The Elendilmir by pandemonium_213

Oh dear, for a few seconds I thought that Thorno would not make the end of this chapter. And Isilmë, I am worried how she will make it through the next blow. I feel so attached to your characters that I want them to be happy and unburdened by sorrow. Another matter I ddi found intriguing is a what if... what if the Istyanis did find out on time or would have been involved. An intriguing thought (although I can see why Sauron shut her out). And that moment of fear and dark thought... perhaps Sauron probed the connection? Hmmm, very intriguing!

What an intriguing thought, a realm ruled by two Maiar with elves living there as well. I think the connections are just brilliantly, also leaving me to wonder to where exactly the two Blue wizards left off to. There is one bit that is just so incredibly funny (I know Sámaril didn't meant it to be funny at all):

 I bridled at her remark. “They concern Gil-galad the King and Elrond. They concern me. I am here with you, aren’t I? Not off singing that ‘tra-la-la-lally’ nonsense.”

Memories of the Hobbit here! Two chapters in one day, I feel so utterly spoiled as a reader!

I'm curious as to why Aulendil excluded Melamire from the crafting of the rings of power. The action scene with the trolls was exciting--it reinforces my "Hugh Jackman" image of Samaril, he's not just an geeky smith, he's also an "action hero".   I'm liking how things are progressing between him and Elerina but I feel that something's going to happen to Isilme soon.  Thanks for adding two chapters! 

What I loved most about this chapter is the reference to the "hidden" Eldar/Maiar Kingdom in the East, presents lots of exciting possibilities. I find it so endearing of Samaril to think that gray hairs are an "exotic" feature, he really has it bad for her.  The more I read, the more convinced I am that Sam will be sticking much, much longer than I had originally thought.

I also liked the scene of Aulendil in Numenor and his encounter with Elerina. Connecting the dots...I feel that we will hear more about that special brooch.

And a big "woo hoo" to the kissing scene between Elerina and Sam though I feel sorry for Midloth...whatever's to become of her.

Laurefin's accounts of the siege made me shiver, especially the mention of the cannibalism.  But still, it's great to read a more detailed and "textured" account of this battle, something that in my opinion the books did not give enogh focus on. Your "legend" of the Dead Marshes made me jump to the passage in the book--it's always been one of the most fascinating passages in the LOTR.

I was thrilled with the mention of Melamire and can only wait with bated breath to see how it will all develop.  I found myself raising my eyebrows a bit at Sam's "concern" about the newly-found happiness of Thorno and Lairiel, maybe that's why Elerina reacted that way.

Another enjoyable read. 

I have been taking in this chapter bit by bit, feeling so for Sámaril and his current struggles, to me it feels as if he just can't let go of his past, the memories, the love and honour he feels as opposed to Thorno who with Lariel seizes the day. In a way it makes sense that Elerina would reprimand him gently for that, however at the same time it just feels to me that she doesn't see the source of his struggle, this being on the backdrop of Laurefín's letters about the war. All if this leaves me to wonder about the breaking point of Sam, or perhaps I am reading way way way to much into this :)

This was a wonderful chapter, the description about Anárion's death read very economical, yet it made sense to me why a warrior would not dwell too long on this, given that he also has to keep his head high and concentrated. I am curious what will happen next :) Especialy when Isildur comes back with the ring!

This chapter has so much to recommend it that I do not know where to start. I adore the creation of a myth to explain how the dead marshes were formed and what they looked like to those who first saw them. Really love Glorfindel's letters. They really give a sense of his personality, his relationship with Sámaril, and marvelous pictures of what they were enduring at the front. Also, now that I read your other story in this arc, which includes Glorfindel, the whole thing takes on a completely different aspect. Always liked Glorfindel. (Also, wondering if you are going to able to work in Glorfindel's encounter with the witch king before the end of this story or if that is too far from your main storyline.)

Once again, your original minor characters are well drawn and memorable. Sometimes reading when fanfic it is hard keep track of OCs when there are a lot of them, but in your stories they really come to life and are distinct for one another.

Love the continuing exploration of the relationship between young Valandil and Sámaril. Love the gift-making scene and the gift-giving one as well.

Great ending: "Tears welled up in my eyes, but it was only the sting of the cold wind that made them do so." Yeah, right, Sámaril. You really think I am dim enough to buy that?

(I have no idea how I missed your draft of this on the LC.)

What a beautiful chapter, so elegantly written as the falcon's poetic cry. I loved the start, it just really pulled me in immediately  and wow, little Valandil has a knack for the deeper arts. As I was processing this chapter, I was thinking how much Sámaril does not understand why Isilmë would embrace her gift of death so gratefully. My thoughts did not went back to Finrod and Andreth, but more to one of the causes which made Numenor fall: the obsession with death and seeking out means to understand it. To me it feels that Isilmë being the leading lady from Numenor would show to the other refugee this gift of Iluvatar, instead of prolonging it. Of course, besides that: loosing your love of your life - which so clearly shows in your drabble series - just can be enough to let go and follow him.

 Just gorgeous and smooth reading, the usuage of Turko for Valandil as a kinda epessë made me smile. Would the boy also have the temper? ;)

This chapter had me thinking of LOTR, especially the way Valandil "mirrors" Aragorn and the role Samaril could possibly play in the future.  I'm also curious why I had goosebumps while reading the little scene of Aulendil in the garden with the little elf girl and on to her eventual fate. 

I'm curious to know what will happen when Isilme meets Sam again and what he and Elrond will discuss.  As always, every chapter of yours answers some questions and makes me ask some more--very worth the few minutes spent in reading.  Looking forward to more as always.

PS: The very little mention of Celegorm was a sweet treat for this incurable Fëanorian fan girl.

I'm so glad to see a new chapter - despite all your other commitments!

 The shock - both good and bad - of the war ending comes over very well. Life has changed for Isilmë, Elerína and Valandil, and even for Sám...

Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.

Those lines are very, very unnerving if you put them next to your last chapter of 'The Apprentice'! (Doubtless I'm reading far too much into that, but... *shudder*.)

I will try to be patient for the next chapter...

The mention of tea leaves found in Barad-dur had me hoping to read more about one of your OFC's.  Until then I am "tantalized".  :-)

I liked your more flawed and more "human" portrayal of Elrond here--it's a good and plausible explanation as to why he wasn't that eager to convince Isildur to destroy the One Ring. How the thought of this moment must have haunted Elrond by the time of Aragorn! 

Thanks for the update and as always, I'm looking forward to the next one.

Was that lapsang souchong tea? ;) Oh, and black powder! I've always thought black powder was a good explanation for the explosions at Halm's Deep and for the first two circles of Minas Tirith suddenly going up in flame during the siege.

Samaril's curiosity about spiderwebs really rang true.

I loved the debate between Elrond and Samaril over whether or not the Three should be used. Samaril makes very good points about new life coming out of death and destruction. I don't think I've ever seen anyone argue that death *wasn't* part of the marring of Arda, but part of the natural order, so that was cool.

Elrond's continued quiet grief for his brother, that really rang true as well. I enjoyed this chapter very much!

Hmmm what an interesting observation at the end of this chapter by Elrond, but first.... team Mythbusters in Middle-earth! I am certain Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman would approve (or would love to test what the elves did with bat dung). I can't help to think how much Numenorean is instilled (or perhaps that of Earendil) in Elrond: his reasoning, to prevent decay and death at bay makes him very much alike the descendants of Elros. And oh the introduction of a new OFC (and more thirst to want to read more about them!) Culinén, she sounds fascinating!

Oh, excellent - you found a good title :D

I really enjoy this chapter, especially the way you cover the battle scene. That certainly works for me! And the rather creepy effects of the rings of power - and Sám's understandable distrust of them - is very well portrayed.

And now, the tantalizing question of what Sám intends to do with the spider-web...

I really enjoyed this, especially the imagery. You really capture the moment. The dialogue was very powerful and poingant and I felt the characters fit the story.

I love this chapter - the meeting of Samaril and Feanor and their collaboration in repairing the palantiri is wonderful!  I love it that Feanor is so eager to know of the strange things that will happen in the future, but is stopping himself from learning too much and taking chances on changing that future.  This is a Feanaro who knows how to control himself.  Like Samaril, I felt sad for him...

Oh, wow!  I really, really, really (have I said that enough to get my point across?) enjoyed this.  I think the Samaril saga is wonderful; it is what originally led me to register on this site, so that I could tell you how very fascinating I find them.  This chapter was particularly lovely.  It has so many interesting things – the tea (I am on the edge of my seat waiting to hear about how and when Sauron made the connections that enabled him to acquire the tea and where else they led him.  And, of course, he’s a coffee, cigar, fine wine, and black tea sort of dark lord; doubtless he enjoys fine brandies and single malt whiskey too!), the spiderwebs (?!), and the gunpowder. 

But I most appreciated your very human portrait of Elrond as well as his attachment to Vilya.  As you seem to have intended, I found it to be a much needed corrective to both the movie and also the book’s vision of Isildur and, indeed, of Elrond himself in terms of demonstrating precisely how dangerously appealing the rings were (both to make and to keep) and also illuminating how difficult the task of destroying the One would be.  It seemed also to provide an answer to why Elrond and Galadriel remove themselves, to a certain degree, from the task of destroying the Ring; they’ve already had a taste of its power and appeal.

I found it to be remarkably interesting because I am also fascinated by Tolkien’s description of the elves and their desire to preserve their world.  I tend to think of them in terms of peoples who have experienced cataclysmic events.  Not only do such peoples often tend to see the period before the destruction as a golden age but they also want to return to it.  I think, and here I’m on some marshy ground as Tolkien was emphatic in his determination that his works not be considered allegory, that the Professor, as a man who lived through the First and Second World Wars, would understand and sympathize with the desire to recuperate a lost time – These fragments I have shored against my ruins, if you will – even if he would come to find it an impossible and potentially destructive endeavor. At the same time, it also becomes poignant because it is such an impossible task. I would imagine that so many talented persons were lost in the conflicts described in the Silmarillion that significant knowledge and important skills were lost and that they were not easily replaced, if they could be replaced at all.  As a result, Aulendil is difficult, if not impossible to resist, because he has knowledge they do not and Samaril has to remain behind because he has skills that cannot be replaced.  This loss of people with their abilities would also seem to provide another reason for Elrond’s desire to wield Vilya although I am not sure if you agree.  With so many elves lost in the wars and to the West, he may have found the prospect of maintaining Imladris to be daunting; he might have seen Vilya’s power as a necessity if he wanted to maintain elvish society in any semblance of its current state.  The rather enormous downside, of course, seems to me to be increased alienation of the elves from the other peoples of ME and their loss of their ability to adapt, such as it was.

Apologies for the wordy review, but there was much food for thought.

Deleted and reposted to (full disclosure, yes, I am this type-A) to fix an allusion and to deal with some of my more opinionated statements.  Just my thoughts and they do reflect considerable admiration for your work.

Oh gosh, that end has me crying as well. Gone are all the words and compliments that I wanted to say, as if suddenly nothing else matters than the thought that he will have to let her go, someone he so deeply loves. I am not sure if its healthy to sob along with him (him being a fictional character, but I do adore him so much), but let's just say: what a powerful scene you leave us with. Coherenceness will one day follow, since there was so much more I wanted to say.

Fancrone moment:  This is the first chapter where I visualized Samaril as the gorgeous Greek model whose picture you posted in LJ and it so fits! 

Now on to business. This was both a heartbreaking and heartwarming chapter for me in so many ways.  I always enjoy reading about his interaction with the Second-born and the city scene with the children made me like Samaril all the more--it reminds me a lot of some scenes in "The Apprentice". He has his faults but his heart is in the right place.  I really think he will have a use for all his insights in the human/mortal psyche in the future.  It's enjoyable to pay attention to details in your stories because it has me anticipating what you intend to do with them in future chapters.  I had to smile at his hormonal moment with Melamire's mom though. The mention of Melamire also has me excited about your other story you're working on. :-D

The last scene made me realize how certain events in Samaril's life seem to parallel his old tutor's very much.  Looking forward to more, as always.

Oh, poor Samaril - the first mortal he's really close to dying, and Elerina won't be far behind by elvish standards. He's in for more than a little bit of heartbreak, I'm afraid.

Fascinating chapter.  I loved the descriptions of Annuminas; it's so sad to think that this vital, exciting and beautiful city will be ruined - but at least we know it will be rebuilt.  Samaril's feelings towards the illness and death and decay of mortals are well-written here, even the most tolerant and compassionate of Elves would probably have difficulty accepting the brevity and fragility of human life.  His love for Isilme is particularly well-written on what seems to be their last meeting.

Wow!  This was such a lovely, poignant chapter.  It’s written beautifully as well; the description of Annuminas at the beginning is pure poetry.  I enjoyed how you handled Samaril’s reactions to being, once again, in a mortal city.  In particular, I greatly appreciated the nuanced manner in which you developed his emotional responses to the morality of the Men in the city from the strangers in the market to the queen he loves so dearly.  I found his progression from pity and concern at the suffering experienced by the young victim of firepox (smallpox?) mixed with an awareness of his own physical hardiness (I didn’t want to say superiority but I do mean the fact that Samaril’s body is more resilient than those of mortals.) to his shock, fear and revulsion in response to the frailty and mortality of the queen and then to love and grief at the end to be both realistic and touching.   I thought it was realistic in that I think sickness and death would be alien and repellent to him as it is the ultimate indicator of difference between his kind and Men.  But I also gained an appreciation for how much Sam has grown from the sensitive yet arrogant soul who’d traveled with Aulendil to the man who was able to put aside his instinctive responses to mortality and his own awareness of Man’s difference from himself to confront the impending death of one he loves with such compassion and sorrow.  I also appreciated how it illuminated his difference from his mentor; to my mind, Sauron is so certain of his own superiority that he appears to have ultimately lost any sense of his connection to and ultimate kinship with other sentient beings.  It is not a little tragic that he is one of the ones to emphasize the connection and kinship between Men and Elves to Samaril and thus to lay the foundations for Samaril’s compassionate view of men and that he falls so very far from being able to feel that compassion. 

And Culinen!  A healer in the house of Feanor! I love it and all the connections with creation, healing, decay, destruction and redemption it implies.  After that teasing intro, I shall have to settle myself down to wait to learn more about her. 

On a more speculative note, I am very interested in the emphasis you’ve placed on the physical bodies of the characters in your works.  I loved the tangible contrast between the frailer bodies of men who succumb to sickness and (irrevocable) death seen the firepox scars on the face of the boy and in the quick fashion Samaril is able to recover from his own physical (though certainly not emotional) injuries to highlight the differences between Elves and Men; that’s far more intriguing that pointy ears in my humble opinion.  But I am also fascinated by the other connections you’ve drawn between physicality and identity; I was intrigued in the Apprentice that the Aulendil aspect of Mairon was more comfortable in fair form while Gorthaur was not. I wonder whether there is a connection between the evil actions committed by Sauron and his inability to retain a fair form beyond the trauma of the drowning of Numenor.  But I suspect you’ve got something more interesting in store.

Thank you again for the lovely addition.

Lilith

Lovely as usual.  There are so many wonderful things about this and I have no idea where to begin, so I'll dive on in.  I am, as always, intrigued by your interpretations of canon -- your 'verse is a marvelous place to visit.  I absolutely loved the introduction of, oh heresy of heresies, the steam engine and I appreciated your nuanced discussion of the divergence between Elendil's and Isilme's responses to it.  Elendil's understandable horror because he knows the challenge that these technologies pose to his manner of life and is aware that they are intended to be used to undo the order of his world, but Isilme's ability to differentiate between the technology and the use to which it is put. I think she might have seen the beauty in the skyscaper/towers if she might have been worried about the ambition expressed.  She is quite a lady, that one.  I was also caught by your references to the moon worship of the women in the court (and out of it too, I suppose); I liked the fact that it had predated the interaction between Men and Elves and between Men and Morgoth and that it has the overtones of rebirth and renewal as well as the associations with feminine power.  Lastly, I am always caught at the continued unravelling of the complex relationship between Samaril and his mentor and I am always impressed at the way you sensitively handle all of those big questions about whether or not it is possible to know another person (or yourself -- I've been reminded of Pinter lately, sorry.) and whether or not it is possible to love or have been loved by someone capable of great evil.  I can't express enough that I am so greatly impressed by your ability between things on a grand scale as well as the intimate.

An awesome work, and I cannot wait to see how you continue to develop it.

Thanks for another enjoyable chapter.  I liked the way you described and fleshed out the death of a Numenorean as well as the funeral rites that followed.  I've always wondered how someone "chooses" to die in Tolkien's world after I read about Aragorn's death.

The geek in me found Sámaril's discussion with Finairon delightful, especially because that passage struck me as well when I first saw it and I think it was one of passages that convinced me that a particular cross-over story (wink wink) of mine is not as "far-fetched" as I first thought.

As always, can't wait for the next one.

Gorgeously done death scene. Just lovely, and really fitting for Isilme - and I loved the touch of the falcon (her guardian Maia, perhaps?) flying into the West.

The funeral - well, of course Valandil wants to remember his grandmother some other way. It's a good thing that Samaril is there for him. And the engineer! That was a wonderful interaction, and explains so well how so many might have fallen under Sauron's sway so easily - not all of them because they believed the dark religion, but some because they just had an insatiable need to know.

The 'darts like thunder' made me think of bullets at first, but I agree it could work for ballistic missiles. Definitely everything in that passage suggests highly advanced technology to me!

I enjoyed this!

Another great chapter!

Isilme's death is both beautiful and just a bit scary; that she can consciously trigger a physiological process that will very shortly end her life makes sense, but is somehow rather awesome and dangerous - perfect for a Numenorean.  Faniel's leavetaking was a perfect touch.

Samaril's conversation with Finairon was fascinating; raising the ages-old conflict between the uses of powerful technology in Finairon's invention of steam engines which could be used for good or (as they were) in Sauron's fell design that brought down Numenor.  It's a perennial question - fire can warm the house or burn it down.  Iron can reinforce a dwelling or strengthen weapons to kill others.  It's not such a huge step from a furnace to keep people warm in the winter to bombs is it...Where does one draw the line?

You might have said elsewhere who Melamire's grandsire was, but I don't remember...

Excellent disposition of Anardil and his cohorts - though doubtless the death of Isildur and his sons will embolden them.