In Neldoreth, the Muddy Season by PerpetuaLilium

Fanwork Information

Summary:

Doom falls on Tinúviel, and it is at least as earthbound as ethereal.

Major Characters: Beren, Lúthien Tinúviel

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: Drama

Challenges:

Rating: General

Warnings:

Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2, 720
Posted on 3 March 2013 Updated on 3 March 2013

This fanwork is complete.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

I grew up in Vermont, where winters that melt to springs as suddenly as that described in the story of Beren and Lúthien happen quite a bit—although for presumably non-supernatural reasons. This creates so much meltwater and thaws so much ground frost at once that the slopes of the Green Mountains experience an effective fifth season delineated solely by extreme amounts of mud. ‘Mud season’ traditionally occurred in very late March and early-to-mid-April but now tends to start somewhat earlier for obvious (and unfortunate) global climatic reasons; experience of mud season is used as something of a cultural marker for people from Vermont and neighbouring parts of the Northern Appalachians.

And so, I decided to give Doriath a mud season, because that made the entire story of Beren and Lúthien’s meeting feel—to me—a lot more immediate and real. Also, Lúthien here can dance in snowshoes. Considering what else she’s capable of, I don’t really think this is a bridge too far.

This is my first work in the Tolkien fandom since I was ten and wrote Aragorn as a space adventurer. Many thanks to my wonderful beta reader.

Comments

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I'm extremely glad you posted the story. As I mentioned in our email discussion, the story does not become any less rewarding in reading or re-reading (and I did that several times by now).

I still love the sharp focus on mood and images, too, as well as the mixture of whimsy, realism and the romanticized remnants of the original story, which makes for a fascinating whole - all the more impressive considering it's your first Tolkien-based fic in a long time.

Thank you so much! I had a reasonably clear image of Lúthien in my head from the outset and I knew what I wanted to do with her, but Beren took longer to come to me; he's a bit of a cipher, I think perhaps to some extent intentionally so. I'm very happy to hear that my Beren is working for folks.