In Service, Love by sallysavestheday

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Fanwork Notes

Isildur won early renown for salvaging a fruit of the White Tree before it was destroyed. He did it "alone," but someone had to get him back to Rómenna to recover from the beating he received. Enter Ohtar. The rest follows.

Tolkien notes in Unfinished Tales that "Ohtar" is actually a generic term for soldier or warrior, rather than a personal name for Isildur's squire. He also says, "[b]ut Ohtar was dear to Isildur." That only made him more interesting to me.

Written for the February 2023 Cheesy Corn Chips challenge, and the trope of the unsung hero, using the prompt "I have observed, throughout life, that a man may do an immense deal of good, if he does not care who gets the credit for it." (Father Strickland).

Fanwork Information

Summary:

From the ruin of the Gladden Fields, where Isildur perished, three men only came ever back over the mountains after long wandering. One of these was Ohtar, the esquire of Isildur, who bore the shards of the sword of Elendil; and he brought them to Valandil, the heir of Isildur, who being but a child had remained in Rivendell. The Fellowship of the Ring, Ch 2, The Council of Elrond.

Ohtar is faithful.

Major Characters: Isildur, Ohtar

Major Relationships:

Genre:

Challenges: Cheesy Corn Chips

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 671
Posted on 15 February 2023 Updated on 16 February 2023

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

In Service, Love

Comments

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You know, I have been thinking about Ohtar a lot. He was the first OC I have written about, but I’m not sure if I have ever read anyone else’s fic about him. So this was a fascinating read already for this reason.

I really enjoyed the language and the general flow how the story was written. You have pictured so well that special relationship between Isildur and Ohtar. I like the idea that he was already serving Isildur in Númenor. And I’m sure that Ohtar was one of the first ones who noticed the change that the One Ring caused in Isildur. He must’ve been a trusted man for Isildur.

The ending of this fic really makes me think that a new life is waiting for the person who was Ohtar as he’s called by his name he had forgotten. Great ending.

Thank you! I wanted that new life to peek through at the end, so I'm very happy that you read it that way. I've taken some liberties with ages (Ohtar is probably more than a little too old to still be Isildur's esquire at the end if he was with him in Numenor) but I like the continuity of their long time together. And as a fellow Ohtar fan, I'm particularly glad you liked this. :)

I love this look at Ohtar and his devotion and fealty. I was surprised that his story started as early as Isildur's theft of the fruit of Nimloth, but it made perfect sense, and it was heartbreaking to follow his service to Isildur from idealistic young man to hard-hearted and Ring-poisoned king. All the more beautiful to have a happy ending for him, finding a kind new lord in Valandil. There are so many wonderful details here - the replaced name, the measure of trust and love between Ohtar and Isildur, the pain as silence falls between them. As others have already said, your use of language and imagery is really effective. You've managed to put a lot into a short piece!

I like the role you have envisaged for him, before his final service to Isildur.

It is good that he finds some of what he had with Isildur, and lost to the Ring, again with Valandil, in the end!

Poor Ohtar, it's almost worse to think he was along for the whole arc from Numenor to the Gladden Fields than if he just happened to be the one there in the end. At least he recognized it was the Ring causing that change!