Reviews For ~ I Will Lead And Thou Shalt Follow ~
Name: Encairion (Signed) · Date: March 29, 2013 23:57 · For: Chapter 1 ~ A Flame Too Bright ~
Gosh, Feanor is just so exquisite! You write him to perfection.
I think this is a very good explanation for why he married Nerdanial. I could so see him almost manipulating her into loving him, not that he didn’t love her back for a time, but it stared out with him obsessed with the idea of learning from her father, and you know what Feanor’s like when he’s got an idea in his head. Nothing’s going to stop him, and he’ll do pretty much anything to get what he wants. I feel so bad from Nerdanial here, because as we find out later none of this was her fault, and yet she suffers through Feanor’s rage. Feanor, for all that I love his character, would be a very hard person to have love you, or too love, I think. What he needs though is not just someone who can withstand his rages and moods, but someone who can fight back, like only Fingolfin can :D
“I should have asked Laurëfindë”
Oh man! I’d forgotten you had that idea when I wrote the same in my story. I’s been a while since I read “I will lead…” and it just seems so natural that he’d want Glorfindel’s golden hair, you know? I apologize; I hope you did not think ill of me.
Your work is as magnificent as ever, my dear :D
Author's Response: Oh, I just wrote on a review on your story, so you wouldn't have to come over and read this, but I had actually forgotten that I had written that reason, and now think it was more simple - with Fëanor I always forget he was very young when he married her 'early youth'. So while there was some calculation, I think it was just his libido, her wanting to get pregnant and bam! and he was expected to marry her, and was not averse, so he did. In this 'verse, in Valinor, people didn't take lovers; they were told of the Laws, and most believed them. The few that didn't would have hidden it very well, and besides, if Nerdanel was having a child, it's *his*. (To Fëanor everyone is his d;-) And he could have as much sex as he wanted, or she would stand.
I kind of think it was an okay marriage for a few years, (in Valinorean time) probably until Celegorm, as Fëanor was so intense in his creating etc - not to mention breeding his sons, that he could direct his energy into other things rather than experimenting with men. As I mentioned, I do think Ingwë was his first realization of that, but at that time, (not any-more) Ingwë was the so-perfect Vanya, and Fëanor would have soon got bored by fancying some-one who looked like an icicle and acted like he was stoned!
Personally I would feel sorry for any woman who married Fëanor. I couldn't. I'd look at him through a telescope but not get closer. I would want to kill him within half an hour.
Also Nerdanel was under the influence of Varda, as were all the women, and so her decreasing desire for sex was not just that Fëanor was too much, but outside influences, too. So it was a mixture of both.
Oh man! I’d forgotten you had that idea when I wrote the same in my story.
I didn't even think about it. I think it's a kind of obvious idea. Glorfindel (named unimaginatively for his hair) as attracting Fëanor after Galadriel refused. And in this he only joked about it, he didn't actually take any of Glorfindel's hair, so it's not the same at all!
Hugs and thank-you for re-reading!
Name: Narya (Signed) · Date: June 21, 2012 13:16 · For: Chapter 1 ~ A Flame Too Bright ~
The intro to this story is brilliant - so powerful and so suggestive of what's to come. It was intriguing to see your Fëanor in his early days, and you capture him perfectly; a panther is exactly the right point of comparison!
I love the fatherly pride that underscores all of this, too. The care and love they both have for their sons is really touching.
Author's Response: Thank-you, Narya :) This was really the first bit of fanfic I wrote (though it's been edited a lot since) as it was supposed to form the basis for the rest of the stories.
The care and love they both have for their sons is really touching.
I am so pleased that does come across, as I do think they both loved their sons very deeply. :)
Name: Tinara (Signed) · Date: March 01, 2012 16:07 · For: Chapter 3 ~ A Jealous Burning ~
I'm always impressed by your writing, it's so vivid and charged with emotions. In a way it's a perfect companion to the Simarillion, where I find those same cauldron of emotions and colliding fates but in a very compressed style of writing. Your stories are much more detailed but in underlying them is this same sense of urgency, doom and spirit.
Even though I just wanted to take a small peak at this chapter I felt compelled to read it all - it's really great!
Tinara
Author's Response: Your stories are much more detailed but in underlying them is this same sense of urgency, doom and spirit.
Thank-you Tinara! I am so glad that does come across, as I did feel it. Tolkien 'told' us of the emotions, didn't 'show' us, which I tried to, although of course I had my own ideas of what lay under the canon events.
Thank-you so much!
Name: Tinara (Signed) · Date: February 14, 2012 18:54 · For: Chapter 2 ~ The Imprint Of Power ~
It's such a clash of battling emotions reading about Feanor - and yet you manage to portray him as someone standing apart from common boundaries.
I like how you keep track of many different characters and their very own stories and struggles, it's amazing and it adds so much life and depth to this whole arch.
Though I was quite engrossed while reading, I happened to trip over this paragraph "Ofelmo, whom had served Laurëfindë since he was a youth, was waiting. He had also, it seemed ordered the servants away, for the halls were empty. Which meant, though Nolofinwë," - I think it should be "thought Nolofinwe", shouldn't it?
Tinara
Author's Response: Ooh, thanks for picking up 'thought', Tinara. :) (Also Ofelmo should have an accent over the O, I remember, but it does not show when I add it, oh well.)
To me Fëanor does stand apart; or at least, he does not think that any rules apply to him, that he's simply beyond what he considers pettiness. I always enjoy writing him, though it's quite exhausting! Thank-you for taking time to review. :)
Name: Tinara (Signed) · Date: February 14, 2012 18:47 · For: Chapter 1 ~ A Flame Too Bright ~
This is truly captivating - I'm very fascinated by your AU and your view on the Noldor and the Valar.
Your description of Feanor is so vivid and beautiful, I can easily see why his brother is so enthralled by him.
Tinara
Author's Response: Thank-you again, Tinara. I am so pleased Fëanor comes across as the way I envisage him, utterly magnetic and charismatic. I do think that is borne out by canon, because his sons swore the Oath without a moments thought or hesitation. I also think that he possessed such a powerful presence that he could either evoke intense love or intense hate, which was why he didn't have as many followers as Fingolfin or Finarfin. But when I first read the Silm, so long ago now, and as a teen, I simply felt that whatever the story said, Fingolfin was indeed enthralled by him, and that idea is really what lead to this whole AU. :
Thank-you for reading, and taking time to review.
Name: Caunedhiel (Signed) · Date: October 19, 2011 21:52 · For: Chapter 4 ~ Follow Me! ~
ai, how you manage to bring the Finwions to life, with all thier complicated characters and unique personalities I don't know! Please update soon!!
Author's Response: Thank-you Caunedhiel. Oh, I love the Finwions; they are so fascinating, such irresistible story-meat. It always amazes me there are not vast epic series about them because they're so larger than life, and of course, so tragic.
This story is completed really. I must have forgotten to tick the box. The trouble is we all know what happens, and Fëanor dies, which is just so wrong I don't even know where to start with that, so I didn't want to go on. I may have left it open to add anything that came to mind of these earlier days, though some little bits are in 'Fragments'.
Hugs and thank-you for the review!