First, my apologies for the abysmally late reply to your review, Red, but please know that it was and is deeply appreciated. As I noted to Kei above, I have come back to your comments throughout the year as a means of buoying myself up during those times when I get morose about my role and involvement in Tolkien fandom.
We try to make evil Other, distance it from us, make it a force to fight. But Mairon is so human...
THANK YOU! You hit upon my modus operandi in the Pandë!verse, particularly when Sauron is involved. When I first leapt into Tolkien fan fic around late 2006/early 2007, I read quite a bit before I wrote anything. Although there were a number of well-written stories with Sauron as a key character, what struck me was how consistently the character was portrayed as so obviously evil (even if the writer "said" otherwise) and as you aptly put it, as Other. Nothing wrong with those interpretations (and there are some great stories that follow those), but as a humanist, I find it extremely difficult to ascribe evil to anything other than our own humanity, even in an imaginary history/secondary world like Tolkien's. Plus, it feels like the easy way out to hold Evil at arm's length and avoid confronting its reality.
Hence, my version of Mairon is far more "human", but also has capabilities and characteristics beyond the humans (Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits...) in the world he inhabits. His innate talents and power confer a great responsibility toward those who do not have these, but he abuses his power and, like many humans (and again you aptly put it), he absolutely justifies his choices in doing so.
Pandë!Mairon's more prosaic (and dare I say it, "vanilla") elements are a darkly cheeky reference to the brilliant and seemingly affable guy who goes to his kids' soccer practice, walks the dog, then gets into his late-model black Lexus, drives to work, and destroys a million lives by manipulating hedge funds or by giving the order to have drones take out his enemies, and maybe wince a bit at the "collateral damage" but hey, it's justified. Sorry for the blathering comment
No need to apologize because you did not blather! On the contrary, I thought your words here and the comment that follow were pretty darned cogent and intelligent!
no subject
We try to make evil Other, distance it from us, make it a force to fight. But Mairon is so human...
THANK YOU! You hit upon my modus operandi in the Pandë!verse, particularly when Sauron is involved. When I first leapt into Tolkien fan fic around late 2006/early 2007, I read quite a bit before I wrote anything. Although there were a number of well-written stories with Sauron as a key character, what struck me was how consistently the character was portrayed as so obviously evil (even if the writer "said" otherwise) and as you aptly put it, as Other. Nothing wrong with those interpretations (and there are some great stories that follow those), but as a humanist, I find it extremely difficult to ascribe evil to anything other than our own humanity, even in an imaginary history/secondary world like Tolkien's. Plus, it feels like the easy way out to hold Evil at arm's length and avoid confronting its reality.
Hence, my version of Mairon is far more "human", but also has capabilities and characteristics beyond the humans (Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits...) in the world he inhabits. His innate talents and power confer a great responsibility toward those who do not have these, but he abuses his power and, like many humans (and again you aptly put it), he absolutely justifies his choices in doing so.
Pandë!Mairon's more prosaic (and dare I say it, "vanilla") elements are a darkly cheeky reference to the brilliant and seemingly affable guy who goes to his kids' soccer practice, walks the dog, then gets into his late-model black Lexus, drives to work, and destroys a million lives by manipulating hedge funds or by giving the order to have drones take out his enemies, and maybe wince a bit at the "collateral damage" but hey, it's justified.
Sorry for the blathering comment
No need to apologize because you did not blather! On the contrary, I thought your words here and the comment that follow were pretty darned cogent and intelligent!
Thank you again, Red!