Winter's Drums by pandemonium_213, Huinare

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Fanwork Notes

Author's Notes:  Written in response to the following Back to Middle-earth Month (B2MeM) prompts: Winter Weather (B2MeM 2014) and Thundersnow (B2MeM 2012 – yes, a tad belated).

I thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with Huinárë, who has provided two illustrations for this story.  Her style is distinctive (reminds me of Brian Froud's work), and the grey tones are eminently suitable for the bleak theme of the story.  Many thanks to her for the excellent artwork!  

Thanks to Binky, Drummerwench, Elfscribe, Ignoble Bard, KyMahalei, Oshun, Randy O, Russandol, and Scarlet for their input.

Artist's Notes: B2MeM Prompt - Winter Weather. It was a pleasure to be able to read Pandemonium's story before it went live and to natter about it with her during the process of creating these illustrations.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Story by pandemonium_213: The grisly banner having served its purpose, Sauron enlists the assistance of his soldiers and bodyguard to bear Celebrimbor's corpse to its final resting place in the foothills of the Misty Mountains while a snowstorm approaches from the southwest.  

Note:  Descriptions of torture and a deteriorating corpse may be too intense for some readers (roughly equivalent to MPAA R-rating or TV Ratings Mature Audience); some expletive language.  Pandë!versecentric.

Illustrations by Huinárë: Title: 1. "Examining His Work" / 2. "Thundersnow" Pencil illustration / Construction paper collage.  Rating: G

Major Characters: Celebrimbor, Original Character(s), Sauron

Major Relationships:

Genre: Drama

Challenges:

Rating: Adult

Warnings: Torture, Character Death, Expletive Language, Mature Themes, Violence (Graphic)
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 6, 166
Posted on 22 March 2014 Updated on 22 March 2014

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

Winter's Drums

Comments

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Not an easy read, but well done as usual.  The ending, with Mairon finding he still has tears for Celebrimbor, even though he blamed Celebrimbor for 'forcing' him to torture and murder the elf, is powerful.  I would like to know more about Mairon's feelings of rage toward the Valar; I imagine Melkor used those feelings to recruit Mairon to his cause.  Poor Celebrimbor...

Thanks so much, and my deepest apologies for the belated reply!  I don't know where my manners or brain went.  Tardiness notwithstanding, I greatly appreciate your reading this and your insightful comments, Raksha.

" I would like to know more about Mairon's feelings of rage toward the Valar; I imagine Melkor used those feelings to recruit Mairon to his cause."

That's soemthing I'd like to explore further, most likely in Light Over the Mountain, but I have this dreadful combination of a fertile imagination and not remotely enough time to write for fun.  Some day...

Thanks again!

This is a disturbing and poignant story, Pandë! I flinched more than once and I still felt somewhat sorry for Mairon. It’s the contradictions and swings from utter ruthlessness to his compassion and caring that make me love how you write him-- and this story is a superb example. As weird as it sounds for something so dark, this is probably one of my favorite stories in your ‘verse. It’s absolutely stunning.

Huin, I love the illustrations! The portrait's lovely and the collage’s starkness works so well with the story.

Aaaaaaand another belated — horribly belated — reply!  I owe more than a few folks this courtesy.  Nonetheless, I greatly appreciate your comments, Indy!  Really glad this worked for you.  As you know, I strive to write Sauron as a complex character, and that takes digging down into some uncomfortable places.

Huin's illustrations are fabulous!

Well, one B2MeM later, here I am commenting on something that it would've behooved me to comment on long ago (outside of my remarks when reading the earlier draft for illustrator purposes).

I always appreciate the horrifying and ghastly, and this tale certainly delivers. Yet, as others have pointed out, you also succeed in humanizing Mairon even as he commits atrocities; and actually, this adds an additional level of horror to it, that he is capable of still feeling affection for Celebrimbor yet able to rationalize to himself why he "had" to do these things.

Alas for Khalas! I'm positive I remarked before on the hideous yet humorous moment when he nearly drops the pole, but it bears repeating. Good lord. I also like how Mairon can afford to confess somewhat of his guilt to somebody who will never live to tell tales.

The way you used the thundersnow to tie a pleasant past memory to the significantly-less-pleasant present is very effective.

Also, love THIS:
"How can you or any of your kind understand love? At least Lord Melkor harbors no illusions about that."

Really excellent work, Pandë!

 

"Well, one B2MeM later..."  HA!  Well, I still owe some B2MeM folks who reviewed this fic last year the courtesy of a reply, thanking them for the compliments, so hey, I'm not one to remark on ANYTHING that's might be later than sooner.  It's all good, and your perceptive comments are most excellent and most appreciated!

"I'm positive I remarked before on the hideous yet humorous moment when he nearly drops the pole, but it bears repeating."

Indeed you did.  And this resulted in our exchange over something esoterically silly, then an illustration that cracks me up when I think of it. :^D

"How can you or any of your kind understand love? At least Lord Melkor harbors no illusions about that."


Yep, Pandë!Mairon does not have a warm and fuzzy relationship with Melkor, but he's gotta respect him for his brutal honesty.

Thanks again!

A great story, but it seems to me to be a kind of farewell, not only Sauron's, but perhaps also yours. I don't know if you have in mind to write more stories centered around him but they will be always welcome. He's an intriguing fellow. Please continue to write.

Thanks so much, belegur, and be assured I will be back.  It's just that my career at present is extremely demanding, and since it involves a significant amount of writing, and that tends to drain "the Dark Muse" of any creative energy that might be left over for recreational writing.  However, things will lighten up within a few months.  I have been fooling around with the next chapter of Fell Meats (first person Sauron - my favorite indulgence).