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| Duty by Lindelea | 25 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Hai Took | Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 8/11/2004 |
| Poor Bergil! To hear such news from strangers! To "know" that you will soon loose your father! You wrote him trying to take over being the man of the house very well. Doing his duty to his fahter by going with Gilwyn to fetch the body, poor lad! Bergil telling Beregond that "all is well, sir" wanting his father to take back his place at the head of their family, brilliant! These were wonderful chapters! Thank you! Author Reply: It was painful to imagine Bergil taking over as man of the family at the age of ten, though I have read of such things. I enjoyed writing the part where he was able to "pass the torch" back to his father. Thanks for commenting! | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 8/11/2004 |
| I'm hosting my own celebration. Go, Beregond. What an atrocious day - even the good afternoon can barely compensate for the hideous morning. And yet their hearts will make them feel light and joyous. I wonder how long it will take them to become resentful of the pressure of the last months and wonder why they were left in this dreadful limbo for so long. Can we expect happy news from Gilwyn and Beregond? Author Reply: You know, I don't think people were as likely to become resentful and wonder why in past centuries. They didn't have a mindset of "rights" and "entitlements" until after the nobles forced King John, was it, to sign the Magna Carta, and even after that the commoners still didn't have many rights. I'm fairly sure they would be of the mindset that things were that way because that was the way they were. Does that make sense? To answer your question, yes, the draft of the very next (and last) chapter contains happy news. Thanks for reviewing! Sorry about all the typos and missing words... I put this up, published it, and then got called away until just now, and my editor wasn't able to look at it yet either or she'd have corrected a whole mess of stuff. Anyhow, a lot of those mistakes are now corrected. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 8/10/2004 |
| Oh my. 'I had to choose between my own life and that of my Captain. If I could go back and change what I did... well, I would not. How could I choose to let Faramir die if it was in my power to save him? How would I live with that choice? There are times when we must choose to do the right thing, no matter the consequences.' Beregond is more noble than 99% of the nobility of Gondor. Poor Bergil. Good thing I know the outcome or I would be hyperventilating. | |
| Hai Took | Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 8/9/2004 |
| I'm glad that they are all home for the time being! Bergil sure has been busy sending messages and such! I'm glad that Bergil gets along so well with the hobbits and was able to help Merry find his strength once again! I'm looking forward to seeing Beregond sentaced (again ;) Thank you! Author Reply: I'm sure everyone in the city has been (happily) busy getting ready for the army's return. Just a couple of chapters left! Thanks for commenting. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 8/9/2004 |
| Interesting to look at the army's return from the walls of Minas Tirith rather than from behind Aragorn's shoulder. The length of time it took from saving Faramir to the point where the king heard the case must have seemed an eternity to Beregond and his family. All of them trying to go on as normal, with the sentence of death hanging over him. They've passed the Deceased Wife's Sister Act in Gondor, have they? So it is considered legal and morally acceptable for Beregond and Gilwyn to get together? I'm enjoying the less rarefied atmosphere of life as seen from the point of view of an ordinary family. Author Reply: The length of time it took from saving Faramir to the point where the king heard the case must have seemed an eternity to Beregond and his family. All of them trying to go on as normal, with the sentence of death hanging over him. That stuck with me from the first time I read the book. Aragorn said, "from old the penalty was death". They *must* have known, and yet Beregond marched off to war at the head of a Company, and kept doing his duty as assigned (though he was not serving as a guardsman in the Citadel while awaiting trial), and walked to his hearing without JRRT mentioning chains or anything. It was a curious thought, this Man going like a lamb to slaughter, knowing his likely fate, and yet too honourable to try to run away from it, or whatever. Actually, when a loved one of mine had terminal cancer, he faced his death with much the same dignity. He couldn't escape it, so he conducted his life with as much dignity as he could before sentence was carried out. My first story about Beregond (Choices) is dedicated to his memory. Thanks! | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 8/9/2004 |
| What a strain on poor Fargil. And then to have word come of others, but hear nothing of Beregond. To lose Gilwyn must have seemed the last straw. Yet still they cope! (These days those boys would be swarmed over by counsellors and about to sue because of their post-traumatic shock.) Author Reply: Amazing how much more resilient children were before the advent of psychology, isn't it? | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/7/2004 |
| Well the worst is over for Minas Tirith - but how long, I wonder, before Bergil becomes aware of the danger his father is in? Not long, I suspect. Author Reply: Probably from the moment he hears that Beregond left his post. The penalty for such an act would have been common knowledge amongst guardsmen and their families. Of course, adults probably wouldn't discuss such a thing in front of Beregond's son. But things are still so busy that nothing seems to happen. Bergil keeps watching for the repercussions, but maybe they forgot, or something. Have been trying to get inside a 10yo's head, to imagine how he'd be thinking. | |
| Hai Took | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/6/2004 |
| I can not even imagine what mother's worry would be like! Thinking that orcs may getyour son and then knowing that some things would be kinder then being captured! It gave me shivers just to think about it! Looking forward to more! Author Reply: Gives me shivers, too. One thing the films did well was to show the mothers and children, especially in Helm's Deep. Thanks. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/6/2004 |
| Iraq, yes - with all the television coverage of small children with big eyes, but it makes me think more of Sarajevo. Author Reply: Ah. Haven't seen the television in quite awhile, so I will take your word for it. I remember hearing some of the stories about the people living in Sarajevo, that place that was such a beautiful city not so very long ago, during the last Winter Olympics. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/6/2004 |
| How old is Bergil? Ten, isn't he? There's nothing like being in the middle of a war to rob a child of childhood. (Although in many ways, childhood is the invention of the the Victorian middle class.) The nice sharp knife to protect Fargil from the orcs; Faramir in the Houses of the Dead; no knowledge of what has happened to his father. Poor Gilwyn. Author Reply: Even if that protection means slaying his cousin before the orcs can reach him... truly, Bergil is having to grow up much more quickly than he ought. Ah, was it the Victorian middle class? I was trying to remember just where the idea of carefree childhood had come from. I knew I'd read it in a literature history class, or just plain history, but couldn't remember where... Thanks! | |