My Blood, Your Blood by Robinka

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Fanwork Notes

This story was written as a response to the "Breaking-Type" challenge at Open Scrolls Archive. The challenge was to write a story in a different style or to pick up a character we would not usually think of writing about. My aim for this story was to show the hunt of Carcharoth from the point of view of the wolf. When I was assigned the letter W, I thought I might try my hand at writing a story in which I would plunge into the mind of this particular beast -- a crazed wolf, to say the least. However the timeline (the First Age) and the setting (Beleriand, Doriath) were not new to me, I had never tackled Carcharoth, let alone written anything from his point of view. The narrative parts I decided to break with bits of dialogue for balance and to briefly introduce the characters: Beren, Thingol, Mablung and Beleg, that took part in the famous hunt of the wolf.

Secondly, I followed a prompt to write in Polish first, and then to translate the story into English. Again, I had never done any fiction this way, because when I speak or write in English I try to think in this language. This time, I had to write a readable story in Polish, then to find an equivalent in another language, which required rethinking it all over. So instead of one fiction, I came up with two short stories. I know there are a few Poles here, so the Polish version is posted as the second chapter.

My endless thanks go to my friends: Neume for talking me into taking part in the challenge and for her prompts as to how to do it; Eva for reading and commenting on the Polish version; Marie for her never-ending support; PippinIonad for help and beta-reading.

The fiction was based on:

J.R.R. Tolkien, "Beren i Lúthien", [w:] "Silmarillion", translated for Polish edition by Maria Skibniewska.
J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Tale of Tinúviel", [in:] "The Book of Lost Tales", vol. II.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

A take on the famous hunt of the wolf, written as a response to the "Breaking-Type" challenge at OSA. It would have been a nice contribution to the challenge "All Good Beasts"... if there had been anyone considering Carcharoth good ;)

Major Characters: Carcharoth, Huan

Major Relationships:

Genre: Drama

Challenges:

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Character Death, Violence (Moderate)
Chapters: 2 Word Count: 5, 004
Posted on 5 July 2008 Updated on 5 July 2008

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

My Blood, Your Blood
Krew elfów

Comments

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What a gripping story you have written, Robinka!  You successfully inhabited the mind of Carcharoth.  In doing so, you created a fearsome creature yet a vulnerable one, too.  Carcharoth's pain and subsequent frenzy are readily apparent.   You describe the fight between Carcharoth and Huan vividly - you write action so well.   And as horrific as Carcharoth might be and with all the devastation that the animal caused at his master's behest, I have to say I kind of feel badly for the creature in that he would have had a happier and less eventful life out hunting aurochs* in the eastern steppes of Middle-earth than as Morgoth's lupine slave.  That your story elicted this flicker of sympathy speaks to your ability to "see" the tale from the wolf's perspective.  Well done!

*I love, love, love the detail of the auroch!  Tolkien had an interest in paleontology, and his "kine of Araw" surely sound like they were aurochs.  It makes eminent sense to me that some fauna from the Pleistocene would still exist in the First Age. 

Wow! Thank you so very much for the review :D

I have to say that this story gave me a headache, because I wrote in Polish first and I struggled then with the translation. It wouldn't have been as tough if I'd written just in English, but the challenge meant the challenge ;)

Oh, and the aurochs -- I wondered what animal might be a challenge for Carcharoth and I thought that it should be one mightier that an European buffalo. I'm so glad that my idea worked. :D

Thank you tons! 

Tak sobie pomyślałam, że będzie miło jeśli ktoś zostawi recenzję w języku polskim, więc postanowiłam, że tym "kimś" będę ja. :)

Bardzo dobrze napisana historia! Ciężko jest napisać coś z punktu widzenia zwierzaka (choćby nie wiem jak bardzo była to interesująca postać) na tyle znaków i na takim poziomie. Przyczyna jest prosta - ludzie nie "czują" tak jak zwierzęta. Hmm, no może czasami.... ;) Ale nie odbiegając od tematu, chcę powiedzieć, że genialnie oddałaś charakter tego polowania. Posłużyłaś się instynktami wilka i na potrzeby tej historii wyciągnęłaś z niego to, co najlepsze. To, że go ścigają, nie oznacza, że jest ofiarą. ;) Wstawienie rozmów "istot dwunożnych" sprawiło, że całość jest jeszcze bardziej interesująca i "żyje". :) A teraz przejdźmy do wersji angielskiej... pod wersją angielską. :)))

Dzięki serdeczne za przeczytanie i za komentarz. :) No, było z tym opowiadaniem trochę problemów, poza tym chyba jednak wolę pisać po angielsku. Jakoś lepiej brzmi ;) Chociaż po polsku też nieźle, ale to nie jest to jednak. Chyba się odzwyczaiłam ;) za te wszystkie lata. Ale przejdźmy do wersji angielskiej...

Dzięki raz jeszcze :D

As I said under the Polish version - the story is brilliant! Firstly, a few words about translation - it's really good. I'm giving you my bow to this part of your work. I know how difficult it was, because it required a change of thinking. Great job! Both versions are wonderful, but I think that the English version is the one that I like more. Maybe it's because of the fact that for me all Tolkien stories sounds better in English than in Polish, though it is my native language. ;) Yeah, I know it's weird.

Secondly, something about the wolf - I know he was a bad, bad animal ;), but as long as I was reading your story there were some moments that I felt sorry for him. This never-ending pain that was growing inside him was cruel. After all, he was an animal, a wolf. And I like wolves very much. ;)

Thank you for the story. I enjoyed reading it!

 

Again, thanks a million for reading and reviewing :) I appreciate your kind words very much. I too, at some point, felt sorry for Carcharoth, and I wanted to show that he was meant to be cruel and an ultimate baddie, he was still an animal, with no say upon the ways in which he'd been bred and trained. I'm glad that my idea somehow worked.

Thank you once again! You made my day. 

I know I reviewed this elsewhere, but still the re-read is fabulous! I don't think its easy to crawl under the skin of such a beast and yet, as you write, make me as a reader still feel sympathy for him. The fight with Huan is just... wow and just to think that you wrote it in Polish first, then in English: deepest respect here. Well done, what a ride (again!).