Comments

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I really love what you did with this one. To begin with, the title perfectly conveys the atmosphere of the times. I like reading stories of the hopefulness of the characters and them overcoming adversity, even if it's only temporary.

I always enjoy your Fingon, though he had an especially hard time in this one having to reprimand his cousins as their king. You did a great job with Celegorm and Curufin too, bringing out their individual personalities without turning them into cartoon villains. I cheered Fingon when he didn't let Celegorm get away with the "oath made me do it" excuse. Go Fingon! And also when the Elder put Curufin in his place with a few well chosen words. That was sweet.

I could go on and on about the character interactions, you are so good with multi-character stories. All the separate personalities come through to the point I forget I'm reading fiction.

The structure of exploring the different points of view of the characters worked really well here too, and allowed you to go even deeper into what made the union strong but also how it ultimately came to ruin.

And the messenger birds! I love the messenger birds if only for Fingon's excitement in presenting them to Maedhros. Those two are so good together.

This is an excellent entry for the 40 event. Your stories always shine and I'm the luckiest beta in the world to get to see you construct them.

Thank you! You are wonderful! I love it when you have the time to help me go over it section-by-section. It is hard to clean-up 10,000 words or a little less in one fell swoop! I am so grateful! Do not have the words to tell you how much I appreciate your patience. I love all of these canon characters. Tolkien gives one a lot of work with for a book with a cast of hundreds!

If this one is shiny, it owes that you and Dawn. She took a look at it too. All of those little nitpicks really make a difference. Thank you again!

the thing i like best about this story is the use of 'hackneyed phrases' in a paragraph about using hackneyed phrases... Terry Pratchett said 'cliches are the hammers and spanners in the toolbox of words'. (i live in Hackney. its a real place...) 

i do like it, as well-written and absorbing as ever.  the atmosphere is really warm, despite the darkness they already endure, and i had a mad urge to help them ! 

except those cads Celegorm and Curufin, 'any warrior unable to retain even the loyalty of their own horse or hound...' nice one, that would really get to Celegorm !

as for planning ahead on how to position your carrier pigeons, nightmare... but their work with 'birds as messengers' is a bit more skilled than ours, and probably they just say 'go to Himring' or whatever... 

i'm so moved by the content i barely noticed the writing ! you made me pity the Fëanorians...

 

<<the thing i like best about this story is the use of 'hackneyed phrases' in a paragraph about using hackneyed phrases...>>

I am really glad you enjoyed that! I had a lot of fun writing that one! Poor Maglor! Poor me! They are just so irresistible. There is a reason they are overused. I am with Prachett on that.

<<cads Celegorm and Curufin>>

So awful in Nargothrond and with Luthien (!!) and yet I have a bit of sympathy even for them! I can't help myself. Tolkien and his oaths! The moral of The Silmarillion--don't swear oaths. We can blame his immersion in Northern myths and legends for those plot points--oaths, curses, and ill-fates.

Oh, the pigeons! I didn't want to get too specific (although I spent a fair amount of time calculating distances in Beleriand and reading about messenger birds). I like to think that Celegorm worked out some of their logistical problems with a combination of his communication skills with birds and a little of Eldarin magic enhanced by his training as boy with Oromë in Valinor. (Skills that might have been underestimated by the Noldor.)

<<you made me pity the Fëanorians...>>

Oh, I am so happy I was able to do that. One of things I love about The Silmarillion is that no one is so good that they do not have faults and make fairly big mistakes and no one (except maybe Melkor and even then I'm not so sure) too evil or ill-fated not to make me have empathy with them.

Thanks so much for the lovely and thoughtful review.

<<(i live in Hackney. its a real place...)>>

OK! Now you have sent me off to track down the origins of our usage of the word--wow! So it really does date back to the location! Wow! Learn something new every day. English is my favorite language and not just because it is my native tongue!

Thanks again for the comment!

Your last sentence! That was my heart, woman! Needless to say, I loved this so much. You make them sound so alive and real, and their different characters shine through. The atmosphere of excitement and preparation and hope and an early spring that makes the year ahead look bright and full of endless possibilities was so tangible, made bittersweet by the knowledge of what really lies ahead of them. I want to freeze this fic in time and make it last forever, both because of the Nirnaeth looming at the end of this false spring, and because it was simply such a joy to read. And then you went and broke my heart!
Excellent work.

Awww! Thank you so much! I am thrilled at your response, that was exactly what I wanted to accomplish with this story and I trust your judgment. Wow! What a lovely review and what an enormous relief. I was so worried the day I finished this that I had written silly crack fic. Which, as much as I appreciate humor with my heartbreak, was not my intent at all. (Dawn told me it was not crack fic--and I hope we known one another well enough that she would tell me the truth!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

This is an amazing story. Like the world wakes up after long days of winter, the hope and excitement wake up in your characters throughout the story. They are so hopeful, it really breaks my heart knowing what is going to happen. Also, I love the humor. Well, everything about this story, even the Maiarin witch ;)

Awesome work!

Thank you so much for the kind words!

<<Also, I love the humor. Well, everything about this story, even the Maiarin witch ;)>>

Oh, good! I figure that was almost-canon level of Feanorian disrespect. No love lost there. Actually, the "Maiarin witch" did try to warn Thingol to keep his hands off the Silmarils! But they would have had no way of knowing that.

Thanks again! So happy it entertained you.

 

I LOVE IT.

(I didn't say I wouldn't say that in the review, just that I wouldn't say only that.)

Spring is a time for hope, and false spring... oh, these doomed Noldor. 

Now I see why you were checking up on the range and speed of birds. :)  

I enjoyed all the different POVs, and how well it passes from one to the other. Poor Celegorm, though - he tried so hard to explain what was going on with the Oath and no one took him seriously. (Or was that meant to be just an excuse?)  Loved Fingon and Maedhros managing the two troublemakers - and Curufin being aware he's being managed. And of course, Fingon and Maedhros are wonderful. I also really enjoyed Ngaulë - I would have loved to hear his full thoughts on Curufin. (And Celegorm. Actually, on all of them, come to that. Any chance you'll write any more of him?)

Oh, thanks so much!

<<he tried so hard to explain what was going on with the Oath and no one took him seriously. (Or was that meant to be just an excuse?) >>

I think it is a little of both. I think he succumbed early to the pressure. I think that Maedhros was still at the point where reason and Fingon did give him the strength not to give into the level of desperation that sets in later. And finally he had sacrificed and suffered so much there was no way that he was going to stop until he had them.

I am really glad you liked Ngaulë. I did not plan to have him or anyone quite like him in the story, but when I started writing there was a place for him and I really enjoyed imagining him.

I definitely will write more Celegorm. I am very attached to all of the seven brothers I probably feel the least empathy with Curufin, but then I have never written a story in his POV. That could change if I tackled one of those.

Thank you so much for the lovely review. So glad you enjoyed the story. I liked writing it. But I did worry and feel a little rushed at the end.

Ahahahaha, Curufin the wanker. :D :D

This was a really interesting glimpse into those moments in between - the valley bewteen one pivotal event and another. I love how you draw connections to other characters and happenings, making the story larger than the people we meet here.

Poor Celegorm, not so good with words, and the brain to mouth filter. How clever they are to give him tasks that speak to his strengths, to draw him back in again. I like the idea of the messenger birds!

And then your final lines... I'm glad they are still able to hope in this moment in time, and I'm sad that I know what it will all come to.

(Also glad that the two of Doriath got a mention)

<<(Also glad that the two of Doriath got a mention)>>

I couldn't bear to leave them out! You're not the only one who adores those two!

Thanks for reading and commenting! So happy you got a kick out of it. That Union of Maedhros point is one of my favorite points of The Silmarillion. One cannot have an epic battle without and epic lead-up and although he does not spend a lot of time on it, he still communicates the hope and then in various intro paragraphs to different version of the battle itself gives a nice rundown of who shows up! Massive organizational effort and enormous success for Maedhros and Fingon given the obstacles in place.

<<I love how you draw connections to other characters and happenings, making the story larger than the people we meet here.>>

Another lovely compliment! Thank you. Thank you!!

I love all the bustle and planning and managing and strategizing, and Fingon in the midst of it, with his birds, rather than just being presented with Maedhros's plans and accepting them, as he sometimes appears to do in other stories.

Oh, and his speech at the end!!

Fingon's birds! I might have read this but I would have remembered!  I am so glad that I am reading it now! I always appreciate the manner in which your stories build in so much characterizaiton, without telling us, but building it through story. And I love your Fingon so, I've said it many times, but it's not just him, you bring life to the Feanorians so well. They aren't caricatures, which can happen with some stories at times. Fingon as king, who'd a thunk it, lol. It's rare to see him treated as king and act accordingly!