Yahoo Forum Archive

Title: The Bucklander · Author: permilea · Races: Hobbits: Pre-Quest ·
ID: 793
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:16:05
An interesting take on Sam's first meeting with Frodo.
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Title: A bit of garden · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Hobbits: General
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 901
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:16:24
Sam and Elrond find they have something in common. Very plausible and cute.
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Title: Lord of the Rings Limericks, Chapters One and Two · Author:
Llinos · Times: The Great Years: Poetry · ID: 759
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:17:19
These were hilarious! Limericks are not the easiest things to make come
out right, but the author never misses a beat. My favorites were Fatty
Bolger--natch, and Denethor, Lord Steward of Gondor, which had just the
right touch of macabre irony.
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Title: Ddraigspelt  An Orc Love Poem · Author: Llinos · Genres:
Romance: Poetry · ID: 879
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:17:47
Somehow, I never imagined orcs having love-songs. If they did, they
would be like this.
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Title: The Tenth Walker · Author: Lindelea · Races: Cross-Cultural:
Incomplete · ID: 198
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:18:08
This is very different from most of Lindelea's stories. Bill the Pony's
point of view beginning as he joins the four hobbits and Strider in
Bree. I love his way of looking at and describing each of them, and his
uniquely ponyish notions. I hope very much to see this tale continued
on, through to the Gates of Moria, and then perhaps break new ground and
show how he got back to Bree.
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Title: Claws · Author: Elena Tiriel · Races: Villains: Fixed-Length
Ficlet · ID: 835
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:18:46
A very different OC tries to burgle from Smaug, and loses. An
interesting perspective, and perfectly plausible, given what we know of
dragons and of ravens.
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Title: Frodo's Exciting Day Out · Author: Llinos · Genres: Humor: Parody
· ID: 829
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:23:12
This very funny AU examines what would have happened if the Eagles had
assisted in the Quest. We find it would have been a far shorter and more
amusing event.
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Title: Hair · Author: Gandalfs apprentice · Races: Cross-Cultural:
Fixed-Length Ficlet · ID: 321
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:25:54
This really made me giggle. Poor Legolas, confronted with such very
hairy companions--I never thought before what he would make of that!
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Title: Inspirare · Author: Ariel · Races: Hobbits: Friendship · ID: 622
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:26:23
This author has the skill of making small moments pack a wallop. When
Frodo gifts an expectant Rosie with some baby clothes that his mother
had made, she is hit with the painful realization of just what that gift
means. Her acceptance, of both the gift and the insight it gave her, is
sad but beautiful.
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Title: Cierre, Min Heorte (Turn, My Heart) · Author: SilverMoonLady ·
Races: Hobbits: Fixed-Length Ficlet series · ID: 108
Reviewer: Dreamflower · 2006-08-04 02:26:48
A beautiful bit of speculation about the origins and history of the
Tooks and the hobbits of the Shire, and their possible one time
connection to the Elves of the Greenwood, this follows an old song down
through the generations, from the first of the Tooks to Pippin. The song
is also very beautiful.
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Title: Promise · Author: Vana Tuivana · Genres: Romance: Poetry · ID: 643
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-08-04 04:31:50
This is an interesting combination of poem and drabble. Good evocation
of the hopeful Feanor and the perceptive Nerdanel - one forgets, when
reading the later tragedies of their lives in the Silmarillion, that
they were once young and passionate, and this poem brings it home.

And a lovely last line, too.
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Title: Finding the Right Words · Author: Nienor Niniel · Races: Men:
Post-Sauron's Fall · ID: 785
Reviewer: Raksha the Demon · 2006-08-04 04:35:59

Good description of the activities in the Citadel as the White City
prepares for the return of its King.

Faramir is well-written here, anxious to properly fulfill his charge,
intelligent and somewhat visionary.

I really liked the bit about Faramir not usually having trouble figuring
out what to say. And the ending is excellent.


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Title: An Exchange of Views · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men: Other
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 931
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:05:51
Faramir appears to have difficulty distinguishing Aragorn from his
father, still. Fortunately, an encounter with his counterpart, whose
stiff-necked adherence to Arnor's ways of doing things, provides him
with enough work and frustration that he finally trusts his own judgment
and doesn't even apologize for it or expect it to be overruled.
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Title: Hope Eternal · Author: Gwynnyd · Races: Men: Featuring Aragorn ·
ID: 930
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:06:22
Ploughsheds into swords--not exactly what was intended in the effort to
settle even orcs in the Fourth Age. It is good to see stories that deal
with the fate of the orcs and Gondor's policies towards them in the
Fourth Age. It's a disturbing little ficlet, for with the failure of
clemency, and no clear way forward without loosing a lot of armed,
angry, and hungry orcs on the world again, policy gives way to an
execution. Hope may spring eternal, but it's bound to be disappointed as
often as not.
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Title: Moon Friend: Tales of Isildur · Author: Elena Tiriel · Races:
Men: Other Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 832
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:09:08
Isildur's life in drabbles, from the rescue of Nimloth's seedling in
Armenelos to his remains' end in an Isengard bonfire. Nice use of
Shakespeare to remind us of the inconstancy of the moon, and the dangers
of becoming its devotee.
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Title: To Labour and to Wait · Author: Gwynnyd · Races: Men: Featuring
Aragorn · ID: 838
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:09:43
Gwynnyd writes a wonderful Aragorn, as the long watches of a night in
the midst of a chase wear away. The three hunters have paused for the
night, awaiting the dawn, and as they wait, recovering from their
labors, Aragorn remembers past toils and trials.

From his rejection of the easy course of returning home to Rivendell,
where he will be welcomed and accepted to the battle for Umbar, we see
Aragorn move from a young man who finds it too easy simply to inherit
the trust and authority of the Dúnedain or to accept Elrond's
hospitality again to a young warrior who proves himself among the
Rohirrim whose ways he did not know and rises to the king's highest
trust, to a seasoned warrior who finds himself checked, morally, by his
own competence in court and on a battlefield. From there, it's
redemption in lands so far south and east, the people don't even know
what orcs are.

All the while, Aragorn is haunted by the fact of his heritage, which at
once gives him a chance to court Arwen and yet also denies them the
consummation of their love so long as he has not fulfilled Elrond's
terms: to be king of both Gondor and Arnor. Moreover, he is not certain
he will ever be able to fulfill them. Yet, rather like the piece of wood
Legolas is carving into a gift for Pippin, Aragorn isn't meant to shape
his life like others, whether those others are warriors or even kings
who simply inherit their titles from their fathers--there's that in him
that isn't meant to be anything other than Aragorn, who is more than
Isildur's heir and doesn't need a title to accomplish his duty.

It apparently also means he doesn't need to use a comb (which had me
snorting with laughter at the end) but that bit of humor doesn't manage
to undercut the point. A lovely study of my favorite character, and a
Legolas who's well written to boot! Thank you, Gwynnyd!
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Title: Summoned · Author: Agape4Gondor · Races: Men: Steward's Sons
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 840
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:10:05
Departures seem to weight heavily on Faramir: from Ithilien, from
Boromir, and from the fate his father had in store for him. The past
remains a yoke that prevents him from matching Éowyn's anticipation -
he's still claimed by it, rather than wholly by her.
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Title: The One · Author: Linda Hoyland/Raksha the Demon CoAuthors ·
Races: Men: Featuring Aragorn · ID: 852
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:10:37
Three stewards (or steward's heirs) and forty years before Aragorn finds
one to match his visions. Enjoyable vignette.
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Title: Those Who Challenge the Dead · Author: Nancy Brooke · Races: Men:
Other Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 858
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:11:01
Two drabbles, fraught with the irony that only comes of those arrogant
enough to take on death itself and believe they can win. Well done, to
match Earnur with Baldor--they do complement each other.
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Title: Too Many Names · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men: Aragorn
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 866
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:11:28
I remember these--they're great fun, each half drabble a comment on one
of Aragorn's many many names. Gilraen, Arathorn, Eomer, Arwen, Bilbo,
Gandalf--many the companions and people who give them to him, or else
have cause to question them. Brief, yet always hinting at more and other
stories, these form a wonderful kaleidescope of Aragorn's personality
and history.
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Title: Midwinter Rites · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men: Aragorn
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 868
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:11:53
Lovely hints at worlds with their own rites and customs, as Aragorn
moves from one place to another through his long and well-travelled life.
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Title: Keeping an eye on the enemy · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men:
Fixed-Length Ficlets With Children · ID: 871
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:12:16
Cute little interlude between brothers! I liked Boromir using this game
to teach Faramir a lesson in paying attention. Of course, no doubt the
opportunity to teach was hardly necessary to motivate a big brother to
sneak up on his younger sibling.
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Title: Rising Hope · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men: Other Fixed-Length
Ficlets · ID: 873
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:13:28
Interesting reflection on the evolution of names. 'Amandil' is a fairly
dangerous name to have as Numenor turns away from the Valar and their
friendship with the Elves. The possible symbolism behind the naming of
Isildur and Anarion is nicely drawn out.
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Title: Show his quality · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men: Steward's Sons
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 875
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:14:22
Faramir reminds me somewhat of Aragorn in RoTK, when he tells Eowyn
there is a need for valor without renown. It's a similar sort of
message--that the task that seems unimportant has in fact its own
dignity and worth. One wonders how the young recruit took this gentle
effort to save him some face.
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Title: The Unbidden Stranger · Author: Tanaqui · Races: Men: Aragorn
Fixed-Length Ficlets · ID: 886
Reviewer: Dwimordene · 2006-08-04 06:14:47
Poor Aragorn, the one dark head in the sea of blond Rohirrim! With an
accent that isn't from Gondor, the only thing two curious children can
imagine is that he must be a Dunland spy. This fits nicely with
Aragorn's later words: [a hunted man wearies of distrust and longs for
friendship.]
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