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An Unexpected Meeting  by Bodkin 4 Review(s)
SharonBReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/9/2004
What a wonderful thing for the family to get a good view of what life was like for their anscestor's. A great way for them to compare between now and then and see how things looked to their forefathers. (Something I wished we could do sometimes as most people act like if this is the way it is in our generation that's the way it has always been!)

Her inlaws were wise to prepare her for the inevitable death that they all had in store. It would be hard to cope with loving someone and then having them disappear like that when as an elf you were sued to the fact that if someone died they would return from the halls of Mandos. You tie things together so well.

Author Reply: It would be interesting on both sides for them to meet - and Imrahil's family are too detached in years for it to be too painful. Galador and Gilmith are as remote to them as Imrazor and Mithrellas herself.

The worst thing about the deaths would be that Men and Elves have different destinations - so once parted in this life, Mithrellas would be divided from them until the end of days.

Worth it? I don't know - but these things seem to be fated.

Thank you for reading. More soon.

elliskaReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/9/2004
That was a very rich chapter. I am really enjoying the exploration of the differences a Man and an Elleth see in sharing their lives together. So many authors write about the pain of the elf-kind partner seeing the death of the mannish partner but it would be so much more than that, wouldn't it. I love Mithrellas' struggle to see her son as growing up and doing things like riding and warrior training. Imrazor seems to be very good at pointing out the differences without being harsh. The scenes with Imrazor's parents were very well done and very sad. Great chapter.

Author Reply: Thank you. I think the relationship would be complicated in many ways - especially when you bring ruling into it as well. It can't have been easy for a Silvan Elf to take on the role of the Lady of extensive estates - I should think that for everything that was the same, there must have been ten things that were different. Having children who are not elflings must have been very difficult - they would have grown at completely different rates as well as needing to learn to fulfil roles that didn't come naturally to her.

More soon!

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/9/2004
So we see her children too, time passing on from her marriage as well as what led to it. And given that she's an Elf wed to a Man, that's a tragic situation. The children are charmingly done. I can see why she would have trouble knowing how to mother them well. She doesn't have the right role model and has to learn as she goes.

Author Reply: Their story is inevitably going to end sadly - there is no way out of that. She loves Imrazor and the children - but they are Men and she remains an Elf. She was bound to have some difficulty coming to terms with the differences as the children grew - probably Imrazor does, too, as they have definitely inherited some traits from their mother.

And their love story only has to pack about eighty years into a couple of chapters. The chapter after that is attempting to shoehorn a millennium into even less space. That's proving quite challenging!

LackwitReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/9/2004
What a distressing decision for Mithrellas to face- would it be worse to stay until the end of Imrazor's life and possibly fade from grief or leave beforehand and possibly always be tormented by guilt or wondering? I don't know that I could make such a choice.

Mithrellas' strength in this story reminds me of how much Arwen's decision to give up after Aragorn's passing really bothered me.

Author Reply: I feel there may also have been political implications - unless she did as Arwen and left just after the funeral. As the wife of Imrazor she had a role - but an eternally youthful elf could end up with cries of 'witch' aimed at her. And Aragorn had the choice of giving up his life before he began to fall apart with antiquity. If Imrazor began to show any signs of mental decline, it would be very difficult for Mithrellas to endure. I think it would probably seem wiser to both of them for her to go before he died - but it is one of those situations where they are choosing the lesser evil.

Arwen was in a different situation - she had taken the choice of Luthien and she was going to die. It may well be that her life force was consequently much more closely tied to Aragorn's life, and that his death did signal the beginning of her end. Mithrellas doesn't have that option - she remains elvenkind. Whether she fades and goes to the Halls of Mandos or endures her loss, she and Imrazor will not be reunited.

Thank you for reading - and having such interesting thoughts!

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