Recollections of a Dúnedain Ranger

[Rosie Gamgee]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

FIGHT! FIGHT! They're fighting over a !

Gimli and Eomer almost did that. I don't see why Faramir shouldn't set the young up-start back in his place. Anyway, the fellow's kind of presuptuous. He hasn't even spoken a word to her!

[Rosie Gamgee]

These... stories, letters, whatever reminded me of something I read recently- A Well-Remembered Voice by J.M. Barrie. It's a play, set during the first Great War, concerning a father who is visited by his son Dick, who was killed in battle. He and his son discuss what it was like at the Front- here's a bit of it:

'Tell me, Dick, about the—*the veil. I mean the veil that is drawn between the living and the——.’

‘The dead? Funny how you jib at that word.’

‘I suppose the veil is like a mist?’

'The veil’s a rummy thing, father. Yes, like a mist. But when one has been at the Front for a bit, you can’t think how thin the veil seems to get; just one layer of it. I suppose it seems thin to you out there because one step takes you through it. We sometimes mix up those who have gone through with those who haven’t. I daresay if I were to go back to my old battalion the living chaps would just nod to me.'... 'Death? Well, to me, before my day came, it was like some part of the line I had heard a lot about but never been in. I mean, never been in to stay, because, of course, one often popped in and out.’... 'I don’t remember being hit, you know. I don’t remember anything till the quietness came. When you have been killed it suddenly becomes very quiet; quieter even than you have ever known it at home.'... 'When I came to, the veil was so thin that I couldn’t see it at all; and my first thought was, Which side of it have I come out on? The living ones lying on the ground were asking that about themselves, too. There we were, all sitting up and asking whether we were alive or dead; and some were one, and some were the other. Sort of fluke, you know.’... 'As soon as each had found out about himself he wondered how it had gone with his chums, I halloo’d to Johnny Randall, and he halloo’d back that he was dead, but that Trotter was living. That’s the way of it. A good deal of chaff, of course. By that time the veil was there, and getting thicker, and we lined up on our right sides. Then I could only see the living ones in shadow and hear their voices from a distance. They sang out to us for a while; but just at first, father, it was rather lonely when we couldn’t hear their tread any longer.... You needn’t worry; that didn’t last long; we were heaps more interested in ourselves than in them. You should have heard the gabbling! It was all so frightfully novel, you see; and no one quite knew what to do next, whether all to start off together, or wait for some one to come for us.'

A little something else, a bit later in the discussion, is thought-provoking:

...'We have a fine for speaking about the war. And you know, those fellows we were fighting— I forget who they were?’

‘The Germans.’

'Oh yes. Some of them were on the same side of the veil with us, and they were rather decent; so we chummed up in the end...'

I wonder if perhaps the Southron that Malvehael killed might have 'chummed up', too, on the other side of 'the veil'?

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Rosie Gamgee

Gimli and Eomer almost did that. I don't see why Faramir shouldn't set the young up-start back in his place. Anyway, the fellow's kind of presuptuous. He hasn't even spoken a word to her!

Its probably like a schoolboy crush where he will not be noticed and will be devastated when the princly Faramir takes her away....

But then there was the darkside..

I see what you mean about A well remembered voice.

[Lief Erikson]

Originally Posted by Rosie Gamgee

I don't see why Faramir shouldn't set the young up-start back in his place. Anyway, the fellow's kind of presuptuous. He hasn't even spoken a word to her!

Who says?

[Snowdog]

I wrote some NC-17 rated fanfic about the royalty about ten years after the war of the ring

[Rosie Gamgee]

Originally Posted by Lief Erikson

Who says?

Well, the guy was just soooo enamored with her I figured that if he spoke to her he would have mentioned it. Maybe he did, I suppose I don't know.

[Valandil]

Well ya know... she DID look longingly to the East after the army set off for the Morannon...

[Snowdog]

Added another chapter in my third post of this thread.

[Lotesse]

In re: Recollections of a Dunedain Ranger by SnowDog
I really got into this story. I appreciate the "blow-by-blow account" of all the fighting; it put me in the head state of actually being there, which good storytellers are able to do. I like to comment on people's writing here in Entmoot that I've truly enjoyed. I'm not into the whole spell-checking/fact-arguing/constructive criticism thing-IMO that's what English professors and script supervisors are for. Your story was moving; it almost sounds as if it came from a writer who is intimately familiar with the realities of warfare. Very good stuff--I'm gonna re-read it.

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Lotesse

In re: Recollections of a Dunedain Ranger by SnowDog
I really got into this story. I appreciate the "blow-by-blow account" of all the fighting; it put me in the head state of actually being there, which good storytellers are able to do. I like to comment on people's writing here in Entmoot that I've truly enjoyed. I'm not into the whole spell-checking/fact-arguing/constructive criticism thing-IMO that's what English professors and script supervisors are for. Your story was moving; it almost sounds as if it came from a writer who is intimately familiar with the realities of warfare. Very good stuff--I'm gonna re-read it.

Wow! High praise from you Lotesse! Thanks! I did add the last bit just recently.

Welcome to Entmoot, and I take it you picked your username Lotesse for this time of year? Lotesse is the month from April 23 to May 22.

[Lotesse]

Yep, your'e exactly right - I picked it from the Appenices in a hurry; I was so excited about registering that I didn't think about my name long enough. I want to be Gwaihir. Oh, well...

[Snowdog]

Lotesse is a good name though.
Pleased to meet you! *bows*

[Acalewia]

I have to say, snowdog, that is a great version of the battle. I like the details.

Val, another great version from the point of view of a young Ranger in his first battle.

I 'd like to see your versions of the battle outside the Black Gate. It should be a great read. Btw, Val, I dont think it sounds too Britty. It sounds the way Tolkien would have wrote it.

[CrazySquirrel]

I've just read this thread for the first time.
A nice story, Snowdog. Halbarad surely deserves more attention that he got in the books.

And I loved your "Requiem for a Ranger" letter, Val!
I see no fault with it at all. You are really good at writing letters!

Especially I loved the fight with this Black Numenorean guy and its outcome. I believe he was one of them, from Harad, not a Southron. We never meet Black Numenoreans up close, except the Mouth, but he is an unique, twisted sort of person. I believe, there were quite decent ones in the South. I mean they hated Gondor (understandably), but were good fighters and preferred death to surrender. I liked the last touch, pointing at different cultural background.
As for the author of the letter, he was a Nothern Dunadan, so never met the Black Numenoreans. I think a fighter from Gondor would have known about them at least and would have been taught to hate them.
Just my ramblings...

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

There are 29 other Ranger's accounts that could be written. Maybe you could write an account? .

not only that but there were Riders and Men of Gondor as well, Snowdog. there could be several hundred accounts to this battle

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Acalewia

not only that but there were Riders and Men of Gondor as well, Snowdog. there could be several hundred accounts to this battle

Thats true, but I wasn't referring to the specific battle accounts, I was referring to the accounts of the unnamed Rangers. I have plenty of stories written fron the account of Hanasian.