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Arwen's Heart  by Bodkin 22 Review(s)
SnehaReviewed Chapter: 15 on 7/22/2013
I think this is the best Arwen story I have ever read. I was tired of her being depicted as a weeping female with none of the wisdom or dignity of the Eldar. I loved how you showed her to be a strong person without making it cross the bounds Tolkien set for her. I loved her interactions with her brother, you made her seem so real! And their romance was so subtly depicted without too much fluff. And the ending was the best! My heart grieved for Elrond and it was soothed.
I have read a lot of lotr fanfiction until their was almost nothing left to read. I wanted a good fic before I left the fandom, your story has left a delightful feeling and now I am satisfied. Thank you for such a wonderful story.

curiouswombatReviewed Chapter: 15 on 9/25/2010
Somehow, although this has been on my to-read list for a long time, I had forgotten about it until today.

I have just read it all, over one afternoon and evening, and just want to say thank you for such a lovely, insightful, look at Arwen. I feel that I know her so much better now.

aragorn/arwen 4evrReviewed Chapter: 15 on 2/16/2009
this is sooo beautiful!!! i love this fic!

SphinxReviewed Chapter: 15 on 7/31/2008
I havent read LOTR fic in a while. But I felt like it, and I wanted Celeborn, and I dug this out. What a beautiful story. Your Arwen is one of the first real convincing takes I have seen on the character. And in spanning the years and choices and dilemmas, you've produced a story that simmers in the background of LOTR, yet never really took the limelight. Thank you. Because the plot bunnies resurface. :)

Apologies for not logging in.

Sphinx

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 15 on 9/17/2006
Oh, wow! I read this all in one gulp this morning, and am now feeling completely sated.

This is an absolutely beautiful story. Arwen's strength and loyalty, of which we are offered only brief glimpses in canon, are here fleshed out completely believably. Yes, I can see in this Arwen a devotion and a love that could accept a destiny beyond her comprehension, and endure a forty-year betrothal, decades spent in a strang place among strange people, and finally, an acceptance of a fate beyond her ken.

And the end--it made perfect sense, for to be beyond the bounds of Arda *is* to be beyond all time, where time is irrelevant, and to wait means nothing at all.

A brilliant job!

Author Reply: Thank you, Dreamflower! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it - I really had fun with this story, although the end was rather tough. At the start I thought I would leave it at the wedding - but it just didn't work, because that's not how Arwen's story ended. I started it because I got tired of incidental-Arwen - Elrond's daughter had to have more to her than just being a reward! Plus she was far better trained to rule than poor Aragorn, who spent so many years wallowing in mud on his own. I think she, like Elrond, understood fate and destiny - and, like him, she was able to embrace it. Fate didn't make her love of Aragorn any less - more, if anything. She was dedicated to him.

And I was glad to reunite her with all her family - it did make sense, once you started to think about it, even if it did make me feel rather dizzy.

xReviewed Chapter: 15 on 4/6/2006
Not much to say really. I was overly impressed and am so glad i found this story. The characters are consistent in character which made the story touching and the depth was incredible. It also gave me an insight on a few things behind the scenes of 3rd age middle Earth which will help me in writing my story. Dont worry, i wont be copying you but you have proved helpful and your story telling ability is excellent. Great story, well wrote, great job. I'll look out for more of your work.

Author Reply: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really wanted to portray an Arwen who was strong and determined and yet remained within the boundaries Tolkien had set her - while providing an inspiration sufficient to make Estel grow into Elessar.

I'm glad you think the scenes I've shown will help you develop your story. (Nilmandra's History Lessons are fantastic for providing masses of background knowledge, too. If you haven't read them yet, do!) Good luck with your work.


julesReviewed Chapter: 15 on 4/4/2006
The concept of ‘no time’ is a little hard to get your head around (not just for Arwen), but it does make for a neat happy ending. It seems particularly fitting that having lived lives dictated by duty and responsibility (which has been an overwhelming theme of your story) they are both now free – Arwen has “shed the shadow of years and loss and duty”, and Aragorn is “young and joyful and free of the marks of a lifetime of responsibility”. So they are still each other’s beloved, yet neither of them are the same as they were when they were together. And it does seem fairer somehow that the big family reunion doesn’t have to wait until the end of days.
This story has been a truly rewarding read, Bodkin. You said you wanted to portray an Arwen who was more than just window dressing, and you have certainly managed that – your Arwen is the epitomy of the strong woman behind the man, a true heroine. Thank you for sharing her with us.


Author Reply: The idea of 'no time' is more than a little dizzying. But, if they are beyond the bounds of time, isn't that what that should mean? And it does offer a neat solution!

If, beyond the circles of the world, Aragorn and Arwen had slotted into another time-scale, they would both have ended up with lives 'dictated by duty and responsibility' again - they are just that sort of people! Timelessness gives them a freedom simply to be themselves. And they are beyond the end of days. And yet not. At the same time. (It doesn't bear too much thinking about, actually. You start to feel as if you've taken too much wine.)

Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed it. I wanted a strong Arwen, who didn't need to take on a masculine role and wield a sword in battle to have a role and affect the outcome - and I'm glad you think it worked. It's been a pleasure.

Kathy_SFFReviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/31/2006
What a wonderful story. I loved how you wrote Arwen. She was an elf (woman) who knew what she wanted and was willing to pay the price for it. You did an excellent job depicting her as daughter to a father she will "loose", a lover and wife to the man she loves (and who loves her - I could see Aragorn/Awren love oozing all over), and a sister who loves her brothers but chooses her own path. This last chapter was like desert after a great meal. I loved her waking up to a place without time. Loved it!!!!!!

Author Reply: Thank you - I'm so pleased you liked it. Arwen was a strong character, capable of making uncomfortable decisions for reasons that were important - and I was feeling a little impatient with wimpish/unnecessary Arwen stories when I started. She clearly accepted her role in these events - long before Aragorn was born, I suspect - and the love she and Aragorn shared was a reward. And I was unable to resist offering not only a reunion with him, but also with Elrond and the rest of her family. Although when you start thinking about a place without time, it really does begin to make your head spin!

perellethReviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/30/2006
What a lovely, intelligent paradox! jumping into no-time was a clever, elegant solution, Bodkin! It made me smile! It was a lovely ending, congrats!
(And apologies for the delay but I'm on the run again...)

Author Reply: The absence of time - the idea makes your head spin when you try to think about it! But it has a sort of logic - beyond the end of days, and all that sort of thing. And if there is no time, then people wouldn't arrive in a linear way... And that's when you have to stop thinking! I'm glad you liked it as an ending - although it now has me thinking about how the elves would have felt after who-knows-how-many ages of life in the Blessed Realm. Would they have been worn and drained? How long would it have taken them to recover? Or wouldn't it work like that? Head spinning!!

Thank you, Perelleth. On the run? Sounds worrying - I hope you have your keeper with you!

DotReviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/29/2006
I seriously need to start sticking post-its to my forehead to remember to come back to things…

Anyway, this is beautiful. I figured you might want to see them have a happy ending and I’m so glad you took that route! There’s a lovely, dreamy tone to this epilogue that makes it seem a little unreal and yet so peaceful – it’s just perfect. And what an interesting idea too, that not only is she reunited with those who went before her, but she gets to see all those she ever loved because there is no Time here. I’m afraid to think about it too much because I end up getting very confused so I’ll just be happy that they are all together! You did an incredible job with Arwen in this story, allowing us to see the tale from her point of view and showing us her strength and wisdom that took her right through to the end. It’s fitting that you don’t end with those in Blessed Realm but with her ending. We see that her choice was the right one and that she really did get to see her loved ones again. I’ll miss this story! But the wonderful ending has left me with a smile on my face :-)


Author Reply: You wouldn't know you had post-it notes on your forehead unless you looked in a mirror though. And then you would have to write back to front on them, like on the front of some vans. And SECNALUBMA. And on a totally random note, I am told that when I started writing aged 5, I mirror-wrote.

The whole idea of no time does tend to make your head spin if you do more than touch the edges of it - but it has a sort of logic to it. And how could I resist the urge to reunite Arwen with her elven family as well as Aragorn. I wasn't at all sure about this bit - it is the section that had me wavering weeks ago. The rest of the story was sort of inevitable, but this is speculative - which is why it ended up as an epilogue.

Thank you, Dot. I am glad you liked the Arwen of this story - I did want to show her as strong and wise and dedicated, like her adar. And with the courage to see through something that would have been very difficult for her, despite her love for Aragorn.

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