Reviews (579)

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Well, he wasn't originally - but somebody seemed to think it was essential for Elrond to have twin grandelflings. I'm sure the secret will be revealed shortly. It will get more and more difficult for these poor elves to sneak off for a bit of male bonding if they keep producing elflings!

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Fraid so. Elrohir was only intended to have one, but it was suggested that family dynamics demanded twins and hey, virtual twins cause me no stress! I can see this lot becoming pale and hollow-eyed for a few years. They would have been bound to have nursemaids - they are all accustomed to cooks and laundresses and butlers and guards. It wouldn't even occur to them that it was odd to have people carrying out the mundane tasks. Miriwen and Sirithiel might have found that needed adjusting to - Elerrina, on the other hand, is, I think, used to plenty of help around the house. (I loved it when you had Legolas watching out of the corner of his eye to discover how to wash his clothes just after he became a warrior! So true. Loads of lessons in archery, none in laundry - and probably precious few in camp cooking, except from Annael's poor father.) Odd image - the parents becomin free to act irresponsibly and our heroes sitting at home practising their parental haranguing techniques. (I think Legolas had still better tread carefully with his father, though!)

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They just keep on talking! It's lovely to do and seems to come in great bursts - I'm usually about two or three ahead, so there are certainly more coming! (It helps that they are seriously short!)

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Families are funny things. They're always very happy to shake their head over experiences you haven't yet had - parents of older children are particularly bad - 'Just you wait until he's walking', 'Just you wait until he's at school', 'Just wait until he's a teenager, and all he wants you for is the car', 'Wait until they're at college / courting / married / making you a grandparent'. Best ignored really. Everybody had their head in their own particular fishbowl. Childbirth - a stressful time. And it takes so long! Especially if you are feeling guilty because you caused your wife to be going through this. Elrond probably recalls the feeling only too well. With a far greater knowledge of what could go wrong than Legolas.

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Legolas wouldn't / doesn't / hasn't made a good patient himself - but I think he is the sort who would hate to see anyone he loved in pain, especially when he is responsible for it! He will make a good ada, I think - probably over-protective though. He will probably be damaged less often in the Blessed Realm - there are fewer things trying to have him for lunch. Thank you for commenting!

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Immortality means such a long period of time, doesn't it? It would be impossible to slap people into categories by age as we tend to do. Plus, once they are grown-up, they are grown-up for ever. It would be tempting to keep your children young long after they reached physical adulthood. - So I thought it must have more to do with stages of life - like the Seven Ages of Man. There would always be the seniority aspect to deal with, and the level of experience - and chains of authority. With no natural progression from one generation to the next, lordly elves would be perpetual heirs with no clear cut role. It would be tempting to remain juvenile for a very long time. Marriage and children would be a way of changing roles.

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I'm not really sure elves would have been in on the birth anyway - arrow and sword societies don't tend to be big on new men. And twin deliveries can be difficult - Elrond probably wanted a bit more space. I went with the El- prefix and, according to the dictionary I was looking at, Rin means remembrance, which seemed suitable. I'm not sure about the name yet, but it's growing on me. (I can remember the names of the wives now!) It's terribly difficult naming people - it's actually far easier to write the stories (they're not very complex). Sometimes characters stay as a line of dots for ages! Elrohir's turn? Well, I'm sure they will go for planned parenthood when they are ready.

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And they think only women are bitchy! They are just as bad, but call it wit -or outspoken honesty. I think the mother-in-law was doing quite well to stand up to them - can't have been fun for her! Only great love of her daughter can have stopped her walking out.

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I'm rather hopeful that they might be able to look on each other as . . I was going to say human beings, if you get what I mean, rather than 'daughter-stealing, orc-killing, Sindarin son of a marred land and a difficult father' and 'mean-spirited, over-protective, stiff-necked, arrogant Noldor'. They might even find they have something in common. Even three things in common.

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Not easy for him - but no worse than poor Alfirin and Celuwen having to live with Thranduil! Or come to that Elerrina living with Thranduil. It's not as if Legolas has a naneth to support the poor pregnant elf! (Few targets are as easy as the mother-in-law!) I'm beginning to see Galadriel and Thranduil as enjoying their endless contest - they will never make it up because it's too much fun fighting.

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It would be a shame, wouldn't it? Twin males, h'mm. I sort of feel that Elros and Elrond are fraternal twins rather than identical. Elladan and Elrohir are identical. Not sure about Elwing's brothers. Then Elrohir's wife seems to be having a bit of trouble getting pregnant - maybe the elven equivalent of fertility drugs . . . Could we be looking at a multiple birth - no, that would be going too far. Of course, the first-born don't need to follow tradition - there could be later elflings. We will have to see!

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I wonder if it is a reward from the Valar - the trouble with rewards being that they are often not quite what you want. The only thing with elves and twins is that it is probably the only way you get siblings before you are grown up - the sons of Elrond are 100+ years older than Arwen; you have 60-ish years between Legolas and Eilian - all of them more or less grow up as only elflings. And here we have a little flock of elflings of very similar age. Yes - plenty of unseen, unheralded help rallying round to do all the tedious tasks, enabling the lords and ladies the luxury of leisure.

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In my head she is descended from Mahtan the Smith, whose daughter Nerdanel married Feanor and produced his brood of sons - so if there is a genetic link between the production of twins and maternal inheritance, that would indeed work. I don't think twins are very common, though.

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Well - children can bring families together, or they can smash them to bits. Author Reply: Sorry, got interrupted there. There's something about the arrival of grandchildren that makes people rub their hands in glee, with a sort of 'now it's your turn. Just let me watch and laugh' feel to it. We'll have to see how they all get on. I think they will have to find a new home. I can't see Thranduil sitting twiddling his thumbs for too long before needing somewhere to rule.

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I'm glad you enjoyed the reaction. Give the elf some brandy! He's in shock.

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It's not the same as counting up heaps of slaughtered orcs, is it? Poor Legolas - the first pair of elven twins in Valinor. Should be fun.

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You are so right! What a point to miss. If they were human, they could have made a mistake, but I reckon that, as elves, they would know. Poor Elrohir - and Sirithiel. But I'm sure they will catch up soon.

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Ah, thank you. I was doubtful about this one - it seemed rather serious compared to most. But that's the thing about their little get togethers - often they are about insulting each other and having a laugh, but sometimes real life intrudes and they have to be serious. I'm glad you like them all. I've just realised the elfling needs a name now! Finding names takes for ever!

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I think Valinor would have seemed like a very organised kindergarten to the elves of ME - and that they might have seemed a bunch of savages to the locals. (Possibly part of the reason the in-laws don't care for Legolas?) As a group they need to move out and establish themselves - it's taken a long time for some of them to get round to the idea, but time doesn't really count here. It would be the leaders who would feel the need most strongly, I should think. They don't have anything to lead just now. (Can you imagine Thranduil with nothing to occupy him?) If you are, say, a gardener, it can't matter to you that much where you are growing your roses, but kings need kingdoms.

Author's reply

Moving out from your parents' rule - I think that must always be especially difficult in aristocratic families, where offspring are, by birth, part of the family business. (Like your Legolas.) At least in human terms, there is an automatic progression, but with elves, they would be born to be perpetual heirs - needing to be up to speed on how to rule, but, barring disaster, never having to take over. It seems to have more link to the kind of Italian famiglia than to the nuclear family. The whole society has quite a medieval feel to it - a feudal system of obligation and lordship. I suppose we accept what is traditional in our societies without thinking about it much. (Excuse the random thoughts.)

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I'm glad you enjoyed it. Such brave elves - except when it comes to smelly babies! I can just picture their wives' reaction to the choice of song - I think it's time for some intensive training in suitable ditties.

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The baby doesn't mind - but I think his nana might object. But she seems pretty sensible, so maybe she will just teach them some more suitable songs. You think more elflings are needed? I think the wives are beginning to hanker after little ones. I'm not so sure about Elrohir and Legolas. After all, if the baby smells worse than putrefying orc, who would want their own?

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Yes, I expect they felt very proud of themselves. The womenfolk return and the infant is clean and content. They were probably a little surprised to be scolded for the nature of the song, but I expect they were instantly trained in suitable lullabies. Babies are adorable - if expensive)- and I think they have all fallen for this little one's charms. I tend to think this is their first experience of a real physical closeness to infants - they are learning rapidly.

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They have been so busy with big tough male things that they haven't really had much exposure to the delights of infants. First time fathers do seem to be rather of the opinion that the baby will break if they touch it - and they always seem to be awkward when it comes to holding the child and then it cries more. Probably a good thing to leave them in charge and help build up their confidence. They've never had much of a problem with being covered in mud, orc blood, spider web, dust, slime etc. But take the contents of a baby's nappy / diaper, or a bit of dribble or milk vomit and you would think the end of the world had come. Silly elves indeed - but they are learning.

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In my head Legolas has been round more Man children than Elrohir - he saw a lot of Eowyn's kids and was there for Arwen's rather more than the twins. He is just a little more experienced in watching it done. This could be the first time he has been around a wailing infant without a safe pair of hands to rescue him though. They coped quite well - but I think Miriwen might give them some instruction in suitable songs before the elfling starts to pick up language skills.