I love that second shot! But it brings me, once again, to the question why he managed to be so dirty all the time, while Legolas has no problems keeping his hands clean... *g*
I'm assuming... correct me if I'm wrong... that Shiny Dirt-Repellant Elves are movie-based fanon and not Tolkien's canon. Because one of these days I really want to write a story where all the Elves get just as dirty from battle as the Men, Dwarves and Hobbits and no one finds that remarkable.
No, you're certainly right. Leaving all kidding and joking about the film!characters aside, I think Aragorn and Legolas present unrealistic extremes as far as cleanliness/being dirty goes. I confess I love to joke about it (ask Siljan about me going on about Legolas and his shampoo! *g* ), but really only because I don't see it as realistic. In general, my imagination of Tolkien's world is one with a cultural setting ranging from the late medieval period until the pre-industrialisation, depending on peoples, country and circumstances. If you look closely, there are sufficient examples to prove a high degree of civilisation reached in many areas, but still dirt remains dirt, fat remains fat, and blood remains blood. And none of them wash out easily. Speaking of the cleanliness, I can imagine travelling elves washing more frequently than men simply because they are less susceptible to cold and can easily take a plunge even in winter, whereas men will know well enough that this could result in deathly consequences for them. Pleasae don't nail me down on details; I'm mostly still speaking very generally here, as I usually have thought through such details only when I come across them in my own writing, or in a story, and sometimes for the time being a degree of contradiction remains. I found curiouswombat's take on elves and washing while travelling and at home very convincing, and integrated that in my head-canon. Aragorn, on the other hand, has doubtlessly lived long enough among elves to have adapted to their way of living in everything possible, but knows about his physical limits also in this regards; on the other hand he must aim to blend in while living among men. So he would be in-between in my book. I'm also assuming that the elven culture has developed a higher degree of understanding of certain things than the respective human culture of our time would have had, simply due to their long live-span which enables them to a wholly different degree of observation of cause and effect. I don't subscribe to the fanon where elves can't get infections at all, also not from dirtied wounds, I rather think they have a superior immune system which can deal with more in that regard than mortals. So it would be only logical that they know about the problems of wounds not being cleaned or not treated in a hygienic way, and act accordingly also with "field wounds" when possible. I think they're all going to stay as clean as possible in any given situation, but an elf travelling will also have fat stains on his clothes and dirtied boots as well as dirtied fingernails, grimy trousers and blood spatters here and there, if just from the preparing of hunted food, and so on - and, of course, look not different from a mortal after any given enemy encounter. I think though, too, that they would likely be washing of as much as blood as possible afterwards, at least if they are riding, to not spook the horses - or to attract predators or more orcs.
Back to the caps here: I think they reflect a good example of Aragorn or anybody after a fight. But I would expect him to wash his hands as soon as water is available (not drinking water, though) simply because I can't imagine him or anybody else wanting to eat with that smell and stench at the hands, and also because he would know well enough the injuries he has sustained are better treated with clean hands. Taking off to where he's going after this skirmish, he also would know that he has to be as healthy as possible for the Hobbits, so I'm convinced he would ensure to not get any infection which might weaken him due to not cleaning a wound when doing so wouldn't mean than five or ten minutes of rest besides a stream. I don't know if I remember correctly or mixing up stories, but didn't you address something similar in one of your stories? I know I have partly read At Hope's Edge (and put aside for more attentive reading and reviewing because something else came up at the time). If it's the one I'm remembering he did neglect an injury and got very ill over it. Reading this confirmed my opinion that he would have done that perhaps once or twice, but eventually learned the lesson. ;o)
All that to me sounds very reasonable, especially the idea that men didn't bathe as much as Elves out in the field because of greater susceptibility to chills. And I've always figured the Elves were immortal but not invincible. Otherwise no Elves would have died ever!
but didn't you address something similar in one of your stories? I know I have partly read At Hope's Edge (and put aside for more attentive reading and reviewing because something else came up at the time). If it's the one I'm remembering he did neglect an injury and got very ill over it.
I did address the whole "ignoring a wound" in AHE... he neglected some splinter wounds in his arm and paid the price. I tried to make sure that there were reasons for him to neglect his own care--reasons that, though not wise at all, were still plausible to the outside reader who knows that Aragorn's functioning at a more of a diminished capacity than he's willing to acknowledge. In other words, he had so much on his plate that he was on the verge of complete collapse from any number of reasons, so at the time, an arm wound seemed the least of his worries.
Ah, now I remember, but I was mixing it up; I meant one with a wound to his knee. I discovered both stories at my beginning in the fandom, when I was searching mainly for hurt/comfort fics (my preferred genre ;o) ) and found daily so much new reading material that I put them all on my kindle. About that time I also discovered my interest for Second and First Age fics and slash and got sidetracked over and over again. ;o) There is now a huge pile of stories I'm looking very much forward to read to, but that takes longer than expected. Ahem.
I really like that 2nd one. The first one is poignant, though. I imagine him looking at the White Tree emblem a lot in the ensuing days, and taking courage.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2014-02-11 03:35 pm (UTC)Beaten, torn, bloody and dirty but
I'd follow this man through hell and back.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-20 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-11 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-20 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-20 05:09 pm (UTC)I'm also assuming that the elven culture has developed a higher degree of understanding of certain things than the respective human culture of our time would have had, simply due to their long live-span which enables them to a wholly different degree of observation of cause and effect. I don't subscribe to the fanon where elves can't get infections at all, also not from dirtied wounds, I rather think they have a superior immune system which can deal with more in that regard than mortals. So it would be only logical that they know about the problems of wounds not being cleaned or not treated in a hygienic way, and act accordingly also with "field wounds" when possible.
I think they're all going to stay as clean as possible in any given situation, but an elf travelling will also have fat stains on his clothes and dirtied boots as well as dirtied fingernails, grimy trousers and blood spatters here and there, if just from the preparing of hunted food, and so on - and, of course, look not different from a mortal after any given enemy encounter. I think though, too, that they would likely be washing of as much as blood as possible afterwards, at least if they are riding, to not spook the horses - or to attract predators or more orcs.
Back to the caps here: I think they reflect a good example of Aragorn or anybody after a fight. But I would expect him to wash his hands as soon as water is available (not drinking water, though) simply because I can't imagine him or anybody else wanting to eat with that smell and stench at the hands, and also because he would know well enough the injuries he has sustained are better treated with clean hands. Taking off to where he's going after this skirmish, he also would know that he has to be as healthy as possible for the Hobbits, so I'm convinced he would ensure to not get any infection which might weaken him due to not cleaning a wound when doing so wouldn't mean than five or ten minutes of rest besides a stream.
I don't know if I remember correctly or mixing up stories, but didn't you address something similar in one of your stories? I know I have partly read At Hope's Edge (and put aside for more attentive reading and reviewing because something else came up at the time). If it's the one I'm remembering he did neglect an injury and got very ill over it. Reading this confirmed my opinion that he would have done that perhaps once or twice, but eventually learned the lesson. ;o)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-20 05:29 pm (UTC)I did address the whole "ignoring a wound" in AHE... he neglected some splinter wounds in his arm and paid the price. I tried to make sure that there were reasons for him to neglect his own care--reasons that, though not wise at all, were still plausible to the outside reader who knows that Aragorn's functioning at a more of a diminished capacity than he's willing to acknowledge. In other words, he had so much on his plate that he was on the verge of complete collapse from any number of reasons, so at the time, an arm wound seemed the least of his worries.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-20 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-20 05:56 pm (UTC)That would probably be Meckinock's "In The Hands of the Enemy" and its sequel, "A Matter of Honor". Excellent, both of them. :)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-13 01:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-13 06:15 pm (UTC)