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| The Wisdom of Isildur by Marnie | 12 Review(s) |
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| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/23/2004 |
| Lovely - a new tale to increase my understanding of Celeborn and Elrond. It's good to see Celeborn putting his foot down. I love the throw-away line, 'Wise with the wisdom of Isildur.' Author Reply: Thanks, Bodkin :) Poor Celeborn - caught in the middle of the Noldor/Sindar divide, called 'the Wise' but can't get anyone to listen to him. You have to feel some sympathy for the bloke, don't you ;) Many thanks for the review! Marnie :-) | |
| Bejai | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/23/2004 |
| Oh, brilliant, Marnie! Another wonderful exposition on the difference between the Sindar and the Noldor. Loved Celeborn's anger at the beginning -- what about Oropher and Amdir? They were his kin, probably his friends of old. No one even spoke of Amdir, as if he had not been there ... yeah, that tracks. And "Oropher's Sindarin swings of mood in the normally level-headed Celeborn." Perfect. Loved to that you had Celeborn back in Imladris, guarding Vilya. That must have made him crazy. The image of him dumping it in the middle of the table and his description about "what is was like" were breathtaking. And it is the wisdom of Isildur to keep the elven rings. That's the Celeborn blunt truth I've come to expect. Barbed, biting, absolutely spot-on. I'd never thought about the fact that they did have a good opportunity to destroy them at this point, and yet again were unable to do so. I wonder how many times Celeborn thought about melting the thing while he was "protecting" it ;) And quite naive of Elrond to say "Sauron is no more." That'll come back to haunt him. And the politics of kingship and descent! You always capture the nuiances in these things. Wonderful, wonderful exchange between them. I loved the reality of the characterizations here. Anger in Celeborn, forgiveness, harshness. I think he would be a hard friend, and probably somewhat maddening to be around when he is like this. And I love that about your Celeborn. Elrond was very good too. Wise enough to listen to what Celeborn was saying, but naive enough to think that the world was better now, that he could handle the ring. Great story, Marnie. I think I'll file it in my list of top favorite vignettes. Every part was just perfect. Bravo! Author Reply: Many thanks for a fabulous review, Bejai! Yes, I felt very ashamed when we were discussing the Last Alliance and I said you'd have to introduce Gil-galad. *I* forgot Amdir too, poor bloke! And that's even worse when I really liked your gentle, sly, humourous characterization of him. Oropher seems to have had a problem getting on with anyone, but still doesn't deserve to be remembered only as a useless general. I do feel that some of the blame must rest on Gil-galad for not using him better. But that's the disadvantage of an oral culture - when the bards die out or disappear there's nothing left to contradict the written records of the opposition ;) This was written partly to explain what Celeborn and Galadriel were up to during the Last Alliance - why they *yet again* disappeared when the interesting stuff was going on. I reckoned it made sense, since they're currently in the position of not having an army, for them to act as guardians of the Rings. Presumably Cirdan has left someone looking after his too. I think you're right about Celeborn being a difficult person to have as a friend - he seems the kind to have two or three people who absolutely swear by him, and every one else who find him slightly offputting :) Oh, and I'm really pleased you liked my Elrond. It was a bit of a gamble having Elrond in the wrong for a change; I'm glad it didn't come across as too out of character. Anyway, thanks again, and good luck with the exams! | |