Quote:
Originally Posted by littlemanpoet
I fear a plot contradiction emerging in regard to Amroth. Please tell me if you've thought about this. Amroth's spirit (fea) cannot weaken, it seems to me; but the body in which he dwells does weaken. The fea of Amroth may be limited by the weakness of the body of Mellondu, and the frustration would thus be growing and lending even greater energy to Amroth; such that Mellondu is weakened more quickly. However, I see you writing Amroth as weakening, and that doesn't seem quite in keeping with my understanding of Tolkien's set up. Please let me know your thoughts.
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What I'm thinking is that he is less and less "sent". He has been on Mandos' leash for the whole quest. Mandos is calling him back, slowly pulling (leaking? leaching?) him back into his own halls. Amroth feels it, mysteriously, but neither understands that nor can he quite express that, since Mandos is, and has been, all but hidden from him except for that one awful headache-inducing slip on Mandos' part. Whenever he begins to remember the thousand years interval between his drowning and the present, Mandos clouds it again.
If Amroth were dying in battle, like Feanor, he'd burn brighter, I think. But even as he somehow senses that his quest is nearing completion, he knows his time here is ending. Since there are no more ships that will sail west (he thinks-- remember his was the "last ship" then in order to go west, he must die. So must she. His question is will Nimrodel follow him or not. He knows (somehow) that his time is ending. She will either recieve him, or not.
In Mandos, is he brightening? I don't know. Maybe. In hope that they will be together soon.
It would be good, I guess, to have him blaze up as he dies. Will that consume Mellondu? But I want Mellondu to live.
I don't think I will write the "Lo, thus waketh Amroth in the halls of Mandos, and sayeth, Twas but a dream!" It doesn't fit. I think he will be waiting & hoping to be "reincarnated", and Nimrodel with him. I imagine Taitheneb reminding them to meet by the such-and-such stream in Lorien once theyy are of age. Maybe Taitheneb will utter it as an elegy of sorts once they are gone.