*eyes bugged, staring at screen* Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Very dark and full of dread.
I like that it's from Denethor's point of view.
The plot is really convincing. It scared me!

This is a great Denethor's POV. I liked how you portrayed his love for Finduilas and the reasons he began to resent Faramir, and his ambition and arrogance. But what I liked best were the last two paragraphs, in which Denethor finally seems to admit the truth to himself. All in all, this is very good and I enjoyed reading it.

Beautiful.

That was brilliant... a wonderful explanation for Finduilas' death. Bringing in the palantir was excellent, and your interpretation of Denethor was perfect.

Wow! That's awesome! -is very impressed-

I'm glad there's someone out there who thinks Denethor's worth writing about (and someone who can do it well, too!) "I love the bitter ol' cuss just the way he is"

Ai, that was chilling. I honestly think it's a better explanation than Finduilas pining away for the sea.

The palantír reminds me of the One Ring a little - the way Denethor wants to get rid of it, and is unable to do so.

*Doesn't like Sauron-tainted palantirs and hides*
lol, that was moving too. hey, I'm running out of compliments! It's all so good in every aspect, lol!!

Wow, this is just chilling, and excellent. I put off reading it for a long time, because so often the word "sinister" in the same summary as "Denethor" indicates a "Denethor as abusive power-hungry loon" story. But I'm sorry I put it off, because you've painted a picture here so beautiful and so tragic, it just breaks my heart. Great work.

Oh wow. What a wonderful take on Finduilas' death (that sounds rather morbid...) I find Denethor & his family truly interesting...such a sad end all around! Great job.

Keep writing such good fanfic so we may be able to overthrow the Mary-Sue infested, Self-Inserted overrun, parody full ff.net with the good stuff that takes forever to find!

Brilliant, in a deliciously horrifying way. I too have always found the pining explanation a bit suspect, and this is a harsh exploration of possibility. Wonderfully evocative. And I must say, nice to see some Denethor fic where he's not a complete bastard (or Denethor fic in general).

You know, it's work like this that makes me look at my own stories, and feel dismay. Work like this makes me want to try even harder to improve my writing skills. I don't think I've ever read anything more chilling, and thought provoking. I never thought of the palantir. Not once. It's a rather terrifying idea. I *did* think of the possibility of a third child, and have a bit of a fan fic put together, which I've pretty much abandoned, for fear of it being a Mary Sue (the child would have been a girl). Once again... VERY beautiful, very chilling story. Seriously, I can't give you enough praise. The parts about 'it watching', wow! Just amazing. :)

I should have reviewed this ages ago, since I think it's terrific. Great first-person, excellent characterization, and very, very chilling. Another excellent story to add to your already impressive list.

Ooo, I really liked that story. I agree on the pining away, if Denethor loved her and she had a kid like Boromir she couldn't have just wasted away. I really liked it! post more such stories soon please :)

This was absolutely amaising. I completly agree that ''pineing away'' wasn't a convincing reason for death and love your spin on it. The charecters are perfectly in charecter and bringing the palantir into it was wonderful. The dark side of this story is writen perfectly and realy gives you a creapy feeling.

This is EXCELLENT. Really, really brilliantly done. Tying the palantir in with the whole thing is just a fantastic idea, and makes perfect sense. I agree, I will never believe that Finduilas "pined away" -- that is just too pathetic! My personal theory is that she died of tuberculosis, which after all is a "wasting disease" and could certainly be interpreted as pining, but anyway, your idea works wonderfully. And it made sense too for Faramir to be the one to first find the thing, and for that to be (though he wants to stop himself from feeling that) the reason that Denethor blames and resents Faramir so much. And the idea of Denethor (poor man!) thinking that he's defeated the palantir and bound it to his will is just absolutely him. Oh, I loved the sentence about Boromir being like his mother, in his tempers and his laughter ... anyway, this is absolutely brilliant, and I hope you are planning to write more on the family!