Comments on Scent of Reality

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There is so much to like about this story. I have always liked the idea of Huan a lot, although, strictly speaking, I am not a dog person. I also imagine him as a wolf hound.

Favorite section:

‘I suppose I am lucky, Huan, that you are not permitted to speak. Otherwise, I would be in for a lecture—would I not?—on my lack of true repentance and of proper gratitude?’

Huan opened his snout and yawned, showing an abundance of magnificent teeth and about a foot-length of narrow pink tongue. Then he leaned harder against Maedhros, almost causing him to topple over.

‘That has cut me down to size, hasn’t it? I’m simply not all that interesting.’

Maedhros gave Huan a slight push with his shoulder in order to right himself again. It felt like pushing against a furry rock. He thought: I am truly in a sorry state—I take it personally when a dog yawns at me! Huan may be a Hound of Orome, but he is still a dog. Dogs yawn.


I think I like best the part that shutting down one's sense would be one of the mental and physical responses to dealing with Angband. And that having one's sense of smell curtailed could make one's connection with reality tenuous.

A dog like Huan would be a great comfort I would think under the circumstances.

I'm happy to hear you like it! I'm very much a dog person myself, but try not to go be too obtrusive about it in my writing. However, when I was writing a story about the sense of smell, Huan seemed to be the obvious expert to call in. As for the importance of the sense of smell for one's connection to reality, I've come across articles that claim that we often use our sense of smell far more to orient yourself than we realize, even though it is comparatively poorly developed in humans.

Huan is certainly a wolf hound in the literal sense, a hound that hunts wolves, so I tend to imagine him also looking like an Irish wolf hound, only even larger.

I loved what you created (told you I would, didn't I?). I really liked the addition of Huan (laughed at the dog smell comment), and the idea that Maedhros closed off his senses to protect himself. Everything was painful for Maedhros and it's clear even in the description of Huan: furry rock. Also loved mother hen!Maglor :D

Hope our conversations keep inspiring you!



Dog magic is enough to pull Maedhros out of his panic and show the way to recovery! I love all the dog attitudes that you describe in Huan that are so, well, dog: the smell (stink, actually), the twitching nose, the yawning and that basic being there close to you in times of need that makes dogs so marvelous. (dog person review :D)



Can you imagine my joy when I go looking for a Huan and Maedhros bonding story and it actually exists? Haha, this story just made my night! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought he'd make a good (giant) therapy dog!

I like the way you portray Maedhros, where he's feeling all these things (pain, terror, detached from reality) and pretty much just ignoring them, because he doesn't know what else to do. I also like how Huan subtly gets Maedhros to feel a bit more grounded in reality.



Ahhh! This is lovely. I love Huan, the down-to-earth furry rock (yes, he would be, wouldn't he). I really like the wonderfully doggy way he senses Maedhros needs some help coming back to himself and goes about it in such a typically doggy way. The idea of Maedhros blocking off some of his senses is an interesting and very understandable Angband coping mechanism. I'm really glad he found his sense of smell again though, it's such a powerful, evocative, sense, possibly for the very reason that it's not fully under the command of our cognitive brain. 

I really do so enjoy your writing!

Thank you, Anerea! Glad you appreciate Huan's dogginess.

I gave Maedhros a bit of extra elvish control over his sense of smell here. He has shut down his sense of smell instinctively without realizing it, but once he realizes he can work out how to reverse it. I think a Mortal might do something similar, but the process of unlearning the defence mechanism would probably be slower and more complicated... 

(And, of course, the pandemic made a lot of people experience the impact of anosmia, but that was years later.)