Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search
swiss replica watches replica watches uk Replica Rolex DateJust Watches

My Sword Weeps - Book Two - 'My Sword' Series  by Agape4Gondor 2 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 25 on 2/20/2007
Good to know there is a friend here to ease the way into the viper's den without having to brave the fangs. And hope they unearth the truth quickly.

And I always did like Erkenbrand....

Author Reply: It is sometimes incredible - even in Tolkien's world - to see how 'small' that world is and how infinitely all are connected... I was glad for Ragnhild too!

And Erkenbrand is awesome!

SurgicalSteelReviewed Chapter: 25 on 2/17/2007
Another interesting chapter - the men of Rohan are really getting involved with the attempts to help Faramir!

As regards your question with my last review: I unabashedly steal historical examples in my writing, as you likely know. My historical example for what things might have been like for a healer in Gondor not accepted into the service of the Houses is really 1500s France. There were really three groups of 'healers' practicing in Paris - the Faculty of Physicians, the College of St. Cosmas (the surgeons - St. Cosmas is one of the patron saints of surgeons - Saints Cosmas and Damian supposedly transplanted either an arm or a leg onto an amputee in the 4th or 5th century), and everyone else.

The 'barber-surgeons' who were part of that 'other' group did venesections (bleeding) and cupping - and sometimes things as major as hernia repair or lithotomy. They tended to move around a lot, because if one of their patients did badly, they'd generally be arrested and sometimes killed. There were also folks running herbalist shops in the city, and performing abortions and the like - and then out in the countryside you had the itinerant surgeons and healers, so named because they'd journey from one town to another. Some of the best of those were quite good, but the worst were truly awful, and often did more harm than good.

Author Reply: I have always felt that the two kingdoms sworn as allies by oaths taken would be 'neighborly' - in all my stories, I have a close bond between the two...

Thanks for the info on 'barber-surgeons' - fascinating!

Return to Chapter List