   Cirdan 5/24/02 . chapter 6Ah, now, I must admit, I'm one of the pple who had trouble getting into this story at first. Cirdan having an _older_ sister? She must be so old! After all, Cirdan's already so old. I had trouble coping with her existence. And Thranduil kept throwing me off the pace of the story. So I'm too lazy to put this all in separate reviews since the story itself gets really amazing by the end. You can tell by how much you skim and how much you stop skimming and start reading and re-reading.
Ch 1: Trying to get Isildur to destroy the Ring was artfully done. Elrond's insistence, Isildur's increasing resistence. But then Cirdan's bf threw me off. I had a hard time slipping into that scene and thus had a hard time slipping out of it and back into our main narrative.
Ch 2: Glorfindel and Cirdan's conversation was great. Especially the "And what destroys Isildur destroys also Elrond." I totally thought Glor had a thing for Elrond. _- And the way things were tense but the tension wasn't from them, it was from the incidents around them, Gil-galad's death and such. Then Thranduil showed up and I was annoyed by the kid. It feels like he belongs in a different fic, not interrupting this one. It's not that I dislike Thranduil. I was just so taken in at the moment with Glor and Cirdan.
Ch 3: Of course, that meant that the first part of this chapter was shot for me. I had both of what I didn't want, Cirdan's sister and Thranduil brat. It's the problem w/ seeing a pairing warning at the top. I'm holding my breath and waiting to get back to the meat of the story, back to Isildur and Elrond, and here are these other side stories. Reminds me of how Aragorn and Arwen's romance, as bittersweet as it was and as much as I loved the tale, got shifted into Appendix A b/c it wasn't part of the LotR story. Doesn't help that Cirdan's sister was pushing him around in a way that irked me. I started really drifting hear but remembered how well-done the first chapter's Isildur/Elrond interaction was done so read on.
Ch 4: We had a warning that this was going to be a love scene. Well, while it didn't get as steamy as I was worried it might, this was well-done, especially if it's a first attempt! I liked the fact that the sex wasn't the focus because it got to what I really wanted to read: the faceoff about the Ring. So small a thing... Isildur's mood swings was done well and we had some glimpses of what made him a great man, what Elrond might love in him. He's not just an idiot who wanted to keep the Ring of power, no. He was trying to be reasonable, trying to listen to Elrond's advice, and then turning on Elrond and himself all in the same breath! Great stuff. And the fact that Isildur saw that Elrond had the Ring of Air, oh, that was great. I could feel Elrond tensing. And it was a dangerous tension that added to the.. erm.. love scene. *_* And the way Isildur changes the subject and says that Vilya is affecting Elrond too and that he's never known Elrond without it. Would Elrond be less elven-lord-ish without it and more hot and steamy? (Woohoo!) We know he doesn't wear it, none of them do until Sauron is defeated, and I doubt Elrond's wearing it now. But having Isildur needle him about it was wonderful and how he got mad at Elrond for seemingly keeping secrets. I thought they slipped into the sex pretty well. Of course, I really did think that Isildur was doing it just to toy w/ Elrond and get him off his back, especially at the end when Isildur left him. (That's why it's so cool seeing Isildur come back and the fact that he's becoming a wreck.) He seemed calm here, and it seemed like he fully intended to sleep with Elrond one last time and leave.
Ch 5: I am always disturbed to see Glor any less powerful than a superman. I truly believe that he is the most powerful elf there, second only to Gil-galad in strength until Gil-galad died. After all, he's the only elf we know of who has come back to life, dwelt in the glory of the Blessed Realm and recharged his battery so to speak, and then come back to Middle Earth. Considering how powerful the elves were in the First Age, I imagine Glor to be unstoppable in a fight. Even the Witch King fled from him in fear. All that aside, with the exception of Glor losing, the Isildur/Glor interaction in the beginning was good. It only further fed that "Glor likes Elrond" (in sing-song, no less) notion I'd had going. Cirdan's sister still threw me off. I'm sorry, it's a personal failing. I don't get over things easily. Now Cirdan's second remembering of Finandil, I was bothered less this time by Finandil than I was the first time. First time was jarring. This time, Cirdan just kind of slipped into it and couldn't help but to think about him while looking at Elrond. I'm not used to Cirdan being so very shy about another guy's body, but I was willing to go along for the ride. And it's great seeing Cirdan want to help Elrond. Ok, half of me wanted a nice steamy Cirdan/Elrond scene right there and then, but I knew it was just the naughty little side of me. My desire to see the story move on was stronger. Heh, and your short bit at the end w/ Glor unconscious and dreaming of balrogs was great. I do believe the guy's a little psycho and sometimes imagine these little fangs on him. :b Little did I know where that was going...
Chi 6: (Sorry this is getting so long. I'm a damn talkative person, and now that I've joined the groups, all Silm pple will be plagued publically instead of privately. Haha.) I liked the note. Cirdan's the only character behaving. I wouldn't mind a Glor side story. O:) B/c what we got here was fun. Anyway, the Elrond/Cirdan part was wonderfully written. I liked especially the line about how Elrond doubts that a peredhil can die of grief. And Cirdan? I hadn't thought of that. Had you? Now for someone whose been on Middle Earth for far longer than he really should've been, poor guy, Cirdan of all people would be able to understand strong grief and the fading that comes from that. It was a great moment between them. The way Elwing was handled was perfect for the story. Ah, what great evil came of pple's lusts for the silmaril. It's especially appropriate for Elrond since Elwing loved the silmaril too much to give it up and Isildur is dealing with the strange compulsion with the Ring. Maedhros was mean, but he did a good job. Beggar huh? Poor Elrond. The Isildur/Tuor comparison was great. I hadn't thought of it. Tuor was a very different person. In truth, I thought of Isildur more like Turin, but really, Turin and Tuor were just different sides of the same coin. So I guess that's all the more reason I liked the Tuor comparison. It made me appreciate Isildur more. Yes, Isildur could be like Tuor instead of Turin if he didn't give in to the Ring. He's that potentially cool. I totally didn't think of Glor and Tuor, but I was willing to accept it and smirked when Glor thought of Idril as an insufferable prig. I guess remembering Tuor and how Glor wanted to protect Tuor's kin as long as his line should last really helped b/c Glor got _really, really, really_ cool later on. (Oh, how I love Glor, especially a well-done, fanging but wise Glor.) Cirdan and Elrond again. Still doing a good job with them. I liked seeing Cirdan chide himself, now that's the Cirdan I know and love, not the one that was being bullied and needed the bullying from his older sister. And when he laughed a bit sadly and just couldn't say why he was there b/c there were just too many reasons. Of course Elrond would miss it. Ah, poor Cirdan. But that's ok. Elrond was busy w/ other issues. Ah, and Cirdan falling for Elrond, only it's not quite love love but it's some kind of a strong feeing, yeah, that I could see. It was smoothly done, very nice. And then back to Isildur _after_ we'd had Glor thinking about Tuor and comparing Tuor to Isildur. Now that I had started thinking about the Tuor/Turin choice before Isildur, seeing him going towards Mt Doom was unexpected and definitely had me hooked for the next chapter. I thought he was leaving and taking the Ring with him, you know, before getting slayed by orcs. Or did leave, changed his mind, decided to try to do what Elrond would've wanted him to do.
Ch 7: You know.. it's ok that it's not a happy ending. It matters more to me that it's well-written. No really, don't get discouraged. If you bled and sweated for this fic, it's paid off in the end. It went from being a "yeah, yeah, yeah, let's get back to the good parts" fic to being a "oh man, this is good stuff, must reread again and again and now what do I do with myself? I know! Let's go read the end of Leavings again! Now that's a pretty good thing since I'm a critical person by nature. (Erm, please excuse me for it too btw, i.e. slamming Cirdan's sister and Thranduil in particular.) But yeah, the blood, sweat, and tears all paid off. It's now one of my favorite stories, up there with As Little Might Be Thought (thought I'd include that since I'm assuming this is the same Deborah that you're referring to in author notes) Isildur losing his mind, that was great. The fact that he did want to destroy the Ring and couldn't. And knowing that he really really should or he's going to go down in history as potentially a tyrant, coward, etc. I was actually reminded of Finrod Felagund in that moment, and Finrod is always a pleasant thought. Isildur seemed to be in the same position despite the fact that Sauron was overthrown. There he was, naked, helpless in a dungeon, and there's a wolf coming not for him but for his friend. Almost exactly the same as Isildur in a metaphoric sense. The Ring has laid bare all of Isildur's fault, heck, the fault that is in everyone when being tempted by the Ring. He can jump at the wolf and destroy the Ring or he could what? Let the wolf eat Elrond? Erm, ok, so I'm not putting it very well, but it has that kind of feeling to it. Isildur's love for Elrond doesn't feel trivialized here. It wasn't just an excuse to get them in bed together after all. They were comrade at arms, and here Isildur is trying to destroy this small thing... Oh yes, and once the Ring is out of the hand, that moment of regret. A pity it fell on a rock and not into the lava itself. I suppose it's a lot like Bilbo in the movie. (Ian Holm did a great job of it, especially after all the practice he had as being Frodo in the BBC I suppose. :b) And then Isildur sitting there moping. I didn't expect Glor to show up. I was pretty happy when he did b/c I'm a Glor fan. I was even happier that he stayed in character so well. Ah, golden-haired Glor. Elves as master of unhelpful answers. Smirk. Yeah, Glor certainly did that, didn't he? I really liked their interaction, Glor's unwillingness to touch the damn Ring, and Isildur half baiting him and half wanting someone else to take up the burden of the Ring. Now after all that build up, Isildur apologizing for not being able to destroy the Ring had more weight and felt good. Ah, juicy little fanfic. Munch munch. And Cirdan being the one to face off with Isildur in that odd little way was perfect. We're just getting all the Ringbearers in one room, aren't we? :b Isildur's twisted little state and how he didn't know if he'd be able to say such things "sorry for not destroying the ring," that rang true and was marvelously done. And Cirdan, with that insight that you'd expect of our superwise elf, thinking "It must be a terrible thing, to have such clear knowledge of your own doom." What a great line. And all the stronger because it was well-placed and not misused. It was exactly right. And it encompassed the terrible burden of the Ring. Cirdan rocks. And Isildur does too at this point. Sucks to be him though. Well, not that I expect Elrond to love Cirdan. He's a bit old... I like the way things stand between them there, just Cirdan being such a dear and comforting Elrond in his sleep and Isildur seeing that he can't do somethng like that (or more for that matter, like sexing him up). I guess part of my problem is purposeful misreading of the ending. We have this warning up on top that there's Cirdan/Elrond slashing. So I suppose I'm supposed to imagine Cirdan wanting to be in a relationship w/ Elrond. I suppose I don't feel like Cirdan is being needy is why feel a little wavy abt very very end. I like the end, but I don't see him as a poor, needy fool. I guess Cirdan's just being hard on himself and being out of sorts in general. But having cirdan just stroking Elrond's hair, I imagine Cirdan the caretaker of all children in times of trouble as he had been in the First Age. It's a very warm feeling to be left on, actually. And I like it all the same even if I don't get the Cirdan/Elrond slash vibes from it and why Cirdan should be so very sad. Well, except that I thought he was being sad because all the children he takes care of are always in the worst possible condition. Gil-galad torn from father and father dying soon afterwards in Dagor Bragollach. Earendil and Elwing after destruction of Gondolin and Doriath. And now Elrond after the War and after Isildur cracking. Anyway, I'm in danger of rambling again.
All in all, it was a very beautifully done story. Pulled off extremely well, especially in the end when I didn't have to fight through the parts that didn't feel was related to the Isildur/Elrond issue that I really wanted to read about. Glor, great work. Does that mean he took over the story and said what he wanted to say? Cirdan, excellent portrayal. Elrond o so weakened, not our normal Elrond, but well-done and believable considering all that's happened and happening to him. And Isildur, surprisingly likable and a prime target of all of the figures of old put in a difficult position. At least he wasn't an ass like Thingol. When he first left Elrond after their sex scene, I thought he was doing the Thingol route and loving the Ring in a greedy way already. Nope, was just having severe mood swings and internal problems. Great work! And apologies for the overly long feedback and analysis of the story. |
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