The Chosen by Gadira

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Fanwork Notes

This story was written under the inspiration of the "Utopia/Dystopia" challenge, for the prompt selected from Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" ("'It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,' Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.") It is supposed to happen in the same continuum as my longer story "Full of Wisdom and Perfect in Beauty", some 10-20 years ahead from where it is now. But it does not involve any of its characters, and having read it is in no way a requirement to understand this one. In fact, it is 100% canon-compliant.

 

Fanwork Information

Summary:

As Middle-Earth lies under the yoke of the greatest tyranny in the world since the days of Morgoth, a woman from an unnamed mountain village is chosen. This is her story.

Major Characters: Men, Númenóreans, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Sauron

Major Relationships:

Genre: Drama, Horror

Challenges: Utopia/Dystopia

Rating: Adult

Warnings: Character Death, Mature Themes, Violence (Moderate)
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 6, 367
Posted on 8 September 2020 Updated on 8 September 2020

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

The Chosen

Comments

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Wow. I'm (almost) speechless. This is an effectively chilling look at late Númenor through the eyes of a very brave outsider. You've given us just enough backstory to make her village and her unhappy marriage feel familiar (and to make me want to read more, from happier times). I really hope that Ayina's final visions are true, and not some fabrication to make her go quietly and willingly to her death. How ironic that she only gets the validation and praise she deserves from Sauron of all people! What a powerful and moving story.

Thank you! It was indeed my intention to show the main character as someone with a life of her own, so people would feel involved with her story and not just see her as a camera or a microphone. As for her visions, each reader can imagine what they want, I guess, but perhaps a guy who goes by "The Deceiver" shouldn't get that much credit. :P

ps: I love your longer fic! I remember seeing it once upon a time when it was just a few chapters long, and this summer I've rediscovered it and slowly caught up. There was too much stuff to sum up in a comment, but just to let you know that I'll be looking forward to updates!

How inexorable--that long terrible journey to a terrible end!

Very compelling descriptions, lots of good world-building, and Ayina's point of view is very conviincing.

I hope her daughter will never have to go through anything like this.

 

 I do not think, like Ayina, that bad luck is inherited, so I hope that her daughter fares better. I, on the other hand, *was* lucky I could merely reuse the worldbuilding from the other story without even having to give any explanations (since my character had no idea of the names or the places). Thanks for the comment!