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SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! "flails and screeches like a rabid fan girl"

You have no idea how much I absolutely love this, Steel! I was ecstatic to see you continue your idea with Pharazon and Miriel that you established in "Alliance". I loved that story so much. I love the idea that the Faithful are the ones who made the story that Pharazon forced her, seems very plausible to me, especially to protect Elentir's pride. I was very happy to see how you portray Miril as a strong Queen, and woman, that really she sets the campagin to Middle earth in motion.

I really really like that you show how that Miriel and Pharazon felt opression from both the Faithful AND the King's Men. One wanted to make her a figurehead, as you said, and the other wanted her dead. Loved this. Adore your inspirations from Carthage for Umbar. So is this how isildur meets Zamin? :-)

I was very much looking forward to this story and it both met, and exceeded expectation. Thank you so much for writing this! I loved reading it! I'm adding this to my story favorites.

Thanks so very much, Roisin - I'd read enough stories in which Pharazon was a sadistic megalomaniac and Miriel was browbeaten and the Faithful were saintly, and I wanted to do a very different take on it. Imagine my squeefulness when I realized that HoMe XII provided me with a canon passage to back me up?

Yep, this would be how Isildur ends up meeting Zamin. ;)

I'm glad you enjoyed this!

I don't even know where to start with what I love about this. First, I suppose, that you chose to write from Ar-Pharazôn's perspective, and without turning him into the usual megalomaniac bastard. (And just after I ranted in chat how much I was annoyed by the frequent clear-cut division between pure, perfect Faithful and evil King('s men) yesterday, too!) Seeing events from his side is very interesting.

Second, un-cowed Míriel. Even with the short page-time she gets here, you make it quite clear that she's neither a mere victim of her cousin's lust nor resigned to a shadow nor hating him. I quite like the thought. The biased chronicler of the Silmarillion would doubtlessly style her a saint who would never have loved Pharazôn of her own will, but that doesn't mean it's true... ;)

Third, un-perfect Amandil. Not that I hate the guy; I just can't believe that he was the perfectly meek, kind, gentle, poor unloved Faithful he's occasionally styled to be. Your version was very believable. And Sauron mistaking him for the King at first was priceless! (That scene was over way too quickly!)

Well, and all the small things. The description of Umbar and its workings was fascinating, and the allusions to Pharazôn's height (or lack thereof) were highly entertaining. And I liked the frequent italics in Pharazôn's thought. I could practically hear his voice!

In conclusion, wonderful work!

Thanks very much, Lyra - I'd actually attempted to write this whole thing several times from different POVs, and it just didn't feel right until I crawled into Pharazon's head. I've been sort of curious on other perspectives of the 'histories' we're presented really ever since I read the Silm for the first time - it was right around then that I realized that the history books taught one thing about the Mexican-American War in the 1840s, but the Mexican people themselves had a very different take on things (my Spanish teachers didn't like the history books very much). That made me sort of look at the Silm and say 'but what would Pharazon say?' or for that matter at LOTR and ask 'but were the Southrons really that evil?'

I'm very glad you enjoyed this!

Absolutely wonderful! It was fantastic to see Pharazon in his element, so competent and confident and ruthless if he has to be. This story was interesting in many levels, but I particularly enjoyed the other take on his marriage at work, as well as the view on the situation with the Faithful from the other side. I also loved to finally get a peek at that conversation between P and Sauron, when S surrenders to him. What a credible, believable, intriguing, convincing job you've done in bringing this tiugh campaign to life. Thanks for a wonderful story!

I love that Pharazôn *doesn't* want war, for as he aptly points out here, he has problems enough at home. I appreciate your nod to the fact that it was the Faithful who wrote the "Akallabêth" and the biases they held.

I adore the play you make with the title with Elendil's sons as hostages, in addition to Sauron.

I snickered when Sauron addressed Amandil first.

“And how do I know that an offer of aid to my citizens will not ultimately lead to an invasion?” I asked.

*whistles innocently* Well, it wasn't an invasion of Númenor…

Ah, Pharazôn-- I now must wonder what Amandil would have done, and if you would have had the gumption to do it if Sauron had begun helping you by then.

Foreboding is right!

Thank you, Indy! As I think I've said elsewhere, realizing at a reasonably young age that the people who win a war write the history books (or in the case of the Akallabeth, the ones who survived to found new realms in the north) made me wonder what story the other side might tell. It's been a great deal of fun exploring the possibilities, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

And I'm gratified you picked up on the extra meaning of 'hostage.' Heee.

What I love about your stories, and this one is no exception, is that you don't follow that sort of 'mainstream' in f-fiction, which portrays the chacterters like old western movies do: the bad are clad in black, and the good -- in white. No, no, no. The Faithful aren't saints here, and the bad aren't monsters.

The last lines are perfect, both as a conclusion and foreboding.

Very intriguing, well done stuff. :)