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Jay's Drabblets  by Jay of Lasgalen 6 Review(s)
Agape4GondorReviewed Chapter: 86 on 7/25/2007
Very, very nice indeed!

elliskaReviewed Chapter: 86 on 5/6/2007
I love this! The sea longing and Galadriel's prediction and Legolas's reaction to it have always been some of my favorite things to contemplate from LotR. Great drabble. You captured a lot with very few words here.

Author Reply: Reading the Galadriel's words and the Pelargir scene again, no wonder Legolas thought it foretold his death. I still wonder if Tolkien meant to kill him there, then thought better of it!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 86 on 5/1/2007
I'm not sure that, in some ways, he wouldn't find this slow death worse. Because the consequence is the same - the loss of the forest and a new life in the West.

Author Reply: It's also something totally unexpected. As a warrior, he must have expected to die in battle one day, and been prepared for that, especially after Galadriel's words. The loss of the forest and his peace of mind must have been like a bereavement.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 86 on 4/24/2007
No, not the doom he'd foreseen, but the harbinger of the fact he will rejoice fully again only when he passes over the Sundering Seas, even if that rejoicing is touched by greater sunderings brought about by the deaths of those among mortals he has become so close to.

Author Reply: It's scenes like this that remind me what a wonderfully rich tapestry Tolkien wove. Legolas followed Aragorn even though he thought it would lead to his death, and then sacrificed his peace of mind.

LiannaReviewed Chapter: 86 on 4/23/2007
This is why I so admire Legolas. He believes, reasonably enough, that Galadriel has foretold his death, yet he goes on doing his job anyway, without fuss. And then, after the sea longing sets in, he stays in Middle-Earth for the rest of Aragorn's lifetime to help out, despite what must have been a constant longing to leave.

He's so much more than just another pretty face.


Author Reply: Thank you for this - I've only just found the review, as I didn't get any alerts on that day.

Reading that scene again, I wonder if Tolkien was intending to have Legolas die either at Pelargir, or in one of the subsequent battles. I've very glad he changed his mind!

I like this aspect of Legolas too. Even with what he thought was to come, he went on the Paths of the Dead with Aragorn. He didn't have to - Theoden and the Rohirrim would have welcomed his help

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 86 on 4/23/2007
This captures a moment well, Jay, the misunderstanding suddenly clarified. And a "bitter, lonely longing" in Legolas's heart.

Author Reply: When I was reading Galadriel's message again, I was reminded about Legolas's interpretation, 'Would you have her speak openly to you of your death?' Even though he thought it meant his death, he still followed Aragorn on the Paths of the Dead to the sea.

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