Happy Holidays, Vulgarweed!

[goe_mod]

Title: We Must Bear Witness
Author: hsavinien
Rating: PG
Wordcount: ~3k, counting footnotes
Warnings: Non-graphic discussion of death, injury, and war.
Disclaimer: Characters and settings are the creation of Messrs. Pratchett, Gaiman, and Tolkien. The mixing thereof is entirely my fault.
Author's Note: Title from Elie Wiesel. The full quote is, “For the

Comments

[vulgarweed]

I am OVER THE MOON about this story. I love, love, love it so very much - you hit all the right notes, everything I could hope for in a Tolkien crossover.

Of course Aziraphale and Crowley would be Maiar, and the idea of making them the two "missing" Istari is fantastic. And you've given us a glimpse into cultures that get short shrift in the canon, and give the Haradrim a motive, and of course they would have good reasons of their own to be no friends of Gondor. And you've redressed the gender balance in a way that is not the least bit preachy, but feels natural.

And Aziraphale and her devotion to the Archive over people! Crowley's hilarious disrespectful nicknames for Sauron and Morgoth! The witty use of Tolkien's languages and naming styles - you put so much work and thought and love into every detail, and it shows.

I've been hoping to see a crossover like this for YEARS, and this is everything I wanted. Thank you thank you thank you!

A few notes that didn't make it into the afterword, oops.

[secret_kracken]

Master Gordur is intended to be the gentleman who helped Gandalf find books in his research on the Ring, while Mistress Boriel, Sabriyâ, Johul, and Baragil are entirely my own invention.

Exact dates for the battles and incidents mentioned, as well as specific geography my be found at http://lotrproject.com/map/.

****

I am so glad it worked for you! A&C started out as just "themselves" in Arda and then turned into the blue wizards entirely without me expecting or planning for it, because of course they are. In regards to the gender (re)balance, yes. Just because there aren't as many women in crucial positions in the story as we are given it doesn't mean they didn't exist. I thought it was time to highlight that

[hsavinien]

Middle-Earth crossover! *happydance* Yay for female OCs in interesting places, yay for OCs of color! Yay for stories about war that don't highlight any of the "glamorous" bits.