Stories of Arda - Lord of the Rings Fan-Fiction Archive


	About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

An Unexpected Meeting by Bodkin	4 Review(s)
SharonB	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/11/2004
Ah the marvel of normal life ... children arguing. It is hard to have to reign in your young ones and set them on the right path. Mitherllas learned well from Nimrodel's behavior of not living up to duty or letting the one you love live up to their duty. But it sounds like a quote from the movie ... " ‘I feel it in the air,’ she sighed. ‘I sense it in the water. A long change is coming.’ " .. but it works well in our story. ;-) This has been a good story. Author Reply: Yes, definite Galadriel references there. I can't remember exactly what she said, but it was fairly similar, at least as far as the feeling and the sensing are concerned. But it amused me when it flowed off the fingers. Don't you think that even full-elven children would be bound to squabble? Even in the peace of Imladris. It's just one of the ways kids test each other and establish themselves. And I think in some ways Galador has a point - if you are different, it can be even more important to appear to follow the conventions of the society you live in. On the other hand, I'm not terribly keen on the 'women sitting at home and embroidering while men get out and do things' type of society - but that appears to have been the society it was. I think Nimrodel and Amroth are existing in Mithrellas's mind as a huge object lesson. I wonder if she would have been as able to tolerate the monotony and the duty of her role, if she hadn't had them there as a big shining example of what happens when you over-indulge in self-gratification at the expense of duty. More soon.

elliska	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/11/2004
Of course we knew it would come to this sad part of the story. The choice Mithrellas had--stay and watch him die or loose the last few precious years with him--was probably much harder than Arwen's choice. But I think the part that is saddest to me is the part involving her children and grandchildren. To see them lost to her while they were still so young and she was too and didn't have to be lost to them. But she couldn't stay to watch generation after generation die. Very sad indeed. And it underscores how sad this meeting with her ever so great grandchildren is. I'm glad she is sailing though it is hard to imagine healing in Valinor for her. Very sad and well done. Author Reply: Impossible choice to make. I've got Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man speech in my head - Imrazor has lived through the fifth age; the justice and is entering the sixth age; the lean and slipper'd pantaloon. (I'm repeating myself in reviews here!) Adrahil entered second childhood - the seventh age - in his last months and I think Imrazor would be desperately anxious for Mithrellas not to be around if that was going to happen to him. Also, females existing primarily to produce heirs, Mithrellas's difference didn't matter much while Imrazor was around to protect her, but after he died she would be more vulnerable to the prejudice of idiots like Doriel. Her children have grown, Gilmith is off somewhere out of reach producing heirs for some other House of Gondor - it is a shame she couldn't stay and see her grandchildren grow up (although since Tolkien didn't name her grandson, it would have required imagination), but she would have been out of place - looking half the age of her daughter-in-law. Going is probably the more difficult choice - and yet probably the better one. She will always yearn for her family, even in Valinor - but there are others whose loved ones may never return from the Halls of Mandos. (Perhaps she can set up a support group with Nerdanel!) Perhaps the healing she needs is understanding. Dunno. Not planning on going that far!

daw the minstrel	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/11/2004
Perhaps it's the weather here, but I thought there was a real autumnal feel to this chapter. She can see the end coming and so savors every minute. She had what most of us would could and a full and blessed life, with love and work to occupy her. And then, it all melted away and left her on her own. Author Reply: And readjustment to life among elves would have been difficult, too. She would have a completely different concept of time - for a while, at least. And having been the Lady of a Principality, with all the responsibilities that entails, then going back to live as a Silvan Elf would have been a problem. Very autumnal - days drawing in, sixth age of man, the 'lean and slipper'd pantaloon'.

Jay of Lasgalen	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/11/2004
Oh, Bodkin, what a very sad chapter! How dreadful for Mithrellas to have to make such a choice - to leave Imrazor, and spend his final years apart and remember him as he was; or stay and watch him grow old and die, remaining young herself :( The love between elves and men really isn't the way the minstrels sing about it. Great story, though. Jay Author Reply: No - romance usually stops at the pretty bit. Since she did (apparently) disappear while Imrazor was alive, I thought maybe if Adrahil's last months brought him to 'second childishness' it might make both of them want her to take that option. And then, I felt the political situation might mean that she needed to go - many men would have felt uncomfortable around elves and acceptance of her might well have declined. Imrazor may well have preferred to send her away while his power still protected her. An impossible situation for them both.

Return to Chapter List