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Paths of Memory by daw the minstrel	74 Review(s)
meckinock	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/28/2007
Oh, poor everybody. What a shattered family. It's too bad Ithilden was still single when this happened. He's trying to take care of everybody and he needs someone to take care of him! The image of Thranduil rocking Legolas without even knowing Ithilden was watching was haunting. And I ached for Ithilden even more, knowing he'll feel the severing of the parent-child bond from the other end. Thank you for this wonderful scene with my favorite characters, daw! Author Reply: You're entirely welcome, Meckinock. Ithilden's way of taking care is ordering people and things so nothing bad will ever happen again! He needs control to feel safe, and at the moment, he feels that he's failed.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/28/2007
Was this chill emptiness what it felt like when a bond to a parent ceased to exist? DON'T put thoughts in my head about how Ithilden and Alfirin responded to Sinnarn's death. It makes me feel quite sick. Poor Ithilden. I'm not sure he's not in a worse state than Eilian. Those orcs - three insanely vengeful elves bearing down on them ... they must have welcomed a quick death. I suspect Legolas's needs were crucial in halting their self-destructiveness and turning all three to nurturing their littlest one. Amazing sight of Ada Thranduil and his nestling. And the two older brothers - with the cold of their rooms very symbolic of their shattered home and hearts. Author Reply: I can't imagine how Ithilden and Alfirin stood it. I think you're right about Legolas anchoring them with his needs. Like pain, grief has a way of making us selfish. All our energy goes into coping with it. But when Legolas is there, they have to turn outward a little. I'm not even sure the rooms were really cold. I was trying to figure out what the breaking of that bond felt like and cold and empty were the best I could come up with. Although maybe it varies. Eilian seems to be fire to Ithilden's ice.

tnt2b2	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/28/2007
A heartwrenching piece. You have done an excellent job of making your characters so real that I feel a deep sense of lose and mourn for them. Looking forward to your next story. Author Reply: Thanks, tnt2b2. I've worked with these characters for so long now that they feel real to me too. I'm glad someone else appreciates them. :-)

erunyauve	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 2/20/2006
Oh, I hope Ithilden still has his 'bankie'. And poor little Legolas! This is beautiful - Ithilden is so perfect as a child - or so determined to be perfect. Eilian is unmistakeable (who else would bring mud into the palace? The Mirkwood Enquirer must have been full of the antics of the younger Thranduilion.) And I could see Legolas and his friends as the ponies. All of just underscores how alone Thranduil must be feeling, without his wife and children's mother. Author Reply: I think Nana put the bankie away, so it's probably in a treasure chest somewhere, bless its ragged little heart. I amused myself mightily by picturing Ithilden as a little kid. He was so earnest. Poor Thranduil. How he must miss his wife, maybe even more as his sons grow up and marry.

pipinheart	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 9/19/2005
This is sweet him rememering his sons as children, each have different personalities...and can see it before you know which child it is.... Author Reply: Hey, Pipinheart-- I had fun trying to show each of the sons as children so you could see the person they would become even in the child they were. It's good of you to read and review these older stories. I hope you're enjoying them.

LKK	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/13/2004
Such sweet scenes of the various childhoods. Most of the time I could guess which son was the subject of the memory. But you did manage to suprise me every once and a while, especially the last Ithilien one with the elfling who broke her arm. Oh, and Annael was Apple and ... Oh, foo! I don't remember the other member of the trio's name, but he was Oats, right? I liked all these glimpses into their history, but such a sad note to end the story on. A beautiful note, but still very sad. Author Reply: Thank you, LKK. I had a good time showing Ithilden especially as a child. Who would have guessed he had a security blanket?! Yes, Turgon was Oats (I think).

Kalima	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/8/2004
Ah! I find that I was confused throughout. I thought this entire story was before Lorellin was dead, though I began to suspect it was going to end with Legolas having a premonition that she had been killed. I thoght again and again we were in the present, and the child was Legolas. I admit I found this irritating, and in both chapters I was tempted to look ahead to see who we were talking about, but I didn't want to learn anything out of the proper sequence. So for what it's worth, this is my "constructive criticism": I think you are irritating your readers to no purpose; I think that when you are developing character, it is a good thing to know whose character we are shaping in our minds. Right now I am totally jumbled as to which story went with which elfling, and don't know if there might be something I need to know about who was the sledder and who the otter and who the horse, etc., for future reading. I was also constantly disoriented as to where we were in time. Well, obviously. Still, that's my only criticism. I love these stories and kind king Thranduil. Author Reply: It sounds as if the flashbacks didn't work well for you, Kalima. I'm sorry about that! However, you do seem to be fond of Thranduil, so that's ok. He is a good father, I think. Author Reply: Kalima-- I hope you don't mind my replying again. I've been thinking about why this story might not have worked for you, and it occurred to me that I had written it for people who were already familiar with my OCs as adult. I didn't even think about it, but that's what I was doing. Those people would already know these characters well and have fun guessing about them. But when I think about it, this is probably a terrible story for readers who don't already know my characters well! I never even realized that! I think I might have to take this story off my chronological list and put it in with the other odd stories at the bottom. It's going to put people off otherwise. Thought I'd let you know that you helped me think about this a bit. daw

Kalima	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/8/2004
I was just searching for your name in Stories of Arda, and when I saw the stories, I clicked on your name to email you to tell me what order to read them in. I'm so delighted you thought of your readers and provided the list unasked! I did have trouble telling who was who (of the when-the-children-were-young segments), but I can see by the way you have the elfling's name only at the end that you did this on purpose. For the first segment, I assumed all the way through that we were speaking of Legolas until the end, because Thranduil had been just talking to him. In other words, the flashback wasn't clear to me, but perhaps I am alone in this. I've been trying to think of why you might want to leave us in the dark about who was who until the end of each, but I can't think of any. But I certainly enjoyed the chapter. I am so pleased by your sure hand as you draw and draw the characters. I am reminded of when I was in art school; there was one young man, extrememly talented and who could draw quickly, I just loved to watch. I was a lot older than he, and I didn't have any designs on him (from his speech with our teacher, I don't think he was particularly interesting to me) but oh! The pleasure I took from watching him. One day our teacher was speaking to me, praising my work, and I said so he (the young man) could hear: "But I want to be able to do THAT!" My teacher laughed and didn't insult my intelligence by pretending I could ever be as good, and that pleased me somehow. He said we were all different, with our different styles, but that was the beginning of the end for me. I knew I would never be a professional artist, and I had no interest in teaching it. But I digress. The pleasure I take in reading your work is like that: beyond enjoying the story for itself, and I always do, I take pleasure when I think I glimpse your hand working behind the scenes. That doesn't say it right: I take the pleasure in your stories that I take in any well-done thing. It's one of those things that make life worth living. Thank you. Kalima Author Reply: You are so right: I did leave the children unidentified until the end of each flashback. I thought it would be fun to fool people who would never expect that Ithilden would have a "bankie" for instance. Theoretically, it's supposed to be fun to guess! I can't draw at all, but I am warmed by your saying that my stories are well-crafted. I like to play around with things in the stories and I truly appreciate perceptive readers noticing them.

Susanlu	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/26/2004
Oh, I have thought it's a corpora of sweet short stories, but now I know it base on the time about Lorellin's death.(sigh) So unavoidably, there are sorrow and struggles. I like this sort of things anyway, that why I had worked so hard to translate "When shadow touches home" despite its terrible length (for me).TT Another favourite paragraph of mine is "In the silent Great Hall that night and for many nights after, Legolas had sat on his father¡¯s lap clutching his disreputable blanket. It had been months before he had moved first to sitting next to Thranduil and leaning against him, and then to playing quietly on the floor near him, occasionally patting one of Thranduil¡¯s elegantly shod feet. " Although I didn't translate "See the stars", I did tranlate this chapter as a bonus for your Chinses readers^o^. I was so touched by the description of father and son, by how they support eachother to pull through, and the graceful details you wrote down. Since then I can't help thinking that maybe Thranduil's feeling for his youngest is a little different from his older sons, for he has to foster this elfling alone, without Lorellin's help. And there is also another (ridiculous) reason-- Legolas is the only child who inherits Thranduil's fair hair^o^. I'm not saying that the elven-king is a partial father, but I think even he IS, his older sons would not complain about that. I like the story about Ithilden and the blanket, it's obviously that you misleaded us on purpose;) The solemn Crown Prince has his own childish moment, indeed, I just wonder if he has ever made any Eilian-thing AFTER his coming of age. I also noticed that you corrected Thranduil's birth-time. I remember you had mentioned that Thranduil's hatred to dwarves came from his father Oropher, who has witnessed the fall of Menegroth. When I wrote a description of Thranduil months ago, I looked up Tolkein's book and found the lines as below: "Oropher was of Sindarin origin, and no doubt Thranduil his son was following the example of King Thingol long before, in Doriath; though his halls were not to be compared with Menegroth..." Personally, I think that indicated Thranduil born in Menegroth and grown there old enough to memorize the benefit and structure of the cave-palace, otherwise, it's hard to explain why and how he built up his own halls among the silvan. Tolkein's world is so perplexing, while we write more about it, we learn more.:-) Author Reply: Thank you, Susanlu. When this story started out, it was exactly what you thought: a collection of fluffy elfling stories. But then the angst about Nana crept in and my beta suggested I frame the whole set of stories so they were Thranduil's memories during this painful time. And this is what came of it. I think that Thranduil's attitude toward Legolas has definitely been affected by the fact that he's been both father and mother. He had to think of him differently than the older two. So you are so right. And I amused myself by giving the stiff Ithilden a blankie. Who would ever have expected that? I'll bet the warriors he chews out would love to know about it. I had a hard time deciding if Thranduil had been present at Menegroth because I thought he could have heard stories from his father. But I think your reasoning about this is good.

Elentari	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/24/2004
Ouch. For some reason I had the feeling this was a fic situated sometime around Lorellin's demise. The last memory was specially close, I thought I would see Thranduil suddenly letting the book fall down, as the awareness hit him and he went off to try to save his wife.or maybe even then he knew it was too late. I find it very touching that he realises Eilian had been drinking but allowed the youngling his own way of dealing with the pain. Ithilden going off to deal with his brother was also a very inspired thing. I guess the crown prince would feel some comfort in giving it to Eilian. And legolas crying in the middle of the night simply breaks my heart every time. It's a winner. And I feel so very sporry for Thranduil, who has nothing to comfort him but those three broken individuals... and even then he is always Thranduil. I think no one knows quite like him how it feels to have to be strong at all times. (And it also leaves me picturng his reunion with his wife in Eldamar. I am shamelessly romantic.) Terrific job. Author Reply: I really like your point that Ithilden would feel comfort in giving it to Eilian. I hadn't put it that way to myself but I think you're absolutely right. When I was writing that little scene in the hall where they are all responding to Legolas's cries, I wasn't expecting Ithilden to go comfort Eilian but he just did it. I wanted to know what was said between them! Eilian is suffering openly, but Ithilden's controlled surface hides some anguish too. Poor Thranduil. He has to keep trying to support his sons even when he's so lost and alone. Lately, I've been thinking about what fun meetings could take place in Valamar. Not only is there Lorellin for her family to meet, but how about Legolas meeting Turgon again???

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