Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

Far Horizons  by Bodkin 11 Review(s)
Iterildea Turelie EarrindeReviewed Chapter: 23 on 9/10/2004
I see you did not give Legolas' wife a name,but if you do,please,do me a favor call her Iterildea(Iteralday).You see even if that is my elvish name,it is also Legolas' wifes name. I am a phsycic, mostly in the dream world,(my dreams are visions that come to me night)mostly they are prophetic.The reason I wish you to call his wife Iterildea is this:You see in mortal years I am 15, in elvish years, I'd be 537.I read your story sept.10,2004, but I had a dream, very similiar to your story on Oct.11,2001 when I was eleven and in my dream, Iterildea was his wife,23 in mortal years,and they had four elflings, two were twins,Aranel and Aralynn(twins)and Ellon,(the eldest)and the middle Elleth.
Also, your story is very popular among the Tolkein readers.I very much enjoyed it.(***this means a day vision)*** If you get it published,it will be very popular by Dec.18,2006.
Eldalie,tua amin.Pen-eth,ho ella rel na rel.Ni melme na wo Legolas. Ni melme na wo i eldar.Ni MARANWE na wo i eldar....I belong in the undying lands...***Atlantis will arise and the elves will yet again come on white and grey ships back to Middle earth to take with them back to the undying lands the five young half-elves that were left behind util they were old enough to decide wether to remain elf kind and stay with the elves or(like Arwen)choose the mortal life and be granted long life, but not immortality,and they are not allowed to cross to the elven lands.
thankyou


Author Reply: I may not have named Legolas's wife in this chapter, but I am afraid that elsewhere she is already called Elerrina, which means 'crowned with stars'. They do, in fact, have twins - but I have named them Galenthil and Eleniel.

However, feel free to change the names in your head as you read. I spent ages trying to think of names for characters like Legolas's wife and the twins' wives. It is a shame that Tolkien didn't provide names for them.

I am glad you have enjoyed the story. Thank you for reading.

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/31/2004
Excellent! I knew that was his mother. How lovely.

It's a good thing the twins were there to keep Legolas and his mother from miscommunicating big time and losing a chance at happiness. And now I'd like to see Thranduil with her.

Author Reply: I can now admit it openly! I was thinking though that it's a shame Tolkien didn't get round to giving her a name, because Thranduil sounds like a polygamist! In fact, there are a lot of people he could have named - most of them female.

Legolas and his naneth will have to give themselves time for their relationship to grow. Even as elves, they are still barely acquainted - but time is one thing they certainly have.

You want a Thranduil / Laerwen reunion? Well, I'll have to see.

(Laerwen is an irritating name to type. Too many left hand letters.)

EllieReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/31/2004
Chapter 23 is good. Keep up the good work! I check every day for updates!

Author Reply: Thank you - I'm glad you liked it. Next chapter soon. Only a few more to go now, though.

Rose SaredReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/31/2004
Awwwww, goes off to sniffle in the corner. How sweet. Thanks
Rose

Author Reply: Thank you. It must be horribly difficult to meet your mother after x hundred years and realise that you don't know her at all. They will need to build their relationship very carefully - although, as elves, they probably have a closer bond than human mothers and children would have under similar circumstances.

SharonBReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/30/2004
Okay, you had me sniffling there at the end. She is his mother. And hmm, how does this tie into the problems that Thranduil and the rest of the family are experiencing with Minastan?

It sounds like you are wrapping the story up well. Then ends are all coming together quite neatly. Glorfindel is right, it's time to bring some family groups and well skilled elves to the area. If nothing else to show "those spoiled brats" how it is all done. Some like Calion and Ambantor can adjust, others like Minalcar may not be able to make the adjustment without a lot of trials. I know Glorfindel doesn't want to have to babysit that kind. Neither do they show well the type of settlement that our ME elves want to have to those who already inhabit the forest.

Author Reply: OK so you make me think - qualms - have I got that sorted out? Does it fit in? I hope the ends connect properly. It's a bit difficult to conclude because it's in two places, which means it needs two conclusions in a way, rather than one nice tidy one.

I think Elrond and the others will be sending out some sensible elves pretty soon - more the practical sort who can actually get something done rather than the offspring of noble families. And with wives and children too, which will, I think, be more reassuring for those who are already there.

Glorfindel is actually a very good person to be in charge - efficient, but charming and able to accommodate all sorts of people. It won't do him any harm either, if the locals see that he can be very firm with those, like Minalcar, who won't try to fit in. They will see that he is not going to let strangers run riot in the forest and take advantage of those who live there.

Reviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/30/2004
Poor Legolas and Laerwen! This is so sad but that is sooo what I was hoping would happen. I so hoped the Lady was Legolas' mother. Please tell us that you intend to show Thranduil's reunion with her too!

Author Reply: I am nothing if not predictable!

It must be really hard to be reunited with a mother you haven't seen since you were a small child. It will take them time to learn to know each other.

More soon!

rikkiReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/30/2004
Super chapter! I loved the way you described Laerwen - cedar blue eyes, silver hair like aspens, dressed in moss green, so wood-elfish. I felt for her deeply, here she is with her son Legolas, and she doesn't know how to tell him she is his naneth. He must have been very young when she died to only remember voice and a feeling.
How would one react to be reborn I wonder? Here one has a whole layer of memories, but one hasn't lived them in the strictest sense, and in this case Laerwen remembers Legolas as a baby and here he is a grown elf with children of his own. I would think it would be very hard to make that connection again. Though I think Thranduil might handle it a little better. Are the twins and Legolas let him be surprised, or are they going to let Thranduil know he needs to get out here immediately?
There were some excellent parts besides the reunion which offered comic relief away from the high tension expressed between Legolas and Laerwen. One was Neldin:
"Neldin scowled. He had never liked Talathin – he had always been big-headed just because he was useful with that bow. He seemed to feel he was something special simply because he could put arrows into orcs. Where was the difficulty in that? It was not as if they had ever tried to run away."
It doesn't sound like Neldin has a very high regard for any elf that fought in Middle Earth. Or is it sour grapes because he isn't as good with a bow as other elves?
The funniest part was Elladan and Elrohir crawling through the mud and underbrush to find out they could have just walked in. However, Elladan's quote, "It will do us both good,’ he said. ‘We were getting soft." says a lot about the twins. How are they managing to cope in a world that has no natural enemies when they have fought orcs and goblins for ages?
Can't wait for the next chapter to see how Laerwen and Legolas make out. And whether Glorfindel will end up with his half a hundred wimps.

Author Reply: Having ended up with an Elerrina who was built up from a collection of woody descriptions, it seemed only apt to use them for Laerwen. I spent some time with a book on trees!

It's an impossible situation, isn't it? How do you announce to someone that he is your child? Legolas was quite young - I picture him about the human equivalent of eight or so, when you think you will remember - but actually, when you look back, you don't much. Memory is more odd incidents and a bit hazy.

Rebirth must be very disorienting - much worse than arriving in Valinor to be healed, because you cannot be exactly the same person you were. There is this hiatus, when you were not. Thranduil will probably deal with it all better - Laerwen is a real person to him and not just a name - but it will still, I think, have more potential for difficulty than if his wife had simply sailed and they met again after the same period of time.

Neldin seems to me to have a big inferiority complex - and I think he has been courted and manipulated by someone who is very good at bringing out the worst in people he deals with.

The twins dreaded living a cushioned life in Valinor, with nothing much to do and nothing to fight - but they have developed wives and offspring and the challenge of establishing smoothly-running realms will give them plenty to do - for a while, anyway. I think they will find their own challenges.

Thank you for reading. More soon.

NilmandraReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/30/2004
I am behind again, but I am thrilled it was Legolas's mother. I am glad he has finally met up with her - and I think everyone will find that combining communities will now be much easier to negotiate :D

Author Reply: It should make it all easier - although it could make Thranduil top dog, which might not please Galadriel much.

However, if Glorfindel and Laerwen are doing the negotiating, they should be able to sort it out quite quickly.

I think it will take time for Legolas and Laerwen to build a real relationship - but I am sure they will.

(More History Lessons? Please?)

BejaiReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/30/2004
Have I mentioned recently my awe at how amazing prolific you are? It takes me months to muster a chapter, and it seems you have a new one for use every day or so. And I love the intrigue, and the complexity.

And Legolas' nana. I knew it!

I very much enjoyed the chapter, and I do all of them.

Author Reply: The whole thing practically burst into my brain full-blown (although it has expanded as it's gone along - like that expanding foam stuff) and it has taken over my life! I am really trying to get most of it down before I drown in work.

Besides you have to know what you are talking about and fit it into the rules! This is set beyond most of the rules and is, if you look carefully, very woolly about proven facts. It makes it much easier to write. (By the way, how is the next chapter coming along? Looking forward to it!)

I only hope it is possible to knot off the complexity neatly at the end!

Yes, Legolas's nana. After all, having married off Legolas and the sons of Elrond, why wouldn't I reunite Thranduil with his wife! (It's a shame everyone has to invent their own name - it makes it sound as if he is polygamous. Still . .)

I am hoping to get the whole thing finished over the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.

Author Reply: By the way, how is your foot? I hope you have fully recovered.

lwarrenReviewed Chapter: 23 on 8/30/2004
The way you have chosen to have the elves returning from Mandos reacting to being reunited with family from their "other life" is so interesting, and sad, and really, quite logical. *bows before bodkin's superior thought processes* :-)

This chapter really(underscore that word a dozen times!) brought the trauma those reborn elves suffer when faced with loved ones they remember, sort of! The reunion of Legolas and Laerwen was heartrending - I felt so sorry for her it hurt! And poor Legolas, to think his naneth was hiding from him, or did not care enough to find him and his father. Still, the most anguish resides with her, I think - saying she could not fight the power of her own death to stay with her son. *gets the kleenex, sniffing loudly*. I was so glad Elrohir and Elladan were there for both Legolas and Laerwen...they seemed to help support both!

Thank goodness you kind of broke up the reunion with Neldin (hooray for the horse!!!) and Glorfindel, with his thoughts of being saddled with a few hundred useless, whining settlers. *g* I was able to catch my breath, or get a new box of kleenex between paragraphs! *vbg*

Great sadsadsadsad chapter, bodkin! And the saddest (and perhaps most joyful) is yet to come, I think!

linda

Author Reply: Flatterer!

Reunions can be hard enough after a few months - I hate to think how hard it must be for elves after millennia apart, even without the traumas of dangerous Middle Earth / peaceful Valinor, war victims / perpetual safety, post-death experience / unharmed.

Elladan and Elrohir are older than Legolas and knew Laerwen before her death - although not well, I think - and they have their own experience of reunion with their naneth, who had been badly damaged. Yes, I think Laerwen was in more pain that Legolas - she feels guilty as well. They need to take time to build a relationship - it could be one of these birth mother / adopted child reunions that is very exciting but short-lived. They have no experience in common and will need to advance slowly.

Very sensible horse, if you ask me. And who would want a whole load of Minalcars dumped on them!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! (If loads of tissues equate with enjoyment!)

First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page

Return to Chapter List