I cannot recall how I found this story, for my mind is too upset right now. Yes, upset I am. However, I do remember why I approached this story. The amount of reviews.
Incredulous, I was.
I wanted to understand why there were so many people that had read it. I wanted to see if it truly deserved its amount of reviews.
And so I read.
When I finally finished reading this story, I fled, unable to leave a comment. I was utterly speechless and pretty tired. I still was after two hours. I could barely see in front of me. Shadows were drifting through my vision. Perhaps I exaggerate a little bit.
I came back. I couldn’t bring myself to leave this story without having written a tiny feedback for it. You spent your time for it. You delivered a prologue and sixty chapters. Thus, I should at least show you that I read your work even if it kills me to do so. Indeed, I’m drained but it is my fault. I read this story very slowly, in less than three days, while listening to a rather sad and intense music. Yes, I am anything but reasonable.
Now, from where should I start? There are so many things to say about this story. Unfortunately, I cannot express myself as freely as I would like because English isn’t my first language. Well, I’ll just have to try then. Please, forgive me if I make too many mistakes. Also, I do not intend to offend you in any way by writing this review, I only want to give an honest comment. In fact, it would be a sacrilege to leave a simple comment of this sort: “ OH MY GOD, I LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT.”
It is maybe futile to point these technical things, but I’ll do it anyway. I really enjoyed the quote at the beginning of each chapter. I thought it brought more depth to your story. Also, the length of your chapters was just fine, not too short nor too long. Now, the use of Sindarin and Khuzdul might have brought some flavour to your text, but it brought me some discomfort during my reading. Indeed, I had to find the meaning of each sentence at the end of each chapter and that quite annoyed me at the beginning. I thought that it cut a little bit the flow of the story. The transition from present to past also bothered me at some point. Maybe it is only I who is at fault for this, but I thought that sometimes, the transition wasn’t too clear, I had to read a second time to get it. Despite this, I enjoyed reading this story because of the nicely put details. You really wrote in a subtle way. It was easy to imagine every scene, so easy that it scared me because of the upcoming intense scenes. I was right to be frightened.
Now, let’s get deep.
The idea of an evil Aragorn really appealed to me, especially because it was the first time that I was seeing this. You showed his darkness gradually and not drastically. It looked believable to me, not fake at all. Of course, I was wondering why and how he had become like this. My first guess was that it was something comparable to the power of Sauron that had defiled Aragorn. Well, I was taken aback when I saw what had really caused his heart to darken. Elessar was tainted by the power of the palantir and by the nasty thoughts of a certain Dragaer? I don’t know how to write this down without sounding harsh, but I thought that the involvement of Dragaer in the story was a bit weak. You made him look like a horrible person, completely cruel and without any depth. Therefore, I couldn’t care less about his background and his revenge. It really felt like you added him because you needed someone who would take over the madness of Aragorn and finish what he was trying to get from Legolas. It is HORRIBLE to say this, but I think I would have preferred Aragorn to end what he had started. Then, Dragaer could have taken over by attacking Minas Tirith whose king was completely eaten by darkness. GAH I SAID IT! Sorry, it had to come out. I really would have liked to see how they would have come out of all this mess. Oh well, perhaps this scenario is too dark to be manageable. For sure I would have been extremely disturbed.
This being said, I’ll take your story as it was written.
Since you story was categorised as Drama/Angst, I cherished all the parts that contained humor for I knew that there would be rare. My favourite parts were certainly the ones involving Legolas and Gimli. Their friendship was remarkable. Gimli really touched me. His devotion for Legolas was something. It made me smile and feel warm in my heart. You know, I actually screamed in front of my computer when Dragaer stabbed him. I didn’t want this wonderful dwarf to die like this.
Of course, there were other characters that I liked like Éomer, Imrahil and Faramir. Yes, I put them on the same level. They weren’t my favourites, but I still found them pretty interesting and well depicted. There was one character that appeared for a short time in the story that I found superior to them. Of course, I’m talking about Thranduil. What a powerful character, I really loved how you presented him. I read many stories where he was or too tough or too soft. Yours was just perfect. I loved how he slaughtered all the men that were involved in the rape of his beloved son.
Oh Legolas, poor Legolas… He was definitely my favourite. I'm hardly able to find the words to describe him…
He was amazing.
He was intense.
He was epic.
He was unreal.
No, these words merely reflect what I want to say about Legolas. I think it is impossible to seize his true value with simple words. Oh Valar, help me!
He was the most precious of them all
And they all took a chunk of his greatness
Ignoring his silent complaints.
He was beautiful.
He was the purest of them all
And they shattered him.
He suffered so much for everyone and yet he survived all this… I know that Aragorn helped him to heal, but I still think that Legolas stayed alive because of his strong will.
There were many scenes that stayed into my mind, but I’ll mention only four because I’m too lazy to analyse every chapter that you wrote. Forgive me for my laziness.
The scene where Dragaer was taking Legolas shocked me. It was painful to read. However, I think it was one of the most powerful scenes. Indeed, you did not describe everything that Dragaer was doing to Legolas. Thus, you avoided making the scene completely disgusting by writing about the sea, and that was quite intense.
Previously, I said that I would be talking about scenes, but the one following cannot be considered as a mere scene, it is technically a chapter.
The Awakening was a delightful chapter. I loved how Legolas behaved in it. I loved when he spat blood, how he freaked out when Gimli tried to reach him, how he answered sharply to everything, when he broke the cheap cup, when he swore, how he kicked the door, how he mastered the palantir… Need I say more?
The death scene of Dragaer left me a bit unsatisfied. I would have liked him to suffer more for what he had done. Also, the involvement of Aragorn ruined it for me. Legolas killing Dragaer alone without a final blow from Aragorn would have suited me better.
The last scene of your story made me smile. I thought for a moment that everything had returned to normal. Then I was pretty sad. Nothing could possibly return to normal. They couldn’t possibly forget what had happened to them. Your ending was everything but happy in my point of view. There seems to be hope but these scars obscure it…
I won’t be able to forget your story that easily, that is for sure. Like I told you before, there are some aspects of your story that I didn’t really like much, but that does not mean that I hated your story. On the contrary, I very much appreciated your work, so much that I felt the need to pay it a little tribute. So I made three little covers for your story. I know that you have an account on deviantart, but I didn’t know how to send them directly to you, so I put them on my account. My deviant name is Teri41. I hope that you will like them; these are my first work with a software similar to Photoshop.
GAH, I FAILED! I TRIED BUT I FAILED! I am so sorry! I should have written more for you story, but my tiredness took over my mind…
This is definitely one of the best stories I've ever read. (I'm still trying to decide whether it's better than Song in the Darkness. I might settle for a tie.) Keep up the amazing writing!
What to say at the end of such a lengthy, substantive narrative? There was so much that I read and enjoyed. There was also much that I read and...maybe didn't enjoy per se, but certainly found provocative and food for further thought.
I still do not entirely know what I think or feel about Aragorn and the way he was while he was "under the influence": how much was Dragaer and how much was himself. This is for all the times when he wasn't actively in contact with the palantir, which were many and prolonged. That his Darkness was able to sustain itself in such a fashion, in the *absence* of Dragaer and his suggestions, does put a lot of Aragorn's actions squarely on his own shoulders. And in some ways, given what a powerful grip his Darkness had on him, it makes it strange that he was able to free himself so completely of it at the halfway point: not of the guilt and shame attending his actions, which he certainly retains, but the ingrained behaviors and beliefs themselves, and that driving, overpowering need for control.
On the other hand, Aragorn's Darkness feels comparable, maybe even directly correlative, with the physicality and substance of the Shadow that afflicts Legolas later: it felt less a product of the psyche, more a kind of demon with a will and even agency of its own. I actually felt that Legolas' Shadow *was* Aragorn's Darkness, a personal monster bestowed by the one upon the other and, in the final chapters, returned to sender and defused.
Leaving those realms of exploration aside, there was much that I loved about this story. The humor, which as I suspected at the beginning I would desperately need, was present throughout. There were frequent sources of light: Gimli, the understated but wonderful relationship between Faramir and Imrahil, Thranduil like some glorious Elven lion. I appreciated the original characters you created, and that included Dragaer in his overwhelming sadism. For all of his final banality and strutting horror, I felt pity for him. It's a habit I just can't duck somehow. Darkness comes from somewhere, and I appreciated the background that you gave him.
Much welcome comedic punctuation by Gimli at the end. 8)
I liked this chapter for its negotiations. Galemir in the court of Minas Tirith, Thranduil laying down the conditions for his use of the Palantir. I love how he pulled Gimli and Aglarond in on that: so often the Dwarves seem to be overlooked or bypassed in the great negotiations, which are invariably between Men and Men, Elves and Elves, Elves and Men. Though I don't think Gimli appreciated being involved as much this time. That was fun.
I didn't mention it, but I loved Faramir's memories of Imrahil in the previous chapter.
"...physical intimacy cannot happen without forming a mental and spiritual bond – and therefore occurs only between bonded life-mates. For an Elf then the act of rape is the forcing of an unwanted bond upon the soul – and the soul will do anything, even unto fleeing its body, to escape. Whether the initial violation was physical or mental scarcely matters."
I have a different take on the Elven rape death equation (I'm sure there are a number of interpretations out there), but this is interesting to read. Horrifying for its implication of a bond with the rapist, which most Elves are able to escape, having the ability to willfully reject life. Legolas is constrained to live - by oaths and by other factors - but Dragaer is killed and the possibility of a "soul bond" with this loathsome individual is terminated. Still, the idea that someone could use rape to forge a bond is icky as all hell.
"Lord Legolas, report!" Your Thranduil is so cool. I don't mean cool in a bad-ass, "hell-bent for leather" kind of way, but in the sense of his remarkable acumen and strength of personality. He seems to know exactly the right tack with people, exactly what they need and how to get results from them, whether it is as parent, leader or grudging ally.
No. Not Gimli. He's been like my guardian angel in this story, walking me through it. [weeps]
It feels terribly out of place to say this, given that you've just skewered my heart and several other vital organs, but I got a kick out of Arwen as midwife and the whole pregnancy culture clash.
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