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Deific Flame  by Bejai 6 Review(s)
NilmandraReviewed Chapter: 6 on 12/7/2004
Ooh, lovely chapter, Bejai, and I am especially glad as I intend on skipping most of this time. I can just refer people over here!

I have been thinking, though, about what threat the elves might have seen of Ar-Pharazon. He wished for the kingship of Middle-earth, and he had the strength to make life miserable for the elves as well. You used the steward at Pelagir well to show the growing threat.

I liked Galadriel's attachment to the sea, and I have wondered too if just having Nenya in her posession would increase her sea-longing (vs actually wielding it). The comparison of Celeborn to the sea was wonderful too - sums up his power, wisdom and tempermental spirit well.

Looking forward to more!

Author Reply: Thanks, Nilmandra. Glad you enjoyed the chapter. The more I get into this time, the more interesting it is, but it sure does involve a lot of the world of men! It has involved much research in the parts of the Silm I always skipped ;)

Ar-Pharazon is certainly going to cause some havoc, both directly and indirectly. In some ways, though, it is better for the elves of Middle Earth that he turned his attention to Valinor instead. Not better for Numenor or his own people, though.

I think that merely keeping ring really did increase her sea longing. There is a line in the UT or Silm somewhere that at least alludes to it. She must have fought it for a long time.

Thanks for the review!

MarnieReviewed Chapter: 6 on 12/6/2004
Sorry I didn't review this earlier - I've been away from the computer all weekend. Though I did manage to find time to read it 3 times so far :) It's such a good story! I liked the fact that this was a peaceful interlude - after all the battles and angst previously it's nice to see them in what must have been, after all, normal life. I rather like the fact that they fall out of history every now and again - of course they do, no one could sustain a life of as much peril and responsibility as theirs without taking a rest every now and again.

So "But the grind of the years had depleted them both, and more often, they left Celebrķan to contend with the burgeoning population and retreated here, to a nameless place, to breathe and rest." is just a great way of putting it, and far more believable than the idea they'd be furiously active every day for thousands of years.

I also like the fact that they've left Celebrian to cope with the Public Relations in Edhellond. With Amroth left in Lorien to become a king's heir they're treating their children much like they treat each other - letting go, helping them to grow into positions of power of their own. A good touch!

And there were so many other lovely touches in this quiet chapter. I loved 'how is the sea? Large? Damp?' LOL!

The scene of Galadriel and brothers finding hundreds of white shells in the tide pools of Valinor reminded me of Elmo finding his one broken star-shell. Something that sets off huge trains of thought.

I loved the maps! It would be nice (for the sake of future historians) if they could be redrawn *and* resurveyed. I laughed at the thought that one of the useful things they'd noted down was the temperament of the forests. How elvish is that!

Great set up of Pelargir. I find the information in UT very confusing, but this has clarified a lot for me.

I loved the description of Amroth and Celeborn 'touched by opposite ends of night', and the fact that they might be great elf lords but they're also still a father and son going 'so when are you going to marry her then?' 'Aw! Dad!'

Their conversation on the subject of love was exceptionally good. Amroth has a point in that love must be more important than many things in your life, or it won't be strong enough to bind you together, but I think Celeborn's right in saying that the idea that it should subsume *everything* is obsession, not love.

'I only pray that in giving Nimrodel everything you are, you do not find that you have lost yourself completely.'

That's very good! Not only foreshadowing, but also true that love can't feed on itself; it needs to be outward looking as well.

Well worth waiting for! Thank you.

Author Reply: Thanks for the great review, Marnie. I really wanted to write an interlude, although I had the hardest time coming up for a plot in this chapter. And there is that very long stretch in canon where they don't get any sort of mention at all. I thought a good explanation might be that they simply WEREN'T doing anything. It would be easy for an immortal to blow off a few centuries, I think.

I left Celebrian in Edhellond on purpose. Glad you saw the "letting go" connection. Also, I think that someone who is going to be Elrond's wife needs some experience in rulership. It will come into play again during the Last Alliance chapter. My plan is to put G and Celebrian in charge of the elven havens during the war, in case things go very badly and the elves have to evacuate Middle Earth. And Celeborn ... well, there needs to be a commander held back behind the lines who has experience covering the flight of refugees. Not that he's going to be happy about it.

Glad you picked on the shells thing. I actually had a few paragraphs written where G told about the shells, and C talked about the star shells and his granddad. I decided that I was being too heavy-handed and cut it, but I'm delighted that you saw the connection.

I just had to have a scene with maps. That map at the beginning of the LotR books an in the back of the Silm is just facinating to me. I started wondering what C's maps might look like, so he showed them to me ;)

I'm glad the discussion between C and Amroth worked. I am trying to see things from Amroth's POV, as difficult as it is for me. (I always just want to grab him by the throat and tell him to get a grip.) But there has to be a reason for what he did. The story's climax is regarding that decision, so I have to get a handle on him, even if it means subjecting my readers to a meandering discussion on the nature of love ;)

SphinxReviewed Chapter: 6 on 12/4/2004
I do not have to see Galadriel to love her.

There are no words, really, to express how glad I am that you're back. Longer review later.

Hope everything's fine now. :D Missed this story and you very very much.

Sphinx

Author Reply: Glad you enjoyed it, S. Did you get my email, BTW? A week, week and a half ago?

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 6 on 12/4/2004
By the way, I just adored this line -

"Your mother has enough baubles and gifts from her legion of admirers that we could start a market of our own. I am not about to add to them. . . "

It says a lot about C and G's relationship!! (Actually, on reflection, I suppose it could sound bitter and twisted, but not in my ears. Ironic and full of understanding, maybe.)

Author Reply: It could be bitter, but I don't think it was. A subtle dig at Nenya and the fact that everyone who meets his wife falls in love with her, but I think they're both secure enough in their relationship to see the humor in it.

Thanks for the reviews!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 6 on 12/4/2004
What is it about the young that makes them so convinced that they know better? I was rereading and there Celebrian was, telling her mother that she and Celeborn clearly didn't love each other properly because they weren't completely mushy and selfish like Amroth and Nimrodel - and now that love-obsessed and irresponsible elf is saying the same thing!!! Shame he never grew up enough to learn that responsibility and duty and sacrifice are important parts of love, too. Unless you count jumping in the sea. Which I don't.

I love the antiquity of the maps and the changing shape of the land indicating the passage of time. And the tolerance C and G seem to have of each other's peculiarities. The injection of information about Numenor sets the time - I feel rather sorry for Miriel myself, because I don't see that she had any control over events - and I just love it when Galadriel says - "We have fallen out of history, beloved, and I fear those paths will be harder to discover again. The world shifts around us, indeed, and I can scare see what is, much less what could be. It is time to awake, my Lord of the Trees, and find the world again, if it is not too late." - It's almost impossible to imagine a millennium drifting past as you walk along the beach and dip your toes in the water, but, when you think of it, time could pass in no other way for an elf who has been around since before Arda started counting the days.

Really happy to see this - and looking forward to more.


Author Reply: The story of Amroth makes me crazy, quite frankly, in much the same way as Luthien and Beren, or Romeo and Juliet. Although they have the kind of frenzied, passionate love that makes for good songs, there is just something that tells me that C&G's love is deeper. It is one thing to die for love. It is something else to hang on and live through the rough times.

I'm glad the sense of time came through. From about the mid-second age to well into the third, there is absolutely NO mention of C&G at all. Now, I can make a good-faith argument that they were involved in the events happening right on their doorstep, like Sauron being taken to Numenor, Isildur washing up in the Bay of Belfalas, and the Last Alliance. But there was this 1000 year or so stretch where I couldn't think of a darn thing for them to do. And then I though: maybe they DIDN'T do anything. I've lost days and days of time to procrastination and apathy. Wouldn't it be easy for an immortal to blow off a few centuries?

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 6 on 12/3/2004
I love the sense of the sweep of time here, Bejai. Even the land changes. And you manage to make your elves real but leave them elfy. Amroth is such a sad figure, although, frankly, I can't help but think he's a fool and an irresponsible one at that. His poor parents. This is one of those times when one wouldn't want the gift of foresight.

Author Reply: I have trouble with Amroth, in the same way I have trouble with Romeo and Juliet. I always want to shake them and scream at them to GET a GRIP! I'm doing my best to let Amroth explain himself, but it really is hard.

Thanks for the review!


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