Yahoo Forum Archive

Title: If Only · Author: Holdur · Genres: Drama: Featuring Pippin or
Merry · ID: 826
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:24:31
Boromir fans should enjoy this one. Whether a dream or a friendly visit
from the afterlife, Boromir has a great dignity and his compassion is
evident. Pippin's regrets, that Frodo should have given so much, which
moves him to think of how much others had sacrificed, leads to a
confession and a sort of ghostly absolution. The in media res beginning
might not work perfectly, but for a short fic like this, as long as one
goes with it, the story should be enjoyable.
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Title: Last Goodbyes Series · Author: Perelleth · Genres: Drama:
Fixed-Length Ficlet Series · ID: 814
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:25:05
It's an interesting idea, to drabble various ways of saying farewell,
whether they were recognized as such or not at the time. I think
Finrod's and Elros Tar-Minyatar's drabbles were most effective:
Finarfin's unexpected farewell strikes hard; Elros' peaceful passing is
well drawn.
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Title: The Gift of Time · Author: Rhapsody · Genres: Drama:
Pre-Fellowship · ID: 812
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:25:31
Some bloody ironic foreshadowing for those who know Arathorn's tale. One
gets a hint of the harshness of life among the Dúnedain, its
uncertainty, and the brutality of death as a Ranger that makes all time
spent with loved ones a gift.
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Title: Better Than Frodo Baggins · Author: Inkling · Genres: Drama:
Pre-Fellowship · ID: 809
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:25:59
Inkling gets the dynamics of bullying down very neatly, and convincingly
portrays Frodo as in essence a born diplomat, though even his easy
going, quick-witted camaraderie cannot win everyone over. Most
especially not the hobbit who feels too much his dependence on Frodo's
interventions. The rivlalry and bitterness between Frodo and the
Sackville-Baggins gets a dark, domestic twist to it, but it is all too
possible a line of explanation.
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Title: The gift · Author: Jael · Genres: Drama: Elves in Later Ages ·
ID: 807
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:26:30
I had never thought of Legolas and Gilraen in the same room, so this was
interesting. There is a romance, here, but as Legolas says, the actual
bridegroom is death, whom Gilraen accepts even as it claims her. Things
develop quickly, but for its length, it does a fairly good job of trying
to establish relationships, and it doesn't dwell simply on the
sentimental, but tries to draw in a discussion of death that gives
attention to a graced mortal perspective.
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Title: Where The Shadows Are · Author: Kenaz · Genres: Drama: Elves in
Later Ages · ID: 776
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:27:01
I haven't read Gil-galad/Elrond slash for some time, so this was a fun
venture back to one of the earliest slash pairings to appear on the net.
There are some excellent conversational exchanges, here, that seem right
for the last meeting of two lovers, the night before the last battle.
The descriptions are sometimes overwrought, but taken as a vignette,
it's still an enjoyable fic.
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Title: Board Games (Cinquain) · Author: Rous · Genres: Drama: Poetry ·
ID: 741
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:27:41
This cinquain follows the classic pattern, and between title and final
line, fits Rohan up to a point. The knight's got himself into trouble,
but can't get out of it - Rohan can hold back the tide, but cannot
defeat it alone. Another cinquain, though, and this war game might not
end with stalemate.
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Title: Fallen Leaves · Author: laiquendi · Genres: Drama: Elves in Later
Ages · ID: 735
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:28:09
Over the top on angst for me, but good to see some focus on movie!Gimli
in his relation to Legolas, even in grief.
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Title: Fugitive · Author: Gandalfs apprentice · Genres: Drama · ID: 366
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:29:34
This was cute, particularly the classic [I skipped that year. I went
from being ten to twelve] in response to Gilraen's standard complaint
that the adults just don't understand what being eleven is like.
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Title: Chivalry · Author: Gandalfs apprentice · Genres: Drama: General
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 374
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:29:50
A short, yet very nicely drawn, portrait of Shadowfax and Gandalf. I
like the way the three day pursuit is given through Shadowfax's eyes,
moving from disdain to curiosity, to finally a hearing and the
recognition, not of Gandalf's mastery, but of his fraternity. Well done!
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Title: Earth, Water, Fire and Air · Author: Fileg · Genres: Drama:
Fixed-Length Ficlet Series · ID: 469
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:30:06
Very cleanly drawn vignettes, glimpses of moments of change, their
horizons opening out in just a hundred words each. Eowyn's is, perhaps,
the most enigmatic to me, perhaps because it isn't clear to me what she
is prepared foris this Dernhelm, or is it Eowyn? Is this the girl who
wishes to become a shieldmaiden, or the shieldmaiden awaiting her call?
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Title: Relief · Author: Acacea · Genres: Drama: Pre-Fellowship · ID: 518
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:30:20
Ah, a very nice use of Denethor and his eye in the sky. The battle for
Osgiliath could easily have ended in total disaster. Acacea gives us one
scenario in which it seemed almost certain that there could be no hope
for Boromir and his beleaguered men, but for the Steward's furtive
surveillence and quick action in sending relief. One can see why he
continues to use and justify the use of the palantir.
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Title: The Steward and the Wizard · Author: Acacea · Genres: Drama:
Gondor Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 522
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:30:39
Jealousy rears its head, as Denethor observes Faramir's joy in Gandalf's
presence--a joy that never seems directed at *him*. Acacea hits the nail
right on the head.
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Title: Childhood Dreams · Author: Acacea · Genres: Drama: Gondor
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 523
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:30:50
An interesting conversation between brothers, and the identification,
through childhood fantasies, of Boromir and the river makes for a
slightly chilling counterpoint.
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Title: Desires Of The Hroa · Author: The Last Temptation of Homer ·
Genres: Drama: First Age Elves · ID: 623
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:31:12
The forbidden and guilt that lasts the ages are economically portrayed,
here, without the encumberance of names. That Valinor spoils some with
its very perfection, while the imperfections of Arda Marred 'perfect'
others is interesting. Some grammatical flaws.
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Title: Weaver · Author: Vana Tuivana · Genres: Drama: Poetry · ID: 627
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:31:25
Relentless rhythm, very sharp and quick. Vana draws you into the
weaver's world, ever oriented by the absent beloved, but it is not until
the last stanza that the poet's identity is poignantly revealed. Quite
enjoyable!
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Title: Lay of Lord and Lady · Author: Vana Tuivana · Genres: Drama:
Poetry · ID: 629
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:31:45
I liked this retelling of Eol and Aredhel. Vana does a good job of
compressing the narrative, and the recurrance of motifs of light and
dark, cold and warmth lead the reader through this meeting of day and
night, lady and lord, that erupts when the two discover it is impossible
to reconcile themselves with each other.
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Title: I'm Writing This With My Left Hand · Author: Vana Tuivana ·
Genres: Drama: Poetry · ID: 641
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:32:00
Simultaneously hilarious and ominous, I'm really not sure what to say of
this poem, other than: read it. There's a certain surreality, of genius
gone possibly mad, in this short, free verse poem, allegedly from
Maedhros' hand... his left hand, that is. One wonders whether one ought
nonetheless to pity what became of the rest of him, though he escaped
his bondage in Thangorodrim. I don't think I've read anything like it,
in terms of oddity, snarkiness, and foreboding, since Earmire's 'The
Vain Songs.' And I mean all that in the best possible way!
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Title: Conversational, of Cousins · Author: Vana Tuivana · Genres:
Drama: Poetry · ID: 642
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:32:15
Definitely more nostalgic than the other Maedhros-centric free verse
poem; it nevertheless lives up to the promise of being slightly macabre.
On the subject of Maedhros' now severed hand, Fingon seems rather more
attached to it than does Maedhros, at least by his words, which attach
that hand to fond memories. One is hard pressed to decide whether
Maedhros is practical or in denial with regard to his own wounding,
though one suspects the latter. He seems a little too willing to discard
parts of his emotional life along with physical bits of his body.
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Title: Inheritances · Author: Marta · Genres: Drama: The Steward's
Family · ID: 651
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:32:32
Interesting, although I'm not sure the push at the end to get something
a little more foreboding out of this early, brief encounter wholly
works. That does seem a lot to read in. Liked the use of Jane Austen!
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Title: Nothing but Dreams · Author: Unsung Heroine · Genres: Drama:
First Age Elves · ID: 659
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:32:51
Caranthir is not my favorite Feanorian, but this is an interesting
reading of him. Caught between inverse abandonments, between the mortal
woman who loved and left him and the treachery of the mortals who allied
with and then betrayed him at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Caranthir's sanity
dangles by a thread. There's a matter-of-factness about Haleth's
appearances that underscores the unmoored quality of his judgment, which
is drowning in survivors' guilt and despairing remorse. From that eerie
mundanity of a ghost's visits to his ranting at his brother (one of his
brothers, never named), he doesn't so much struggle for perspective as
flounder about, shying away from the occasional effort to throw him a
lifeline.

Feanor's sons appeal oftentimes precisely because they are
psychologically scarred, and this is an apt depiction of that.
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Title: Night Phantoms · Author: Marta · Genres: Drama: Remembering · ID: 696
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:33:10
This piece tries to work out what power the nightmarish past has over
Eowyn, and how Faramir might react to it. It's a bit rough.
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Title: The Story of a Garden, by Frodo Baggins · Author: GamgeeFest ·
Genres: Drama: Pre-Fellowship · ID: 713
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:33:31
Very sweet, and the prose has that nice, clean feel that says "Shire" to
me. I'm not familiar with the larger story, so I can't put it in
context, but this does sound like something Sam would do, and Frodo's
efforts to, as it were, contribute, to the garden by writing the story
of its gardener seems fitting.
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Title: A Humble Gift · Author: GamgeeFest · Genres: Drama: Featuring
Pippin or Merry · ID: 722
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:33:46
Gamgeefest delivers an excellent portrayal of Pippin, hale, whole,
coping with the aftermath of war and enjoying something of the peace
that has unexpectedly come. Faramir is also well drawn, the two of them
telling tales, often about Boromir, but eventually working their way to
the nightmares that afflict soldiers and the prince of Halflings who
saved Faramir's life.

The birthday customs of hobbits is put to good use by Faramir, if
inversely. It's a nice short interlude in life after the fall of Sauron.
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Title: Mellyn · Author: Pentangle · Genres: Drama · ID: 322
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:34:31
Some cute humorous moments throughout; sort of a 'Life of Brian'
reversal of saviorly expectations.
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