Retrospective by Los Gloriol

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Fanwork Notes

Glorfindel is one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite. I find though, that many have this perfect image of him. He is the valiant knight fighting the dragon. I wanted to explore his battle with the Balrog from a different perspective. The guy is up a mountain fighting to the death. How can he not be scared? I think it is too much to assume that he didn't want to run away, or at least the thought crossed his mind. To be such a legend must be a burden in a sense, because he isn't perfect. I hope I added some depth if nothing else. He is really a challenge to write.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Glorfindel has been released from Mandos. His past is starting to merge with his present. You can assume this is not a sudden realisation, but progressive over a long period of time. He tells of his thoughts concerning the Balrog battle, once it is remembered

Major Characters: Glorfindel

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: General

Challenges: Inspiration

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 684
Posted on 27 November 2008 Updated on 27 November 2008

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

My Ignoble Battle

Comments

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A fascinatingly "human" but still admirable portrayal of Glorfindel--I enjoyed the first-person perspective.   I also liked your vivid and "sensual" way of describing certain emotions: 

"Anticipation mounts as I strain to remember, like the smell of fresjly baked bread waiting to be tasted..."   

"It is perhaps no different from a flower, dormant in winter only to return in the spring." 

Thanks for sharing.

 

A most welcome portrait of a conflicted Glorfindel who tries to reconcile his feelins over what he views as his short-comings: cowardice in the face of a most fearsome foe.  Yet he did what he had to do, and you portray that very well here.  As another Glorfindel fan (yes, I fell for the blond dude many years ago when I first read LotR), I really enjoyed this!

A minor formatting suggestion: text that is all italics is kind of a strain on the eyes to read, especially old eyes. ;^)

I certainly understand wanting to bring the perfect heroes of Tolkien's world to life beyond the legends they inhabit (such is one of my motivations as a writer as well ;), and I think it's perfectly reasonable that Glorfindel would have been fearful. I think it is a testament to his character as you envision him that, despite his deeds--which saved a good number of his people--he is discontented because of his fear and his vengeance and what others would say if they knew of it. I'd imagine they'd think little of it in the wake of what he accomplished! ;) But, clearly, he believes the legends as well and doesn't feel that he can fit in the ranks of perfect heroes they describe. This is an intriguing look at his character, and the language is simply lovely! I particularly liked the metaphor of the flower gone dormant as a comparison to the re-embodiment of Elves. (What a mystery this must have been for them to understand!)