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| Long Memories by Bodkin | 12 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/19/2006 |
| Oh me, oh my. Thanks a lot, Gramps, says Legolas. You can really see how the pain and horror of events had worn on these two and they needed an outlet for their frustration in one another. And neither one of them behaved very well. Oropher's own wife knew he was being a deliberately provocative child. And Taryatur is not very tolerant. Of course, he must feel out of place and it's easy to blame the natives. Author Reply: Perhaps the realisation is one of those things that is causing Oropher to get so stressed in his attempts to settle in to his new life!! You'd have thought a decade or two of acquaintance with Legolas would have been enough to point out to Taryatur that his son-in-law wasn't a lot like his grandfather! But he seems to be a slow learner. So slow that he doesn't even realise that he is damaging his relationship with his daughter and grandchildren. Perhaps they need a bit of male-bonding time. Hunting, perhaps. Involving a bit of mud and suffering and serious conversation. No - Taryatur and Oropher were both at the end of their tethers - and took advantage of the fact that their acquaintance would be brief and unlikely to be resumed at any future time to behave like brats. Someone somewhere must have had an evil sense of humour to make them into family! | |
| Jay of Lasgalen | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/19/2006 |
| This has given a deeper insight into Taryatur's dislike and disapproval of poor Legolas - none of it is his fault, after all. Taryatur and Oropher simply rubbed each other up the wrong way - and delighted in doing so! They were both one as bad as the other. I could almost feel sorry for Taryatur at the end both with his haunting memories, and particularly that the one elf in all of Aman that his beloved daughter fell for was the grandson of that elf! Author Reply: Poor Taryatur - he started out as a device: a clearly disapproving Noldor father-in-law. Purely there for the amusement value. But the more you look at someone, the more rounded they become. And Taryatur turned out to be a war veteran with issues! Of course, he and Oropher did their best to drive each other insane - but that was partly defensive and a way of coping with the aftermath of war as refugees where neither of them was truly at home. And, of course, neither made any effort to overcome stereotyped prejudices. It makes the Fourth Age outcome seem a double-edged joke on someone's behalf. You could hardly imagine a match less made in heaven - at least as far as the in-laws are concerned! Maybe he and Oropher will work out their hostilities now - and come to realise that they both want the same things. That their differences are more superficial than they were prepared to understand way back then. After all, they share something that many do not - they were both there before Angband and are fellow veterans in a world of elves to whom that time is purely history. | |