Sneha
· 22 July 2013
· Chapter 15: Epilogue: Flown
I think this is the best Arwen story I have ever read. I was tired of her being depicted as a weeping female with none of the wisdom or dignity of the Eldar. I loved how you showed her to be a strong person without making it cross the bounds Tolkien set for her. I loved her interactions with her brother, you made her seem so real! And their romance was so subtly depicted without too much fluff. And the ending was the best! My heart grieved for Elrond and it was soothed.
I have read a lot of lotr fanfiction until their was almost nothing left to read. I wanted a good fic before I left the fandom, your story has left a delightful feeling and now I am satisfied. Thank you for such a wonderful story.
undomiel205
· 20 March 2011
· Chapter 9: Knowing
Wow this story is amazing!! It got me hooked from the beginning but this chapter is my fave so far, it has so much emotion in it. I especially love the conversation between Aragorn and the twins, it shows how much both sides care for Arwen and that they would do anything for her.
However there is one thing I don't really understand. If Arwen did really know about her destiny does this mean that she was prepared to marry a man that possibly she might not even love, and thus forsake immortality and her family, simply out of duty? Does this mean that (before she fell in love with him) she was prepared to marry Aragorn because of duty? It would make me really sad if it really is so. I have always believed that Arwen never really thought much of becoming a mortal until she saw Aragorn in Lothlorien again where she fell in love with him for who he was and not because duty dictated her to do so. And then realising she loved him so much she could't live without him she chose to become mortal. However, you have written this story so beautifully and convincingly that now my beliefs are starting to crumble. Please explain to me how and why she decided to marry him (I'm sorry if this is in the story and you are forced to write it again but English is not my first language and I might have not understood the story fully)
Anyways I would like to say again that your story is wonderful and it's a gem within LOTR fanfic. I also really liked, in the previous chap. i think it was, that Aragorn had been faithful to Arwen and never been intimate with women. I think it portrays his character perfectly and I have always had the same opinion on it and believed that his first time was indeed with Arwen on their wedding night.
Keep up with the good work and keep on delighting us with your stories :)
curiouswombat
· 25 September 2010
· Chapter 15: Epilogue: Flown
Somehow, although this has been on my to-read list for a long time, I had forgotten about it until today.
I have just read it all, over one afternoon and evening, and just want to say thank you for such a lovely, insightful, look at Arwen. I feel that I know her so much better now.
Sphinx
· 31 July 2008
· Chapter 15: Epilogue: Flown
I havent read LOTR fic in a while. But I felt like it, and I wanted Celeborn, and I dug this out. What a beautiful story. Your Arwen is one of the first real convincing takes I have seen on the character. And in spanning the years and choices and dilemmas, you've produced a story that simmers in the background of LOTR, yet never really took the limelight. Thank you. Because the plot bunnies resurface. :)
Apologies for not logging in.
Sphinx
Dreamflower
· 17 September 2006
· Chapter 15: Epilogue: Flown
Oh, wow! I read this all in one gulp this morning, and am now feeling completely sated.
This is an absolutely beautiful story. Arwen's strength and loyalty, of which we are offered only brief glimpses in canon, are here fleshed out completely believably. Yes, I can see in this Arwen a devotion and a love that could accept a destiny beyond her comprehension, and endure a forty-year betrothal, decades spent in a strang place among strange people, and finally, an acceptance of a fate beyond her ken.
And the end--it made perfect sense, for to be beyond the bounds of Arda *is* to be beyond all time, where time is irrelevant, and to wait means nothing at all.
A brilliant job!
Author's reply
Thank you, Dreamflower! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it - I really had fun with this story, although the end was rather tough. At the start I thought I would leave it at the wedding - but it just didn't work, because that's not how Arwen's story ended. I started it because I got tired of incidental-Arwen - Elrond's daughter had to have more to her than just being a reward! Plus she was far better trained to rule than poor Aragorn, who spent so many years wallowing in mud on his own. I think she, like Elrond, understood fate and destiny - and, like him, she was able to embrace it. Fate didn't make her love of Aragorn any less - more, if anything. She was dedicated to him.
And I was glad to reunite her with all her family - it did make sense, once you started to think about it, even if it did make me feel rather dizzy.
Stefania
· 14 June 2006
· Chapter 5: Meeting
Bodkin, I am enjoying the textures of your story as much as the character development. Your prose evokes a brittle beauty for me.
Arwen is such a well drawn character and a heroine I can really emphasize with. I also am really delighted with Celeborn, the minor character who shouts out to me. And what a beautiful evocation of Aragorn's first spotting of Arwen and its parallels to Luthien and Beren. I'm glad I discovered "Arwen's Heart."
- Stefania
Author's reply
Thank you, Stefania. I am very pleased you are enjoying it! This chapter was an excuse to indulge in some of the descriptive writing that Tolkien's story evokes. It is such a beautiful scene to imagine!
I like Arwen and feel she sometimes gets short-changed in stories. She is a strong female, with experience and determination - and many of her qualities went into supporting Aragorn through a very difficult period. There is more to her than some medieval Lady sitting in safety sewing a banner for her Lord. And I just love Celeborn! Such a tough character - so confident in his own worth that he has no difficulty at all dealing with Galadriel.
I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the story.
x
· 6 April 2006
· Chapter 15: Epilogue: Flown
Not much to say really. I was overly impressed and am so glad i found this story. The characters are consistent in character which made the story touching and the depth was incredible. It also gave me an insight on a few things behind the scenes of 3rd age middle Earth which will help me in writing my story. Dont worry, i wont be copying you but you have proved helpful and your story telling ability is excellent. Great story, well wrote, great job. I'll look out for more of your work.
Author's reply
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really wanted to portray an Arwen who was strong and determined and yet remained within the boundaries Tolkien had set her - while providing an inspiration sufficient to make Estel grow into Elessar.
I'm glad you think the scenes I've shown will help you develop your story. (Nilmandra's History Lessons are fantastic for providing masses of background knowledge, too. If you haven't read them yet, do!) Good luck with your work.
jules
· 4 April 2006
· Chapter 6: Devotion
We may have to agree to disagree on the matter of Elrond, but maybe I should explain my description of him as ‘arrogant’. It’s funny, but the point you brought up in your review response in his defence is one of the main problems I have with him – “He been has managing these affairs for a long time”. He has indeed – together with Galadriel and Gandalf, he has been managing and manipulating the lives of generations of dunedain (and, to an apparently lesser extent, the other free peoples). Doubtless it has all been with the most noble of intentions, but there is still something quite patronising about it. (I confess I have a similar problem with the inferences in the book and in a lot of fanfictions that all of the wisdom to be found in Middle Earth left on a grey ship at the end of the 3rd Age – the idea that of course the eldar were superior to men and therefore they had a right to move the chesspieces.)
I do believe Elrond genuinely loved Aragorn, but I’m afraid the way I see it he tried his best to keep A&A apart. I agree that they would never have fallen in love if Arwen had been around when Estel was growing up, but somehow I don’t think that was Elrond’s intention when he packed Arwen off to Lorien and kept her very name from being mentioned around Estel. I can of course sympathise with the unfairness of the situation from Elrond’s point of view, but to me it still smacks of hypocrisy to raise Estel/Aragorn up under the imperative of duty and destiny, but (in my view at least) take concerted action to prevent his own daughter’s part in that destiny.
While Gandalf at least appears to have been involved in ordering the dunedain world (it’s not clear whether Galadriel cared all that much about them either way), he seems to be much more accepting of destiny in general (perhaps because he does not become too attached to any of his chesspieces, except for Bilbo & Frodo?). And as for Galadriel, she certainly did nothing to keep A&A apart, and arguably she helped it along – she could have denied Aragorn access to Lorien, or kept him oblivious to Arwen’s presence, instead she decked him out like an elf lord and all but presented him up to her.
That aside, I have to say that your Elrond is on the whole quite a likeable chap – once he accepts the inevitability of their bonding, he becomes quite a decent advocate for Aragorn, leaving Arwen in no doubt about the depth and purity of Aragorn’s love for her (in ch 12), and reassuring Aragorn (in ch 13) that he is worthy.
I guess it is a testament to the shades of grey Tolkien wrote into his grand tale - we wouldn’t still be debating motives and characterisations 50-odd years on if it was all black and white.
Cheers,
jules
Author's reply
I suppose in many ways the Elves must have felt like parents when dealing with the Secondborn. They've always 'been there, seen it, done it'. 'Tried that and it didn't work'. But then, as a parent, it is very difficult seeing your children learning from hard experience lessons you could have passed on - if only they wanted to listen.
You could say - (although I won't convince you!) - that in trying to keep Aragorn and Arwen apart, Elrond was giving into his human side! He raised Estel to be the best Man he could be - and kept Arwen out of his way. And if destiny meant them to be together, then let destiny look after getting them in the same place at the same time! Galadriel, on the other hand, didn't mind shoving fate in the direction she thought it needed to go. She offered it a hand - and then let it take care of itself.
Elrond could be considered - if you wanted to think of it that way - as having been damaged by his own experiences. Father - gone when he was so young he doubtless didn't remember him. Mother - flung herself off a cliff to avoid murderers. Brought up by said murderers - probably Stockholm syndrome there. Lost his home - at least twice. (Sirion and the whole of Beleriand.) Experienced war young - lost his closest friend and surrogate carer in a later war. Lost his wife to torment and despair that made her choose to leave him (no matter it was to save her life). Sons descended into emotional instability for a while. No wonder he was suffering from separation anxiety and a desperate desire to protect what he had left.
The Elves were right to sail at the end of the Third Age. They didn't have all the answers - but they did have a lot more experience than Men - and in the end you just have to let people live their own lives and make their own mistakes.
I'm still fond of Elrond - whom I see as a chap trying hard to do his best in a situation where most of the decisions were very difficult to call. The complexity of Tolkien's world - and the amount that is just sketched out or offered with tantalising wisps of information - is what makes it such a great place to play. Thank you.
jules
· 4 April 2006
· Chapter 15: Epilogue: Flown
The concept of ‘no time’ is a little hard to get your head around (not just for Arwen), but it does make for a neat happy ending. It seems particularly fitting that having lived lives dictated by duty and responsibility (which has been an overwhelming theme of your story) they are both now free – Arwen has “shed the shadow of years and loss and duty”, and Aragorn is “young and joyful and free of the marks of a lifetime of responsibility”. So they are still each other’s beloved, yet neither of them are the same as they were when they were together. And it does seem fairer somehow that the big family reunion doesn’t have to wait until the end of days.
This story has been a truly rewarding read, Bodkin. You said you wanted to portray an Arwen who was more than just window dressing, and you have certainly managed that – your Arwen is the epitomy of the strong woman behind the man, a true heroine. Thank you for sharing her with us.
Author's reply
The idea of 'no time' is more than a little dizzying. But, if they are beyond the bounds of time, isn't that what that should mean? And it does offer a neat solution!
If, beyond the circles of the world, Aragorn and Arwen had slotted into another time-scale, they would both have ended up with lives 'dictated by duty and responsibility' again - they are just that sort of people! Timelessness gives them a freedom simply to be themselves. And they are beyond the end of days. And yet not. At the same time. (It doesn't bear too much thinking about, actually. You start to feel as if you've taken too much wine.)
Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed it. I wanted a strong Arwen, who didn't need to take on a masculine role and wield a sword in battle to have a role and affect the outcome - and I'm glad you think it worked. It's been a pleasure.
jules
· 4 April 2006
· Chapter 14: Endings and Beginnings
I’m going to start this review with a confession – if I am feeling even remotely depressed or tired or upset with the world, reading the Tale of A&A in the appendices moves me to tears. Embarrassing but true.
I didn’t go quite so soppy over chapter 14, but I suspect that’s only because we have had longer to work up to it! Aragorn’s unresolved guilt over Arwen is unbearably sad – he would be quite prepared to accept his end, if not for the pain it will cause his beloved. Arwen’s grief is very realistically portrayed, the sense of immediate loathing for Aragorn’s city now that he is no longer there to make it liveable for her, the need to get away, but the ever present demands of duty that force her to stay, at least for a while.
I like the way Arwen comes to terms with the Gift – that she recognises it as a liberation rather than something to be feared, and that her last days are spent in joy (a celebration of her life?) rather than despair. It seems right that Glorfindel comes closest to understanding what is happening to Arwen, although he’s still underestimating her if he thinks she’s oblivious to the protection detail lingering on the fringes.
Curaniel sums Arwen’s life up well for Celebrian – a story of love and deep contentment.
Author's reply
There are literary moments that are natural tear-jerkers. A&A, Beth in Little Women, a poem called Beaucourt Revisited. Those are three of mine!
Aragorn has spent a century thinking he has dealt with his guilt - only to find that now he is going to have to leave Arwen, he wishes he could give her back what they accepted as the price for their love. Not that it would work - and he would actually be condemning her to an unhappier fate. Grief - is odd. In a way it is a cessation of living anyway. Arwen is still an elf - and the sundering of the bond she has with Aragorn is going to affect her very powerfully. She can survive bodily in the White City for a while, but mentally she has already left, I think, before her children are willing to accept her departure. She stays for them - until they can accept her loss. The hiatus is the court mourning period - about three months - until the new king is crowned and life starts moving again.
Arwen approached the Gift with openness, I think, and that is what makes it a joyful time. She is thankful for what she has had and embraces the world, while seeing the Gift is just a step to a world of new experience. Glorfindel understands it best, but her brothers and grandfather cannot but be affected by her mood and it makes her last months far less painful than they could have been. (She must have known they would never leave her. But she needed the silence, I think.)
A short marriage - for an elf - but crammed with all the experience and happiness that a mother could wish for her child. And, in the end, a belief that she was going to be rejoined with the one she loved.
jules
· 4 April 2006
· Chapter 13: Marriage
The scene between Aragorn and Elrond was very poignant – Aragorn’s guilt, Elrond’s contemplation of the choices made by himself and Elros, and his rationalisation of Arwen as an adventurer like her (paternal) daeradar.
Mind you, her other daeradar is pretty impressive too, determined to stick around in case he’s needed, and lobbying for deferral of ‘the choice’ for the twins as well. Interesting too that for all Mithrandir’s initial objections, he has to concede that he’s not all that unhappy with the outcome.
Wonderful glimpses into A&A’s married life, poor Aragorn trying rather half-heartedly to be mindful of Gondorian propriety before he remembers that the kingship was the means to the end, not the end itself... Then Arwen & Legolas conspiring to remind him of the same thing a few years later.
Lovely parting between Arwen & Elrond – sad but not maudlin, Elrond very much the reassuring father being brave for his child. But despite Elrond’s advice it seems A&A haven’t made much progress on coming to terms with the Gift. Perhaps Faramir’s words, coming years later but eerily reminiscent, will make more of a connection.
Author's reply
Aragorn and Elrond love each other as father and son - and yet Aragorn is taking Elrond's daughter. For ever, too. I think Elrond has come to terms with it probably better than Aragorn - and seeing her as Earendil's granddaughter probably helped.
Celeborn was never going to leave Middle-earth while Arwen might need him - and he knows the twins have decided to stay by her, too. He would think ahead to - er - requesting that, since Arwen has accepted the destiny laid on her, the twins should be given time, so that they could support her and yet sail in their own time. He would not want Celebrian to lose all her children. Mithrandir probably agrees anyway.
Arwen is undoubtedly better equipped for the tedium of ruling - and has spent long enough under the eyes of guards and courtiers to know that the only way to be happy is to learn how to ignore them when it suits you. She will help Aragorn learn to endure the burden of the crown - and take time away from it when he can.
Beyond the bounds of time is an almost impossible concept for men - but to elves? Elrond has been around for over two ages. Galadriel is - what - 8000 or so? To them the division is painful and they will never be reunited in this world - but Elrond, of all people, must have developed a philosophy that saw him reunited, in time, with Elros. And neither Elrond nor Arwen would have wanted to make the parting harder on the other.
Aragorn and Arwen would have avoided the thought of the Gift for their first decades, I think. They would both have felt guilty about it. Faramir is definitely the best person to help Arwen understand. He has such depth - and can see further into a brick wall than most. By this time, he has seen Eowyn die and his own grasp on life is tenuous - I think Arwen will have found it easier to take instruction from him.
120 year together. Such a long time for a man. Such a passing moment for an elf.
jules
· 4 April 2006
· Chapter 12: Left Behind
This chapter is a real testament to Arwen’s strength. Even while she’s having a temporary crisis of faith, its not her faith in Aragorn, or her love for him that is shaken, nor is she wallowing in self-pity about her own situation, being betrothed to a man who has just headed off on an apparently suicidal mission. No, Arwen is only worried that she hasn’t helped her man enough, or has given him another burden to carry. Good thing Elrond was there to set her straight, and his assessment of her value to Aragorn was lovely and very true.
The scenes of the Fellowship in Lorien through Curaniel’s eyes are very powerful, and it is interesting to see that Curaniel has become much more worldly-wise, without ever having left the Golden Wood. It wasn’t just Arwen preparing for the future, Galadriel’s preparations in grooming Curaniel for her future role have also paid off.
I liked the way you handled the summoning of the dunedain, I’ve always regretted that Tolkien didn’t show this episode, and the dunedain with Aragorn, in a little more detail. (Particularly Halbarad, the poor guy was obviously one of Aragorn’s nearest and dearest, but he only scores a couple of lines, and his death is only mentioned in passing.)
Your take on the moment of the ring’s destruction, and Arwen’s role watching over Elrond, was also very interesting. I bet Glorfindel never thinks of her as a fragile little flower again.
Author's reply
Arwen is strong - and wise. Which is probably what Aragorn really needed - just as he needed someone who could wait and trust him and offer wordless support across the miles. Elrond was not (unsurprisingly) desperately keen for his daughter to sacrifice her immortality for Aragorn - but he does understand, better than any, just how important she is in maintaining Aragorn's inspiration and bolstering his resilience. And waiting to marry is part of that - I don't think Aragorn could have worked single-mindedly for the 'ultimate good of mankind' if he had been happily married to Arwen and producing little Dunedain.
Galadriel knows that if Curaniel is going to support Arwen, she needs to know more of the outside world and has been educating her. The Fellowship must have been strange birds of passage in Lothlorien, though. Much odder than they were in Rivendell.
The gaps Tolkien didn't show are wonderful fodder to those who enjoy filling them in, though - and the preparation of the Grey Company is among them - as is Halbarad.
The Ring's destruction must have had an effect beyond the Black Gate - and the worry about the three elven rings suggests that Elrond and Galadriel might well have been affected, one way or another. I'm quite curious to know what Gandalf felt at that moment, actually. And Glorfindel will always think of Arwen as his delicate and beautiful surrogate daughter - to be protected. Male relatives, whether by blood or love, are very good at closing their eyes to things they don't want to see in their fragile little flowers!
jules
· 1 April 2006
· Chapter 11: The Drums in the Deep
I like the way you handled Arwen’s connection with Aragorn. You show the depth of Arwen’s strength and love, that she is able to comfort and inspire and support him even when they are far apart, but you also show Aragorn’s character perfectly - his determination to shield her from the harsh realities of his life, until exhaustion and near despair take the matter out of his hands.
Their reunion is lovely, the intimacy, the way so much is conveyed without words.
But the days do indeed grow short.
Author's reply
I do think he needed her and depended on her love to bolster him at times. And yet their link cannot have been too complete, or he would have had her in his head at all times. Aragorn would want to shield her - he would definitely be the sort to admire the woman-on-a-pedestal - and would certainly sacrifice himself to keep her safe. (Elrond has no doubts of that, I am sure!) And I am sure that their familiarity with each other has grown remarkably deep - and that there is no question of their love for each other.
So many years past - and so few months ahead.
jules
· 1 April 2006
· Chapter 10: The Years of Waiting
Gilraen’s assessment of the difference between men and elves was interesting, the need of the edain to strive in hope and then hand the fight on to the next generation. But her acceptance that she has now effectively played her part is quite breathtakingly sad. She has endured until now to give Aragorn the sort of unqualified love and support he needed, but now Arwen has taken on that role and she feels free to leave. It’s one of the points that I can never quite forgive Tolkien for – Gilraen’s entire life was just a means to an end, he could at least have let her hang around to see the happy ending.
It seems Arwen has had enough of being silently courageous – her little outburst might have shocked the twins into awareness of how their errantries may have affected others (a few centuries too late, probably), but poor Aragorn has no idea what’s going on!
I really felt for Aragorn in this chapter – he must feel so impossibly torn. Gandalf all but blackmails him into going off alone on yet another seemingly hopeless mission in the name of ‘duty’, but what about his duty to his family and the dunedain? Gilraen seems to accept that family comes second, but there must have been many times when Aragorn wished he was just a normal man without the weight of destiny and duty hanging over him. His final parting from Gilraen is heartbreaking.
Author's reply
I can see the literary neatness of not wanting a mother hanging around to deal with - but it does seem desperately unfair that Gilraen should sacrifice so much and yet not live to know that her son achieved the impossible and lived happily with Arwen for 120 years.
I doubt Arwen is always silently courageous - I reckon she must have given her brothers some serious stick when they were younger! But in the post-Celebrian years I doubt anybody was able to say anything that helped and she might have got into the habit of being tactful and discreet. But there are times when a little foot-stomping is far more effective!
Aragorn had a hideously tough time really - trying to be all things to all men. Heir of Isildur, chieftain of the Dunedain, Elrond's foster-son, Mithrandir's protege - not to mention Thengel's Rider and Ecthelion's Thorongil - he never seemed to get enough time to do anything thoroughly. And this is a particularly dirty duty.
I'm glad you found his parting from his mother to be heartbreaking - she deserved more, but was prepared to sacrifice it all for her son. I suppose at least she knows that he has Arwen - and that Arwen, as an elf, can wait indefinitely and unchanged for whatever time Aragorn can given her.
jules
· 1 April 2006
· Chapter 9: Knowing
This is a very emotional chapter, no matter that everyone (except for Aragorn, apparently) knew all along what would happen, everyone still has their issues to work through. I like that your Elrond at least appears to finally accept the inevitable with some grace – I loathe those fanfictions where he all but throws Aragorn out of Imladris, and of course the movie where he practically forces Arwen off to the havens. I thought it was interesting that both Elrond and Gilraen need to know Arwen has not acted out of duty alone, each concerned for their own child. The twins were truly horrible to Aragorn, but as he showed in the opening with Celeborn, he’s not going to be scared off.
(oh, and every household should have a Glorfindel.)
Author's reply
Elrond loves Aragorn as well as Arwen - but she is his daughter, and it is hard for many fathers to think that anyone is good enough for his little girl. He has seen his brother pass beyond the circles of the world, too, and has more understanding of what she has taken on, at a personal level, than anyone else. And he knows, too, that he will not be able to be there for her - I think he is fully aware that, if Aragorn comes to the kingship, he will have to sail. But Elrond has suffered so much - this is just another demand on him - and he has never failed yet to offer all he can.
The twins were horrible to him - but he has grown up as their brother and he is used to them. And, I suspect, he has quite a large streak in him that thinks they are right. But all three of them are prepared to support Arwen in whatever choice she makes.
Yes - I can go with every household needing a Glorfindel!
jules
· 31 March 2006
· Chapter 8: Devotion
If I went through everything I love about this chapter, the review would go on forever, but I have to mention Arwen’s methodical preparations for war, Glorfindel as the voice of reason, the ranger’s revelations about the orcs watching E&E. But the scenes with A&A are just lovely. And of course Arwen had to be the one to make the move, because I agree with you entirely – having seen so much of the world and the terrible brevity and fragility of mortal life, there is no way Aragorn would have made any demands of her. I think this is the only version of the betrothal I’ve seen that goes into Arwen’s feelings and motives in any depth. But after starting the chapter with Aragorn’s incredible stoicism and lack of self-pity despite the isolation he has endured his entire life, it’s nice to conclude with him ‘no longer alone’.
Author's reply
Arwen is, in my opinion, the reason that Aragorn was able to make a successful transition from wandering-Ranger-heir-of-Isildur to a king able to manage the needs of two divided kingdoms. She has the management experience that he lacks - and the ability to run complex operations without making a big thing of it. Glorfindel is gorgeous - and he is in a perfect position to put forward the sensible viewpoint. The ranger's thoughts just occurred to me as I was writing this and I just thought - yes, the twins would be so obvious. Of course the orcs would be watching them.
Aragorn had learnt too much to make any demands of Arwen, no matter how much he loved her - and she might actually have found it quite difficult to overcome his scruples. In fact, she might have had to deal with them more than once! (He had to get past Galadriel to get to Arwen in the first place. But once Daernaneth had approved, he didn't stand much of a chance.) Aragorn needed Arwen desperately from this point on - and I believe he would have failed if he hadn't had her love and trust to bolster his own will.
jules
· 31 March 2006
· Chapter 7: Commitment
I like Celeborn the daeradar. All the rest of the wise now seemed resigned to the fact that Arwen is a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter, but there’s no way he’s just going to accept it quietly. But there’s something slightly disturbing about the way that Arwen herself has accepted her fate – “I will do what I must… And this son of Elros’s line will have his due.” Not sure I like the fact she seems prepared to hand herself to Aragorn out of duty, but maybe (hopefully at least) there’s a bit more going on at a subconscious level – “She spoke his name apparently carelessly, but her tongue caressed the syllables”. I’m choosing to interpret that as her being already at least a bit in love with him, even if she hasn’t admitted it to herself yet. You’ve painted her as so strong and determined (very much how you’d expect given her family tree) so I suppose I can see her accepting that her marriage to Aragorn is quid pro quo for him reclaiming the throne, reuniting the free peoples, saving the world etc etc. The romantic in me doesn’t like it, though.
The twins teasing of Aragorn in absentia was fun, but I think they’re secretly jealous they can’t grow beards of their own!
Author's reply
Celeborn is rather less accepting of the demands of fate, I think - and more convinced that fate is what you make it. He lost Luthien to Beren - not that he loved her in that way, but she was his cousin and family - he lost Celebrian, and he doesn't want to lose his granddaughter. But I suspect he knows that he isn't onto a winner here. He could fight fate, but not Arwen's desires.
Arwen has known this would happen, I think, for a long time. And saving the world isn't always romantic - but her acceptance does mean that she is willing to love him rather than fighting it. She has spent a good few years thinking about him - and he did make a good, if very youthful, first impression on her! And she does want to hear all about him. There can't be anyone better to tell her about him than the twins either - because they love him as a brother and know him better than almost anyone.
jules
· 31 March 2006
· Chapter 6: Devotion
‘I think I might prefer to confront Elrond than come up against the displeasure of Estel’s naneth.” Gilraen really does take charge in this chapter, bringing Aragorn down to (Middle) earth with a thud, then switching to pep-talk mode, then giving Arwen a not so subtle shove back to Lorien and out of Aragorn’s way. I thought there was an interesting parallel here to the opening of ch 1 – beware a woman with an embroidery needle, in Bodkin’s world it means there’s a serious conversation coming up! The most serious of subjects debated behind a façade of utmost gentility and decorum.
Meanwhile, poor Aragorn is desperately confused and unhappy, and Gilraen is right, he has had to deal with too much too soon. You do a good job of showing Elrond’s pain too, but personally I can never get over his complete arrogance – the attitude that it is his right to dictate the course of Estel/Aragorn’s life, while at the same time doing all he can to keep Arwen from her own destiny because it doesn’t quite fit his plans for the future. Anyway, having done what he can to prevent them meeting, it has all started to unfold now, and for all his power and influence he can do nothing but watch.
Author's reply
I wanted a strong Arwen - but I also wanted a strong Gilraen! She chose to leave her people and raise Aragorn in Rivendell so that he should have the chance to grow up safely and learn to be the man who could be king. I suppose it could be looked on as a wimpish evasion of her responsibilities - but it could also be seen as a very courageous and self-sacrificial thing to do. She committed herself to living alone among an alien race of people, keeping silent about her son's family to protect him. That is endurance. And yet she managed to raise Aragorn to be a man influenced by elves rather than a man who wanted to pretend he was an elf.
Women with embroidery needles are to be feared! And I like to think that Gilraen and Arwen understood each other perfectly. And that Gilraen's ability to deal with Arwen as Aragorn's mother is definitely strengthened because Arwen was not there when she arrived as a young widow with an infant son.
This must have been a dreadful time for Aragorn - he is still so young to have the bottom ripped out of his world. He no longer knows who he is - or what he has to do. The sight of Arwen - it is almost as if he clings on to it as something between rebellion and a desperate need to have a guiding star. It's not love - not yet, not really. But it is something that will enable him to endure the next years.
I don't see Elrond as arrogant. He has been managing these affairs for a long time - at a bit more of a distance, but Aragorn matters to him far more - he is a foster son who has become family. He knows he must let him go - but, to him, Aragorn is a child barely halfway to adulthood. He does not want Arwen to take up this destiny - but you could say that keeping her away from the child Estel actually facilitated their relationship. Could either have loved the other if Arwen had helped Gilraen rear him? Elrond is used to personal sacrifice - but he doesn't want to sacrifice his daughter - and who can blame him for that?
jules
· 31 March 2006
· Chapter 5: Meeting
“the silent courage of those who remained behind” – what a tragically apt description of Gilraen for most of her life, and of course it becomes true of Arwen as well. Very interesting meeting between the two women in Aragorn’s life.
Aragorn’s reactions to Elrond’s revelations about his identity are very believable - the resentment, anger, feelings of betrayal, followed almost immediately by insecurities and fears of inadequacy, then the sense of loss for a future that might have been of his own making. And as for THE meeting of the age, even from the outset Aragorn seems to realise Arwen had just become the one constant in his life that would help him endure the appalling hardships of his life – as you so neatly describe it, the one whose image would sustain him, and whose lightest word would hold him.
Author's reply
There are definite similarities to the roles of Gilraen and Arwen - and it is a role that is actually very typical of women. Eowyn is actually the exception in demanding to take a front-line role - and she had to reject the more usual feminine role that was expected of her. And yet - those who remain behind (which actually includes Elrond in the WotR) have an essential role to perform in making possible the role of the warrior. I read somewhere something along the lines of every front-line soldier requiring 50 people to ensure that he is fully equipped in the field - and many of those 50 people are the women who 'keep the home fires burning'.
Can you just imagine being 20 years old and learning that your whole life so far has been - not exactly a lie, but an evasion? I cannot imagine anyone dealing with it well, and it's hardly surprising that Aragorn's reaction is to rush out and fall in love with a dream of perfection. To be Beren to Arwen's Luthien is just the kind of romance to appeal to a boy on the threshold of manhood. (As is ignoring the less romantic and more painful parts of the tale.) Yet he needed that vision to help him endure.
Arwen, I think, must have recognised something in him. She had seen a lot of heirs of Isildur - but maybe she saw Beren in this one. She is too old and wise to fall in love with him at first sight - and he is too young and inexperienced to have enough appeal, but I think she felt something in her stir.
jules
· 30 March 2006
· Chapter 4: Games
Oh dear, the twins aren’t getting any better at this, are they? After all those years of hanging around with the dunedain you’d think they’d know a bit about the psychology of boys who think they’re grown up already… But they seem to manage the protective big brother role quite admirably as far as Arwen is concerned.
Author's reply
The twins prefer to avoid deep contemplation. Or perhaps they prefer to make you think they avoid deep contemplation. I think they shelter behind their reputation a lot - but they are very protective of their little sister. (Who can manage them nearly as successfully as Celebrian did!)
jules
· 30 March 2006
· Chapter 3: Innocence
Poor, gullible Haldir, he has no idea he is being played. And Arwen is devious, ingenious and so very brave. It must be desperately hard for Galadriel to realise she can safeguard an entire realm with her ring and her powers, but she couldn’t protect her daughter, and can’t protect her granddaughter, from what goes on outside it.
Author's reply
I feel mean, picking on Haldir! He just happens to be about the only named elf of Lothlorien I can think of - apart from his brothers.
Galadriel had to learn, I think, not her strength, but her weakness - that was part of her redemption. And part of what made her reject the Ring.
jules
· 30 March 2006
· Chapter 2: Duty
I liked the depiction of Arwen putting her trainee queen of the realm skills into practice. Trust a woman (of any species, apparently) to cut through the rubbish and tell it like it is – just a matter of making sure the right things are in the right place at the right time. And her comment to Curaniel that she would like a patient kind of love, one prepared to wait and learn and grow. Maybe that foresight runs in the family, because that’s what she got! Aragorn may not have waited 1000 years for Arwen but in terms of his lifespan it must have felt like it, and there’s no doubt the Aragorn she met again in Lorien had learned and grown a lot since Rivendell. And I got a laugh out of the poor bemused twins suddenly realising that Estel is not really all that in awe of them as figures of authority.
Author's reply
Right place at the right time! Very important - and a skill she has mastered. Together with managing people, which I think will also be vital in the life she will choose. Foresight definitely runs in the family - as does power and determination - and acceptance of duty.
Poor twins. Estel is growing up far too fast for them. Good thing I don't think they know what is coming. Yet.
jules
· 30 March 2006
· Chapter 1: Arwen's Heart
Hello Bodkin
Read your story as it was posted but haven’t been able to review until now.
Love the detail you convey with your writing – you really paint the scene so the reader can visualise it rather than just read the words, yet somehow it doesn’t distract from the flow of the story. Really enjoyed the wordplay between Arwen and Galadriel, with poor Celeborn realising that they’ve started to lose control of the situation despite all their best efforts. Nice sibling camaraderie with the twins, but what comes through most strongly is Arwen’s quiet strength and composure, even though she must have begun to suspect Galadriel had foreseen some terrible doom for her.
Author's reply
Thank you! I can get a bit carried away with scene-painting and have to keep an eye on myself there! I think it works OK as long as it doesn't interrupt what's going on. Celeborn should count himself lucky that Galadriel and Arwen love and humour him - but then so should they, because he makes a perfect husband and grandfather. The twins are always good value - and can lighten a mood that has become a trifle too serious, but I'm so pleased that you feel Arwen comes over as strong and composed - and aware of the tug of destiny.
I was so fed up with stories that didn't seem to appreciate her as a strong-minded, nearly 3000 year old elf who made her own decisions - and was doubtless instrumental in enabling a ranger from the wild to establish himself in the political cess-pit that was probably post-war Gondor.
viggomaniac
· 7 March 2006
· Chapter 7: Commitment
Have read through chapter eight and continue to find your story enthralling. I like the way you present Arwen and company as mature, thoughtful characters that we can care about. Would like to comment more, but I'm off to review more stories. If this was a 'real' job I'd never sleep. Great story. I'll be reading it all though it might take me a while to get to it.
Author's reply
I'm glad you like seeing the characters portrayed as mature and thoughtful - it was another of those things that made me want to write this. I had seen rather too much in the way of 'pranking' twins, petty Elrond and dumped Arwen and was wanting to show them as I see them. (I'm sure the twins could have been a pest when they were adolescents - but they're nearly 3000 here! Light-hearted at times - they are elves - but not petty, spiteful or juvenile.)
Reading and reviewing is such fun - I love it. Much more fun than the printed word these days.
Thank you, viggomaniac. I'm glad you're enjoying it!