Many Hands by Russandol

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Fanwork Notes

 

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Fanwork Information

Summary:

The story of a mighty weapon and heirloom, spanning the younger ages of the world. 

Thanks to JDE for the thorough beta work and for nudging me to post a story for the first time! 

 

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MEFA 2010 - First Place in Races: Other Beings: General

Major Characters: Borthand, Elendil, Isildur, Maedhros, Telchar

Major Relationships:

Genre: General

Challenges:

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Character Death, Mature Themes
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2, 027
Posted on 20 September 2009 Updated on 27 August 2022

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

Many Hands

Comments

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This was a lovely story. I liked how this was taken from the perspective of Narsil in a way. That gives this story a unique twist. I very much liked seeing Narsil's journey, which is a legend in itself. This story included some of my very favorite characters all in one story too which is hard considering they sanned various ime periods in Tolkien's world. This was fun to read and thought provoking. Thank you for sharing this story with us!

Hi Lady Roisin,

I'm very glad you liked it! Ypurs is my first ever review, because this is the first story I've ever written. For me one of the wonders of Middle-earth is in imagining that we might have lost such a wonderful past in our remote history, and this plot just came to me from that idea.

Thank you very much for your kind words, now I finally appreciate how much authors like to have comments on their work!

Russandol 

*applauds* Russandol, you have shown your skill now not only as an essayist but also as a fiction-writer! :)

What I liked about this story is how effortlessly you showed human emotions from the point of view of the sword. As Elendil watches Numenor drown, although the sword should be a stranger to that emotion, my eyes welled up too; it was a powerful scene. And the ending ... I'm glad you didn't give it a cliched happy ending. In fact, the ending as you wrote it seems so representative to me of Tolkien's idea of fading, both of the Elves and of the mortality of Men.

I'm glad you've come over to the "dark side": fiction writing. I look forward to more stories from you! :)

Hi Dawn, you are too kind, and anyway, you know perfectly well the part you've played! I'm glad you liked the POV. I could have never given it a happy ending, because I share that view of a "Lost World" that Tolkien left us, days of greatness in a distant past where all the deeds we love reading and writing about were true events and not legend, and Elves walked amongst us... - would you not give anything for a time machine ;-)

Thanks very much!

 

 

 

Is it possible to feel sorry for a weapon? :) The fact that the story is told almost from the point of view of Narsil/Anduril makes it all the more interesting. I love how the sword's condition has been worn away by age and eventually disuse, as well as the fact that it has seen so much of the world. Awesome work!

I am really pleased you enjoyed it, Araloth. I found the POV a bit awkward at first, but then it began to make sense (well, there was not much choice, anyway). Yes, it is a sad ending but it could not be otherwise. Yesterday someone here in England found a huge hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold, including many parts of swords and helmets - check the BBC website. That is exactly how I first imagined the end for poor Narsil, but I preferred not to take it as far as someone finding it in our real world!

Thanks very much for your review!

 

A wonderful idea to follow Narsil/Anduril through the ages and tell the story through its experience.  And true enough that it was an actor, almost as if it had a personality, in much of the events of LOTR.    

I especially liked this: "Perfection was lost for familiarity and trust."
and  Narsil shook with his sobs at the dreadful sight of a foundering land, drowning under the wrathful sea."

And yes the end, as Dawn said, true to the idea of the sadness of the ending of the age in Middle-earth. 

 

Hi elfscribe, thank you for the review! Funny you say Narsil is like another actor. that is how I saw it too! I think the idea for the story originally came when I was choosing a character for the newsletter bio, and I thought how interesting Narsil/Anduril's biography would be. Then I realised the obvious gaps from its creation by Telchar to becoming Elendil's sword, that lent itself to some fiction work!

I'm really glad you liked it. Thanks again!

Russandol 

Your story has wonderfully answered a question that kept bothering me: Why does Narsil have a Quenya name when it was forged in Beleriand?

Brava! Informed and entertaining and very evocative. I'll echo other reviewers about the last lines - it is a very good ending!

Thanks Moreth! I asked myself that question and many more, in the hope that the huge gap between its forging and its reappearance as Elendil's sword was plausible, so I made up some * coughs * "history". And about the ending, well, I wished to keep to the spirit of Tolkien, who invented all this "lore" as a legacy of forgotten myths in our distant past. So unless someone has spotted Anduril in some remote museum, it had to vanish, sadly...

Again, many thanks for your kind review!

 

Hi Russa,

Thought I'd leave my MEFA review here for you.

Tolkien incorporated into his own mythology the Norse concept of weapons that are so skillfully made and effective that they merit a name, becoming a deadly extension of their owner. Russandol ran with the idea, giving Narsil/Andúril consciousness and writing history from its point of view as it witnesses many great and terrible deeds, passing through many hands. The details of the forging and final result were well wrought, as it were. [ At last guard, grip and pommel were fitted, each of them a wonder of the finest workmanship; and its maker’s hands lovingly polished the sword: an instrument of death made no less lethal by its great beauty.] Russandol's use of language is strong and appropriately formal as befits the subject. I found the part about Elendil witnessing the destruction of Númenor moving: [Not long afterwards his hands, wet and salty from tears and seawater, disentangled the sheathed sword from his billowing cloak and knotted a rope around his waist just before the first of the waves hit them. Narsil shook with his sobs at the dreadful sight of a foundering land, drowning under the wrathful sea.] The ending too is fitting to Tolkien's world in which all that was beautiful fades eventually and the once mighty blade is consigned to rust. A different perspective and well done.
  Cheers,

~elfscribe

Thnk you elfscribe! This was my first incursion into fanfic writing. I guess it was a not-too scary step forward from the factual character biographies I had done previously, just adding a little bit of creative gap filling to the unrecorded parts of the story of Narsil. I am still amazed at how well it did at the MEFAs, it was reviews like yours that made it happen. Thanks again!

 

When I chose to read this story, I really had no idea what to expect, having only seen the title and the category in which it was awarded in the MEFAs. I enjoyed following how the identity of the story 'I' was revealed step by step, first finding out it was a sword, then guessing which it might be... The whole idea of writing a fic from the viewpoint of an object is interesting and unique. It was indeed sad to see what end awaited the poor thing. Thank you for an excellent fic :)

Why, this was my first ever posted fic, so I am very fond of it. I wavered for weeks before I dared post it.

As for the ending, well, it is the way of things. I remember going to the British Museum long ago and looking at very corroded Anglo-saxon swords inside glass cases, not even 1000 years old. They were no more than sticks made of rust, probably waiting for a finger to touch them and crumble to dust. Poor things!

Thanks very much for reviewing, you have made me a very happy fanfic writer today!

 

Holy moly.  I can't believe I didn't leave a comment for this wonderful story, Russa!  Narsil is near and dear to my heart, too, and the way you have traced its history and the people who touched it is excellently wrought, like high-grade steel.  It's a poignant tale as a great heirloom descends to an ignoble end.

Holy moly! I can't believe I didn't respond to this review. I might have been driving through Europe at the time. I'm sorry, I didn't intend to be rude, it just fell through the cracks, and have only discovered it today when i came in here to respond to another review.

Narsil is the centre piece to your "The Glitter of Swords" and in my mind, it is now canon that Mél was the smith that reforged it into Andúril. I'm glad my not-so-glorious ending got your thumbs up. Seems to be the way of things, for people to forget something/someone and then belatedly elevate to legend!

Thank you, Pandë. Again, apologies...

 

This is officially my most non-reviewed piece of Silm fic:

1) I first read it (and loved it, of course) when I was still lurking on SWG and it hadn't occurred to me to register and write a review.

2) I failed to write a ten-score review for it for the MEFAs because I didn't even realize it had been nominated.

3) I was going to write a 200-word review for it for the B2MeM 2012 prompt "Review a story you have read but not reviewed", but half an hour before the deadline I was sitting bleary-eyed before the computer screen and utterly failing to string together anything like a coherent sentence, so I managed to drop that prompt, too.

One day I will write a proper review of this story! I will!

I'm smiling at the honour of having become your "most non-reviewed piece of Silm fic", because I feel the same way about several stories in my "to do" list (ok, they can't all be the most non-reviewed, but you probably know what I mean...) So, as much as I'd love to know in more detail what you think about my take on the story of Narsil, and as much as I hope you can find the time to tell me one day, I'm very happy that you stopped by today. Thank you!