[Bêthberry]

*Esty applauds Kransha's brilliant post enthusiastically*

SpM posted:
Dontcha just hate it when you post something mildly humerous and someone follows it up with a comedy tour-de-force?!

My dear fellow Mods. While I applaud your verdant laudatory words here, may I take this opportunity to point out that I took action upon this most excellent theory in the vein of fantasy and construed a commemorative thread in the hopes of rewarding not only this but other fine works in our domain. Best Post of the Week . Please be so kind as to provide your support for my ceaseless efforts to uphold the standard by which we all wish to be entertained. *bows humbly*

Mr. Kransha,

My, my, I certainly did not expect such an ovation. This sudden well of praise is, I assure you, totally undeserved on my part.

I do hope I have not unduly drawn from the wellsprings of your modesty, with the possible flood which the above thread could generate.

. If y'all liked this little exercise, you'll probably love my theory about Tom Bombadil and the Merry Dol of Doom.

Get thee to a Willowery!

And as for making this post topical, well, I want to raise another issue. It is not why were there no women in the Fellowship, but why was there no woman at the Council of Elrond? Was Arwen relegated to a back room sweatshop where she toiled at her banner-works? Or was she in fact present? Did her presence distract Aragorn and make it too difficult to write a heroic role for him? Is it possible that heroic narrative must deny Truth and Reality by omitting various historical facts? Is Arwen's absence a most notorious example of the silenced woman?

This nefarious slight suggests rank conspiracy at the deepest levels. Why do you think Bilbo refused to acknowledge she was present? Or is the Translator at fault for being unable to decipher the scribbled script? Or is the omission a failure of authorship? Do we have here evidence that, after Arwen's pure and noble rejection of the Ring, Galadriel's near-temptation would have been shown in, er, poor light? Do we have an Author playing favourites with his female characters?

The possibilities boggle the mind, even those not dependent upon pills.