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Howdy once more y'all.  I have a few questions I would like everyone’s opinions on. And this time, I decided to break up the questions coming up in various story by fandom rather than having one thread for all the current ones.

First up, Fate Touched:

1. I have the next two arcs figured out now: dwarven arc, then northern exploration/monster slaying arc, then a short meeting with Gandalf and Saruman. But that leaves me with about six years or so before I have Harry and Aragorn crossing paths once more in Gondor. And Yes, Aragorn needs those years before showing up in Gondor. He needs seasoning. So the question is, what should I have the starring couple do. Should I have them:

A. Come back to the dwarves and travel among the other dwarven clans with Fili and a group of dwarves? Fili will be serving as his uncle’s diplomatic representative.

B. Have them become involved with the Rangers and their ongoing attempts to police the edges of Mordor? This would be a heavy combat choice, with on and off small campaigns against equally small but dangerous forces of orcs.

C. Head south, pass through Gondor and then into Harad. The Haradrim is the southern empire who are enemies of Gondor, but that doesn’t quite mean they, unlike the corsairs, are enemies of all that is good. This is a dangerous route, but could be fun in terms of world building, and making Harry and Tauriel masters of disguise for a bit LOL.

D. Head east to explore the world beyond the dwarven realms and into the lands of the Easterlings. Easily the most dangerous choice, since the Easterlings are under Sauron’s thumb, wholeheartedly devoted to him. They will have access to orcs, and by the time Harry and Tauriel are there, a certain undead King might be on hand to order them to his master’s liking.

2. When should the wedding happen? Is a wedding scene interesting to you, my readers? I wrote out several for ATP, and I am just wondering if people see those scenes as good world building moments, or just necessary and want to get them over with.

3. Saruman and Harry. How much of Saruman’s eventual fall into darkness should I show? The vast majority of it happened off screen in canon, but with Harry here, and Saruman already having a few of his runes, I have a way and a reason to show his fall.

4. Aragorn. I intend for him and Harry to lose contact eventually, with Aragorn staying in Gondor, and Harry disappearing afterward with Tauriel. But once I do, should I start showing scenes of what Aragorn is up to? Most of his adventures upon leaving Gondor itself will be canon events as much as possible, but I am wondering if people would like to see him falling for Arwen, among the Rohirrim, and having adventures with his fellow Rangers while Harry and Tauriel are having their own elsewhere.

5. And for one, last time: Tauriel having a child. Should this happen during the time skip? That way the child will have time to mature and grow before events of the War of the Ring occurs. (And yes, folks, I have an idea for how the ring will eventually be found…) Or should I put off having a child until after or right near the end of the war? A kid would be a great way to shift focus to other characters and time skip like hell, but is it too much?

Note as always guys and girls, these questions are just opinion questions. I do not promise to go with the majority on these LOL.

Comments

Beleriond

1) Timeskips are always possible, a month here, a month there. Personally, I would ask where Tauriel wants to go. Harry knows almost nothing about Middle-Earth, so is likely to just tag along with what she wants to do. Of the options presented, I see the Rangers and the Easterlings as the most likely. The Haradrim would be very interesting and fun to play with. There are some who are actively fighting a resistance war against Sauron and the dominant faction, so there's that. I just can't see a forest elf like Tauriel being very interested in a desert. Not that she only likes forests. Elves like nature, which there is a dearth of in deserts. I would suggest going with the Easterlings as it takes them farther away from Aragorn at the same time. Also, who knows, maybe they start up a few rebellions by converting some of the locals back to following Eru-Illuvatar and the Valar. 2) Personally, I would love to see the wedding. A mixture of Harry's, Tauriel's, and maybe a few dwarven customs. A few years down the road maybe. I suspect that it may depend on how Harry's meeting with his future in-laws goes. Remember to account for travel time as Middle-Earth is still a medieval world. Anyone that is invited from another kingdom will take weeks maybe months, depending on distance, to arrive. Those with important positions, such as Elrond and Galadriel, may need longer as they will need to set their kingdom's affairs in order first. 3) Exploring other characters is always fun. You do them so well. 4) Definite yes to Aragorn's adventures. Maybe they eventually meet up for a short time. The Rohirrim could work when Harry and Tauriel stop by to meet them and Beorn. 5) Yes, I want to see Harry as an older father figure for once. The closest we've gotten is with FILFY, but even then all his kids are still kids.

Alex Crate

I think a good mix of traveling with the dwarves and then helping out the rangers for several years. The former could easily segue into the latter with Harry meeting a few on his travels with the dwarves. He could use his ties with the dwarves and the elves to make actual small outposts, or rebuild some of them, for the rangers. This could be the state of affairs that build up to their wedding and eventual child. And after the child has grown to a reasonable age, you can pick another adventure for them while the child stays with Tauriel's parents, Uncle Thorin or Nana Galadriel. This could be to either the easy or south but it would be a scouting mission I assume to assess enemy forces. I answered 2 and 5 in the previous paragraph. I think small blurbs about both Aragorn and Saurman would be good. I'd say do them in relation to some achievement or notable activity of Harry and Tauriel to keep them relevant.

Pip-Boy

I can't really decide on 1. -D, im sure any of the plots you decide will be good. As for the wedding, I'd enjoy seeing seeing whatever you come up with. For Saruman, I'd like to see you give some examples of his descent into darkness and explore how Harry's arrival has had an impact. As for Aragorn, I'd enjoy at least a summary of his adventures. I also can't wait for his reunion with Harry. Finally, for the baby, I'd prefer to wait until near the end. However, I know I'll end up enjoying whatever you write. Been following you for years and have never been disappointed.

Paultagoras

For #3 I would ask: WOULD/COULD Saruman fall, if Harry was there to keep an eye on things? He's already had issues with bearded old wizards in the past - I would be shocked if he didn't at least keep an eye on him - and he's experienced with souls contained in objects (not that the Palantir was a horcrux of Sauron).

Delphinous

1) i honestly don't have a strong opinion on these, because they all seem interesting. i slightly lean into the 'patrolling mordor for more combat' but it's a very minor preference. one thing i admit i would like to see more of, which might fit others better, is i want to see harry do more crafting. i always love when harry makes cool gadgets or artifices things, even if they aren't really major game changers. however, what i would most like to see would be harry going on some sort of a journey/quest to deepen his ties to Arien. i would love to see that connection explored more 2) for this story feel like the wedding would probably be a fairly simple ceremonial type handfasting and wouldn't really be a big deal. however, my LotR lore is pretty week, and i know there are some deep lores out there, so there is probably a dedicated lore based answer for when a elf and non-elf should be wed and what kind of ceremony should occur 3) i would be interested in seeing saurumans fall, i always love getting insights into the baddies 4) i like aragorn, but i feel like we are kind of going to be waiting for a good while to get to the cannonical events of the ring journey and such, and if you start putting in significant aragorn segments it might start to feel like it's dragging on. 5) i feel like a child with tauriel is kind of a big deal because it has implications beyond the family dynamic. i don't remember for sure, but i think that cannonically there hasn't been an elf-child in a few thousand years by the time the hobbit rolls around, and this has been a major factor that has convinced the elves it's time to move on and their time in middle earth has ended. Tauriel having a child kind of throws a big monkey wrench into that mentality and would have some serious reverberations across all the elven groups, and i don't know if you are wanting to explore that. overall i think it could be interesting, but if your focus wants to be more centered on the characters and less on large scale social evolution of the elves, it's probably better to pass on the kid for a while. if they have a kid after the war of the ring, by then the elves that wanted to leave will have pretty much left and there won't be nearly enough of a chance for them to plausibly rebuild their race instead of slowly fading away, despite this new miracle child. i hope this has made sense. also, again my lore might be wrong adn ther emight have been some elf babies around and if thats the case then sure, it would be interesting to see papa-potter after a suitable timeskip to have a little elfling

Steven Borchert

For Number 1, I might offer a bit of a different option, and possibly have them search out the Moriquendi/Avari, the elves who never went to Valinor? This would allow them to explore a bit, and be a good reason to pick up some new skills if need be/continue their monster hunt. This would take him out of a lot of the events though, so might not be the best, but it's just an idea. Number 2, ehh, never really cared about weddings, but that is 100% just a personal opinion. Number 3, I realise the time Aragon was with Harry was relatively small, but I would love to see him do his cannon route, but maybe have it changed up a bit, as a direct reference to how Harry's way of thinking as impacted Aragon. Otherwise, if it is just going to be the pure cannon, it would still be good to read, but maybe not have as big of an impact/length I guess? Number 4, A kid would be interesting to have in the time skip, but I feel like it would be a little too much of "hey, this thing happened, but they get forgotten about till the end anyway". If you can keep them in the story then I would say go for it, but if it is just something to fill out, then I'd wait till afterwards.

Starazer

1. I personally really enjoy good world building so heading south into Harad could be fun. 2. Yes wedding please 3. Yes 4. Would be nice to keep up on what Aragorn is doing 5. I think it would be nice to see dad Harry.

Ranma_Leopard

Tbh they all look interesting I'd love to see more of Harry crafting things. But I'd love to see whatever you publish

Landrogar

I think having them join Fili and the other dwarves would be a good way to rekindle the craft of the Runesmiths with the dwarves, making them more formidable going down the line. Could be fun to see them more military active in LotR. I personally am more interested in seeing parts of Aragorn's rise instead of Saruman's fall. Might also be a more organic way to present his relationship with the Rohirim instead of the one line they give him in the movie. I'm all for a wedding. Too many stories just gloss over such "mundane" events because there is no action. Also, I'd like to see what kind of role you'd have a child of Harry have to play in Lord of the Rings.

Justin Gremminger

1. A+B could work with the rangers in the ruins of Arnor angmar area. 2. The weddings are interesting here because both elves and dwarves would want to be there so I feel you might have an interesting story for that. 3. Maybe small bits but he’s essentially a side character but a major enemy how Tolkien used him so maybe something similar. 4. If you go with 1.b then Harry aragorn will be around each other anyway 5. Complicated I think. Both would be good because then you could leave tauriel behind with child. Which would allow you to show the events of the war in the north, while Harry presumable goes with the fellowship

Novus

1. All of the arc choices are a little tempting, admittedly. But honestly Option A is just so much more so. You’ve expanded on the dwarves in a way I’ve never seen before, with a skill that makes what you’ve created feel like it could fit right into Tolkien’s own world lore. That’s beyond exceptional and well into the ‘I only believe it because I’ve actually seen it’ territory. Continuing to expand on that, building them up in the way Tolkien’s supplemental material did with the elves, would just be Fantastic. Sure, you could end up doing the same with some of the other options, but the result would be Breadth instead of Depth. And the deep dive into a single culture over skimming the surface of multiple honestly seems more interesting. 2. I barely skimmed all of the weddings in ATP. In fact, I think they might be the only part of ATP that I did that with. Boring isn’t a strong enough word. Frankly, the only reason to cover it at all in Fate would be if there was cool cultural stuff involved. Or, like, a cheeky Valar decides to pop in to officiate or something. Which would be hilarious and awesome, but probably a bit over the top… 3. That’s…tricky. To an extent, Saurmon has already fallen at this point. If I remember my lore right, he’s been lying his ass off to the White Council for centuries while looking for Sauron’s ring himself. Having told them he was quite sure it had ended up in the ocean. That said, I always thought it was something of a shame that Tolkien never showed more of how he ended up as he did. If you think you can pull it off, I’d love to see some of his downward spiral in more detail. 4. Aragorn. Meh. I’m a lot less interested in him. He’s one of those characters that everybody and their brother has done a take on. And the type of adventures he has are the same type that Harry and his lady are getting up to, so showing them doesn’t add any real variety. 5. Didn’t you already ask this one before? I think I answered it, or a very similar question, in detail when you did. Honestly, I don’t think Tauriel is ready for it. Harry would be. But Tauriel is EXTREMELY young for an elf and pretty obviously in the daring adventure period of her life. I’d expect her to be extremely off put by the idea for literally centuries yet. Remember, Arwen is already nearly 2,700 years old when she gets with Aragorn. Aside from Legolas, Tauriel is one of the youngest elves on the entire continent…

zagan

1. I would go with C, if only for the world building. 2. This can happen offscreen during a time skip. 3. I would like to see some of it, occasional glimpse, with harry starting to doubt him but not too much. 4. I would like to see him falling for Arwen at least but I don't think its necessary to have more than that. It would be redundant with Harry and Tauriel's adventures. 5. I would love to see that, it bring higher stake, with potential hostage situation. And it would highlight the difference in relationship between a "human" and an elf and two elves.

Kevin Thunder

A wedding would be neat. How often do you see humans marry elves? I am also leaning towards the Haradrim. Certainly not something we are used to seeing, either, so it could be fun. But, on the other hand, them helping police Mordor could go a long way to making the land of Gondor safer. Harry could use this to strike up a friendship with Boromir later and possibly prevent Denethor's complete descent into madness. Maybe Harry could even kill some Nazgul. Shame there is only 6 years, or I would say both 1B and 1C. But then, there is that whole Moria issue. What I really want is for Harry to get either a staff or a proper wand, so he could do some stuff that would make Galadriel in awe of him.

Bryan Brown

1. This would be the perfect place for Harry to have a 1 chapter time skip/training montauge if there is anything else you wish him to learn before he goes to Gondor. The idea that pops into my mind is spending some time with Radgast the brown learning about the plants and animals of this world and perhaps adapt his potion knowelege to this world's resources. Herblore is a cannon thing in LOTR and I do not remeber him studing it yet. Though this could also be a project for while he is raising his child. Of the arc options you gave the one that stands out to me is to head into the east but not nesscarly deep into Easterlings lands. The most likely reason I see for Harry to head east would be to help the dwarven clans there as they get driven west at some point due to war in between the Hobbit and LOTR. Could mix this with travelling with Fili doing diplomancy, espeically if Thorin marrys a dwarf from one of the 4 eastren clans. Alternateively Harry could go looking into what happened to the blue wizzards. Tolkin's early and later notes disagree on what happened there acording to the wiki so it would be intresting to explore. 2, 3, 4, & 5. If you want to focus on other characters like Saruman and Aragorn for a while then the perfect time would be for Harry to get married and Tauriel pregent, maybe in that order, at the end of the Gondor arc. This lets you slip into slice of life stuff for them while using the other characters to worldbuild and show all the stuff that is reffered to but never shown in the books.

Braeden1002

1. The idea that Harry and Tauriel traveling with the Dwarves would be a great way to help further those bonds and maybe even help lessen tensions between humans and elves to be an interesting idea. I would not want this one really as unfortunately I do not know how different it would be to whenever Harry is around the dwarves and I could just see it repeating more of what has already happened. But honestly, I think I would rather see them head into the Harad. I would rather seem world building in a way that might not have been properly explored in other media. Moreover, the adventures that they would get up to would be very interesting and depending on what happens they might be able to develop bonds of friendship and trust that could then see another avenue of people that could be called upon to fight against Sauron or that would be able to help against corsairs and others. 2. In terms of wedding, do the elves of Middle Earth even have marriage as a human would? I could see Harry and Tauriel having a very touching moment before Galadriel and Celeborn in the woods of Lothlorien or even just by themselves and the Valar as witness. But a big wedding as has been observed in A Third Path to the Future just would not fit them or this world. Something smaller and more intimate would be more their speed. 3. If Saruman is destined to fall then I do not really need to see much if any interaction between the two of them; unless the interactions would slow his descent or for the possibility that Saruman might not fall to darkness. Plus, the way that Saurman has so far been betrayed he might give of Dumbledore vibes and I can just see Harry playing pranks but also the two of them are just to radically different to really get along at least not without a buffer in Galadriel or Gandalf. 4. I don’t think we need to really see the canon events all the time; but seeing him falling in love with Arwen would be interesting. I also think seeing some of the adventures with the Rangers or in Rohirrim would be fun, not necessarily for the adventures themselves, as we can see how Harry has influenced Aragorn as a person. Does he say or do things differently with someone like Harry around or has a story Harry told about his life and adventures resonate with Aragorn and help him in a tough situation. 5. I am torn, I love the idea of getting to see Harry and Tauriel as parents, especially Harry as all he has ever wanted to be was a father. The interactions we would see between the parents and those that they trust would be cute and great to see. Which when coupled with being old enough to take part in the War of the Rings could add tension when the child is away from their parents and how they all would act and react. Whereas, if they both know that a war is coming in the near future would the two of them even be willing to bring in a child to the world if they could not guarantee their safety. But I think they should have a kid, not just for others to focus on but that it gives Harry and Tauriel another reason to live on and ensure the future of the world for their child/children.

Garri Sarkisov

1. I am torn between A and C. A makes sense as we have started this journey with Dwarves and it seems fitting what other things can be accomplished since canon does not provide a lot of information like how did Moria fall, perhaps canon can be changed there. On the other hand C is curious since no one ever wrote anything about that, perhaps H/T can take few of their dwarven friends there for adventure (hint hint wink wink) 2. Small wedding with mix of Dwarven/human/Elven traditions will be wonderful to see and with all core friends of the group, Bilbo the flower boy (lol) 3. no opinion 4. It would be awesome to see how Harry's teachings influenced Aragorn's life in his adventures, perhaps another meet up between teacher and student in shared adventure, imparting more life wisdom. 5. I would love to see kids, there are almost no twins in canon being born for elves. It would be great to see boy and girl. Cute family interactions in passage of time episodes would be soothing for the soul. Like first accidental magic, funny tantrum and unusual pets ("mom it followed me home, can i keep it") Thank you

vimesenthusiast

In a word, Yes. Not only yes, but easily. One, Saruman was not tainted by Sauron, Saruman worked with Sauron willingly after a few centuries in Middle Earth. Not because he wanted to, but the better to supplant Sauron. Saruman wants to be, in Treebeard's words, "A Power." He even apparently, according to the legendarium, tried to create his own Ring. Also Recall in the original, Saruman was known for two things: his work of hand end eye, his craft, and two, his VOICE. Now, the first was somewhat overblown, he was shown to not be nearly as good at crafting as he was supposed to be. But his voice was a danger even after his fall from grace, such that Gandalf would feel that himself, Aragorn, Elrond and Galadriel are the only ones immune to influence. Remember he used his voice to convince even them that the Necromancer was not Sauron for decades, that Sauron was no real threat as Saruman searched for the ring. So yes, his fall from grace will still happen and will not be effected by Harry overmuch.

vimesenthusiast

Rebellions among the Easterlings is not going to happen. One or more of the Ringwraiths are kings among them, and they have been under Morgoth/Sauron's sway for generations. The Blue Wizards might have tried it, but i do not think they succeeded beyond a certain point.

vimesenthusiast

On Four: Canon events for Aragorn sort of start soon - he is told his real name and is then sent out to join the Rangers and travel the world soon. But I understand your concerns.