hmm...

well, i'll agree with you on the avari's hatred of the other elf kindreds and their laws. and it's not not canon if you are not actually contradicting canon. by that definition, you aren't au. xD

i disagree with the marriage thing, simply because i think that it is more in the nature of elves to have just one person. it's part, i would say, of what sets them apart from the other races.
but heck, i'll buy it--you argue your case well xD

i do disagree completely with the good and evil thing though. there is good and evil. it can be clearly defined in some cases--manwe and melkor for example. one goes off and destroys things and the other seeks to aid and heal (though i'll readily admit manwe's not perfect).
as for feanor being evil? yes, i'd say he was. and i'd say that those who loved him, nerdanel for example, would agree. was he irredeemable? i'd say no. but many of his actions (the kinslaying...) were completely evil. and for feanor being evil, he's human. well, elf. i don't think he can truly be completely good or evil in the same way that manwe and melkor are. he is a mixture of both. however, as time goes on, he fails to control the evilness within him and that's when he BECOMES evil; when he suppresses the good inside of him for his own selfish gains. he's still capable of good though--for example, he loved his father until the end.

as for evil largely being a lack of control? yes, i'd agree with that. being good isn't easy simply because you have to restrain yourself from doing all the things that seem so cool (like stealing a bunch of ships from some backwards idiots who wouldn't give them to you--again the kinslaying). that's where the difference lies between good and bad people. good people have enough control over themselves to reject the evil.

as for iluvatar being able to fix everything, well, yeah, he could. but then feanor would be telling the truth when he rebelled against the valar. he would be telling the truth--as would melkor--when they said the elves were only puppets/toys/etc... because iluvatar doesn't come in and snap his fingers and fix everything, he allows people to choose him or to reject him. to chose good or to fall to evil.

so yeah. and i really did like the part where her brother was ok and in valinor. i always did feel bad for the Orcs. after all, how much of their evil is innate? how much is choice? how much of their corruption was choice and how much was the overwhelming might of melkor? AI! the unanswerable moral and philosophical questions of tolkien's writing.

well, i enjoyed this oneshot. and i hope my review makes sense. i know that it probably doesn't.
keep writing!

i love this story, very interesting. i dont necessarily believe in the abscence of good and evil, but the whole thing was excellent
well done.

Good story and well-written, but I have to say that I don't agree with Rihansu's philosophy. Perhaps Manwe does restrain his power, but it's not just a matter of restraint. Morgoth revelled in the hurt he caused to others. Sauron did likewise. Orcs revelled. To a good person, hurting someone else is not enjoyable. That is beyond restraint. If there is no right and no wrong, there would also be no conscience. And I don't think it can be proven that conscience is a figment of our imagination. There have been people found to be without consciences, such as serial killers. It would be a sad, sad world, if we all woke up one day and decided those guys were right.

You've finally added an explanation!

I see your point, that this is a topic that really needs to be explored further.

I was hoping to see more of Rihansu and her brother, but I suppose that you aren't going to go any further with this story. Frankly I think this has a lot of potential, but I know that you are wrapped up in your other stories for now.

"...when the high kings were dying like mosquitoes."

LOL.

Deep.

I love your work, and I loved reading such an opinion. Off-topic, though: I would love to see something about the encounter between Orc-Ishak and Rihansu. But that's just me...

*prances off to trying and think like a normal human being.*

Well said. Very well said.
I agree with your idea of revolution of minds for elves. Afterall, people have to change.
The idea of no good and evil is quite reasonable. It is rather that other things intrigue you to change your mind and action. A control of desire like you said.

Thank you for writing such a captivating story! There need to be more SilmFics at FF.net! :)

However, down at your notes, you say that it is "stated" that 144 Elves awoke. Did you get this from The War of the Jewels? In that, it was not stated; it was merely a legend, or myth if you will, about the beginnings of Elves. I don't think that it was set down in concrete that that was the true story, just very likely.

So your belief that there were more (or even possibly, less) Elves at the beginning could be true. But it certainly does explain why Elves use 12 and 144 as vital parts of their counting system.

~§hada i súle

You gave us a happy ending! Oh, thank you so very much for that. If you've ever read Oboe-Wan's "Silver and Gold," there's a chapter on this very same subject, really sweet and sad. I liked this very much, thank you.

If Orcs are indeed bred from Elves, the moral and philosophical consequences of this do need to be tackled. A sincere attempt to address the problem of good and evil ought never to be offensive, and I don't think this story is. (Actually I was reminded of Isaiah 45:7.) It doesn't quite solve the problem of actual suffering, responsibility and free will, but what philosophy really does?
And I don't agree with the reviewer who said this wasn't really a story. It's the story of Rihansu and her brother the Orc.

Oh, wonderful! This is so incredibly beautiful. I love Mandos, the patient listener, and Rihansu, the Avari who gave up her hate. And most of all, Ishak, the redeemed Orc. This is so awesome. This is the best of all your fics, in my opinion.

*blinks* and all the discussion yeilds one very thought-provoking fic. We really don't see much of the Avari; it's very nice to read your perspective.

Love it. It's very scary but very true I think, that it's all a matter of perspective. Love when brother and sister come back together.

Hmm, I can't decide if the ending was happy or not. I mean, it was happy, but then again, I find myself wondering if Rihansu will succeed in getting through those thick elven heads.

This story was scary, because you really showed a bad side to the elves, whom we tend to envision as perfect and wise all the time. But in your story, they were just as bad as men! Not that I mean a slight toward humans, as I happen to be one myself. The suffering of the Avari at the hands of both Melkor and the elves is depressing, and I can see why they would be moved to such radical beliefs. The Eldar, who although suffered, didn't suffer as much, have the priviledge of being superior and moral.

Can orcs, Avari, and Eldar live together? Is the only way that they can do that is by believing in what Rihansu said? I don't know. Mandos makes me hopeful at the end, and yet I have a feeling that it still will take a lot of time for the elves to accept them, but then again, it takes elves a long time to do anything.

Echoing Mandos, "I'm so proud of you." Like your fearless heroine, you also ventured into this new territory.

I don't know if I can accept her philosophy yet, but I do understand it. Very well written!

This was so well written! YOu definately have a gift when it comes to these types of things. YOu knew that most people would want to slaughter you for writing this, but you wrote it anyway. Good to see some of the Avari perspective, and good to see that they also have hope.