely humor.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 1: Dragons and Shadows (Faramir, Eowyn)
A lovely comparison of the scientific and the mythic. Very nicely done, and good catch of Faramir's grief at the family so lost.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 19: The Turning of the Year (Faramir, Eowyn)
A worthy memorial custom indeed. Yet the mounds and the evermind are similar in meaning, and she has nothing of which to be ashamed.
Author's reply
Thanks for the review!
No, she is not ashamed, but she weeps because this custom reminds her of the losses of the past year and she is also touched that Faramir lights four candles for the recently deceased. He honors her family along with his own.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 18: The Road Not Taken (Boromir)
A lovely blending here of Frost and Tolkien; and love the use of the Swan's name in OE here considering what fate came to Boromir son of Denethor on the road he chose.
It did make all the difference.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 17: Last Defence of the City (Denethor, Peregrin)
If only he had done this....
Lovely imagery here. Denethor unspoiled.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 16: No Man's Land (JRRT)
Another look at the Master in his own battles. Nice.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 15: Terra Incognita (JRRT)
Yes, but a far different Eastern Front than they knew then.
Lovely imagining of what the Master might have been like on the front lines.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 14: Early Snowfall (Boromir, hobbits)
A wonderful image of sheer fun!
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 13: Herbs of Healing (Faramir)
Waking must at times have been very difficult; and the poppies for the fallen warrior is an apt symbol.
"In Flanders fields red poppies grow..."
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 12: Envy (Grima)
And then, which gift did he come to use most? Ah, the one for which others came to curse him.
It is painful to find oneself a second-rate individual by the standards one measures manhood.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 11: Betrayed (Eowyn)
Growing up a woman in what is thought to be a man's world is difficult, particularly when one finds oneself no longer a child.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 10: Awakening (barrow-wight)
All right--interesting view of the process! But are Hobbits the men of Carm Dun?
Author's reply
When Merry wakes up after being ensorcelled in the burial mound, he retains the memories of one of the barrow-wights. He says, "The men of Carn Dum came on us at night, and we were worsted. Ah! the spear in my heart!" So the men of Carn Dum were the people who killed the warriors who later became barrow-wights. I don't know whether Tolkien mentions it, but I had always assumed that the barrow-wights themselves were also Men. The barrow-wights had awakened and were walking long before the hobbits arrived. Certainly the barrow-wight who captured Merry in "Fog on the Barrow Downs" could remember his own death and who was the cause of it. Not sure they would mistake the hobbits for the men of Carn Dum, but I guess it is possible--after all, the barrow-wights are under an evil enchantment so their judgment is not the best. :-)
Thanks so much for reviewing!
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 8: Old Farmhouse (Faramir)
I think I've read this one before, but still love the imagery as Faramir thinks on what was the garden of the realm.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 7: Gifts of the Forest (Elured, Elurin)
At least one had mercy upon them.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 6: Alchemy (Feanor)
Lovely images, and worthy of the title of the collection.
Larner
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 5: The Armorer (Faramir)
Yes, this indeed would be a reminder of grief and loss to our beloved Steward.
annmarwalk
· 31 October 2005
· Chapter 19: The Turning of the Year (Faramir, Eowyn)
Beautiful imagery, and a lovely custom - as perfect as a drabble as can be.
-- Ann
Author's reply
Thanks for your kind words. Since at least the days of Celts, it has been the custom to light bonfires and candles for the spirits of the dead on All Hallows. The corpse candles in the Dead Marshes seem to me to be evidence of a similar custom of lighting vigil candles in MiddleEarth.
daw the minstrel
· 25 September 2005
· Chapter 18: The Road Not Taken (Boromir)
This was lovely and evocative, Branwyn. The buried road intrigues me, as does the fact that its existence is still shown by the line through the trees.
Author's reply
I had in mind those aerial photographs of ancient villages and old Roman roads where, even after hundreds of years, the stones are still holding back the tree roots. I also was thinking of the Greenway near the borders of the Shire (if my memory is correct)-- a road that is no longer kept clear of grass by travellers but is still a visible part of the landscape. Like the Greenway, the road in my ficlet is the remnant of a road built by the ancient kings in the glory days of Gondor and Arnor. Rather gloomy for poor Boromir to be constantly reminded of the decline of his people!
Thanks for reviewing!
annmarwalk
· 25 September 2005
· Chapter 18: The Road Not Taken (Boromir)
Very lovely and unexpected! I like the way you set the autumn-y scene immediately, and used that theme to convey the feelings of change and sadness that so often go along with that time of year, melding them with the pain and sadness and indecision of his quest.
The first year we lived in Alaska, I remember being stunned at the sound of thousands of wild geese headed south together - I could not imagine what that sound was, and ran outside with my baby in my arms. It's still a very powerful memory, of forces of nature quite beyond my understanding. What a lovely and sad note for Boromir, to be bid farewell by one of the sigils of his mother's house, as he begins this journey that will bring him to his doom!
Ann
Author's reply
Thanks so much for your kind words, and I am glad that the result was unexpected. When I read about the HASA "Your favorite poem" challenge, I remembered "The Road Not Taken" and thought at once of Boromir who sets out on a journey by the road less travelled and who also chooses the wrong path in the end. "And that has made all the difference," as Robert Frost says. A companion ficlet could be written from Faramir's viewpoint as he looks down that same road in after years and considers the different choices that he and his brother made.
(I had not read any Frost in twenty-five years, and getting old and grey does give you a different perspective on his works, LOL! Too easy to regard him as the Thomas Kinkaide of poetry because of the seeming whimsy of the New England settings. But I digress.)
The swan just sneaked into the ficlet; I did not consciously include it as a symbol of Boromir's connection to Dol Amroth, though now that you pointed it out, I like it. I just needed a noisy bird that sounded vaguely like a horn. :-)
Thanks again for writing!