Heh. I'd never before read "Lenore" but it reminds me a bit of the story I'd written about Hathaldir and Aerlin...
Which ofcourse was in turn, and knowingly by the end (though not really deliberately in the beginning) inspired by the very same Greek folk-song above about the dead brother... The basic concept was the same: a promise unwillingly broken via the death of the one who made it, a person complaining in bitterness about this violated promise, the person coming briefly back in life in order to make good on his promise...
That was the basic structure -- but for the specifics I had to adapt it to *Tolkien's* moral universe and my own. For example in Konstantis' tale, the "maternal curse" is the most important compelling element. But really, though the mother can be excused in the context of suffering from intense emotional trauma after the death of nine out of ten of her children, judged objectively such a thing would be utterly utterly vile IMO. Not just the mother cursing her child, especially over something he had no control over, but even (seemingly) just seeing her son as a transport vehicle for her daughter. Ugh. Is that a reason for the dead to come back to life, I ask? In *my* moral universe such a curse, unjustly laid, would be an impotent thing indeed, damning the mother in its utterance instead of compelling the dead son.
So, in this aspect, I *very knowingly* altered the details, and refrained Aerlin from cursing either Hathaldir, or the world entire. Complain about it and him, sure, but not curse them. Such a thing would have made her (I felt) unworthy of the consolation she ends up deserving and receiving. Her request, longing and sense of loss are also all focused around Hathaldir himself, not around anything or anyone else he could provide (like e.g. the mother asking her dead son to bring her daughter back). That's another fundamental reason why I felt she could get her wish.
(PS: I think I could have her, in grief, curse their *choices*, but even then only if deep down she didn't mean it and would be corrected for it in the end. But when I truly decided that "my words are too weak to weave into verses the lore revealed" of that event, I also decided against inserting a "sin" of sorts in her words that I wouldn't be able to elaborate on, showing her repent of it by the end.)
--- The second fundamental alteration arises not so much from my own moral universe's needs, but from Tolkien's I think. The dead brother in the Greek song-poem is kind and dutiful enough, but he looks unhealthy, smells of the grave, etc. Hints of the *corpse*.
Dead Hathaldir, on the other hand, just like the reflection of herself that Aerlin sees in his eyes, hints of Arda Healed --- the Resurrection at the end of time, the freedom beyond the bounds of Ea, the idea that all Mortals were once meant to be sub-creators themselves, like the Powers, and will one day prove worthy to be so again. Dead, and in a good cause, dutiful to the end, he looks more glorious than anything Aerlin has yet seen.
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Re: oh, that reminds me--
Date: 2006-02-02 06:58 pm (UTC)Which ofcourse was in turn, and knowingly by the end (though not really deliberately in the beginning) inspired by the very same Greek folk-song above about the dead brother... The basic concept was the same: a promise unwillingly broken via the death of the one who made it, a person complaining in bitterness about this violated promise, the person coming briefly back in life in order to make good on his promise...
That was the basic structure -- but for the specifics I had to adapt it to *Tolkien's* moral universe and my own. For example in Konstantis' tale, the "maternal curse" is the most important compelling element. But really, though the mother can be excused in the context of suffering from intense emotional trauma after the death of nine out of ten of her children, judged objectively such a thing would be utterly utterly vile IMO. Not just the mother cursing her child, especially over something he had no control over, but even (seemingly) just seeing her son as a transport vehicle for her daughter. Ugh. Is that a reason for the dead to come back to life, I ask? In *my* moral universe such a curse, unjustly laid, would be an impotent thing indeed, damning the mother in its utterance instead of compelling the dead son.
So, in this aspect, I *very knowingly* altered the details, and refrained Aerlin from cursing either Hathaldir, or the world entire. Complain about it and him, sure, but not curse them. Such a thing would have made her (I felt) unworthy of the consolation she ends up deserving and receiving. Her request, longing and sense of loss are also all focused around Hathaldir himself, not around anything or anyone else he could provide (like e.g. the mother asking her dead son to bring her daughter back). That's another fundamental reason why I felt she could get her wish.
(PS: I think I could have her, in grief, curse their *choices*, but even then only if deep down she didn't mean it and would be corrected for it in the end. But when I truly decided that "my words are too weak to weave into verses the lore revealed" of that event, I also decided against inserting a "sin" of sorts in her words that I wouldn't be able to elaborate on, showing her repent of it by the end.)
---
The second fundamental alteration arises not so much from my own moral universe's needs, but from Tolkien's I think. The dead brother in the Greek song-poem is kind and dutiful enough, but he looks unhealthy, smells of the grave, etc. Hints of the *corpse*.
Dead Hathaldir, on the other hand, just like the reflection of herself that Aerlin sees in his eyes, hints of Arda Healed --- the Resurrection at the end of time, the freedom beyond the bounds of Ea, the idea that all Mortals were once meant to be sub-creators themselves, like the Powers, and will one day prove worthy to be so again. Dead, and in a good cause, dutiful to the end, he looks more glorious than anything Aerlin has yet seen.