Tapestry of Dreams, Part 2 Discussion

[mark12_30]

I trust you with Ravion. But it would take a lot of time. Writing them both is kind of eermy.

BTW, we have forgotten about Jorje. He cannot be neglected! What will he do?

Also I have forgottent he code for AE. In order to spell AEdegard. It must be hard for you to write the both of AEdegard and ... his girl... argh, aha! Argeleafa.

[piosenniel]

Æ - æ

Here's the list of the characters and how to make them - HERE

[mark12_30]

Thanks, Pio!

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

I trust you with Ravion. But it would take a lot of time. Writing them both is kind of eermy.

If you don't mind this taking time, I'm okay with it.

BTW, we have forgotten about Jorje. He cannot be neglected! What will he do?

Jorje will stay with his pack until it disperses. Question is, whom does he consider to be the Alpha of his pack?

[mark12_30]

Ugh, I forget. Didn't Jorje stay with Marigold? I hope?

[mark12_30]

Elempi: Since I gave you a rep recently and can't again yet, consider this "liked":

I think they all need to go back to Marigold. Who wouldn't? Mellonin? She lives in Minas Tirith.

Erebemlin - Marigold, definitely
Taitheneb - she's on the way
The Rohirrim - she's hardly out of the way to Eorling country
Mellonin & Mellondu - your call
Raefindan, Indil, and Mithrellas - They have no reason NOT to go with the others to Marigold.

I like your thought for a final "it's all done, now what?" post. Perhaps we can discuss & rough it on the discussion thread here, and when we're happy with it move it to the story thread.

[littlemanpoet]

Actually, Marigold sent Jorje into the mountains to find the questers.

Thanks for the "like".

What do you want to do now? How can I help?

[mark12_30]

Elempi:

OK, this snapped into focus this morning whle I was riding my bike to the bus stop......

Your objection to having Mellondu at the mouths of the Entwash is correct. You are right: He's dreaming, not teleporting. Roger that! (Eh, and everyone else was dreaming, too. More or less. While they were wide awake.)

Anyway: Mellondu will be found downstream **from the glade**, pretty far below the modestly-sized waterfall. I'll write that soon. Jorje being still at Marigold's was a dream too: he will show up downstream, in the lowlands well below Mellondu, with the works of all his labor. With Marigold's guidance, He rounded up all the horses-- Good Dog!-- and led them east, then past Minas Tirith, then south, and then westward toward the glade. He's been waiting with them downstream. We can either make do in the story with the previous sentence, or, have a little fun with it-- your call.

So they will all journey east and then north together, and perhaps some will remain at Minas Tirith, some will go to Rohan, and some to Marigold's and beyond to Lothlorien.

What would you like to do with the nasssty dark elf Tharonwe?

[littlemanpoet]

Yay! (at the waking up)

Yes yes and yes.

Now for specifics:

I'd like to have some fun with Jorje.

Not sure about Tharonwe. He is like Saruman after having lost his power, and there are enough wise folk in the party to think of that, so they will want him under guard and no Ent-folk around to have wrong-headed compassioon.

[mark12_30]

LOVE IT.

Good dog, Jorje!!!

[littlemanpoet]

What's next?

[mark12_30]

Oxygen. IOW time to breathe would be good.

Hey, since you are engaged and ready-- how would you like to write ...And they all took a deep breath and turned to walk downhilll, and-- golly, who is asleep on the moss? MELLONDU...?

All I ask is that Mellondu be dreaming in a deep green bed of lovely moss, on the riverbank. The bed should be cool, but also almost luxurious. Even though Mellondu is still wet and shivering with the cold, he is (for a moment) almost reluctant to leave the lovely moss.

Somehow the cold and the luxurious moss both seem terribly important. George MacDonald's influence, I think, and his cold beautiful sleep of death.

If you want it, it's all yours!

[littlemanpoet]

I'm game. I think I'll get into some debriefing - LOTR fashion - between the characters before they get to Mellondu - of course they'll be wondering where he is until then. Could be fun.

[mark12_30]

Off topic. I want to hone my Anglo-Saxon terse speech. Sage advice?

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

Off topic. I want to hone my Anglo-Saxon terse speech. Sage advice?

Read Anglo-Saxon out loud, then speak it in modern English, then read it again out loud. In other words, really get to know what you're saying. There's Beowulf, Ancrene Wisse, Pearl, Finnesburg, etc.

Or, if I have misunderstood you and what you mean is that you want to use Anglo-Saxon rooted words more in your speech, then it's a matter of learning to readily identify what's Greek, what's Latin, what's Norman French, what's modern French, as opposed to Old English. It's not very hard to do that. Is that what you meant?

[mark12_30]

Yes and Yes.

I want to write more tersely-- again-- get back to the Rohirrim way of speaking.... and, simplify, simplify. More punch less francophication. 'Twould be well to speak thus.

So what's your advice for dodging greek, latin, and phrench?

[mark12_30]

Mellondu is now asleep in the moss on the riverbank.

Elempi, if you'd like you can debrief the team by the pond and have them start downstream, and find Mellonu.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

Yes and Yes.

I want to write more tersely-- again-- get back to the Rohirrim way of speaking.... and, simplify, simplify. More punch less francophication. 'Twould be well to speak thus.

So what's your advice for dodging greek, latin, and phrench?

Okay.

First thing is to "know your enemy". Recognize the typical shape and form of the borrowings.

Greek: many words ending in "os" or "as", or words that once did: logic, philosophy, any of the ology words. Anything medical usually comes from Greek, or a mix of Greek and Latin: "cardiovascular". Caritas. olympic, olympiad.

Latin: words from musical forms, such as "sonata". Any word ending in - -ous, -us, -um, -a, or -able, or -tion - - - is probably Latinate. Museum, marvelous, sonata, available. Many words having suffixes or prefixes that come from Latinate: Congress, community, proximity, association, festival.

Norman: beef, pork, ... any word that separates the clean from the dirty, as it were, or is a law word: warrant, bailliff

French: many words having "ou" in them, or bunches of vowels strung together (beautiful) or "gu": guarantee. unique.

English: swine. cattle. height. quote. Any strong verb: sit, sat; throw, threw. Many words with silent letters "gh".

Now, you tell me which of the pairings below is English and which is a borrowing from another language:

praise : glorify

colleague : partner

annual : yearly

foreigner : stranger : alien

punish : shrive

foe : enemy

many : several

[littlemanpoet]

In post # 235, is the "she" referred to, Mithrellas? It's a little hard to tell.

If I understand correctly, we need to bring everyone back to Marigold now, right? I'll figure that's right. After all, why else bring the horses all the way around? I'll write a post of travel soon.

[piosenniel]

Is this RPG ready to be moved to Elvenhome? Or???????

[mark12_30]

Elempi, for "What's next" see this thread posts 928 and 929 (just on this page a bit upward.) Erebemlin needs to return to Marigold, most of the rest need to return home, and Mellondu needs to remain broken (what is his Frodo-sails-west parallel? Does Taitheneb adopt him for a few years ? Hmm, what do you think?)

Mellondu & Mellonin' s parents need to somehow resolve.

Maybe the whole thing needs an epilogue.

[littlemanpoet]

"Bump" acknowledged.

I will need time to reorient back to this story. We shall see this done this time.

Mellondu needs a journey with a goal that resolves his brokenness. It could come much later in life, but if Taitheneb is willing, the question is, is Mellondu willing? Wouldn't he rather be with Mellonin?

[mark12_30]

Is he more Mellondu the blacksmith or is he forsaken-Amroth-without Nimrodel? He got used to the allegiance and devotion of Erebemlin and Taitheneb, even as he resented it. Ravion he hasn't bonded with as much, and Ravion will be Mellonin' s New focus. She still loves Mellondu, of course, but he may feel skittish and in-the-way around the pair.

I'm not sure. Maybe he remains in Gondor and dreams of the departed elves to the end of his days. Or maybe he goes with them for a while, but the forests are silent, and Amroth and Nimrodel are gone, and their sadness does him little good. Or maybe he becomes the focus of their healing because they realize what he went through.

I envision the epilogue to be a sort of C. S. Lewis epilogue, wrapping up the details in a fairly brusque fashion, like the Gamba epilogue I wrote for The Lonely Star.

[littlemanpoet]

So is it that Mellondu essentially got taken over, body and soul? If so, then any Mellondu that is still there is severely damaged, not unlike Frodo because of the Ring. That's my thinking.

Or, if Amroth merely borrowed him, and Mellondu never was overwhelmed by the Elf's personality, then you have a different situation. Your call.

If Mellondu can recover, then I think that he will need both Mellonin and Ravion.

I think I like the idea of a brusque wrap up.

[mark12_30]

Mellondu started out as a willing volunteer and eager participant, until he grew tired of being taken for granted by Amroth (on the one hand) and then wanted Nimrodel to love him (Mellondu) for his own sake. Then he rebelled, and resisted Amroth, and it became a struggle for control. Some bargaining was involved, agreements were misunderstood on both sides (we heard /saw only hints of that) and in the end it was uncivil between the two. Nimrodel brought an uneasy truce.

Mellondu is heartbroken and disillusioned,on one hand, and on the other hand knows what he put Amroth through and how his subjects loved him. He has a hard time looking Erebemlin and Taitheneb in the eye.

Perhaps Erebemlin and Taitheneb take him under their wings for a year or two, and teach him some (proprietary) elvish skills, and then Taitheneb sails west and Erebemlin disappears with Marigold, and Mellonin returns home. Maybe he serves with Legolas planting trees in the city. Or helps Gimli repair Osgiliath and Minas Tirith.

[littlemanpoet]

If you can pardon me dipping into my knowledge of PTSD and related subjects, what you describe looks like something from which one could recover, because Mellondu never lost control of his own will. A whole lot of "body" work - such as helping Gimli for example - could bring eventual healing.

[mark12_30]

There was a struggle for control and Amroth won more than once, but I do think Mellondu could receive a good amount of healing through physical work. I think there will always be scars and regrets, and I doubt he'll ever marry.

What do Liornung and (what's her name) do?

[littlemanpoet]

Liornung and Bellyn? I haven't a clue. I suppose Liornung would go on his merry way, with his immensely fulfilling life as a troubadour. I suppose Bellyn might just join him? She seemed to be leaning toward that, don't you think?

[mark12_30]

Agreed. They harmonize well. Good characters...

Does Ravion join (or rejoin) the Ithilien rangers that are free to do other things now after the war?

Should we split the group and split the epilogue? You could write Raefindan, Indis and... your third character, I've forgotten her name... and Tharonwe, and Liornung and Bella. And don't forget Jorge.
I could cover the ghosts-- oh, names names names. The pickpocket and his troubled sister. Nimrodel and Amroth I think should remain mysteries; would it add anything to the tale to say they met in the halls of Mandos, were reborn, grew, and remarried, and lived happily ever after until the final music of Iluvatar? Although I suppose we could mention the voices of the stream and the wind on Cerin Amroth.

[littlemanpoet]

I'd say yes for Ravion.

I'd say that it would be unhelpful to split the epilogue. I kind of like the clean way Tolkien handled the end of LotR.

When writing the end for Amroth and Nimrodel, I suggest following T's example from Frodo.

I'm going to have to reread Part 2 when I get a chance so I can keep track of everything and everyone. I don't even remember that 3rd character of mine, at all. :P

[mark12_30]

She and Raefindan were an item, and they sort of adopted Indil. She comes from your other stories.

I'm extremely rusty too.

[littlemanpoet]

Ah yes, Angela. Good grief, I dragged a good bit of stuff in, didn't I!

[mark12_30]

You know, last time we went through this we made a character list....

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by mark12_30

Note to self: previous discussion thread posts which indicate nececssary tidy-up work:

838
863
Don't forget all those Rohirrim
891, 893
895, 897

Looked like good info. More to come.

And I forgot about Nurumaiel's wild Easterling boy.
Aeron and Gwyllion his sister, the ghosts.

[littlemanpoet]

Good idea. I was reading through the first page of posts. Much more to go. I'll work on it as I have time.

[mark12_30]

QUOTE
Bump.

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Characters and themes that have yet to be worked in:

Note: everything below is suggestion, not certainty.

• Aeron and Gwyllion are there to aid them, being ghosts, and this has been their destiny from the get-go.
• Raefindan brings rain into the spirit realm where Amroth and Nimrodel hold their drama
• Mithrellas - osanwë? Should she be Nimrodel's aid the way Erebemlin is for Amroth?
• Ædegard - he's here for Mellondu - but what can he do?
• Leafa - wow, I really don't know what to do with her past singing.
• Jorje - I'm kind of lost here too.
• Taitheneb returns - this is alak's task
• Indil/Angela - I'd almost forgotten about her! What might she do?

Meanwhile, Raefindan continues to hold Tharonwë in check. Maybe I need to work on finding ideas for these characters from your posts, Helen. I'm really struggling with everybody but Tharonwë right now, and him soon too. I guess I like to know where things are headed in order to know what's happening now; not so good at just "following my nose". Hmm... not so good at prophetic writing. Any ideas?

EDIT: well, that worked in Gwyllion and Aeron after all, and Ædegard and Leafa a little bit; but they need more. I'm still thinking about that Raefindan/rain thing...

[littlemanpoet]

Thanks. This helps. I hope to have some time to look at this story in detail, perhaps through this weekend.

[piosenniel]

This Discussion Thread will be moved to Elvenhome.

I may be returned to the Game Playing forum upon request from the players.

~*~ Pio