Yahoo Forum Archive

Title: Sleeping Arrangements · Author: Lady Galadriel · Genres: Drama:
Featuring Frodo or Sam · ID: 312
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:34:51
The little things, that seem so inconsequential, become ominous portents
when on the road to Orodruin. Cute childhood battle of wills, bookended
by a different contest with a most reluctant victor.
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Title: A Woodland Prince · Author: Bodkin · Genres: Drama: Fixed-Length
Ficlet Series · ID: 303
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:35:08
Interesting idea. I liked Pippin's drabble best, followed by Gimli's two.
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Title: Lonely Night · Author: NeumeIndil · Genres: Drama: Remembering ·
ID: 295
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:35:27
It's a sad portrait of the choices women have to make, particularly in
the sex trade. I'm not familiar with the story to which it is attached,
so its impact is correspondingly lessened, but it remains a fairly bleak
little vignette.
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Title: The Last Thing He Said · Author: NeumeIndil · Genres: Drama · ID: 294
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:35:42
Slices of the tale, from the eyes of (if I'm not mistaken) dog, horse,
pig, and cat. The author manages to present the story in a way that
seems right for non-human creatures. I especially adore the pig, or
whatever creature narrated chapter three, [Gossip]. I'm assuming it was
a pig due to references to snouts, grunting, and the superiority of the
narrator's kind of creature over human beings (Winston Churchill was
just slightly off in his estimation of the relative status of pigs and
people, apparently?). The voice was lovely, chatty, pushy and
self-centered--everything a pig should be, assuming it is one!

The story of Boromir's dog (again, I think) is also quite touching - her
faith in "daddy", who will come home, is that of an innocent, who cannot
understand the implications of the words spoken around her. The cat in
the final vignette had a wonderfully catty view--I liked the way pallor
became dove-like, the Houses of Healing the Blood Houses, the way down
into the city marked by the memory of women who threw shoes or water
(even in the face of fire and blood in the lower circles), and her
immediate sense that Aragorn belongs to the City, since that is the
place of Mankind, not on the fields beyond the walls.

All the perspectives were nicely done, and Aragorn's incorporation into
them is often understated to the point of being slightly doubtful. But
when we do get more of a glimpse of him, he still never overwhelms the
story--the story remains the animal's, whose focus on him may or may not
be lasting. Well done!
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Title: Preparing The Way · Author: Lady Aranel · Genres: Drama: Elves in
Later Ages · ID: 284
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:35:58
Well, this is a change! Usually we get this kind of scene with people,
but why not? There are other beings in the world whom we come to care
for, so why shouldn't Legolas mourn this one? I do wonder why this death
should hit him so hard, though, by comparison with others - but perhaps
now that he has mortal companions, death takes a new meaning for him.
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Title: A Battle Of A Different Kind · Author: Katzilla · Genres: Drama:
Pre-Fellowship · ID: 279
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:36:13
Good for Eowyn for taking Eomer on, even if she loses. A little too much
explanation at some points, but we know the basic equation: men fight
the battles beyond the home, women must fight the *other* kind of battle
that comes of being left behind.
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Title: The Green Flash · Author: DrummerWench · Genres: Drama: Featuring
Frodo or Sam · ID: 277
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:36:32
An interesting look at Sam's sea-longing, though I found Cirdan's tale
to be somewhat disruptive. Nice use of Narya - very appropriate bit of
playing with the story.
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Title: The Gift of Gold · Author: pippinfan88 · Genres: Drama:
Remembering · ID: 267
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:36:51
Sweet!
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Title: Return to Me · Author: Dawn Felagund · Genres: Drama: First Age
Elves · ID: 266
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:37:03
Finrod is reborn, and to the question of the meaning of his death. His
father, watching his son's body be 'repaired' and assisting him to
recover after the rejoining of spirit and body, is a father first -
there is no question his son's life is not able to be set against the
fate of the world. For Finrod, what he has been part of is worth dying for.

Some interesting descriptions and speculations about the Houses and
their unearthly, unbearable ways. The tuning fork and the healing of
Finrod's body by Namo seemed appropriately otherworldly.
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Title: Fairy Tales of Middle-Earth · Author: DrummerWench · Genres:
Drama · ID: 261
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:37:19
These are delightful vignettes that captures the reader and pulls him or
her into a displaced Middle-earth: the background stories that must
surely have floated about in the oral histories of the fictional
inhabitants now have their own life. DrummerWench covers Men of Rohan,
of Gondor, the Drúedain, hobbits, elves of Rivendell and Mirkwood.
Sometimes the fairy tale empties out into an unwritten history:
Thranduil's marriage, the waking of the Balrog in Khazad-dûm, the tale
of Beorn's family and unusual shape-shifting abilities. Other times,
although we recognize characters, the story remains speculative:
Goldberry might have acted thus and so and so played a part in a tale
like "Lady in the Water." As in Tolkien's corpus, so within it: legends
and history meet and blur.

Nicely done, highly enjoyable!
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Title: A Precious Gift · Author: Isil Elensar · Genres: Drama: First Age
Elves · ID: 250
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:37:33
Sweet interlude for Indis and Finwe.
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Title: Master of Shadows · Author: Space Weavil · Genres: Drama · ID: 245
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:37:51
An interesting set of vignettes, detailing the fall and rise of the one
who would become Sauron's most powerful servant. Interesting history,
going all the way back to Ancalime's day, when an arrogant young
nobleman dreamed of winning his way to the throne.

Particularly interesting was the encounter with Galadriel, and her
manner of testing him, as well as responding to his attempt to rape her.
One steely woman, clearly, and his belated realization that she is the
true power in the councils of Celebrimbor and Celeborn is well played. I
also found the vignette on sloth quite intriguing. 'Pride' was very
neatly turnedhis resistance to Sauron's simple, singular command, and
eventual naming of him ('Servant') wearing away, until pride has nothing
left to offer than the lie that his service comes through his free
choice. Capitulation never sounded so proud.
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Title: The Hardest Lesson · Author: mistycracraft · Genres: Drama:
Pre-Fellowship · ID: 231
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:38:05
Tough lessons to learn, indeed. Nice touch about Estel wanting to keep
the mortally wounded company, even if they can't hear him.
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Title: The Falcon's Watch · Author: pippinfan88 · Genres: Drama:
Featuring Pippin or Merry · ID: 227
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:38:24
Perhaps a touch too sentimental for me, but the inability of the
Travellers to reintegrate their lives with the Shire was clearly seen in
Frodo's case. It stands to reason that in Sam's, Merry's, and Pippin's
cases, the extraordinary and horrific things they had seen would
eventually come home to drive them out again.
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Title: In This Silence I Am Sinking · Author: Ghettoelleth · Genres:
Drama: General Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 222
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:38:36
Ah, theodicy! That staple of Valinorean reflection. Nicely done
confrontation between Tulkas, ever eager to extinguish evil where he
finds it and Namo, whose inscrutable domain of prophecy and death lead
him to find that there is more in the world than good alone, and
frighteningly, that a flawed world may yet be part of a greater plan.
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Title: Treasures And Momentos · Author: Marigold · Genres: Drama:
Featuring Pippin or Merry · ID: 220
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:38:53
Boxing up lives after the deaths of loved ones is the real funeral, most
definitely. I did very much like the note that went with Gimli's
farewell gift - classic!
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Title: The Fading of a Star · Author: Minuialeth · Genres: Drama:
General Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 219
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:39:09
Very elven concerns at work in this drabble. I have a feeling I'm
missing background for Arwen and Erestor, however, which would make this
hit harder.
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Title: Quality Time · Author: EdorasLass · Genres: Drama: The Steward's
Family · ID: 205
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:39:28
An interesting and intimate portrait of Denethor with his young
children, though in point of fact it's as much about the relationship
with their nurse as it is about them. Not the most rational of
relationships, apparently: she's to be close, yet distant; he does not
understand why she expects censure, yet he also knows very well he
intimidates her and is not displeased with that, or with the rumors of
his clairvoyance that aid in that process of intimidation. She seems to
be both in and outside of the family sphere, so that we are surprised
both by what Denethor knows of her, but also what he does not know (that
she reads Sindarin, for instance).

Nice touch about reading Akallabeth to Faramir as a sort of experiment
in stimulating intellect. And while his sons may now give him peace, oh
just wait 'til thirty years down the line, Denethor...
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Title: Was It For This? · Author: aervir · Genres: Drama: General
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 204
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:39:45
Nice use of Owen, and I liked the first paragraph--the essential
reduction of human beings in all the glory their people can heap on them
to just a damp patch of ground and an act of treachery that almost
obliterates all else that they had been.
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Title: Fire · Author: Aramel · Genres: Drama: Fixed-Length Ficlet Series
· ID: 172
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:40:16
An interesting perspective on the making of Narya--here the greatest of
the three, thanks to Celebrimbor's memories of the delights of his
grandfather's forge. Fire here is not the consuming force wielded by
darkness, but the spark of life to bring hope into being.
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Title: When The Days Are Warm · Author: Branwyn · Genres: Drama: The
Steward's Family · ID: 145
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:40:34
Finduilas' promise sounds made to be broken, though in this instance,
the noble lie seems legitimate enough.
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Title: Fair-weather Friends · Author: pippinfan88 · Genres: Drama:
Featuring Pippin or Merry · ID: 126
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:40:55
Even foreseen consequences can be hard to bear.
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Title: Of Stone and Fire · Author: Werecat · Genres: Drama: General
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 124
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:41:11
Ooh, killer last line! The right last line can really make or break a
drabble, and I love this one! The rock of Dwarven strength has nothing
to fear from the spirit of fire in its wrath. Gimli so rarely gets his
due, but when he does, it is a sweet victory. Thank you, Werecat!
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Title: The End of All Things · Author: Ariel · Genres: Drama: Featuring
Frodo or Sam · ID: 109
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:41:29
A rather quiet passing on; I was not sure who was who until the end of
the fic, however, which was a bit distracting.
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Title: Stigmas · Author: Robinka · Genres: Drama: Fixed-Length Ficlet
Series · ID: 105
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-07-29 01:41:47
I'm not sure how well the seven deadly sins device works, but taking on
Turin's several names is something that seems suited to drabble series.
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