Henneth Annûn Story Archive

I am so glad you have posted this, Aiwendiel. This is such a wonderful and rich story. You explore the nature of Olorin/ Gandalf in beautiful detail, exploring his emotions and powers in a way that is utterly credible and 'real' but never touched in canon. The relationships developed over time are gorgeously written and well worth reading - a reward to the reader is the lovely moment where Mithrandir does not quite understand the dance and then does - but I wont spoil it for new readers. I LOVE this chapter when he returns.

I love this quite intimate moment between Schlain and Gandalf - although it doesn't feel rightto call him Gandalf with his short hair and no beard! Love the bit where he says how curious they are about the baby (wont spoil it). I like that you have spent time here on the menfolk and their relationship - and of course, the grief that will come.

 How beautiful your writing is:

'She wondered whether his voice had been part of that music, and then she knew beyond all doubt: it had been. Tears started in her eyes as her heart caught again like it had the first time he looked deeply into her soul.' 

And that vulnerabilty he has that the children can hurt him unintentionally s they grow older. And the great grief that I know now awaits me at the end of this. I hardly want to read on but I trust you, Aiwendiel, to soften it a little with a bit of hope.

Ah, Aiwendiel - I need ot say again how very beautiful is your writing. Schlain is just a wonderful character - this is as good as anyhting I have ever read published or otherwise. The art of listening is very cleverly written here so there is no sense of reading, just knowing it is true- the best writing is when you forget you ar ereading- I am stumbling here over what I want to say but I think you know.

I LOVE the bit where they are discussing their 'indiscretions'! Olorin is a randy old dog and Sclain and he have this wonderful conversation that is just so normal even though they discuss things that are not normal for mortal men. 

And hte fourth child is special - so how much harder will it be when Gandalf is drawn back to his work. But I feel too that this was an important part of the preparation he undertakes- so he understands how mortals ive and how he will use themt o accomplish his great work. And that has its own sorrow too.

This is a lovely chapter- as they all are. Corlin is developed in a way that is quiet and self-contained. He will be the greatest loss to Olorin I hthinlk and I am intrigued ot see how you develop his narrative. The others are more ordinary and less likely to play some part in the later tales.

I am so sad to lose Schlain- such a great character.

This fabulous line:

'The wind began to rise in the wizard's life. He had not called it down, and he could not control it. The candles began to waver in the storm.' and then it begins - the loss and the grief. 

I cant say much about this- spent the whole chapter sobbing.

Aiwendiel - this is too sad and I cant write anything now. Everything has gone. I hate the man for killing the badgers. Would Orli really have married such a nasty man? And everything that was Mithrandir and Corli seems to have left,  and the magic all gone. 

I am really left with this sense of devastation and loss. Mithrandir returning only 87 years after - of course it wouldn't be the same but somehow the badger cull is worse than anything else. I have such a sense of anger at the man who did this and I really wnated the Grey Man who would have stopped it- or punished it, back. Instead Mithrandir meekly accepts that everything has gone and almost turns his back on it. This interlude has changed him - and he needed to know what it was like but oh, it's so bleak in fact. 

What you have done is make the sense of time exquisitely painful. The loss he bears is immense and you made me share in it in a painful and emotional way. You write beautifully- every word perfect and accurate and I can only admire. It doesn't feel like I am reading- but experiencing everything as if I am there. I wish the ending had been less distressing but I also know you needed to show that nothing was left- and you did. 

Ah my dear faithful reader, Ziggy! So glad that you found this first before any others. Your comments are truly truly awesome to me. Thank you so very much.

I set out to try to capture a Gandalf who was sort of innocent of loss and who had to go through this crucible to be able to really understand what he would ask of others--especially Frodo--in the future. He had to experience it all: friendship, betrayal, anger, love, supreme joy, devastating loss, and feel it like a real mortal would, because he was living like one. And I particularly wished to present a character who was riven with doubts but kept on going --- like all of us, like me. I am glad I seemed to capture some of what I set out to do, and despite the sadness I think it couldn't have ended any other way, or the Gandalf of the future, some 2000 years later, couldn't have become the apparently detached, irascible, impatient old man whose heart of compassion was always just beneath the surface. Thank you again! 

Oh, and by the way, sorry about the badger. I think nothing is more infuriating to me as well as when a human heartlessly destroys another living creature just because he can... And as to whether a descendent of Corli would have been foolish enough to marry a boor like him, well, sometimes we make awful mistakes that we can't easily escape. At first I wrote that Olorin's eldest daughter would inherit that beryl necklace, but when the scene with 'Corli-II' of 87 years later popped into view, I had to give it back to Mithrandir, so he could 'pay it forward' and give his great-great-great-granddaughter a way out! Wonder where that necklace ended up? I am sure it provided her with the help she needed to get the heck out of there.