Originally posted just before NaNoWriMo 2018 because my mind intended to follow a similar project.
Okay, if you have checked out my “Blog Overview,” you may recall one of my thoughts was a “Fanfiction Spotlight.” Well, here is the first. Admittedly, I had hoped to get in contact with the authors and ask them a few interview questions, but unfortunately I had no way to reach them at this time. However, I will currently share with you about a beautiful series that they wrote for themselves and other Middle Earth fans.
Those who have read or watched Lord of the Rings may be fascinated by the friendship between Aragorn and Legolas. The Mellon Chronicles (Mellon being Sindarin/elvish for “friend”) explores that friendship. According to the co-authors, Aragorn and Legolas met when Aragorn was about twenty-years-old. Ever since that first meeting, it is a wonder they had a chance to catch their breath. From dealing with prejudiced elves to misadventures with the Nazgul, it was rare for them to return to Rivendell under their own power. Fear not, there are a few tales in the series that are purely normal happenings or so crazy as to be humorous.
The first couple tales in the series focus on Legolas and his early years, sadly shadowed by dark happenings and events that make him wary of Humans, men especially. A couple after that focus on Aragorn, or Estel (his elvish name), while he is growing up as an adopted son of Elrond. Then, the story of how Aragorn and Legolas meet, and after that, it seems almost impossible to keep those two apart. The stories span at least two, possibly three decades, before the tales start taking place shortly before or after the ending of The Return of the King. And the final tale, has a bit of a surprise.
I stumbled across this series quite by accident about a year or two ago. And seeing as I was starting to develop my deep love of all things Tolkien, I was swept away into this wonderful extension of the world the master developed. I could imagine these events happening to the characters. I felt that each character borrowed from the original books and films was kept beautifully in-character, and illustrated how an elf and a human managed to become as close as brothers.
Are they perfect? No. Might there be typos? Admittedly, a few, yes. But, they are marvelously crafted and written with a sensitivity that I feel I would be hard-pressed to find in a similar situation. While both are tortured on various occasions, the authors don’t depict every drop of blood or forming bruise. The worst tortures tend to only be implied instead of viewed. And one item, that is extremely important to me, is how they depict Aragorn and Legolas’s friendship. Friends who are as close as brothers. No boy and boy get together. (<Shudders> It makes me cringe just typing that.) So, basically, I am grateful for the good quality, friendship stories that they are. On one site, they are given the film rating system, where some are rated as high as R but most rate no higher than PG-13; while on another site, the rating system goes no higher than T for Teen.
The authors known as Cassia and Siobhan (or Sio) across the internet, first connected through their writing of Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice fanfiction about 1999. It was in this fandom that they wrote their first joint project, a Star Wars tale focusing on Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It was shortly after the film The Fellowship of the Ring came out that they wrote separate fanfictions. Cassia wrote “Captive of Darkness,” and shortly thereafter Sio wrote “First Meetings” borrowing the backstory Cassia had given Legolas. From that point on, they coauthored the rest of the stories through emails. The creation of the tales occurred from 2002 through July 2005. It was shortly thereafter that Cassia and Siobhan essentially disappeared from the internet, quoting/paraphrasing one of Bilbo’s parting lines to Gandalf in “The Long Expected Party” chapter one of The Fellowship of the Ring: “. . . we need a holiday. A very long holiday. And we don’t expect we shall return. In fact, we mean not to.”
I wish that one day I may be able to update this post with such things as any specific thing that inspired them to write, what about Aragorn and Legolas captured their imaginations for all those years. Possibly even ask if they dreamed of being a writer, what their dream job was, have they attained that. But, I will have to content myself with this.
Unfortunately, the original site that featured the 36 stories has been removed from the internet. But very fortunately, some fans have refused to let The Mellon Chronicles disappear. The Valar Guild has archived the whole series, plus one that was part of a three author story challenge. Archive of Our Own aka AO3 (the one I initially found) also has the series archived. Many of the stories have a photo-manipulation (fan art through use of photos) that acts as a sort of cover page.
If you are fans of Aragorn and/or Legolas, I thoroughly recommend this series. If you just love anything related to Tolkien and Middle Earth, click on the above links and enjoy. There are mentions of blood and torturous situations, so if that makes you squeamish, I understand. Overall, I give this series as a whole five dragons out of five.
I may review each story in the series individually one day, but it may depend on your interest. If you would like me to do that, just let me know in the comments here or on Facebook.
Hope you enjoyed. Bye.
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