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Flickers on the Water  by Soledad 2 Review(s)
ShemyazaReviewed Chapter: 7 on 10/3/2005
I find myself in agreement with your take on this. I think Elwing was as obsessed with the Silmaril as everyone else. She had watched her kin and friends die for it, she left her two small children to what she must have realised was almost certain death for it. Although Tolkien almost eulogises her for her choice and gives her an 'out', I find her actions rather outrageous. Granted there are some women who don't seem to have those fierce maternal feelings, but they're the exception rather than the rule. The majority of women/mothers would protect their offspring against all else and would both fight fiercely and sacrifice themselves in order to save them. Elwing doesn't ever come over to me as a strong character. She seems like a rather silly woman. Her abandonment of her children for a jewel, even if it did hold the light of the two trees, makes me want to slap her silly. In reality both Elrond and Elros would have felt terrified and then betrayed once they were older and realised what their mother had done.

I honestly don't think that Tolkien himself gave much credence to the passion and ferocity of a mother protecting her children. I think he knew very little, perhaps nothing at all, about the nature of women.


Author Reply: Thank you. This was a topic that has been bothering me for quite some time - I was so mad at Elwing! One day, I might write a story about the topic from Elrond's POV.

By the way, can it be that I know you from the old GAFF board? The Invisionfree one? If yes, I'm happy to have found you again.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 7 on 10/2/2005
Wretched Silmarils. Addictive - and over-valued.

Author Reply: I can't agree more.

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