Comments

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I had to go back to see if you had marked this as completed, and I was hoping the entire time that you hadn't, because this sets up so beautifully what could be a long story. It especially arouses the desire to witness Erestor and Glorfindel's first meeting in the Third Age within the continuity you have created here.

I suppose I will have to relegate myself to imagining the continuation as I have done for a long time with your story, "Cultural Differences." I've actually contemplated asking you if I could take a shot at writing a sequel to that one, but I can't even get started on the story that would be my first Silmfic that I've been brainstorming over for more than a year now.

Anyway, beautifully done. You always have such a wealth of detail in your prose, and yet the style of your writing conveys that detail effortlessly. Well done turning that attention to social politics in high elven society, this time.

Aww, thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely review - I'm happy you enjoyed the story. Since I posted it I've been trying to decide if this works as a long story or if it should stop here, and I still don't know *g*.  It is sort of complete in itself with the 'might have been' ending, but I can see how to carry it forward in Gondolin for a bit. It's the first time I've written anything there and I kept finding ideas that need exploring further, so that would be fun. I just don't want to do anything that takes anything away from how this all worked out, if that makes sense?

Meeting again in Imladris would be a good challenge - I read so many of those stories when I first came into the fandom that it'd be a stretch to find a new angle to approach it from. Still... will see if they talk to me and what they say.

Cultural Differences, grrr! I have been trying on and off for ages to put together a sequel for Oshun, but everything I start looks like the same story in a different location. They are a most uncooperative couple to try and work with.

 

 

Oh, thanks for posting this wonderful story here!  So much to love about it:  the strong characterizations (you do this so well); the setting (the details such that I felt like I was there); and the fascinating layers of social structure and politics.  I'd love to visit your Gondolin again.

Rose!Glorfindel and Rose!Erestor are glad to be of service.  Here are a couple of recent photos of the fine fellows:

Glorfindel 

David Austin "Graham Thomas" a.k.a. Glorfindel

Erestor among the catmint with Seymour the Rose photobombing.

Knockout Blush a.k.a. Erestor

I just smiled and smiled at this review - both at the very kind words and the gorgeous pictures. The boys are looking wonderful and none the worse for all that snow! (have just found your rose post on LJ -- my roses would die of shame if they saw those photographs). I would love to revisit Gondolin. So many ideas came along that I had no space to explore in the story and I'm really curious to see where they'd lead. Now if I just had a plot...

So I am working my way through your works and finding the same wonderful attention to detail in each. This is such an intersting take on Gondolin, which I had always imagined more buttoned down and laced up to allow a Gentleman's Agreement, but I like the idea of it and can see it making snese in Gondolin where it must have been stifling. With immortality and no migration, they must have all known each other so well and have ended up so bored with each other. No wonder Aredhel calls it the Birdcage. I like too the different versions of Glorfindel and Erestor you have - although I like best the witty, suave Erestor of later years, it is entriely beleivable that he was wide eyed and innocent once. You write that youthfulness ever so well.

Oh wow, I battled with this one! I've written a lot of Erestor and Glorfindel, but never the type of relationship where there's an obvious difference in ages and Erestor is young and innocent, so it felt very counter-intuitive. I couldn't imagine how they'd look or sound, plus I'd never written anything about Gondolin. Then Pandemonium posted pictures of her roses and I saw the very formal looking yellow Glorfindel rose and that sweet, fresh, pink rose and something just cicked in my head, which is weird because I don't tend to work off visual inspiration (I have art training, so I should - go figure).

I don't know where half the ideas came from about Gondolin - I have a friend I used to talk about it with but I'd never written about it before. I guess a lot of possible details had just been growing over time when I wrote about Glorfindel mentioning things from his past. I know there's a lot more story, it's just about finding time and the right headspace to write it.

(need to put this in somewhere so --- thank you so much for all these comments, it's like early Christmas. Smiling so much!)

Oh, this was lovely! Your Gondolin sounds terribly stifling, for many reasons, but it's wonderful that Glorfindel and Erestor were able to snatch a few moments away from all that, and that Erestor got to enjoy his first ball! (Those happy moments are all the more precious, given Glorfindel appears to have more than a touch of foresight, poor lad.)

I struggled with this to begin with because the dynamic between them (Erestor's extreme youth mainly) was something I'd not done before and they fought me. It was litereally the sight of Pandemonium's roses - the confident, proud Glofrindel and sweet, fresh Erestor - that put everything into place for me. Gondolin fascinates me, sort of like a trainwreck. Confined, hidden ciry, lots of social cooperation needed to keep it running.