Celeritas received a truly wonderful gift, and it's a pleasure that it can be shared amongst many. I thoroughly enjoyed this visit to the Shire and to Rivendell. As always, your attention to detail brings characters, culture and environment to vivid life. There's much to love about this story -- Merry's voice, for one. You've captured the sense of age and maturity that one would expect for a hobbit of his years, and his relationship with Estella is wonderfully drawn: a mature couple who have been together for years and are still in love. Now that is romantic. The fade to black scene was very nice. :^)
I got a kick out of Merimas' very direct questions. He definitely sounds like a first-time reader of The Lord of the Rings. Also enjoyed the journey from the Shire to Rivendell through Estella's eyes and also got a hoot out of the "tra-la-la-lalley" explanation! :^D Also appreciated your weaving in Hildifons as part of the story, Erestor's reaction to his remembrance of "Trotter" and Merry's keen observation of how differences in spans of life may have an impact on the interactions of mortals and the Firstborn. Your expertise with hobbits really shines in this story, particularly the thrills that Merry and Estella got when they found mention of hobbits in the histories they were reviewing. A very natural reaction.
Most of all, I love your portrayal of Merry as having a scholarly bent. It's remarkable how a bit of text from Tolkien's writing, e.g.,
In Brandy Hall there were many works dealing with Eriador and the history of Rohan. Some of these were composed or begun by Meriadoc himself…It was probably at Great Smials that The Tale of Years was put together, with the assistance of material collected by Meriadoc.
...can trigger a creative mind into bringing forth such a rich story. I have always thought the quoted text above was intriguing, and you've taken it and run with it here. You mentioned that you might expand on The Annals of the West. To that I say...
Ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease!
Heh. If you guessed that this story rang my chimes, you would be correct. :^D
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-01-03 02:23 am (UTC)I got a kick out of Merimas' very direct questions. He definitely sounds like a first-time reader of The Lord of the Rings. Also enjoyed the journey from the Shire to Rivendell through Estella's eyes and also got a hoot out of the "tra-la-la-lalley" explanation! :^D Also appreciated your weaving in Hildifons as part of the story, Erestor's reaction to his remembrance of "Trotter" and Merry's keen observation of how differences in spans of life may have an impact on the interactions of mortals and the Firstborn. Your expertise with hobbits really shines in this story, particularly the thrills that Merry and Estella got when they found mention of hobbits in the histories they were reviewing. A very natural reaction.
Most of all, I love your portrayal of Merry as having a scholarly bent. It's remarkable how a bit of text from Tolkien's writing, e.g.,
...can trigger a creative mind into bringing forth such a rich story. I have always thought the quoted text above was intriguing, and you've taken it and run with it here. You mentioned that you might expand on The Annals of the West. To that I say...
Ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease!
Heh. If you guessed that this story rang my chimes, you would be correct. :^D