Admirable.

A great story. Very good.

I loved this piece from beginning to end! It's a great one shot and an excellent character sketch. You bring us through the entirety of Peter's life in 11 paragraphs, and you do it convincingly.

One of the biggest strengths is the circular feel, beginning and ending in the present tense. We are standing with him, fighting Miraz in the seconds before the King stumbles, all these thoughts going through his head. Then Miraz falls. We are cast back into the present.

Another very clever strategy was the shorter, reflective lines spliced between paragraphs. Each drives home a point much more powerfully than a long description. The ending was both powerful and powerfully contrived. You brought this story successfully to a climax and a resolution that was satisfactory and philosophical.

I found it interesting that you start off with his memories of the world, and the heroes that he would naturally have grown up with in 1940 England. You take those antiquated 'Once and Future King' moments that Arthur always had and show how tantalizing and yet fleeting they really are. Might cannot go unchecked by kindness. And even then, kindness will destroy its protector, leading the way for another tyrant. All these ideas come out beautifully in this line: "Just as, in the end, this charming ceremony of single combat, with its painstaking etiquette, polished armour and gaily-coloured surcoats, is no more than an empty charade."

You had excellent imagery: hungry Telmarines, grinding defeats, dark mirror. The descriptions of past battles were breathtakingly beautiful.

Just one constructive comment: comma usage, dear! There are quite a few out of place.

Excellent fic! You did a wonderful job exploring this scene.

This is a great piece, not really a character study, not quite a narration. I love the idea of Peter reintroducing chivalry. "And that was when he'd understood that swords would never be enough."

Great line, and a great closing. Bravo.

When philosophy is presented in such crisp, well-thought out lines, it's definitely worth reading. And it's good to see a defence of chivalry by a very human, very vulnerable Peter, rather than the noble-soul-who-can do-no-wrong that so many fics portray. It's worth defending civalry, not the outmoded medieval customs, but the eternal sense of honour and rightness that lies beneath those customs.

Those last two lines are powerful, though I think you give away too much of the punch by using them in your summary. Maybe, in the summary, you should just ask why Peter steps back, without telling us why?

I like the way you start with a one-line paragraph and then move to multi-sentence paragraphs, before returning to the single lines of the last three paras. Really helps to add emphasis and punch there. Thanks much for a powerful piece!

Brevity is, in this case, the soul of powerful writing and a well-honed point. Tracing the evolution of Peter's understanding of chivalry with tight, articulate prose and then concluding with such powerful simplicity-- it makes for some grave and lovely work. This is magnificent.

Light night, drunken philosophy clearly has its uses ;)

This was good, it shows why Peter didn't take Miraz's life when he could've.

this is really good. it gives the reason why peter didn't kill miraz when he had the chance. then he would be just as bad as miraz, killing for the sake of killing. very good! =)

Nice! As someone who has studied Medieval Europe, I definitely agree that chivalry as it was romanticized was nothing but a literary construct. But that doesn't mean that Peter couldn't fight honorably, and I'm glad you showed that here.

Great story!

Wonderful. This is a defense of Chivalry that I've never seen before but which makes sense to me. Too often, chivalry comes across as rather stupid and too high-mindedly impractical. Here, Peter is self-aware, honest, and clearly making chivalry a choice. Just wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Interesting take on the combat