Oh, Bodkin. I don’t know what to say. It’s after midnight and I’m sitting here weeping at this beautiful gift that you’ve given not just to daw, but to all those of us who love these characters. I humbly apologise, but I can’t think of anything sensible to say right now. Please let me come back and leave a proper review tomorrow.
Thanks to you and to daw for allowing me to see this time that I’ve hardly dared to imagine.
Author's reply
Thank you Dot. I felt guilty dipping my toes in daw's world, but I just craved reunion between Sinnarn and Emmelin in the west. I am just thrilled she and you liked it.
Jay of Lasgalen
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
Oh, my. What a lovely, lovely tale - I'm ashamed to say that I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes at Emmelin's reunion with Sinnarn.
These characters are so real to me - I was horrified to hear that Ithilden had been so badly injured, but glad that Eilian was unharmed. You caught his character perfectly with his first comment when Thranduil leapt off the ship.
Thanks, Bodkin - and Daw - for this gem.
Jay
Author's reply
Thank you, Jay. Daw's characters are so wonderful - I love them all. (Even Tinar, in a way!) I barely touched on many of her central characters - who, other than daw, could possibly do Eilian justice? - but the Ithilden part just flowed. It seemed so very Ithildenish to fight to his last blood before his father's halls and then to force himself to live for Alfirin's sake. And I just couldn't get Sinnarn from my mind - I started this just to reunite him with Emmelin and then got carried away.
I'm glad you - and daw - liked it!
orlandochick05
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
Wow. That was so nice. I never wanted that to end!! I always wanted to hear about what would happen to Daw's characters once they got to Valinor. Just one thing though, what about Gimli!!??
Author's reply
Gimli arrived with Legolas - he was outside while Legolas was talking to Emmelin, but he had died by the time Ithilden and Alfirin arrived. Emmelin and Elowen arrived about 2951 (Third Age) and the episodes extend over about 450 years.
I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. Daw's characters are so great, that it's impossible to get enough of them! Because, after all, there's Turgon - and Galelas - and Tynd - and Legolas's love affair - and more elflings for Ithilden and Alfirin - and Thranduil and Lorellin . . . it could go on as long as the elves themselves! Maltanaur. Beliond. Annael. Earilas. . . .
finafyr
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
I have this Unquenchable desire to read more about the people that Daw has written about. I find myself rereading Daw's stories over and over again. I do not know why. Bodkin I love your storied also. It was wonderful to have the best of both worlds. I wanted to know more. I wanted and still want Daw to write more. I would like to know many things. This waiting was one of those things, and I thank you for this wonderful gift. It was perfect.
Author's reply
Thank you. I did this for my own reasons - I was just desperate to have Siondel and Sinnarn back with their families! And then daw was kind enough to say she liked it. Daw's world is just so satisfying - I love all her characters, even Tinar! And you're right - I want to know more, too. I am so glad you enjoyed it.
Alice
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
(sigh) Oh, Bodkin that was just WONDERFUL! So many touching moments, and it was just, oh, words fail me. I'm so glad you wrote this. Thank you Daw for letting her borrow your characters! You did such a wonderful job with them. The scene with Lorellin, the last scene with Emmeling, it was just so good. Emmelin tied it all together and I think this is going to be something that I reread often because it's just so beautifully sad and at the same time so heartwarming.
Author's reply
Aw, thank you. Of course, were they not such terrific characters to start with, they wouldn't be such fun to play with. I so wanted to get Siondel and Sinnarn back home - doing this was just to satisfy my own need, but then daw was kind enough to say she didn't mind if I posted it. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Rose Sared
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
Awww Bod, well done. What a wonderful bittersweet evocation of the undying lands - and yes I have often wondered what on earth the elves did with themselves - hence my enjoyment of your many other stories. But to write so seamlessly in daw's world - well done indeed. ( Mind you I guess writing in other worlds is what we do - aye?)
But you do it with pathos but no cynism so well. Take a bow - a very nice start to a tuesday for me.
Rose
Author's reply
Thank you. (And daw.) I was astonished how easily some of the characters presented themselves. Although I did avoid some of the really tricky ones - like Thranduil and Lorellin and focused on Elowen, Emmelin and Alfirin.
I am so pleased you liked it - it is very dangerous to play with someone else's toys!
perelleth
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
Wow bodkin! This was like a Christmas Special! Everybody around! I cannot choose a scene, yet seeing SIondel back was sonderful, and I absolutely pitied poor, exhausted Ithilden! It was very moving how he felt Lorellin coming home! He deserved to greet his mum, I deem! It was wonderfully done!
THranduil and Eilian left at their own devices in LAsgalen with Celuwen in the midst was fun and wicked and poor Emmelin's doubts and pain until the sweet end was very very well done!
Such a great thing to share, thanks!
Author's reply
Just like a Christmas Special. Only Beliond didn't come on to cheers from the audience!
I was so surprised at how the exhausted, pained Ithilden just flowed. And I was so glad that he was there when his naneth returned - and that she dismissed his guilt.
Celuwen was probably glad to sail in the end - if the alternative was being the intermediary between Thranduil and his remaining son!
Poor Emmelin. I wondered (as well as everything else) as if acceptance was important in those waiting too. Possibly.
Thank you - and daw. It was great to play with her characters.
French Pony
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
Do you use the phrase "grass widow" in England? Because this story seems to encapsulate perfectly the experience of being a grass widow (at least, from all the accounts I've read from them).
It also reminded me quite a bit of my zayde's stories about his early childhood, traveling from Ukraine to America, and the long waiting that his family endured before they were reunited with his father. I love how you touch on the immigrant experience of the Elves in the West, how the new country starts out being so strange and foreign, but gradually becomes familiar and then becomes home.
I also like that everything is not perfect -- especially Legolas's feeling that Thranduil should have been the one to greet Lorellin. On the other hand, if Thranduil had arrived before Lorellin had returned, he would have died right then and there, and that would have been a scheduling nightmare for Namo. Far better for her to return to her sons before her husband turned up.
Looks like the only one missing is Turgon. Perhaps he's still embroiled in paperwork on account of his sharing a name with the King of Gondolin.
Author's reply
Yes, 'grass widow' is a very familiar phrase! And this situation is one of many that you seem to come across in Tolkien that seem simple and straightforward until you really start to think about them - when they're not.
And when it comes to long separation, the elves have got it cracked. The time scale I've worked on tots up to about 441 years from Sinnarn's death until his return - and I know that that's probably on the short side. Then, if it's hard to settle into the Blessed Realm as sniffed-at immigrants - what must it be like to return from Namo's Halls? A returned POW? But given enough time, almost anywhere becomes home - and give an elf a wood . . .
Yes, I agree. Better for Lorellin to greet Thranduil than for him to wait for her. Unless the Blessed Realm is in real need of a spring-clean. (The picture of a scheduling nightmare for Namo is delicious.)
Turgon. (And Galelas. And then there's Tynd. Not to mention the not-dead-as-far-as-I-know Beliond and Maltanaur.) I just love the picture of a bureaucratic mix-up and Mirkwood's Turgon being returned to the Gondolin crowd. I imagine total bemusement. And Thranduil's reaction should Fingolfinion be handed back to the hippie-bard-type whose name currently escapes me.
daw the minstrel
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
Bodkin, I can't thank you enough for this. I love these characters and have been dismayed by the ones I killed, especially Siondel and Sinnarn. Seeing them alive and happy was tremendously rewarding for me.
The image of wounded Ithilden was shocking. Like everyone else, I think of him as just about as indomitable as Thranduil, so seeing him in this state was really sobering. It suggested how bad things got in that last battle. But his voice and manner are still him, even if his body is damaged. And I took great joy in seeing him boss Legolas around again. Of course, given that Legolas has been Lord of Ithilien and one of the Nine Walkers, he's much less docile than he used to be! And of course, it's somehow typical that wild Eilian got off without a scratch.
One of the things I liked best about this story was the way you working in all the chores they do. I could see their simple but hard working life in the forest. I think they'd be happy in that. They're wood elves, after all.
It's rather cruel of you to leave Thranduil and Eilian alone together. LOLOL. Celuwen must feel like a permanent negotiator of truces. But I loved your picture of Lorellin. Ithilden's thoughts about her capture her just perfectly. Her "fierce, partisan love." Yes. That's her. I suppose she and Ithilden are about as mismatched as Thranduil and Eilian.
She had asked herself questions about acceptance and obedience to the will of the Valar. She had asked herself whether the nature of a death made it harder to return. She had mused on feelings of guilt and helplessness, whether the complexity of the elf’s own nature delayed or speeded recovery. She had pondered love and the communion of two fëar. She had wondered about the bond between parent and child. Sometimes she almost felt she had grasped an idea so tenuous that it hovered beyond her understanding like a wisp of cloud in the dawn sky.
Is this you thinking about leaving the Halls of Waiting, Bodkin? It would sure be me. This is hard to figure out. I loved the moment near the end when Elowen knows that Sinnarn is coming, even though Emmelin hasn't realized it yet.
The ending made me cry. Doing this from Emmelin's POV was genius, Bodkin.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Author's reply
I was being haunted by Sinnarn - and Emmelin's despair - and suddenly decided that this was the only way to lay the ghost. I am so grateful that you are pleased and that you were happy to have it posted!
And I was astonished how easily the Ithilden / Alfirin part wrote - I hadn't even thought of him struggling to survive dreadful injury for Alfirin's sake until he did. Whereupon it seemed such a very Ithildenish thing to do. Big brothers never give up attempting to boss their little brothers - and several centuries as his troop commander will only have reinforced that!
There are so many characters that only occurred to me afterwards - not just Turgon, but what of Galelas? There's no mention of Beliond - or Maltanaur or Nindwen. And Tuilinn sort of made it - but what of her parents? But it would have been far too complex to add anyone else!
I really like thinking about the sort of things that wood-elves would have to do to support themselves - and it would be hard work. Dull at times, too, and sometimes short of different foods. (And - er - drainage rarely gets mentioned!)
Perhaps being the only two of the family left would be good for Thranduil and Eilian's relationship. Perhaps. And the last battles would have sobered Eilian, I think. Temporarily, anyway.
Phew, I didn't dare touch Lorellin much - I am so relieved you recognised her.
Unanswered - unanswerable - questions are very handy ways to deal with things where you just can't fathom the answers. And who returned when and why is just plain incomprehensible, I think. Without making it too neat, anyway, and inventing some neat points system.
I am just thrilled you liked it. Thank you for inventing (most) of them in the first place and giving them the personalities you have. It's really something to have created characters so endearing that your readers cannot bear to leave in the Halls of Waiting or grieving their loss. Thank you for letting me play with them.
Elena Tiriel
· 10 October 2005
· Chapter 1: In the West
This left me in tears, Bodkin. Thank you!
- Barbara
Author's reply
Thank you. It was such fun to play in someone else's sandpit. I loved every minute!