I'll admit I'm not familiar with your Pandë!verse, and I have a soft, fleshy spot for Celebrimbor, so I was going to give this fic a miss. But keiliss recommended it so strongly that I decided to look
Sometimes I think I'm incredibly jaded, having read all manner of horrifying, weird, dark stuff in ten years of fandom or in literature or on TV and also having grown up in a subculture where reading/watching violence is more acceptable than two consenting adults having sexual intercourse. (This kind of fic and the state of the world today reminds me how absolutely crazy that line of logic is.) But this story was difficult to get through - as it should be. How it comments on humanity and evil. We try to make evil Other, distance it from us, make it a force to fight. But Mairon is so human - he loves, he mourns, he longs, he is a father, a husband, a friend. Those qualities never stopped him from making those choices, though, it didn't stay his hand. He would not compromise, he did what needed to be done, even though he wished it were different and felt betrayed (and did his own betraying.)
Don't know how to put it all into words very well. Just - you understand his thinking, it's the ultimate 'The End Justifies the Means' and that's what makes it all so horrifying. How often do we make those choices in life, on an individual or corporate basis.
Very well written - hard to get through because of how well done it was. Very visceral, and I could see all of it. Sorry for the blathering comment, just trying to process this aftermath.
(And the art was awesome and perfectly matched, Huinare!)
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Sometimes I think I'm incredibly jaded, having read all manner of horrifying, weird, dark stuff in ten years of fandom or in literature or on TV and also having grown up in a subculture where reading/watching violence is more acceptable than two consenting adults having sexual intercourse. (This kind of fic and the state of the world today reminds me how absolutely crazy that line of logic is.) But this story was difficult to get through - as it should be. How it comments on humanity and evil. We try to make evil Other, distance it from us, make it a force to fight. But Mairon is so human - he loves, he mourns, he longs, he is a father, a husband, a friend. Those qualities never stopped him from making those choices, though, it didn't stay his hand. He would not compromise, he did what needed to be done, even though he wished it were different and felt betrayed (and did his own betraying.)
Don't know how to put it all into words very well. Just - you understand his thinking, it's the ultimate 'The End Justifies the Means' and that's what makes it all so horrifying. How often do we make those choices in life, on an individual or corporate basis.
Very well written - hard to get through because of how well done it was. Very visceral, and I could see all of it. Sorry for the blathering comment, just trying to process this aftermath.
(And the art was awesome and perfectly matched, Huinare!)