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crack_van2005-06-05 10:16 pm
faramir-boromir.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2005-06-05 10:16 pm
Entry tags:
"The Art of War" by Aesc (NC-17)
Fandom: LOTR
Pairing/Characters: Faramir/Boromir, Denethor
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aesc
Author Website: http://www.ontheqt.org/nc/
Why this must be read:
This is one of the most beautifully written Faramir/Boromir stories out there. The author has a philologist's feel for words and knows how to use them in recreating the atmosphere of Minas Tirith. Indeed, all of her stories have an elegaic quality, and her awareness of and love for stories like Beowulf stands her in good stead when following in Tolkien's footsteps. In this story, five chapters in length, we follow the two brothers who are concealing their greatest secret (incest) from a father, Denethor, who is already possessed by the Palantir. All the characters are well-drawn, even the Rohirrim who appear early on. But the story is really less about fighting the war than about the intensity of family conflict. Asaesc says, "The bitterest wars can be fought among kin," and this story takes us into the minds of all three men, on the eve of battle, when no words spoken are as simple as what they appear to be. Everything is thought then re-thought, spoken then weighed and recalculated through the tripled lens of family, honor, Gondor.
There are so many stunning parts of this story that I could excerpt--Faramir speaking Rohirric with one of the men from Rohan, Boromir caught in his father's dreams of familial glory, Faramir's near-capitulation to Denethor's plans in the garden, each of them alive with Tolkien flavor. But to choose only one excerpt...in the second of the five story segments. Denethor has announced that Osgiliath must be retaken, and Boromir goes to find his brother to ask for his support. They argue, briefly, about the wisdom of retaking the city, but Faramir is brooding about more than just the upcoming battle. He has begun to dream and, worse, fear the future beyond Osgiliath.
Faramir shook his head. “No, there is more, but I am loath to speak it – it is a feeling, nothing more, and a foolish thing to set upon you, when you already have much to occupy you.”
“If it would be of help to Gondor, I would have you tell it.”
“Osgiliath will be…” Faramir sighed. “The River passes through it, and rivers are places that are… boundaries. There is a wall placed against my sight at Osgiliath; I cannot see you past it. A shadow lies upon the roads to and from that city.”
“Death is not something I fear, nor should you – death is certain, and when it comes for us it shall come.” The words were old, spoken to soldiers since the Last Alliance, perhaps. He himself had said it many times, to cheers or to the grim silence before the dawn of an attack. “We will meet it, though, with bravery,” Boromir continued, “as befits us, whether the roads be dark or not.”
“I need no rallying cry,” Faramir said sharply, “and it is one thing to accept that death will come and another thing to greet it foolishly, or without need. As a captain, I will tell you Osgiliath must be retaken, though the cost will be dear, for in it are the hopes of our country and the lives of my men in Ithilien. But as a brother, and as one who loves you, I tell you that Osgiliath holds danger and parting – it may not be death, but still there may be loss we had not looked to suffer, or a separation just as bitter to endure. Do you see now, why I offer double words?” He shook his head, kneeling there, and his smile was without joy in the firelight. “I cannot be just a captain, my brother, and I cannot be just your brother. The way of things forbids that, though I would wish it otherwise.”
Read the entire story HERE.
Pairing/Characters: Faramir/Boromir, Denethor
Author on LJ:
aescAuthor Website: http://www.ontheqt.org/nc/
Why this must be read:
This is one of the most beautifully written Faramir/Boromir stories out there. The author has a philologist's feel for words and knows how to use them in recreating the atmosphere of Minas Tirith. Indeed, all of her stories have an elegaic quality, and her awareness of and love for stories like Beowulf stands her in good stead when following in Tolkien's footsteps. In this story, five chapters in length, we follow the two brothers who are concealing their greatest secret (incest) from a father, Denethor, who is already possessed by the Palantir. All the characters are well-drawn, even the Rohirrim who appear early on. But the story is really less about fighting the war than about the intensity of family conflict. As
aesc says, "The bitterest wars can be fought among kin," and this story takes us into the minds of all three men, on the eve of battle, when no words spoken are as simple as what they appear to be. Everything is thought then re-thought, spoken then weighed and recalculated through the tripled lens of family, honor, Gondor.There are so many stunning parts of this story that I could excerpt--Faramir speaking Rohirric with one of the men from Rohan, Boromir caught in his father's dreams of familial glory, Faramir's near-capitulation to Denethor's plans in the garden, each of them alive with Tolkien flavor. But to choose only one excerpt...in the second of the five story segments. Denethor has announced that Osgiliath must be retaken, and Boromir goes to find his brother to ask for his support. They argue, briefly, about the wisdom of retaking the city, but Faramir is brooding about more than just the upcoming battle. He has begun to dream and, worse, fear the future beyond Osgiliath.
Faramir shook his head. “No, there is more, but I am loath to speak it – it is a feeling, nothing more, and a foolish thing to set upon you, when you already have much to occupy you.”
“If it would be of help to Gondor, I would have you tell it.”
“Osgiliath will be…” Faramir sighed. “The River passes through it, and rivers are places that are… boundaries. There is a wall placed against my sight at Osgiliath; I cannot see you past it. A shadow lies upon the roads to and from that city.”
“Death is not something I fear, nor should you – death is certain, and when it comes for us it shall come.” The words were old, spoken to soldiers since the Last Alliance, perhaps. He himself had said it many times, to cheers or to the grim silence before the dawn of an attack. “We will meet it, though, with bravery,” Boromir continued, “as befits us, whether the roads be dark or not.”
“I need no rallying cry,” Faramir said sharply, “and it is one thing to accept that death will come and another thing to greet it foolishly, or without need. As a captain, I will tell you Osgiliath must be retaken, though the cost will be dear, for in it are the hopes of our country and the lives of my men in Ithilien. But as a brother, and as one who loves you, I tell you that Osgiliath holds danger and parting – it may not be death, but still there may be loss we had not looked to suffer, or a separation just as bitter to endure. Do you see now, why I offer double words?” He shook his head, kneeling there, and his smile was without joy in the firelight. “I cannot be just a captain, my brother, and I cannot be just your brother. The way of things forbids that, though I would wish it otherwise.”
Read the entire story HERE.