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

An Unexpected Meeting  by Bodkin 12 Review(s)
GalathilReviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/15/2020
Hi Bodkin once again you have written a beautiful story. Hope someday that Mithrellas and Imrazor

will meet again. In the mean time for Imrahil and his family to meet their grandmother would be a special

thing indeed.

Galathil

lwarrenReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/24/2004
Thank goodness for Thanksgiving break! I have a few days to actually sit down and review this wonderful story the way I've wanted to since you started posting it. One of the parts of RotK that caught my eye when I read the book was Legolas' reaction to Imrahil, recognizing a worthy lord and one of elven descent. When I saw this first chapter, I thought how great, because very little is written about this family, yet his daughter goes on to marry Eomer.

You write so well and your descriptive phrases turn me literally pea-green with envy. :-)
"...the sunrise turn wisps of cloud to molten gold"
"...her voice like the song of a flute on the wind" (I love the fact that elven voices reflect the music so inherent to their character)

Mithrellas makes some very telling comments to Imrahil during her conversation with him before the children come. I've always thought it very brave that Arwen was willing to give up her immortality to be with Aragorn, but truly, hers was not the hardest road, was it? Mithrellas said it all "You burn like a flame and draw us with the intensity of your lives, but then leave us aching over endless centuries..." Hers is the true tragedy...after all Arwen can join Aragorn after his death, but should Mithrellas die (even of grief), she would not be reunited with her love. She says "I would rather live and remember, than die and forget him." This is just a tragic story, no matter how you look at it. Now she has come back, prior to leaving for Valinor, to see the family she left centuries ago. How sad! And how very well you tell the tale!

I was thoroughly captivated, much like Imrahil, and waiting to hear her story. That's what is so compelling about Tolkien's world...the possibilities of "legend becoming reality". Wonderful beginning, Bodkin.

linda


Author Reply: OK, can you tell me - why is Thanksgiving on a Thursday?

It was good to write, because there is information - but not so much that picking through it is a minefield. And there are a few places where you can choose what path to follow - and bits with no information at all!

I find it difficult not to get carried away with description (and conversation). And first chapters (with me) get so much more poring over and refining while I decide whether to develop it.

I think Arwen's choice was hard - but the effects were possibly harder on poor old Elrond who is left without so many people in his life. (And what exactly happened to Earendil? Where are he and Elwing when he's not piloting Vingilot? Are they stuck in splendid isolation in her tower, just the two of them for ever and ever? Or will they be there waiting for their son?)

I'm glad you like it.

LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/23/2004
Started reading this again, interrupted (of course!) and no time to read more. Noticed a typo, tho, and thought I'd tell you about it:

‘Lady – what is yesterday to you is no more than legend here,’ he said, spreading his hands. I have no need to blame you for anything.

There's a quotation mark missing, d'you see?

Hope to read and enjoy sometime soon.

The first chapter is still hauntingly beautiful, with the imagery of the twilight, the glorious colours of the sunrise, the changing sky. I cannot help thinking it reflects the state of the world, the Elves in their twilight giving way to the brilliant light of the world of Men--harsher, somehow, the soft edges gone. But I cannot complete the thought for the distractions around me, so I'd better leave off and hope for a quieter time.

Author Reply: Thank you. There's always something, isn't there!

I shall put your words in front of me and appreciate them!

elliskaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/24/2004
Now that would be an encounter, wouldn't it? What a good idea! I have always thought that elven blood was in the line of the Princes and Dol Amroth, whether or not Tolkien left it somewhat uncertain. How sad this meeting is, especially at that time--as you said when the last elves were leaving and Arwen was marrying Aragorn. A strange perspective to see Arwen's choice as a blessing not something to lament. I liked this one. Glad to see it is a WIP. I am curious where you will take it.

Author Reply: The Return of the King V 9, where Legolas, looking on Price
Imrahil of Dol Amroth, saw that he was "one who had Elven-blood in his
veins, and said to him: "It is long since the people of Nimrodel left the
woodlands of Lórien, and yet still one may see that not all sailed from
Amroth's haven west over water." The History of Galadriel and Celeborn.

Mind you, even in that there seems to be a variety of versions of their story. I suppose that's half the fun - with so little that is definitive, it give plenty of opportunity to play.

It's the family overtones that make Arwen's choice so tragic rather than giving up immortality - especially if you look on the afterlife as including the reunion of those who loved in life. You can't stop thinking about poor Elrond, and Celebrian there in Valinor looking forward to being reunited with the kids - and then being divided until the end of the world seems bad. But, on the other hand, would it have been preferable to Arwen to be able to sail on Aragorn's death and be eternally divided from him and her children and grandchildren? And, should Aragorn have been granted the right to go to Valinor, how would he have felt about never seeing his mother there beyond the circles of the word? Not to mention the children again.

An interesting meeting - most of the story will be about Mithrellas and Imrazor, I think, although I'm finding it hard to get past Amroth and Nimrodel at the moment.

SharonBReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/24/2004
A a new one, this should be interesting to hear Mithrellas recount those family stories of old. And that she can be seen in all of the family is ome way or another, how poinent for them all. This sounds to be quite an interesting story. Do post more soon.

Sharon

Author Reply: Thank you Sharon. Amroth and Nimrodel are insisting on telling their story at the moment, but Mithrellas will be meeting Imrazor sometime soon. There's not a lot about them in the evidence (thanks Elena Tiriel), which will simplify that part rather.

It shouldn't be too long before part 2 is cooked!

Elena TirielReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/24/2004
I have found info about Amroth and Nimrodel in Unfinished Tales and about the line of Dol Amroth Princes in Peoples of Middle-earth (HoME 12). Send me your email address (to my penname above at hotmail dot com) and I'll email the info to you.

Anything to keep your muse happy!

- Barbara

Author Reply: Have done so. Thank you very much for your help. The history is adding an interesting level of complication, because unexpected people / happenings insist on making their presence felt. I think Galadriel and Celeborn are insisting on a cameo in Lorien. But they haven't quite decided if they are Amroth's parents or not.

LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/24/2004
What a lovely story! A reflected moment in time, catching glints of light from many points in the past. Very nicely done, indeed.

Author Reply: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. I've been looking at it for a while, thinking about the back-story and deciding whether or not to make it part of the story - I'm rather nervous, because of the potential for big mistakes with the history of it, but it's insisting on being written. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

BejaiReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/23/2004
Oh, wonderful, Bodkin! What an absolutely fresh, unexplored canon-based story! I don't think I've ever seen anyone write about the elven blood of Dol Amroth. I did a little bit of research on the topic to get the history I needed for DF and the Amroth story, so am just thrilled to see this! Bravo!

Author Reply: I just hope I get the history right! There is so much potential for error - especially since Tolkien changed his mind. After all, who is Amroth's father? Because it makes quite a difference.

I hope the rest of it lives up to expectation. ('fresh, unexplored canon-based story' ?? I didn't think it was possible!)

Thank you for reading.

Elena TirielReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/23/2004
This is lovely, Bodkin! I echo Daw's perfect word: magical!

And I encourage you to continue. Do you have the original canon source(s) (sorry, can't remember offhand whether it's Unfinished Tales or HoME, or both)? If not, I can send you the relevant canon quotes via email... anything to encourage your muse to continue!

- Barbara

Author Reply: Goodness - thank you. I'm glad you liked it.

I have started the next chapter - but I am finding that I need to know rather more about Amroth and Nimrodel than I thought I would! I would really appreciate the original sources - I have some of the books, but nowhere near all of them. I'm sure there will be mistakes (it's so much more difficult when using information that is less well known - and I'm never that certain of all the timelines), but I'd like to avoid anything too glaring. The muse is rather running with this at the moment - it's become quite obsessive!

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/23/2004
That was magical! I like this working out of what it means for an elf to love a mortal and NOT have the choice of Luthien. I also like Imrahil's concern for his son.

Author Reply: Thank you so much! It must have been painful on both sides - but living with an eternal division for a race that only had one love must have been so difficult - and yet the last thing that occurs to people when they fall in love.

It must have been one of the things that really worried elders about contact with elves - you really wouldn't have wanted your child to love one (especially if she was their great x 20 ish grandmother.)

The dangers of mortal / elf love cut both ways.

First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page

Return to Chapter List