News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| Seeds of Old Trees by Marnie | 49 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Artemis | Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/21/2004 |
| Your story is far beyond splendid and moving... I am now going to wander away in a slight daze, speechless as an idiot. ^^ It is not often that I, chatterbox extraordinaire in real life, am struck twittering... >.< Excellent work. Author Reply: Many thanks for the review, Artemis! I'm glad you're liking it so far. It's all downhill from here though into (gah) romance and science fiction. So I hope the ending doesn't disappoint too much. Thanks again! Marnie :-) | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 7/21/2004 |
| Immortality and being re-embodied make things terribly complicated, don't they? I love the way that you show that Melian suffers resentment at having abandoned Doriath, but that Celeborn has a better understanding of her position because of having been married to Galadriel. And I find it only reasonable that the Sindar remain suspicious - and that the natives have no comprehension of it. Also typical that a mourning Melian seems better than a happy one - and that some would rub their hands in glee over the division between Celeborn and Galadriel. The eagle is quite insightful - but he must complicate Elladan's life considerably. Do so agree with the 'faster travel, less time' suggestion. Horrible suggestion that Celeborn's grandfather would have become an orc - it makes the origins of orcs come a bit close to home. Brilliant. Author Reply: Immortality and being re-embodied make everything *hideously* complicated :) I keep catching myself and going 'oh no! What about so-and-so...he'll be back by now too, where does he fit in? I suppose it's my own fault for setting it in the near future, so that there's been time for just about everyone to return, but now I have far more obscure characters than I know what to do with - witness the fact that the dramatic denoument of this chapter turns on a character no-one's ever heard of ;) And I can't think of anything for the characters people actually like, to do. Aglarhir quite disturbed me with his Nazi suggestions about racial purity - I'm glad to see the back of him! Many thanks for the review. I think I must have missed a chapter or even two of yours; I'll go and check now. Marnie :-) | |
| Aislynn Crowdaughter | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/9/2004 |
| Hi! This is a wonderful story, and it gets better with every chapter. I love it how you describe Celeborns feelings, his need to heal, the effect the "fading" has and the way his relationship with his old relatives are described. I hope to see more about them, to meet Elrond, and perhaps see if Legolas stays with his father or has fled somewhere else to not endure Thranduils misgivings about the dwarf. Will we meet Oropher in this? and what *does* Glorfindel do, does he stay with a reborn Turgon, or does he choses to stay with Elrond? I'd like to learn more of this troubled paradise of the elves! I also love your vision of Valinor, the idea that the Sindar, the Ennorian elves, seek (and recieve) an continent of their own to live in because they do not feel at home with the Noldor... *and* with the other Calaquendi, who have never suffered the hardships of Ennor and therefore won't understand how they "Moriquendi" brothers and sisters feel. I also liked the little aside comments about the valar "it would probably be too shocking modern for the Valar to make Aman round" and Thingol not trusting the Valar to prevent another kinslaying (is it *possible* to slay an elf who has compleetet the "fading"? I do not think so!). But now we find ourselves at the brink of another confrontation between the different elven kins, and in the middle of elven unrest again. Welcome to the politics of Valinor! All the while Celeborn, dreaming of Ennor and feeling guily for leaving it behind, may even find himself tempted into leading his people (the star elves) into another elven rebellion against the Valar and a new exile (tis time of the Sindar), because if those elves need something to do... well, there is much to do for them in Ennor with all the plants and nature desperately in need to be healed and humanity in need to be taught some reaspect for them... (of course, most Sindar and Silvain Elves who finally fled to Valinor to escape Ennor will not want to go back in any case, nor will Celeborn realy want to go back and leave Galadriel behind forever, so perhaps he will *not* come to this conclusion of the problems given). Anyway, I can't wait to read more! I also understand Galadriels position much better now. I hope they will be together again... and I am curious how this little war of roses between Celeborn and his teperamental wife will develop. Please write more soon! This is great! Greetings to you, Aislynn Author Reply: Wow, what a great review, Aislynn! Thank you! I seem to be disappointing a lot of people by not having Elrond in here - I just can't figure out a way to bring him in, other than by report. (I wanted Celebrian rather than Elrond to do the greeting because she doesn't get a lot of stories of her own - rather like Celeborn, she's overshadowed by her more famous spouse.) I'm also afraid that I have no plans to bring in Oropher and Legolas - and Gimli is long dead. Glorfindel too is a case of 'decide what you'd like best'. I seem to have made this story a bit of an obscure-character-fest, and in the process ignored all the more popular players. I can only offer Melian, Finarfin, Finrod, Galadriel and Celebrimbor to come. It continues to amaze me that anyone reads this at all! I always felt that - with all the elves going to Valinor - there must be something of a population problem by now. And then there was the problem of who was going to be King of the Teleri - Olwe or Elwe? And if not Elwe, then what was he going to do? And the new continent just seemed to solve all those problems :) I am delighted with your suggestion that Celeborn could lead a new exodus out of Valinor back to Middle-earth, because I don't think he would be happy to just forget it either, particularly now that he's discovered that his people have become such expert terraformers, and could probably do something substantial to help. I think that you at least might be able to take in stride the rather daring things I'm planning to do next with this. Hurray! Thank you again! | |
| Sphinx | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/9/2004 |
| An interesting chapter. Almost prophetic, in fact. ;) Now, what remains to be seen is if the fireworks will go off when Celeborn meets Galadriel, or the fireworks will be of warring elves. I don’t like Nimrodel; I never have. Its rather tough to make her likeable, but you’ve made her readable. And I can forget my opinion of her for about ten seconds. In direct contrast, we have Galadriel, who plays a pivotal role in this story as yet, but who hasn’t even appeared. I don’t agree with everything that she’s being portrayed to be – but I suppose that all the verdicts of her have come from people close to Celeborn, and obviously annoyed with her. But your supreme skill lies in the imagery that you use – and how well it is used to describe Amroth’s house, the fields and the surrounding area. Really gave me a feel of the place. I’m enjoying these different views of Valinor very much indeed. Am looking forward to the next update. ;) Author Reply: As for Galadriel, I have no idea why everyone seems to be getting annoyed or upset with her - she has every right to feel hurt that he stayed away from her as long as he possibly could. *He* isn't upset with her - he quite understands that he deserves to be treated like this, and didn't expect anything else. I'm curious now - how would you prefer her to be? Judging from her behaviour in LotR (taking Frodo and Sam to the Mirror glade in order to make it clear to them *exactly* what she's giving up; singing her lament for Valinor, so that everyone would know how homesick she was) she's not one to keep her own inner turmoil a secret, she seems to like everyone to know about it :) Anyway, I *am* hoping to have her appear next chapter, so maybe all will be explained then :) I hope so. Thanks for the review! | |
| Miriel | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/6/2004 |
| Hi again. :) Ok, the thing about Galadriel makes sense now...I knew that she used to be called Atanis (I didn't know about Nerwen though) but couldn't figure out why Celeborn would be relieved that she was still Galadriel. Makes sense now. Thank you for explaining it! Hm, and as I was reading one of your other reviews, I noticed that the reviewer disliked the fact that you put modern earth in Middle Earth. I actually thought that was a nice touch, as I picked out historical events (Oo! The Ice Age!) and such things like that. Each to their own of couse, but I did like reading of that. It's great to make such a connection. As far as I knew, Amroth was not Celeborn's son. Did I miss something? Or did you just decide that Celeborn needed a son? (Don't get me wrong, if it's a switch from canon I think that it is for the better.) I probably missed something, I've only read LOTR, Hobbit, The Sil, and the first 10 History of M-E. I liked the eagle. He reminds me of an uppity British snob, with a monacle and a mustache. (I bet the eagle has a British accent too!) That must be really weird for Celeborn, I mean, after seeing all these people die and going through the grieving process, suddenly, Poof!, they're alive again. Crazy. Now, for the 'faded' thing, is he like that just when he wants to be, i.e., can he control it, and change back a forth? I remember reading about it in Morgoth's Ring, but I didn't really get how it all worked. (Ahem. That's what happens when you read and watch TV at the same time.) Another question (sorry)= does Amroth have contact with his mother? Perhaps he could help open up communication...hm...I'm really rooting for Celeborn here. *waves foam finger* Go Celeborn! Get your girl! Anyway, sorry so many questions. I can't wait to read what you have in store for us! Update soon! Please? Author Reply: In 'The History of Galadriel and Celeborn' in the 'Unfinished Tales' it's definately stated that Amroth was Celeborn and Galadriel's son, born to them when they were living in Eriador, by Lake Nenuial. Later on, as Tolkien revised, he seemed to drop that idea, and made Amroth Amdir's son. But he left in LotR Treebeard's greeting to C+G 'A vanimar vanimalion nostari!' 'Oh beautiful ones, parents of beautiful *children*.' So it's definately canonical that they had more than one child. Rather than invent a second child, I've gone with the earlier theory where Amroth is theirs. But I tried to reconcile it to the later theory by having Amdir *adopt* and rename the boy. That's *not* a canonical idea, but it was a way to get both versions of the backstory in at once ;) My understanding of the 'faded' thing is that Celeborn is now naturally invisible. If he isn't thinking about it and making an effort to appear visible, then he is invisible. But he can become visible whenever he choses to. And Amroth and Celebrian have probably grown up knowing that there's not much they can do when their mother's in *that* kind of a mood, other than wait until their father talks her round :) More wierdness next chapter | |
| Miriel | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/6/2004 |
| I'm really enjoying this story. It's very intruiging. I really like reading about Celeborn, you never hear that much about him. I can not wait to see him try to court Galadriel...could you make known to us readers the significance of her using the name 'Galadriel' as opposed to another name? Update soon! Author Reply: Many thanks for the review, Miriel! Yes, I started writing about Celeborn because no one else was doing it, and I really wanted to read about him ;) As far as Galadriel goes - when she was born she was named Nerwen and Artanis by her parents. It was Celeborn who gave her the name 'Galadriel'. As Tolkien puts it 'this, the most beautiful of her names, was given to her by her lover...' If she really wanted to have nothing more to do with him, she would probably have told everyone to stop calling her by his pet name :) I wonder if I should put that in as a footnote.. Thanks again! Marnie :-) | |
| Amaniel | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 7/5/2004 |
| I enjoy your stories immensely, and I can tell that you work extremely hard on perfecting them. It shows in your attention to detail and impressive writing style. I usually do not have a problem with the way a writer portrays their own conclusions from Tolkien's work, and I normally agree with your interpretation. I do, however, have difficultly connecting your idea of the direction Middle Earth took to the focus of Tolkien. It kind of hurts the story a little in the way it connects to the real world. One of the reasons I enjoy reading these stories is the fact that they are in no way connected to the thoughtless destruction and stupidity of our own world. I have no problem with you inserting your opinions in the story, after all, it is your work, but I just wanted to let you know my reason for the sudden jolt out of your story. It seemed to injure the rest of the story for some reason. Do not take my comments as negative criticism. Again, I love reading your stories, and I am looking forward to reading the rest. Author Reply: Many thanks for the review, Amaniel! I'm sorry this one doesn't work for you - I can understand what you mean about keeping Middle-earth out of the stupidities of our own world. :) On the other hand there are several places in Tolkien's work where he did deliberately tie his stories in to our own world. (I'm thinking in particular of the bit in LotR when Frodo sees Galadriel as present, yet remote *as, at times, elves still are seen*). My feelings are that (a) I like to think it was/is all real, and (b) that not *all* the enchantment has quite left us even now; that somewhere still, even among our post-industrial hills, there may still be quendi lingering. Invisible, aloof, but still there. Thats why I like to tie in Modern earth with Middle-earth :) But I can understand you not feeling the same. It's an interesting point. Thank you! | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/5/2004 |
| A fascinating look at Elven familial relationships, and culture in the Blessed Realm. I didn't know that elves who died in Middle-earth would return to Valinor. You've outdone Tolkien in bringing out the interesting qualities of Celeborn, Galadriel's wise but quiet husband. I find myself looking forward to their reunion. And hoping we will see Gandalf/Olorin again. Celeborn must have stayed in "Ennor" many thousands of years...Can everyone just reconnect with him after what, 10 millenia? Author Reply: Thanks for the review, Raksha! I think the eventual decision on the rebirth process was that all elves who died were called to the Halls of Mandos, and there, eventually, they were re-housed. But that was in Valinor. Certainly it says somewhere that Finrod 'now walks with his father' in Valinor, and Glorfindel came back from there. (I think there was an earlier conception that elves were reincarnated, and that presumably could occur in Middle-earth. But the bit of canon that I'm using for this is LaCE - where, if you don't go to Mandos (ie Valinor) you end up floating around as a houseless spirit for the rest of time.) I hadn't thought of having Gandalf in there. I have a bit of a mental block about writing him. But I'll turn the idea over and see if I can fit him in somewhere. And you're right, everyone *thinks* they're taking up with Celeborn from where they left off, but he's got rather more going on in his head than they realize, due to 10 millenia of living with Men, and it's going to take a long time before everyone's really caught up. Goodness! Why have I written an essay? Sorry! and thanks again :) | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/5/2004 |
| This is just so good. The whole thing - characters, setting, problems. Amazing. I think I'll give up. Author Reply: (I moved this over here from FF.net, because various people told me that they hated FF.net and would prefer to read it elsewhere.) But - after a long while of wondering whether it was worth me continuing, as yours was better - I decided that the two stories were so unalike that it was great to have both. I am guessing that yours isn't going to be having the spaceships, and mine is unfortunately not having Glorfindel, Elrond and Haldir; so we're OK :) | |