"I have taken Galadriel's farewell song from Fellowship and given it to Arwen here; the words are by Tolkien."
Tolkien borrowed a great deal from existing Old English poems. <3 Here is where the 'where is the horse? where is the rider' line is from: http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=text&id=Wdr
And I love how your changed timeline affects events in this chapter - Galadriel instead of Mithrandir! Watching young Theoden and Denethor spar and agree by turns is amazing in and of itself. This continues to be incredibly awesome.
...the only thing that weirds me is how in canon, Gandalf on his own defeats the Balrog. By sending Galadriel and others and having the same outcome, you have implied that Gandalf > Galadriel...
Also, now that I've read your other comments, and your ridiculous level of Tolkienesque knowledge, I'm like, "did you know Tolkien borrowed from ancient poetry? Of course she does, fool". ;)
...the only thing that weirds me is how in canon, Gandalf on his own defeats the Balrog. By sending Galadriel and others and having the same outcome, you have implied that Gandalf > Galadriel...
I don't feel too bad about that, because Gandalf is a being of a different order altogether and has reserves he can tap into that Galadriel doesn't--in my opinion, although the fight at Dol Guldur in the movies seems to imply otherwise, doesn't it? I admit I actually feel a bit worse that I've implied Galadriel is perhaps weaker than First Age Glorfindel! My defense would be that in both cases it's a different kind of battle? Gandalf and Glorfindel are fighting in abandoned cities, while Galadriel and company are facing a balrog right below a still-occupied city, and perhaps a concern for causing damage that could risk peoples' lives kept them from going all-out in the same way? That's totally a rationalization, though...
And you know, this may sound weird, but I'm oddly glad that the story doesn't come across as Tolkien Lore Dump! There've been (and there will be more) places where I worry it looks like I'm bringing in lore just to do it rather than for the story's sake, and I don't want that...
Sometimes I'm unfamiliar with what you're discussing, but it doesn't decrease my enjoyment of the story. I think so long as you keep the focus on your own main characters, it's all good. <3
Comment on Clarity of Purpose
Kirinin on Chapter 12 Thu 15 Jan 2015 10:47PM UTC
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Kirinin on Chapter 12 Sat 17 Jan 2015 03:04AM UTC
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Mithen on Chapter 12 Fri 23 Jan 2015 01:01PM UTC
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Kirinin on Chapter 12 Fri 23 Jan 2015 04:34PM UTC
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