Spring Cleaning by Russandol

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Fanwork Notes

Spring Cleaning - MEFA 2011 2nd Place, Humour: General

 

"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."

Friedrich Schiller

Write a story or poem or create artwork that illustrates this quotation.

Valinor Passport Stamp B2MeM 2011

Thank you, elfscribe, for beta reading it at ósanwë speed and sorting me out! Thanks also to the lizard crowd for nit picking.

 

 

Fanwork Information

Summary:

One day during the Noontide of the Blessed Realm, Manwë and Varda get ready for a celebration at Ilmarin, their halls upon the peak of Taniquetil.

Written for B2MeM 2011, Day 31: Valinor.

2nd Place, Humour: General & Smaug's Treasure, MEFA 2011

Dawn Felagund recorded a fabulous podfic for Spring Cleaning, listen to it here!

Major Characters: Mandos, Manwë, Oromë, Tulkas, Varda

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Humor

Challenges: B2MeM 2011

Rating: General

Warnings:

This fanwork belongs to the series

The Secret Chronicles of the Ainur
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1, 364
Posted on 2 April 2011 Updated on 2 April 2011

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

Spring Cleaning

Comments

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This was delightful. 

The humourous tone was perfect for the scene, and I thought you carried the idea wonderfully and consistently. The light-hearted presentation of the Valar here was surprising, yet I really enjoyed it. The use of modern vernacular was perfect as well, as it contributed to the plot's more comedic tone, and also gave a wonderful characterization to the Valar, which was spot-on. I loved this interpretation of the characters, as it felt more real life than the rigid and proper speech and actions used by Tolkien throughout his writing.

Altogether, a wonderful piece.

Thank you for your very nice review, Adonnen Estenniel! My intention for the prompt was to sketch my perception of the Valar as beings who lived in a blissful ivory tower and could never really understand the full impact of their decisions and actions on the world and its inhabitants, even when their intentions were meant to be good.

I'm really pleased that you liked the humour and characterisations, and that the language helped bring them out.

Thanks again, for reading and for taking the time to review. Both are much appreciated!

 

Oh, that's a perfect response to the prompt! I think this might be the prompt I struggled the most with before I finally had an idea, and I love the way you chose to interpret the quote here. One of the pitfalls in taking a more irreverent take on the Valar for me is always that it's all too easy to arrive at mere slapstick, which is one of my least favourite things to read. But you really handle it perfectly here, and I couldn't help but grin at Varda and Manwe's interaction!

‘Bother!’ he boomed. ‘I hope this... difficulty does not ruin our dinner plans, after all the effort.’

Heh. 'Difficulty' indeed! :D

Hi Esteliel, I'm very happy that you enjoyed it. I wanted a bit of humour, but the underlying (more serious) theme is that the Valar have a power over the world that sometimes they don't know how to control. So that the prompt played exactly into that view, it was just a matter of working out what blunder they would cause. Yes, I sympathise with Manwë - after all that effort, having to cancel that dinner would have been gutting! :o)

Thank you for reading and for your review, Esteliel. A lovely surprise to wake up to!

 

This is fabulous. Material realty is difficult to handle if one only has to occasionally to intersect it. (One of the problems I had with my ex-husband.) Seriously, this is one very funny story. I love the picture conjured up by Varda wanting to rub their fanar together. The naughty minx. She definitely has a better handle on her corporeality, which does not surprise me in the slightest. 

Thank you, oshun! My idea of the fana of the Ainur is the literal interpretation of Tolken's description that it's only a "raiment" or visible cover, a bit like dressing up. Only a few who became incarnate like Melkor, Sauron, Melian, the Wizards and perhaps others (like Eonwe in my own version of events!) could really know what we humans sense. But Varda is bravely trying her own experiments, and perhaps achieving nice results too,

I'm glad you found it funny! Thanks for dropping by and leaving a review!

 

Ha, ha, yes, we are talking the Valar. In theory, the number of stars in the sky is not mind-boggling for them, so that Varda's 12^5 is a mere trifle, even if her maids may not agree. Her motto may be something like "if something is good, double it and it's even better", but that's how I see the Valar acting, sometimes.

Thank you for reading and for your review. I'm very pleased you enjoyed the story!

Reposting my Mefa review here:

This story illustrates the Back to Middle-earth month prompt, "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain," and features a bumbling Manwë's attempts to placate his exacting wife. It opens with Varda grilling Manwë about his preparations to host a delegation of elves who are climbing Taniquetil to visit. We learn about his paper airplane collection, the former complaints by Finwë about how cold it is ["frozen brass balls"], Varda's elaborate star gown, and Manwë's extra effort to make his guests comfortable that goes horribly awry. This little fic is filled with Russandol's characteristic wit and gave this reviewer a smile.