Strange, somehow I don't remember reading this on Teitho. Maybe I was on vacation and gave this challenge a pass - which is no excuse for only reading it now:)
I'm always amazed by your writing. This could be such a clichéd plot - okay, it probably is a clichéd plot. Legolas gets kidnapped, Aragorn to the rescue. This has been done in one form or another by a lot of authors. And you even put in all the ingredients you'd expect in such a story: Aragorn being a hero, Legolas being stubborn, some h/c - you get the idea. Still, your stories always have something more, which makes them so worthwile. By contrasting Aragorn the warrior to Aragorn the healer throughout the whole story, you gave this a new twist. And while this should be a rather logical choice (must be giving Aragorn a split personality to first cut people apart and then put them together again), I don't think I have seen this theme tackled with such clarity. Brilliant!
Author's Response: Oh it most definitely IS a cliched plot. Which, IMHO, is just part of its charm:) As I recall, this was for the "good and evil" contest, and once I decided what I wanted to write about, I figured that said cliche would be the perfect hook to hang the story on. That and I do so love flipping cliches over on their ear. By making the rescue a forgone conclusion, both the plot and the angst -- and the reader that follows them -- are free to focus on other things, such as Aragorn's dichotomy. Though I have to wonder, what type of response would I have gotten had I made the summary "watch Aragorn graphically kill two men in cold blood". It's all about perception. |
