At the end of days, again by Himring
Fanwork Notes
Written for the Back to the Future Challenge, with brief appearance of a nonbinary character
Warning for mention of modern warfare
Fanwork Information
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Summary: Sometime, somewhere, in the Seventh Age, another distant descendant of Elendil dreams of Numenor. Major Characters: Original Character(s) Major Relationships: Genre: Fixed-Length Ficlet Challenges: Back To The Future Rating: General Warnings: Check Notes for Warnings |
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| Chapters: 1 | Word Count: 100 |
| Posted on 19 June 2021 | Updated on 19 June 2021 |
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This fanwork is complete. | |
At the end of days, again
Read At the end of days, again
Another deafening explosion, right above them. Then ominous silence. Dust trickled down the walls of the bomb shelter.
‘It reminds me of Numenor,’ muttered Alwin.
‘Numenor?’
‘Yes,’ said Alwin, ‘the land that foundered, the great wave climbing over the lands, coming on, darkness inescapable. I dream of it, sometimes.’
‘Then you think it is coming?’ asked Fidel. ‘Darkness inescapable?’
They leaned closer to him.
‘No,’ said Alwin. ‘I do not know what is happening. I can see nothing but destruction all around us, but still… In this moment I cannot believe any darkness will endure!’
And he took their hand.
Chapter End Notes
This is obviously a re-write of the dialogue of Faramir and Eowyn in ROTK.
It is also inspired by Tolkien's two time travel novels (The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers), in which descendants of Elendil are haunted by dreams of Numenor.
Alwin is not meant to be the same person as Alwin Lowdham in the Notion Club Papers, although also a descendant of Elendil. Fidel is meant to be be a descendant of a companion of Elendil who was called Voronwe, like Wilfrid Trewin Jeremy in the Notion Club Papers. (Full disclosure: I used online sources for the Notion Club Papers, as it is a long time since I looked at that volume of HoME.)
100 words in MS Word.
Very nice! The atmosphere…
Very nice! The atmosphere comes through as an interesting mix of WWI, the siege of Minas Tirith, and almost War of the Worlds. The names are particularly evocative.
Thank you! I'm glad the…
Thank you! I'm glad the atmosphere and the names appeal to you.
I was trying to make a point about applicability, I guess, without being too obtrusive about it.
Very nice. Echoes of Faramir…
Very nice. Echoes of Faramir and Eowyn and WWI in one elegant short.
Thank you very much!
Thank you very much!
Lovely! (Did you have any…
Lovely! (Did you have any particular time in mind for when this was? WWI? WWII? Some apocalypse yet to come?)
Thank you very much! I meant…
Thank you very much!
I meant people to be thinking both of Tolkien in WWI and of the wars since and to come, like Sam discovering the continuity wth the story of Beren and the Silmaril, and so I didn't pin it to any particular war.
Of course, fans have been comparing their own situation with LOTR all along; it is just that the notion of recurring pairs of people in the time travel novels seems to give it an extra dimension.