Tolkien Rec: After the Battles by republic

[purplecat]

This is difficult to describe. On one level it is a reworking of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son across five AUs, but on another it tries to take Tolkien's own thoughts about war from the end note to the play and dramatise those in the selection of AUs. It is both clever and haunting.

After the Battles (2483 words) by republic
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son - J. R. R. Tolkien
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Torhthelm (Homecoming of Beorhtnoth), Tidwald (Homecoming of Beorhtnoth)
Additional Tags: AU - Lord of the Rings, Historical AU - Crimean War, AU - Blade Runner, AU - Firefly / Serenity, Historical AU - World War 1, Ofermod
Summary:

By one man's will many must woe endure. - Wiglaf

Arthurian Recs from Previous Journal for Reference

[purplecat]

A clever Arthurian story, picking on a strange incident in the Vulgate cycle to spin an interesting account of Guinevere and the tragedy at the heart of the Arthurian legends.

Shadow-self (1579 words) by avani
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Arthurian Mythology
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Guinevere (Arthurian)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary:

What they don't know: she was never Gwen, or Jenny, or even plain Guinevere.

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Fandom: Arthurian Mythology
Rating: General Audiences
Characters/Pairings: Morgan le Fay, Kay, Arthur, Guinevere
Length: 1,370





What is this?: I have always had a fondness for Arthurian retellings, particularly ones that seek to take the legends more or less in their modern form and transpose them back to the Dark Ages. This story, set just before Camlann, takes Morgan le Fay as the main POV character. It captures really well one of the recurring themes of Arthurian Legend, a utopia almost gained and then lost. We have a glimpse of an Arthurian court run along semi-democratic and meritocratic lines but which is already dissolving into old forms and rivalries from which disaster will inevitably follow.

A Small Sacrifice to Save Many by smaragdbird