Reviews (499)

Author's reply

Thank you for the lovely review yet again! Yes, I'm sure it is worse for Aragorn now: he's no longer acclimatized to it, and they're in a MUCH more enclosed environment, and he had actually dared to hope that he had left all that behind him. Piecing together this story must have been an epic struggle!

Author's reply

Thanks! I'm glad that it's coming across so clearly. And don't worry: even Aragorn was just a *little bit* scared of Gandalf in that moment. ;-) Sigh. Yes, probably 'hateful manses' and all manner of other things. I know I wouldn't be able to be nearly as patient as our heroes. Even writing him is exhausting! Thank you for the delightful feedback, as always. You're so very kind.

Author's reply

Thank you! Tolkien was brilliant to pit these two against each other, and recreating that dynamic is a fascinating and sometimes troubling process. And 'earned his kingship' may just be the most elegantly truthful phrase I've ever heard turned upon Aragorn. Earned it indeed he did!

Author's reply

Oh, thank you! That's a wonderful thing to hear about a narrative climax. I'm glad that you liked it, and the earlier interactions as well. Cheers!

Author's reply

Thank you so much! I'm delighted to know you're enjoying it. I'm tickled, too, that you like Calmiel! I suppose I haven't really addressed how she came to be a Marchwarden in Lórien, having once ridden in Elrond's guard. She doesn't stay after the assault on Dol Guldur: that's all I can say here! The other Noldorin lady was Faeliel, Calmiel's sister and the healer who had to amputate the leg of Gilraen's cousin because Elladan's arm was incapacitated. It's lovely to know that you're interested in these ladies. I always love to write of Imladris, and I do not doubt I will tarry there again. ;-)

Author's reply

Alas, yes: you DO have to feel sorry for Gollum. I'm glad that his speech comes across well. I was beginning to feel a little like I was writing "Green Eggs and Ham", using different combinations of the same fifty words over and over again. I'm glad you like the details! I gave such minute descriptions of all the hardships along the way: it's only fair to give the same treatment to clean laundry, hot water, and nourishing food. Thank you for yet another lovely, faithful review!

Author's reply

Fear not: I realized what you meant. Chapter titles are so finicky: sometimes they come out so well, and sometimes they're just clunky.

Author's reply

So pleased you like it! I must say I love your little plot-coney: do let me know if you write it! I've already written my "unwashed, trail-weary, hot and thirsty Aragorn" in Bree-land piece, but the notion of Bill Ferny twitting him at such a time is a tempting one. Oh, Ferny! Such a well-deserved apple to the face. I'm delighted the characterization is good: thank you! I always strive for that. It's lovely that you liked the comparison of tempers, too. And of course, that the interrogation is suspenseful even though we know what they're going to get in the end. Thank you as always for the delightful review!

Author's reply

Thank you! I strive for that, and it's lovely to know when it works.

Author's reply

Thank you! It's nice to have some fun: there hasn't been very much of that. Cheers!

Author's reply

Here's hoping... It's great to be working on it again! I'm hoping to finish it before I run out of steam.

Author's reply

Ooh, that WOULD be a fun one: a tutorial in regal dress from Thranduil. I'm sure he'd be an excellent tutor. Thank you for your vote! I do plan to write a little coda to LWW, but of course it's a much smaller project. I hadn't thought of including the Marchwarden, though: great idea!

Author's reply

So glad my little treatise didn't scare you off! I love the respect Aragorn so clearly has for Bilbo in the book: it's nice to have these moments in this grim story. Veered good question, too!

Author's reply

Thank you so much! I take great care in writing Aragorn, so it's always wonderful to know when others who love him like my characterization. I'm glad you like the details! The chapters in Grimbeorn's hall were such fun to write! I have always loved that Beorn had many descendants. Aragorn's path takes him through so many different places and into contact with so many different cultures... and yes! He has to walk WAY too much. No wonder he was so thankful for the Lorien-boats... Thank you for your vote! Thorongil would make for a much longer story, certainly!

Author's reply

It's nice to be able to get in the occasional lighter moment. That is an amusing image, isn't it?

Author's reply

After so many years, I'm sure they must. They certainly seem to in the book. And yes, alas! Aragorn is vindicated. It's no easy thing to get Gollum to talk sense.

Author's reply

Thank you for reading! And thank you for all of the reviews: they helped to keep the story present in my mind. I love to write Aragorn and Gandalf: their friendship is beautiful and fascinating.

Author's reply

Thank you! It's clear in the book how highly Aragorn thinks of Bilbo, and how highly Bilbo thinks of Aragorn. Thank you, too, for the vote! I certainly have had the Thorongil story on the slate for much longer.

Author's reply

I agree completely: it was the Valar who failed to clean up the mess properly in the first place. But Aragorn would not see it that way. We know he is devout, and the devout do not make a habit of raging out against their divine beings. He also does not have the broad perspective of the entire history of Ea that we as outsiders have: his is the perspective of someone born and raised and living in the latter days of a shadowed age far removed from the deeds of the Valar and the Maiar in the dawn of time. The natural human inclination is to look at more proximal causes: measurable mistakes and moments when the decisions of those he knows or admires might have stayed the course of history. As for being pissed off with the Valar... oh, there were definitely Men who were! But they all came to bad (and usually very wet) ends. ;-) Thanks for your vote! I'd love to write both, but I can't do them at the same time. ;-)

Author's reply

Thank you for your opinion on the next story! Yes, I do plan to write both, and I'm only trying to decide where to start. Both tales have much to commend them. The account of the journey in Mordor is seldom explored, and my planned course incorporates some gems from the History of Middle-Earth treasury that are likewise never really seen in fan fiction. But of course the Thorongil story incorporates so many familiar places, characters and events. It's also the one I've dreamed of writing the longest: I made my first sorry little attempt at it when I was thirteen -- long before I knew anyone else on earth dabbled in this hobby, or that it had a name! I'm glad you liked the "understatement" line! Indeed, the relationship as a whole. It's one of the most fascinating and inspiring friendships Tolkien created, I think. Of course, I'm biased... And now the very best part: Aragorn and the temptation of the Ring. Yes, at this point he truly is underestimating its power. HOWEVER... I put it to you that, in fact, Aragorn was *not* tempted by the One Ring to the degree many other characters were (Gollum, Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, Boromir, Galadriel, to name a few). Even Sam's moment of temptation is greater than what Aragorn appears to have experienced. Only once does he refer to taking the Ring for himself, and the tone and context of that remark make it clear that it is less than earnest: "'I am afraid my only answer to you, Sam Gamgee, is this. If I had killed the real Strider, then I could kill you. And I should have killed you already without so much talk. If I was after the Ring, I could have it -- NOW!'" (Aragorn, Book 1, Chapter 10: "Strider") He then unmasks a little of his kingly splendour and command to the hobbits, and when doubtful Sam is suitably impressed, Aragorn goes on: "'But I *am* the real Strider, fortunately,' he said, looking down at them with his face softened by a sudden smile. 'I am Aragorn son of Arathorn, and if by life or death I can save you, I will.'" (as above) This progression -- from wryly reiterating what he has been saying all night about the hobbits' underestimation of their peril, to the stark truth that they could not possibly defend the Ring against him (or without him!), to a show of his might and majesty, to the sudden return to gentleness and his beautiful pledge of loyalty -- is nothing like the cycles of temptation we see with those who fall prey to the lure of the Ring even briefly. Instead it is the carefully constructed, meticulously controlled, and brilliantly executed argument of a skilled negotiator trying to win over a skeptical audience under great duress. The words read like a threat, but they are not: he is demonstrating as plainly as he can the vulnerability of the Ring and of Frodo so that Sam will see that the risks of trusting Strider are far less than the risks of rejecting him outright. It is a moment of enormous desperation: if Aragorn cannot convince the hobbits to let him guide them, they *will* fall prey to the Nazrul, and the Ring will be captured. He knows it all too well, and he has to help them to see it too. Now, this raises a very interesting question: why is it the Ring does not tempt Aragorn? The answer is simple. The One Ring can offer only one thing: power. It portrays that power in different ways to different people -- to Gandalf, the ability to make right in one fell swoop everything he has toiled so fruitlessly to mend; to Galadriel perilous beauty and splendour and might such as she wished for when as a maiden she spoke out as one of the prime voices of the Noldorin rebellion in Valinor; to Sam, the power to drive the invaders from his homeland and repair the terrible ravages he saw in the Mirror -- but it is ALWAYS power. The One Ring can offer nothing else. Boromir, who once asked how many centuries it takes to make a Steward into a King, is the most susceptible of our heroes because of all those tempted he is the most hungry for power. But Aragorn does not crave power. He has more power than he wants, and more still is bearing down upon him at a great speed. This is the man who was reluctant to assume control of an eight-person walking party. *He*does*not*want*total*godlike*domination*over*Middle*Earth*. (<-- That should be in italics: sorry!). The Ring cannot tempt him because he does not want what the Ring has to offer, and the Ring cannot twist his desire into a lust for power, and why? Because what Aragorn wants, in the deepest secret places of his heart, is peace. He wants to lay by his labours, and dwell with his beloved, and the rest does not really matter. He could have what he longs for just as well if he took up a hidden home in the North like so many of his forefathers, provided he could lay aside his duty and his destiny. This is the fantasy he toys with in moments of great turmoil. Again and again he says this: his home is in the North, and he returns when he may; his heart wanders beneath the beeches in Rivendell; Lothlorien represents his greatest desire because it was there he once dwelt for a brief season as he most wished to. Aragorn seeks to restore the Kingship because it is his destiny, and because Elrond in his wisdom entwined Aragorn's deepest longing with Aragorn's greatest test to make it easier for his beloved child to keep to the hard road decreed for him. He does not want to be King in order to rule, but in order to do good, to bring peace, and to be with Arwen in a world free of the Shadow. He shies away from the trappings of power until the need of battle presses him; after his victory on the Pelennor and in the Houses of Healing he slips out of the city into his simple tent; at his very coronation he honours others above himself. Aragorn does not want power. He wants Arwen, and he wants peace. The Ring might twist the desire for a lady, but it cannot offer Aragorn peace: it cannot offer him any perversion of what he most desires because peace and power are by their very natures incompatible. Indeed it cannot even believably offer him Arwen, for Aragorn's possession of it would mean the subjugation of her (their) beloved father -- NOT a sound foundation for a happy marriage! This is why Aragorn's only mention of the desire for the Ring is so brief, so incidental, so incredibly insignificant when viewed against all the other such mentions. He does not want it: it only fleetingly occurs to him that he even *could* want it. And as for putting the Ring before the advice of Elrond.... no. I honestly do not think that Aragorn could, even if he *were* tempted by the One. He does not always follow Elrond's advice or abide by his wishes, but never does he dismiss them out of hand as Isildur did. Sorry about the lengthy treatise! This subject is near and dear to my heart, and it was handled extremely unfortunately in the films. That was one of the two most grievous mistakes that Jackson made in his adaptation, and it is also one of the most frequently ignored. I've heard more complaints over Viggo Mortenson's red shirt and the number of Gollum's teeth than I have about introducing temptation where none was meant to lie (and ignoring the very real temptation that was always there, but which isn't so Hollywood-friendly). Thank you SO MUCH for your lovely comments, and for giving me the chance to finally post my thoughts on this matter. I really ought to organize it all into a proper scholarly paper, I know... but A Long and Weary Way is much more fun to write! Hugs, Canafinwe

Author's reply

Thank you! You have such a rich, broad perspective that it means so much to have you say that. This aspect of the friendship between Gandalf and Aragorn is not always explored, I think. But after all, Gandalf did sustain a long debate with Aragorn over the path through Moria, and in fact deferred to him until it was plain there was no other way after all. Clearly he values Aragorn's counsel immensely, and even the redoubtable wizard needs comfort and support at times!

Author's reply

You're so very welcome! Your lovely feedback, and that of all my other readers, made MY day today! Thanks for weighing in! It is a portion of Aragorn's life that is seldom explored -- partly, I think, because it IS such a dark and dreadful concept. As you can see in LWW, even almost forty years later he tries his best *not* to think of it, no matter how closely the memories may crowd upon him.

Author's reply

Thank you so much! It's exciting to be working on this again, especially as the end is coming so swiftly. I'll miss this story when it's done! Hence the need to look on to the next one. Thank you for your vote! I do intend to write both, but I can't do them in tandem: that would be a disservice to each of them.

Author's reply

Thank you so much, Cal! It's wonderful to know you're enjoying it, and it means so much that you've taken the time to tell me! Feedback means so much. It's how fanfic writers are paid. ;-)

Author's reply

*sheepish eyes* Yeah, more than a year. Almost eighteen months. Err... But thank you! It's great to be back, and I've missed this story and the wonderful Tolkien community so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I'm already hard at work on the next update.