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Burden of Guilt  by Linda Hoyland 2 Review(s)
BodkinReviewed Chapter: 38 on 11/24/2005
Thank goodness. Faramir has let down his barriers enough to speak of his worst fears. And Aragorn can put his mind at rest on that score and least - and perhaps then Faramir will find it easier to listen to the other things he has to say.

Damrod's tale is very illuminating - and gives a good reason for Faramir's anxiety. Although quite why he feels that touching the victim of abuse will pollute the other person, I don't know. (If such attitudes are common in Gondor, I expect the original victim was glad to die in battle.)

But I'm glad to see Faramir beginning to come out of his shell.

Author Reply: Faramir is suffering from clinical depression and it is quite common for suffers to feel they 'pollute' others in some way and many ancient societies and some still,alas today,blame the victim of an assault and shun them.Aragorn,thenk Goodness is not like that and will help Faramir now that he knows what is troubling him. Thank you for your much appreciated review.

French PonyReviewed Chapter: 38 on 11/23/2005
Oh, good, they're talking. They've needed this little chat badly for at least twenty chapters so far. I'll bet Faramir will feel at least a little better after having had a chance to share his worries. That'll surprise him.

Mahrod sounds like quite a piece of work. He's lucky that a flogging was all he got. We might have to perform a little. . . surgery on his nether regions. With a spoon. Rusty. Yeah, that'd be good.

Has Faramir always had this obsession with modesty? It seems a little out of place in a soldier, but maybe he's just developed it since The Prison Incident.

Author Reply: I love your suggestion about what to do with Mahrod.

I think Faramir has been uncomfortable about his scars for years,which I Go into in detail in my other stories,especially Shadow and Thought( more detail on the other site I had him a victim of countless floggings from Denethor but toned it down here) I assume though that in the past,soldiers rarely took off their clothes(No medical checks, bathing optional and sleeping in their clothes) There are verified accounds of women joining the army and never being found out unless they were wounded!I also decided to make the Gondorians a rather prim society to contrast them with the people of Rohan.
Also in the olden days,sexual abuse was rarely discussed and people would be years before they confided what had happened,if ever.

Thank you for your much appreciated review.I love reading your comments.

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