Henneth Annûn Story Archive

To see Thanduil as a young warrior, with his trusty squire to comfort him on the eve of battle, is wonderfully tender and sweet.

Thank you, Bard!  It certainly does add some nuances to the interactions between the two of them in my other stories.

This story marks the first time I worked with a very special beta reader, whom I would like to thank. 

I would also like to thank 'Galion,' who stubbornly refused to allow me to turn him into merely a figure of fun as I wrote him.  It will be apparant that I am one of the few hopeless Galion fangirls in existence.

Jael,

I love this story. I love the great background it gives to that fateful battle of the Last Alliance, and I love the not-so-favorable view at Gil-galad's role there; and the contrast between the lighter mood of the first chapter and the sad and chilling one of the second chapter works very well. But what I love most is that you manage to make the characters coming completely alive, and completely believable. It is easy to feel with them and identify with them here.

The slash element is handled very well, IMHO; the encounter is handled tastefully and very believable, too.

And more. Normally, writing slash in Tolkien Fanfic, we tend to take a conscious step back from canon and trust in our readers willing suspension of disbelief, because while homoerotic encounters and relationships are not completely impossible even in Middle Earth, it is hardly what the master himself would have imagined. But in this story, you manage to bring the homoerotic encounter accross so totally believable and fitting to the situation, that no suspension of disbelieve is needed.The whole situation feels totally believable and perfectly possible, and it feels as fitting perfectly into the canonical universe under the circumstances you give us here. Applause! Very, very well done! This will always be one of my favorites.

But in this story, you manage to bring the homoerotic encounter accross so totally believable and fitting to the situation, that no suspension of disbelieve is needed.The whole situation feels totally believable and perfectly possible,

Thank you kindly for your generous comments!  I hope the Mighty Elvenking will not be too angry with me for exposing his secrets.  Perhaps part of the reason this works believably is that it grew out of the progression of the relationship between Thranduil and Galion as I wrote them.  Galion simply would not allow me to portray him as a figure of fun merely.  The more I showed the two of them together, the more I realized these two men loved each other, in a non-sappy, manly way.

I pondered long and hard about making this part of my 'official' universe, but it is, and I think it adds a depth and nuance to the interaction between Thranduil and his faithful valet/butler.  At least I've explained why Galion was forgiven for the Dorwinion incident.

Thank you for the kind comments!

 The "no man is a hero to his own valet" point is well proven.

I was nervous about using a real life aphorism in Middle-earth, but this one just seemed so right.  The original can be attributed to Madame De Sevigny, but here, we'll give it to Melian of Doriath, who should know about males with feet of clay.

The second chapter is at least as moving as the first. It gave me a subtly altered insight into Oropher's disastrous charge and subsequent death

Strangely, this was the first one written, probably because I'm more comfortable with politics than I am with sex.  I knew Thranduil would have a different take on the disaster, however, I'm not sure where the paranoia about the Noldor standing back (possibly deliberately) while the Silvans got creamed came from.  It just popped in while I had myself in the headspace of the grieving Thanduil.  So I went with it.  You'll see that attitude of Thranduil's throughout my other stories, and it has proved a very fertile idea to follow.

I think this could be a candidate for the LaCE challenge

Why thank you for the suggestion!  I might just do that!