Avoidance by Stefania

Reviews (92)

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irene hoesch · 7 October 2005 · Chapter 7: When Eowyn Met Faramir

Thanks for this chapter: finally one where Faramir isn´t dirty, stinking and unkempt... Okay, no more jokes. Your description of the first meeting of these two was just wonderful. I loved especially when Faramir gave Éowyn this look over -- down to her skin. I mean, it's refreshing to see a normal man react to an attractive woman. (Very seldom happening in all the fanstories, alas!) THANKS! And continue! Irene

Author's reply

Irene, I'm chuckling. You mean you want me to clean my unkempt Faramir :) :) . My Faramir has been a little controversial with my beloved Beta reviewers because he insists on my writing him as an intellectual, hard-fighting, thoughtful, slightly less angsty than fanon....GUY. I think because I am doing movieverse, I am somewhat less restricted to the idealized style of Tolkien, which most fanfic writers, justifiably, try to emulate. Due to the very nature of the media, the LOTR films show Tolkien's characters as living, breathing people (even the Elves!!) with recognizable reactions and real dirt covering them. (What would Tolkien have thought of Aragorn planting a big ol' tongue kiss on Arwen right in the middle of his Coronation.) So I've tried to make all my characters, not just Faramir, be slightly less idealized, without making them exactly contemporary to our times. It's a challenge. I do have one more Beta reviewed chapter of "Avoidance," which I will archive to SoA shortly. Thanks for reading. - Steff

eowynthegreat · 21 September 2005 · Chapter 7: When Eowyn Met Faramir

Another great chapter. I am enjoying the detail you put into the houses. You make Minas Tirith a nice place to visit!

Author's reply

Thanks muchly. Wish I could go to Minas Tirith, meself. :) :) - Steff

Raksha The Demon · 21 September 2005 · Chapter 7: When Eowyn Met Faramir

I really love the prologue to the chapter, with Eowyn washing her hubby's hair and much soapy fun and banter. And she told him that though she didn't love im at first sight, he grabbed her breath....nice. Though there seems to be also a sense that he was looking at her physically as well reading her heart. Liked the bit about Faramir's having preferred the M-e version of Coffee over tea. More soon I hope.

Author's reply

Hi Ya, Raksha. You said: "Though there seems to be also a sense that he was looking at her physically as well reading her heart." Tee hee. The important thing is that Eowyn thinks that he's giving her bod the once over, to put it in modern terms. She's both insulted and turned on--very new feelings for her. In my 'verse these are very different feelings than she had for Aragorn. As to Faramir, well, he's a brilliant commander and great intellectual, but also a damaged, lonely single guy. And very handsome, whether the dark-haired fellow of the books or David Wenham. How he feels about Eowyn is in the next chapter--which is complete, BTW. - Steff

eowynthegreat · 18 September 2005 · Chapter 6: The Stranger on the Patio

more more. Very nice. The 'Roman Baths' are very appropriate given Gondor's 'Roman' look. Hurry!

Author's reply

Thanks, Eowyn the Great. I apologize for being slow. I was on vacation and when i came back, i had this idea for a short story that took over my entire fanfic writing time. It's currently being Beta'd, so I hope to have it up here at Stories of Arda within the next week or so. It is within the scope of my "Avoidance" chapters, but from another character's point of view. I promise to hurry up. - Steff

harrowcat · 20 July 2005 · Chapter 6: The Stranger on the Patio

You have me both intrigued and delighted by your writing Stefania. Also giggling, crying and empathising with the characters. Do keep going.

Author's reply

Thanks, Harrowcat. What nice things you say. I hope I can continue to live up to them. I like to season the angst with a little humor and whimsy whenever I can. - Steff

Irene · 25 June 2005 · Chapter 5: Black Breath

Although I am no fan of the Faramir/Éowyn-marriage I like your story very much and read it with pleasure. You write very well. One question yet: why have you turned Faramir into a grimy stinking guy who loathes physical cleansing? Neither in the books nor on the movies is any hint of this, on the contrary. There must be some reason for your strange idea? Looking forward to your next chapters! Irene

Author's reply

Hi Irene - Thanks for checking out my story. Rest assured, I already know how my story ends, and it's gonna happen LONG before Faramir and Eowyn ever marry. You asked: "why have you turned Faramir into a grimy stinking guy who loathes physical cleansing?" Ooops. I hope I didn't overdo Faramir's indifference to personal hygiene in the "bath" story. I confess that I wanted to have a little fun with Faramir without making him a wimp--which isn't going to happen in the Steffverse, if I can help it. There are a few matters that inspired me to think that film Faramir might need a bit of a cleaning up. (1) In some of the Henneth Anun shots, David Wenham looks like he is having a BAD wig day, with hair sticking to his head, looking really greasy. Which, from a fanfic point of view, you might presume he is in deep need of a shampoo. (2) Faramir's rangers have a literally dirty job to do and, in fact, look kinda grimy to me. (3) Ranger Faramir's living conditions (book and film) are only slightly more comfy than Ranger Strider. We all know how filthy poor Aragorn can become, particularly in the film "Two Towers." Besides, my hygiene indifferent Faramir would have been quite in line with the prevailing belief in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Queen Elizabeth of England supposedly bathed about twice a year and considered baths unhealthy. By contrast, the Muslims of those times bathed because the Koran encouraged them to wash before praying. I'm glad I didn't live in those times :) . Thanks for reading my tale. - Steff

elanor_dh · 25 June 2005 · Chapter 5: Black Breath

Oh, another excellent chapter. I love how you described the effects of the Black Breath that still is holding our dear Steward in its grip. I was really moved with Beregond's reaction toward his new Lord. And something else. I love your portraying of Faramir. He is weak because of his wounds, yet he is still strong in spirit. I can't wait to read more :) Greetings :)

Author's reply

Hi Elanor - Thanks for your kind words. The effects of Black Breath on both Faramir and Eowyn has become a theme in the more recent chapters that I've written.

Raksha The Demon · 25 June 2005 · Chapter 5: Black Breath

I love this chapter - wonderful description of the hamam and Faramir's various injuries are also reasonably detailed. Wouldn't Faramir offer some help to Beregond, though, since the latter lost his job trying to save our hero? I liked Faramir's recollection of killing various Nazgul's mounts; and using fire to repel the wraiths, not to mention playing 'Tag' with the WiKi.

Author's reply

Hi Raksha - No worries. Beregond receives his promotion in the next chapter. - Steff

Raksha The Demon · 16 June 2005 · Chapter 4: Becoming the Steward

Aw, poor Faramir. I'm not surprised that he found it a bit difficult to eat, between the pain of his wound and the knowledge that Daddy Dearest burnt himself to a crisp and did his best to also immolate Faramir as an expression of love. Faramir really needs a distraction - say, a shapely blond distraction. In the meantime, he's right to start looking to the needs of the living, the other wounded men, future Stewardship, etc. I liked young Hyer's enthusiasm for meeting Faramir. Imrahil was wonderful; especially his reminding Faramir to take some care of his appearance. More soon, I hope.

Author's reply

Thanks, Raksha. Glad you like Imrahil. If i ever finish Avoidance, I have some plot bunnies to pursue, involving ol' Im and his family. Imrahil is too cool for me to leave as a minor character. - Steff

elanor_dh · 16 June 2005 · Chapter 4: Becoming the Steward

I love your story, actually I love everything about it, and I can't wait for your next update. :)

Author's reply

Hi Elanor - Great to see you here and thanks for the good words. I'm almost finished with the next chapter so keep your fingers crossed. See you on TORC. - Steff

Ithilrande · 15 June 2005 · Chapter 4: Becoming the Steward

Thank you for bringing in Prince Imrahil. And remembering the raven hair as well! I too am very fond the him, and have always been deeply moved by his love for his nephew Faramir. I am interested in the way you carry the movie verse back to canon, although I also find it quite disconcerting. (For I know the books well, and the movies seem more like hearsay that has become confused and muddled.) I look forward to the continuation of your story, expecailly with the promise of the return of Imrahil! Thank you.

Author's reply

Hi Ithilrande - Thanks for peaking in. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien, too, as you can imagine, and in fact, am reading LOTR for time six (I think :) ) prior to going to the Tolkien 2005 event in Birmingham, UK. I loved the films, personally, though like most book-firsters, I have my issues with various aspects of the adaptation. I can understand how you can feel disconcerted by "Avoidance," even by small moments of book/film combining, such as when raven haired Imrahil kisses his wounded nephew on the brow and calls him "Red." My faithful Beta reviewer is a well-known author here and she sometimes has to remember that I'm doing Movieverse. I appreciate that you are following along and beg you to think my story as really the AU "Steffverse". And Imrahil is scheduled to show up later on, tentatively to help Faramir on affairs of the heart and most likely to give poor Faramir even more advice. Such an uncle :) . - Steff

BKB · 15 June 2005 · Chapter 3: The Power of Dreams in Darkness

I like your story very much. I'm glad to see that you are continuing to work on it. I'm looking forward to the next installment, either new or revised.

Author's reply

Thanks for the encouragement, BKB. I've been inactive the past two months because I moved. The good news is, I've only migrated about half of "Avoidance" onto Stories of Arda. I've got more on LiveJournal. I hope to copy another chapter here today or tomorrow. I'm also about to finish Chapter 13. So there is definetly more "Avoidance" coming. Thanks again. - Steff

Raksha The Demon · 30 April 2005 · Chapter 1: What Was It in the Past?

I loved your writing of Faramir and Eowyn together, snuggling as husband and wife. And Faramir's appreciation of Eowyn's pregnancy-enlarged breasts was cute. I'm not sure that Faramir "hated" war. He didn't love it, or enjoy it; but it's never said that he hated it. It seemed, in both book and movie, to be a job he had to do and did expertly, but didn't particularly like. But "hated" is a stronger adjective than I would apply to Faramir's attitude toward war, especially since the war he had known did protect Gondor. He would hate the waste of life on both sides, the sorrow of people who lost their men, but I don't think he'd have that strong a dislike of "war" as a concept - that's a more modern attitude.

Raksha The Demon · 30 April 2005 · Chapter 2: Eowyn's Dreams of Glory

I'm enjoying the story very much, and can't wait for more! I liked Eowyn's dream, very right for her at this point. "Gertrudis" seems like a Rohirric name, not one for a woman of Gondor. Of course, she could have Rohirrim in her family...Just a minor point.

Shieldmaiden of Rohan · 7 April 2005 · Chapter 0: Avoiding the Obvious and the Not So Obvious

Yay, it's up! And did I mention that Faramir is absolutely adorable when he's jealous? I love how defensive he gets when he says he's taller than Aragorn and Eomer. Anyway, you already know my thoughts on the other things in this chapter, but just wanted to drop a note to say that I'm glad it's getting up here now.

Author's reply

Hi SMOR - I'm glad to see that you've got "The Best Laid Plans" up, too. I have a technical question for you. I noticed that you got italics to work for you in one of the chapters of "The Best Laid Plans." I tried to use the italics icon offered in the Stories of Arda interface. All worked well in the window where I input the text. But when I viewed the published text before submission, the italics were gone. I tried putting in raw HTML code [I]jkljlj[/I] but that didn't work. Did you have to do something special to get italics. Probably better to respond to my email address than Stories of Arda.

Raksha The Demon · 6 April 2005 · Chapter 0: Avoiding the Obvious and the Not So Obvious

Oooh; this is interesting. But who's thicker, Eowyn, telling her hubby of less than three years that she understood what it was like to love Aragorn, or Faramir for getting huffy about it? Never, ever tell a man something like that; men are delicate sensitive flowers when it comes to having to be First in their true love's eyes, and they get all prickly (mixing metaphors here) when there's a hint that True Love loved someone else first. Bring on Chapter Two!

iona · 6 April 2005 · Chapter 0: Avoiding the Obvious and the Not So Obvious

A most promising start - keep up with the good work! Your beginning scenario seems very realistic considering how both Faramir and Éowyn were used to keeping their own counsel before they met. You combine bookverse and movieverse effortlessly. One correction only: Éowyn was twenty-four years old at the time of the War of the Ring (see LotR appendices). But considering that Rohan is based on Anglo-Saxon and Viking culture, I'd say most Rohirrim women might have married even before they turned twenty, so you need not change much.

Author's reply

Hi Iona - Thanks for reviewing this so quickly and for your kind words. I hope that Avoidance continues to hold your interest. Regarding your comment on Eowyn's age, I'm wondering if I should put up an Author's Note on this. Eowyn's age in my story has given pause to some who have read "Avoidance" on Live Journal--including my excellent Beta reviewer, SMOR. Here is why my Eowyn is 33: I've tried to make all characters in Avoidance who were cast in the LOTR films abide by how they were depicted in the films. I portray Faramir as a moody (but not weepy!) guy with the large nose, ginger locks, and loud voice of David Wenham. In a planned chapter of "Avoidance", Faramir describes the (in)famous, movies-only suicide charge. Film Eowyn, of course, is Miranda Otto,age 33 when LOTR was filmed. When "Two Towers" opened, a number of book-savvy critics at first decried, "She looks and acts too old!" Abiding by film verse, my Eowyn is also 33. When I first read LOTR, I thought Eowyn saw herself as "an old maid" at 24. Imagine the issues Eowyn might have if she was Miranda Otto's 33! Some of her Rohirric contemporaries would already be grandmothers, while poor Eowyn was still a virgin. I thought this very topic would give Eowyn a new set of issues that would be fun to pursue in fanfic.