Kitori
· 6 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Yay! Another story. Here's hoping for a resolution between the in-laws. I also hope the Oropher vs Taryatur conflict gets some resolution, or at least attention, if not in this story then in another ^^ Thranduil and Oropher are my favorites, particularly as you've written them. This chapter drove me to actually have some sympathy for Taryatur, who generally I consider a jerk. Good work :)
Author's reply
Thank you Kitori - I hope you like how it's going to turn out. (Not that I know - it's not finished yet!) Oropher isn't going to appear in it, though - that I do know! He and Taryatur will just have to wait a while to sort out their difficulties. I have my fingers crossed that Legolas and his wife's father will get a chance to understand each other a bit better. They're stuck in a groove of mutual disapproval at the moment - and I'm hoping their shared experience will jolt them out of it!
Taryatur can be a pain - but he is an honest elf underneath it, so I hope he will learn to bend! We'll see.
Ellie
· 5 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
This was sooo excellent. I feel sorry for dad-in-law in light of his trauma. He really does have post traumatic stress disorder -- elvish style. The friction between these two is palpable. They really do need to work out their differences, especially now that soemone appears to have gotten hurt. Take care of Leggy and I hope dad-in-law shows his true nobility and love int eh end.
Okay. This makes review number 20 for this chapter, so you can go ahead and update now :-)
Author's reply
Thank you! I can't update yet .... I'm only halfway through the next chapter! (I'm being distracted - other stories keep dictating parts. That's the trouble with going away - it happened last year, too.)
Taryatur has been hanging on to these injuries for a long time now - I think he's going to find it har to let them go. And, being properly stubborn, the less he has to hold against his son-in-law, the more determinedly he is doing it! Legolas is fed up with the situation - and aware that however conciliatory he is, it's not going to make any difference. Fingers crossed that this crisis is enough to jolt the pair of them into understanding each other.
Agape4Gondor
· 4 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Chilling tale! I hope there is more.
Author's reply
Thank you! There will be more. I'm about halfway through the next chapter at the moment.
Redheredh
· 4 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Ah, Taryatur! You poor elf, so courageous and so misunderstood... But, your family (and I) love you. You'll get through this. Your demons can be put to rest. Right, Bodkin? :]
Thranduil - very pleasingly - shows his wisdom and just why his son respects him so much. Treat him as an ally... leave him disconcerted... You would fight dragons for her... Making friends with one surely cannot be any more difficult. ;) Though Legolas is doubtful, he does make an attempt. But, like his father-in-law, I suspect dramatic circumstances are going to force a better outcome than he thinks to achieve on his own.
I am glad you are postponing Taryatur and Oropher's meeting again until they are on equal (neutral?) ground. Both should be more recovered from their reformation experience before they confront each other again.
Yes, I suspect Taryatur is going to go through a transformation process in this story. He will not be the same elf after this adventure, I think. His sympathy with the tree seemed to me a reflection of his's impending collapse, not just a bad episode. It was almost like T's fear was suddenly transferred to the tree and the poor thing sadly played out the elf's personal destruction for him. But of course, L suffers the impact of it.
All very exciting!
Author's reply
Poor Taryatur! I think he needs someone who understands - and who better than his war veteran of a son-in-law? If only they can get past scowling at each other and demanding that Elerrina listens to him first.
Thranduil is a star. Legolas and Taryatur are stuck on rails - one (or both) need to break away from them before they can approach any understanding. Legolas is the younger and the less hidebound - he is definitely the more likely one to attempt rapprochement. However, I think that success is more likely if the bending is done by Taryatur.
Oropher isn't ready for anything stressful. He rushed his return, I think. Too obstinate to admit that he needed space and silence and time to think - until he was in the middle of a horde of welcoming Wood-elves. And Taryatur wouldn't, I think, have come west if he had known that Oropher would be there.
I'm hoping Taryatur's experiences here will be ... meaningful. But you know what pig-headed characters are like when it comes to twisting a story to their own ends. We'll see what will happen with these two!
Armariel
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Ohhh nasssstyyy cliffiesssss!!! But good to see that family again...goodness, poor Leggy and his dad-in-law! Still not resigned to each other! But we must have some conflict, what?
Lovely insights about youngsters wanting to know about war and their elders not wanting them to know the reality of it. Such ideas have long been intriguing to me. A bit like a book I read called In Country in which a young girl wants to help understand her uncle who is a Vietnam vet but there is no way she can really ever know what he has been through. And he seems torn between wanting to tell her and not really wanting her to know.
~~~{~@
Author's reply
Evil laughter and hand-rubbing! Taryatur is far too obstinate to give in - and knowing he should just makes him worse! Legolas's hackles rise every time he sees his father-in-law, too. Elerrina should just lock them in a cupboard until they get over it!
Children always want to know about war, it seems to me. And play at it, too. And their elders always tell them the bits most suitable for their ears - the friendship, the comic moments, the escapes and so on - while never mentioning the parts that would truly help them to understand its horror. And yet, to minimise it and make it some Hollywood movie is to glamorise it and make it seem a more reasonable solution to problems. I don't think there is an answer, really. Except to say that it is necessary to understand the past in order not to make the same mistakes.
Nilmandra
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
These characters have really come alive (to me). I'm sure they have always been so to you! Taryatur is himself so innocent of nature that he endangers himself, and now he endangers Legolas too.
I liked the childrens' desires to know more of war, to understand the events of their world. At at time when they can understand the answers, it is important for them to learn. It is those who fail to learn history who are doomed to repeat it.
Author's reply
I'm so pleased that you feel the characters have come alive - Taryatur, particularly seems to have taken on a determined life of his own. He would. Pig-headed elf that he is! Taryatur blunders through parts of his life with blinkers on - and now Legolas has followed him into this particular danger. I'm only hoping it will prove worthwhile and lead to the two of them developing a better understanding of each other.
Children and war make a very difficult combination. Parents of course want to retain their innocence - but there is a horrible attraction to glamorising war. And, when all the memories that those who have been there will share are those of camaraderie and excitement, it's hardly surprising that children get a very strange view of what it is all about. It is important for them to understand the past - to absorb lessons that will affect their own conduct.
One of the things that must have seemed terrible to the elves would have been the number of times they watched men committing the same errors and repeating tragedies of the past.
utfrog98
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Hooray! A new story from Bodkin. I really enjoy your universe. You are writing a really interesting tale of clashing cultures.
Author's reply
Thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy Legolas's struggle to get on with his father-in-law. Although letting a tree fall on him is a pretty dramatic way to try to get a better understanding!
More soon. Ish.
vampfan30
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Wow -- it's my family in Elf-form... I have family & in-laws that love to run everyone's lives like Taryatur does. It's scary, but, interesting. As for Legolas -- get him out from under the tree already!!!!!!!!
Author's reply
Oh dear! I hope it won't take a tree falling on them to help you work out some solution!
Taryatur is being quite defensive now, I think. He knows Elerrina is happy - but can't help wishing she was still his little girl. And he's the sort of person who would find it very difficult to admit he was wrong - and probably get even more difficult.
I'm working on the tree!
meckinock
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Taryatur is the kind of father-in-law who could make a person swear off marriage. On the other hand, his type hardly seems rare, based on the content of your average advice column. Legolas is being amazingly tolerant of him, really. Which is sort of the only solution, since he's unlikely to change. Unfortunately for elves, they never progress to the coot stage where their outrageous utterances and petulant pouting become endearing instead of annoying. Happy Birthday, Bodkin!
Author's reply
Taryatur is, indeed, the kind of father-in-law whose best feature can be that he lives a very long way away. He and Legolas have got stuck in a groove of dislike and minimal courtesy now, though - and need something to jolt them into realising that they actually have more than Elerrina in common. Hopefully this incident might provide it. I expect Taryatur will still be tetchy - but there are degrees of tetchy. With luck, there might develop some level of respect behind the irritation. Even, perhaps, some affection and understanding.
Thank you, Nilmandra.
Author Reply: Arggh. Meckinock. Not Nilmandra. Stupid me.
Haleth
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
This story touches so many themes, from getting along with the in-laws one detests to the struggle to grow to maturity to war. It's fascinating to watch these characters grow (or not) and interact with each other.
'..‘What I want,’ Legolas continued, ‘is for my children to grow up with understanding. An understanding that includes the cost of war – why it is sometimes the only choice and why is should be a last resort...'
This is the voice of hard won wisdon. It's sad to think so many people don't see war that way.
Author's reply
Taryatur's only experience of war came in contrast to a life in the Blessed Realm, growing up in the time of the Trees. He had heard of and been horrified by the kinslaying at Alqualonde - but not seen it. And to him, the whole idea of Endore is of a place where the kinslayers retreated, where Morgoth roams. His life in the Valar's army exposed him to horror and pain and the slaughter of innocence. Legolas's understanding is different - he took up arms to defend his people. He doesn't fight for the sake of it, but because it is necessary - the best option at the time. (And at least the enemy in Middle-earth is clearly evil - these wars are not between dubious opinions of what is wrong.) Although Taryatur's war service was brief, I think it has affected him more than a life of war has damaged Legolas.
The two of them have a lot in common - much though they would hate to admit it - and if they can only break free from their prejudice enough to listen to each other, both might learn to appreciate the other! We'll see what happens!
Kitty
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Yay! That is exactly the story I wanted to read – how does the relationship of Legolas and Taryatur continue? After ‚Sweet Woodbine’ I had even more wondered than before how (and if ;-)) they will ever get over their aversion against each other.
‘It rains in Tirion, too,’ he said, refusing to have his general grumpiness dispersed. Now Taryatur is behaving like an elfling! And not only here. Somehow I get the feeling he is very decided to find *everything* terrible, even if it has only the faintest connection with Legolas, and to blame the poor elf for nearly everything. And I suppose Taryatur was convinced a visit with a certain Wood elf would not help with Súrion at all, on the contrary.
Thranduil may be right that Legolas and Taryatur have to sort their differences out. But I don’t know ... no matter how much Legolas tries, I fear as long as Taryatur is determined to dislike him he doesn’t stand much of a chance. Taryatur should be old enough to see how difficult me makes the life of his treasured daughter with his behaviour. Even if Legolas may have to take part of the blame, it was Taryatur who started the war.
You know, Eleniel acted in this chapter very wise and mature. One can’t help but thinking she has a better understanding about certain things and why it doesn’t help to pretend they are not there than her grandfather.
As for Legolas, I have to give him some credit for his calm and patience. Even if Taryatur doesn’t want to hear it, I think Legolas could be right about the reasons for Súrion’s behaviour.
Taryatur sighed. ‘Arrogant Wood elf,’ he muttered. ‘So certain that he knows best.’ Well, the same could be said of Taryatur himself, couldn’t it? In regard of the way how much a mere thunderstorm is affecting him, I can’t help but thinking Taryatur has way too much bad memories bottled up inside himself. And as he is not able and willed to talk about it, it is getting worse. He needs to release it for his own sake.
You realise this was a very bad cliffhanger? Just *what* has happened to Legolas??? And honestly, after the end of the chapter what Taryatur thought at the beginning seems even more impertinent. ‘Pernicious Wood elf! Do you have to play the hero all the time?’ And *that* after Legolas saved his life? I dare Taryatur to repeat this in front of Linevende and Elerrina *growls*
Can’t wait for the next chapter!
A belated Happy Birthday to you, Bodkin! Hope you had a wonderful day.
Author's reply
Thank you, Kitty. I had a good birthday. I'm hoping that this incident will help Legolas and Taryatur's relationship. They can't see it, but they do have quite a lot in common. I reckon, too, it will do Taryatur a great deal of good to talk about his experiences with someone who understands, won't dismiss his feelings and has survived and come to terms with the same sort of things.
Their relationship is running on grooves at the moment - and neither is really trying to change it. Hopefully this will jolt them into looking at each other differently.
Eleniel is a sensible and observant elleth. Galenthil, I think, counts on her to understand people - his main interest is with the forest creatures - and she has inherited good instincts.
And it is remarkable how often people recognise and criticise in others behaviour that is typical of themselves! Taryatur is worried about Legolas - he is just expressing it in his own way!
I shall try not to keep you worrying about Legolas for too long!
Fire
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Great to see you started a new story. Taryatur has surely gotten himself and Legolas in trouble now. Though i feel sorry for him, it must be so hard to live with those memories all these years.
I hope this will bring the two of them to an understanding o eachother, and an end to the hostile feelings they have towards eachother.
Author's reply
Thank you. Taryatur needs release from the pressure of his past - and maybe, if they spend a bit of time together, he and Legolas will be able to see that they have quite a few things in common. Other than Elerrina. Fingers crossed - they need to listen to each other properly and realise they are not in competition. I hope they manage it.
Jay of Lasgalen
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
What a place to leave us - and poor Legolas! I love it when he's being heroic to save others at the cost of his own safety. He seems to make a habit of it for Taryatur's family. I have a mental picture of the tree trying desperately to hold itself up by its branches, so as not to crush the woodland prince.
I like young Surion as a stroppy adolescent too, complete with unsuitable friends. It's often grandparents who can get through at this time - parents are too close, and part of the problem; but grandparents have already weathered the storms.
Author's reply
Poor Legolas indeed! I see the tree trying hard not to squash him, too! I'm hoping this will prove a breakthrough in Legolas's relationship with Taryatur - but you know how it is. Characters won't always do what you want them to do.
Surion was such a sweet kid - but I think his earlier adventure probably left Nisimalote a bit over-anxious and over-protective. He's just the age now to resent that and be demanding the freedom to get into trouble. I'm hoping that the forest - and some rather less closely involved family - will release the pressure. I'd hate to have him turn into a real brat.
thechevin
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Hi so happy to see a new story and this one begins with a bang, oh that terrible wood elf, how selfish of him to go out there and try to save his father in law from the storm!
Still I have to say that Legolas and Taryantaur are as bad as each other in their dislike and deliberate misunderstanding of the others behaviours
and Thranduil was right to speak to his son, even if it was mainly to give his daughter and himself a peaceful night!
But evil author, leaving us without knowing where or in what condition Legolas is and I can't imagine how he is going to feel when he is rescued by his father in law who he was supposed to be rescuing
Still I have something to lookk forward to now as I wait for an update
Author's reply
It's very unreasonable of the Wood elf to take a fall for his father-in-law, though! I wonder if Taryatur is actually finding himself worried about the elf?
I think the pair of them have got into a groove - they react as they do to each other because that's what they do. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the events here will make them actually look and listen. No-one can make them - they can appear polite on the surface, but I expect the tension is still winding Celumil up.
I'm only a page into the next chapter, so I know where I hope it will be going, but I have to say it all sometimes takes on a life of its own and insists on doing something a bit different. But fingers crossed the next chapter won't be long! After all, I wouldn't want the Wood elf to bleed to death. Elerrina wouldn't be pleased!
Gwynhyffar
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
What a great start, Bodkin. I feel sorry for Taryatur - for probably the first time. He's been through a lot and has done everything in his power to forget it and now it's all haunting him again. Legolas is trying and I'll give him credit there. I suspect his efforts will not go unpunished, though.
Author's reply
Taryatur started his fictional existence as someone designed to be infuriating - but I find that I have developed a great deal of sympathy for him. He is haunted by the past - and isn't helped, I think, by determinedly keeping it all inside him. Legolas is trying - but I think he could give it more if he weren't so fed up with Taryatur and his attitude. We'll have to see what comes of it all - I haven't written through to the end yet, so it still might change direction!
Lianna
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Is it worse to have grown up and spent your adulthood either at war or under the threat of war, like Legolas, or to have grown up in peace and then seen it shattered, like Taryatur? It's hard to say.
On the other hand, it's very easy to say how we all feel about Legolas presumably being pinned under that tree. Get him out of there! Please. Preferably mostly intact.
Author's reply
I think both are hard, really. Taryatur's experience was probably more of a shock to the system, though. He grew up in Aman in the days of the Trees - and then it was ripped apart by death and a kinslaying - and then he sailed east to see a truly horrific war. One with dragons and monsters. I think adapting to peace might have been harder for Legolas - and these two determinedly refuse to understand each other.
Legolas under a tree? You think that's not good? It could, I suppose, turn out to be a good thing in the long run. Mostly intact? I'll see what I can do!
daw the minstrel
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Oh man, family tension. Is there anything worse? I have to say I felt bad about Surion, whom we last saw as a sweet elfling picking flowers and playing ball. His parents are wise to get him away.
short of losing his atar-in-law permanently, finding him before he came to any harm would definitely be the best thing.
That made me laugh! Legolas is certainly in snarky mood. I was interested that Thranduil still feels free to lecture him in a way few human parents would feel free to lecture their adult son. I suppose that organization into Houses make a big difference.
Happy birthday, Bodkin!
Author's reply
Surion was a really sweet kid - a bit over-guarded, perhaps, since his mother is still panicking about the almost-drowning incident! But he's fighting to loosen the ties a bit now - he is, after all, Almost Grown Up - and doesn't see why his family like to chase anxiously behind him and keep an eye on his friends. But he is still sweet as a nut underneath his teenage exterior. And visiting the forest and his younger cousins will probably give him something else to think about.
Legolas is simply fed up with always being in the wrong. Thranduil - well, parents still like to advise their adult children. Good thing that under his currently grumpy exterior, he's still a sweet kid too!
In fact, he and Surion have a lot in common!
Thank you, daw! It has been a very restful birthday so far - with some time to play at important things like writing and reviewing and fun stuff like that. Only now I have to go and cook. Boo!
Dreamflower
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Oops.
Poor Taryatur. Now he not only has to be grateful to Legolas for saving his grandson, *now* he has to be grateful that "the Wood Elf" saved his *own* life! How inconsiderate of his son-in-law to put him under such a burden of gratitude!
Well, looks like they are going to have to learn to get along now, doesn't it?
(Of course, I'm not even remotely considering the possiblity that anything *permanently* dire has happened to Legolas, but if he should happen to have to spend some time hovering rather near to the door's of Mandos' Halls, well, it will give stiff-necked Taryatur even more time to wallow in his guilt, won't it?)
Author's reply
Legolas is just so inconsiderate! Poor Taryatur is distracted by the storm, too, and now he has to try to ensure that the dratted Wood elf is all right. I do think that if each only listened properly to the other they would learn that they have a good deal in common - but Taryatur bristles and Legolas responds and they talk at each other!
Now polishing off Legolas just so his father-in-law could feel guilty would be really mean now, wouldn't it! Would I do a thing like that? ...
Elflingimp
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Wow! Kinda sounds like my in laws, but this was exciting !I will cant wait until the next chapter,also I am kinda confused how did Legolass grampa get in the picture? Is he reborn? Thanks Bye
Author's reply
Oropher reappeared in Elflings 11, I think it was. And then he is also in Elflings 12. Although he is currently spending some peaceful time in the depths of the uncharted forest trying to readjust to the stresses of life. (I felt I had to mention his absence here as he and Taryatur really really need to sort out their differences - but I'd much rather Legolas and Taryatur learned that they're not that different after all!)
Poor Legolas has had a lot of trouble with his father-in-law - I think he and Linevende are OK as long as Taryatur isn't nearby!
Thank you - I'm glad you thought it was exciting.
Noor
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Ooooh! Poor Legolas, what a brilliant beginning, great to have another story. I do wish his atar-in law would stop giving him a hard time!
Noor
Author's reply
A lot of the problems are Taryatur's - but he certainly likes to pass them on! Hopefully the two of them will be able to come to some kind of understanding - given enough time and patience. Taryatur isn't a bad elf - just blinkered and stubborn.
lwarren
· 3 August 2006
· Chapter 1: Broken Bridges
Ai Bodkin! You can't do this to me!!! Bad author, to leave Legolas in such a place! I really hope these two will come to some sort of understanding of one another - that is, if they survive this storm! I find Taryatur's response to the thunder and lightning very telling, even after all the time since he fought in the war. It is understandable he wants to shield his family from the horror he has experienced, but he has carried it to an extreme that is causing some serious upset in, not only his immediate family, but in his daughter's as well. I am surprised that Thranduil let him get away with it!:-)Legolas appears to be trying, but is pushed to his limits by Taryatur's sniping remarks. A serious situation - very hard to know what to do to 'bridge' the gaping chasm between the two. But Bodkin, did you have to let a tree fall on Legolas??? :-(
I know I am going to thoroughly enjoy this when I have recovered from the shock of the last paragraph! Welcome back - happy birthday - great beginning to this story! (*yells over shoulder, "somebody get an ax - call 911!*) :-)
Linda
Author's reply
Poor Legolas. He does his best with Taryatur, but I think he's getting a bit waspish himself about the elf! But they're alone in the middle of a storm and with a fallen tree to contend with. It could be make or break!
Seven thousand years or so might have passed, but Taryatur is still coming to terms with his war experiences - and I think he might find it helpful to look on his son-in-law as a fellow vet rather than a symbol of the evil of war ... but we'll have to see what they are going to get out of this experience. I've only got about another page and a couple of chapter titles to give me a clue!
I think Thranduil knows that this situation can only be sorted out between Legolas and Taryatur - and that there's another element to it ... (some fathers just find it impossible to let their daughters go).
And maybe the tree missed him. You never know.
Thank you - I thought I'd do a hobbity birthday post and offer a story. Sorry to give you a shock! I'll get straight on to seeing Legolas and the tree don't get too close!