Grim Tales - Fenrir Unbound - Fenrir Unbound Book III - Chapter 13 Part 2 - Conclusion
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Grim Tales - Fenrir Unbound - Fenrir Unbound Book III - Chapter 13 Part 2 - Conclusion
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22 comments
Was quite amusing how Alfrun surprised Hircine and how he tried to say he had not been startled, seems his keen senses failed him there. Alfrun and Hircine make an unusual team though they certainly share a fondness for Grim, he is lucky he has many that care about him. I liked that part about Alfrun's enigmatic smile reminding Hircine of his mysterious sibling. I see Hircine got a little revenge by startling Alfrun in return as he sought out the scent of Grim. Takes quite the place to make for an unusual hunt for Hircine, he certainly is one to like new challenges in tracking onr in that realm of the eye.
It was good that Hircine found Grim when he did, keeping him from losing himself entirely in trying to free Fenrir, he was brave to give up much of his divine side. Good to see the winter wolf finally freed from his shackles, I like how you described his spirits howl as he found freedom again. Was great that moment between Hircine and Sam, the great hunter sharing words of wisdom about Elisha's fall, about the nature of sacrifice. It was touching how Elisha's spirit told Sam not to blame himself, that it was her choice to remain to keep her friends safe. Shows her great kindness how when given a last request to make, she made one for Sam to cure her mother, nice that one so kind will live another life with that final boon.
Nice to see Grim in a state were he could joke around a little with Sam as the danger passed, they certainly deserve a good drink after all that. I see the hunter is still trying to hide his pride and fondness about his pup, though it seems he is finding that more and more difficult. I am relieved that Grim made it back to his friends among all that danger, that he remains his usual self, I am sure his friends are as relived as me about that. A fantastic conclusion, Jonathan, it had me quite captivated
I like to show that Grim isn't a lone wolf but a character to counts on his friends and allies to help him as much as he returns the favor. A pack that works well together. I tend to like the dragons for some reason - maybe because I see them as creatures of the wild even if magical in nature. Most of them do not seem truly evil - instead they seem to dominate only because that is there nature. Plus I like to think that spending so much time with Grim (soul to soul as it were) that some of Grim has rubbed off on them (and vice-versa). Consequently when he frees them, and they become dragons again I expect they will be more like Parth. I am currently thinking that freeing the dragons and making peace with them might be Grim's next story. Certainly having the dragons as friends to the Nords would help in their battle against the Thalmor!
Lol you got that revenge did you! I was wondering if anyone would mention that. Hircine did that very much on purpose to get some revenge on Alfrun (who is also a direct agent of Nocturnal). Very pleased you mentioned that Alexi!
I enjoyed the whole thing with Elisha and Sam and in the end I wanted it to be an almost positive thing for Sam - so he could understand followers will die but it doesn't have to always be a horrible thing. Besides I think the Prince's really care far more for souls then they do the frail mortal bodies that are so ephemeral. Still I also think Sam, and Hircine, are learning to respect their short lives since they are so short.
Glad the story held your interest and that you enjoyed it. The Epilogue is also done and now I am a mini-break while I sort out what is happening next. I have a few small stories planned and by then I hope to have the major plot line for book 4 outlined.
The use of the dragon souls to envelop Grim's fragile mind in the eye was pure genius. Loved that. It was nice to see Alfrun / Nocturnal herself(? ) show up to help Hircine out. I often wonder when princes use a 'mortal' to appear and work their will whether they are in fact using an emissary or if it's just an excuse for the Prince herself to get down and dirty in the world of mortals. Kind of like a mask. Nice exploration of Meridia's 'help' too... keeping that old Bal occupied so he wouldn't team up with Mora.
I have to admit I enjoyed seeing Hircine on the Hunt. It was truly masterfully done; his frustration equally matched by his sheer enjoyment of the hunt. Great stuff. Grim's 'sacrifice' to free Fenrir, Hircine's subsequent involvement, stepping in and causing Grim to survive but become mortal will all take some digestion. I'm not quite sure of the ramifications of this and i'm sure your epilogue will go a long way to illuminating the further questions this chapter has given light to!
Oh, and Sam and Elisha... beautifully done. I'm so glad you gave Sam and Elisha a chance to wrap things up. It was a beautiful gift he granted to her (granted, some of it was to stick it to Mora! ). I can't help but see a shadow over Sam when it comes to Mora's revenge... or more so, a shadow over Dannee and her companions... *shudder*
I'm off to read it now...
It was Alfrun who showed up, not Notcurnal herself (although I seriously think they would do just that at times purely for the fun of it - must get boring at times), but she had been blessed directly by Nocturnal to help her handle the chaos realm better and be very hard to detect, even by Hircine. Alfrun is in the Evengloam which is part of the lore. They exist there to give luck to the Guild. I would assume they become an actual part of it and loose their own identity once they grow weary of existence. Doesn't seem a bad way to go actually. You get to hang out and deliver luck to your Guild and friends and when it just all becomes to much you sink into blissful sleep and become part of that Universe - a force for good luck.
I think Hircine is the type of Prince willing to take more risks than others in his family. He likes a challenge and the harder the hunt the more he enjoys it. So I felt his whole risk taking in entering the Eye matched his personality (as I see it of course - lets face it Hircine in Grim's world is far more of the "wise old nature god" type who is neutral in alignment then the bloodthirsty hunter in TES).
Also pleased you enjoyed Elisha even if she seemed a little last minute ... you know how time is with these things! Thanks again for the nice comment and stopping by Nexus to check it out!
The portrayal you did of the realm of chaos within the eyes was splendid. I would imagine such place to always be shifting and be somewhat of a sensory overload. Where nothing have any sense. Surely this have to be the most perilous journey Grim have found himself in, and he have been through alot of such adventure ! Interesting how the dragon soul within him intervene by creating some kind of mental barrier using his memories to guide him through all the chaos that swirled around him !
I doubt that there is any coincidence in Alfrùn being there..but simply Nocturnal subtle way of helping Grim. The realm sure is one to take a toll even on a powerful entity such as a Daedric Prince, luckily for Hircine, he had the Wild Magic with him ! Quite the interesting reflection he had about his siblings, could Meridia have possibly willingly started that fight with Molag Bal to prevent any possible alliance between him and Mora..? Very interesting ! It was good to see how even in the most indirect way, they still came to Grim's help. Hircine is not the Lord of the Hunt for nothing ! He does enjoy a good hunt..and this sure was something worth of a lifetime !..even with the fact that he's immortal !
Fun and very intriguing to revisit Grim's past..via the memories he have of Hircine, also very interesting that the Huntsman would get to see and feel exactly how his Grandson perceived him..making him wonder how others may see him.
You had me quite frightful when Grim reached the eye of Magnus once again, this time making the decision to sacrifice himself to free his father. It was very touching moment..yet i just didn't want Grim to die ! Such a tragic end ! Hircine sure showed up in the nick of time to stop the process, although some 'damage' had already be done. It will be very interesting how being 'mortal' changes Grim in the future..as well as Hircine guiding him so he can fulfill his role when the time comes.
Must of been quite the shock for Sam to just realize about how much trust Hircine had put in him..perhaps this will finally give him the confidence he need to open up and be honest with Dannee! His brother heeding the same warning as lovely Selina ..perhaps it's time he actually listened ! Turning Mora's attack into an act of generosity..i can't even imagine how angry Mora is gonna be ! It was good that he summoned Elisha's spirit..ease some of his grief by speaking to her !
I suspect many more wonderful adventure for Grim and his pack, he might of fulfilled his promise to his father, but still so more things left undone !
Absolutely loved this! Stunning work on the writing and also the images ! a masterpiece dear !
I wish you a wonderful year of 2015 !
I have many thoughts on the realm of chaos which I think would really be pure raw energy and matter constantly changing back and forth with each other at the quantum level. Impossible to survive in. Of course in a fantasy world with many planes of existence things are a bit different. Still no mortal could survive there, any more than they could in outer space, without some form of magic or divine aid. Grim at least had the divine aid for the body and the dragons for his mind. Glad you enjoyed how I depicted it all. My basic premise is that the human mind WANTS, nay CRAVES, order. It is why we see faces in clouds, animals in the leaves of a tree, and Jesus on potato chips ... it is our desire to create patterns out of randomness. So Grims mind simply needed a way to apply order to what he was seeing. The dragons let him do this by filtering things. In reality he was chasing a sliver of a soul through raw energy and matter.
Grim has many friends - it is his big strength. He understands the power of the Pack. Something Hircine is understanding a bit more as he deals more with mortals and Grim. It is one reason he is a bit more affable I think. Anyhow they (the Princes) do not want to start a war so they have to abide by their own rules of the Great Game. Luckily there are a lot of loop holes
So glad you enjoyed this story, and the last, as I put a ton of effort into them. Wanted them to feel like a read "ending" to the story line. Thanks again for the comment and support. I expect there will be more stories to tell in 2015!
Simply stunning Conclusion to the "Free Fenrir" quest .. very well thought out and written part with perfectly Fitting Images. Very very well done Jonathan, and once more thank you for shareing! Will be interesting what will come now; both concerning the Epilogue and the adventures behind that - as I have a the slight Feeling that mora will be interfering in grims quest to free the Dragon souls inside him
As for other tales - well the thing is that when I first made Grim he had two main story lines. One was Fenrir and the other was the Black Wolf Company. I had actually meant to focus a lot more on the Black Wolf Company. I wanted to write a lot of stories about him being a mercenary and also a Lycan (werewolf) of Fenrir. A big part of his story was meant to be how he became a Champion of Fenrir and would lead his own Squad in the Company. That really got pushed aside as I focused more and more on his quest to free Fenrir (which was meant to be how he became Fenrir's Champion - both story lines were meant to intertwine).
This is why Book IV, if I get into it, is called "Champion of Fenrir" as I hope to return to that story line. Of course being a mercenary is very flexible for writing and can easily be used to explain why Grim might hunt down Vampires (hired by the Dawnguard much as Koen was) and do that DLC.
Also Avrein "hires" him to deal with Neloth and in the process Neloth bargains with them about information on the dragon souls. This is in turn lets me do the Dragonborn DLC with Grim (which I still have not done! All that content will be brand new to me as I never did it before - very excited) and once again come into contact with Mora.
As far as Grim's story goes he is not The (capital T) Dragonborn, Dannee is in his world. Alduin is already dead and done. True Dannee defeated Miraak ... but easy enough for Mora to resurrect Miraak (or bring in a version of Miraak from another shadow realm) another plot of his to get Grim. Grim will probably fight Alduin in my own game but I don't plan on making it part of his story.
I am toying a little with a Skyrim rebuild and using the "alternative start" mod where you begin the game as Eriks life long friend. I would just rebuild Grims game with that and then continue writing from where I left off. Would let me redo all my mods and have a clean save ... but my own "game" saves are in fairly good shape, to my surprise, now and not sure want to go through all that if my own game is working fine. There aren't any mods I am so desperate to add/remove that it would be worth it. So still debating that.
So at last Fenrir is free and as the snow falls so shall vengeance fall upon the Thalmor. I look forward to the time when Fenrir and Grim can at last be reunited. I hope in time Grim is able to free the Dragon Souls. Very honorable of them to protect Grim in the swirling Chaos within the eye. Good to know that they see Grim as "friend"
Sam seemed quite amazed that Hircine put that much trust in him. I hope it is enough to give Sam the confidence to be honest with Danee. Here again Hircine issues the same warning as Selina. Sam better take heed!
Now Grim is nearly Human which concerns me. Good to know that Erik and Wolfgar will be there to back him up. Also good to know that Hircine is aware and (Begrudgingly
Amazing work my friend! I hope you have a FANTASTIC 2015 and look forward to following Grims upcoming adventures!!
A hearty "Happy New Year" from the EC to the Grim Pack!
Dragons are special creatures and born of magic and time from Arkay. There souls are immortal and I almost see their bodies as being more magic than flesh and blood. So to me it makes sense their souls would live on in Grim in a way. Dragons respect power - if Grim defeated them then they respect that. Over time they learned to also like him, most of them - not all of course lol.
Anyhow I really enjoyed playing up the whole dragon soul stuff in all my stores and glad you liked that.
Hircine will be Grims trainer - I had always planned on Grim and Erik ending up in Hircines domain. The reason for this (for those unclear) is that there can only be one alpha in a pack (ideally). Fenrir rules the Forest of Twilight and is the Guardian of the North. If Grim were to live in his territory, as his direct heir, it would create a conflict between them eventually as Grim is meant to take over Fenrir's rule. However by placing him in Hircine's territory it removes this friction as Hircine is the Alpha and Grim won't be replacing him. When Fenrir finally passes on, which he must do being part of Lorkhan and not truly immortal, then Grim, trained by Hircine, will take his place.
I am dying to see what Nataly does with all this - I know she will do something. So you and me both are going to enjoy that I bet! Thanks again for the nice comment and have a great New Year as well!
Grim sure has been send to ore then perilous journey... I always imagined pure chaos like the place grim faces, something like strange ever changing swirl of images, feelings, sensations, emotions, too strange to comprehend in nay way... such place can sure drive anyone mad, even the immortals!
Grim was lucky that he had a help.. I could never predict that Alfrun will appear once again to help her son... guess that Nocturnal has to do something with it! she could not help openly, but master at stealth she still found a way to help Grim and Hircine...
It was very interesting to see ow Grim defended himself, or rather the dragon souls helped him defend his mind, setting him into a home of his dream to get a moment of can and discuss things. I guess this how perfect house looks for Gem, a little house in woods, where he can enjoy the nature and his time with Wolfgar and Erik... hope that one day they will have some peace and will be able to stay at such place at least for a time. great that dragons respect Grim and want him t prevail, because without their shield, I am afraid things might have turned very gloomy for Grim!
Also Hircine's journey into this realm was very interesting... such place sure can leave its toll even on Daedric prince, yet Hircine has never hesitated to go after his grandson, protecting his pack, It was touching to see how Hircine was pleasantly surprised how much fondness Grim has for him in memories.., I guess that statue of Hircine depicting his as great alpha wolf protecting his pack fits him perfectly! also Alfrun had perfect sense of timing too, which as no coincidence as huntsman has wisely noticed. it was very interesting to see some crucial points of Grim's story repeat itself in such way and form, trying to give him a message and once he thought he understood it, he was transported right to the Eye of Magnus...
I admit I was very afraid to see a tragedy, for the whole situation could have resulted either with Fenrir or both Grim and Wolfgar deaths, for it was a tough choice... Hircine with his Wild Magic became a wild card that changed everything, so thankfully no one would have to die or sacrifice themselves! I wonder what Fenrir will do with the Thalmor after his being freed! Also Grim's destiny after his almost sacrifice looks very intriguing... e sure has a very long journey ahead of him, in thousand reincarnations to ascent to higher stare of existence... I guess Fenrir has a laugh in this, making not himself but Hircine the guide and mentor to Grim! Very tricky but also very fitting thing to do for great Trickster.
So far i guess Grim would have a time to sort everything that happened recently... returning back to Skyrim. Also it was very touting to see Sam so sad over his follower Elisha death... very rare for Princes to feel such strong emotions towards their followers and Sam is very emotional towards whole tragedy, which shows that he cares... not in a way like Hircine cares for his pack, but in his own way. Hircine was very nice to Sam, but I guess after everything Sam did he kinda owes him a little empathy. And still Hircine remains himself, ordering in his straight forward way for Sam to summon Elisha spirit to end the depressing state Sam has found himself into... Elisha sure had lifted some of his worries and lightened his mood, while he did something most uncommon for Prince... letting valuable soul go free, so she could live again and enjoy her new life. I can perfectly understand Elisha feelings about Sam and his grand gesture! Mora would sure bite his own tentacle in rage, for that outcome of his petty revenge he couldn't ever predict! And Dannee would be so proud of Sam! Speaking of her... Hircine once again showed his care for little brother by telling Sam honestly that Mora won't let go of his plans so easily, so he should do something about it!
I am very happy that the chapter has ended on lighthearted note and even though Grim and his friends would face some catching on, things might start to get better not only for them but for Skyrim too. Besides Grim still is a Thalmor Bane and they should not forget it!
I will be looking forward to see the epilogue and I am very exited to see Grim random stories, since there is a lot things to do in Skyrim! Besides Thalmor and Mora did not go anywhere, so Grim and his friends might be into new adventures, including Solstheim business...
Thank you very much for sharing your awesome work! Happy New Year to you and best wished in upcoming year!
The nice thing is now he can go back to a mortal struggle with Erik and continue on his adventures. Not that he is weak by any means. He is still a master Rogue with some powerful magical skills. He also is still the blood of Fenrir - that can't be removed. So he has his cold resistance and ability to talk with animals. He can no longer summon, control, or even influence the weather ... but he still has some very minor lighting resistance and he can predict the weather pretty well ... as he is still a child of Kyne even if without the power. He can no longer summon a wild hunt but he is an expert tracker, hunter, and sword fighter. He also has his wolf form. Lastly he has some very powerful friends ... of course he will need them as he also has some very powerful enemies.
Glad you liked the way I did the chaos realm. The dragon souls do have their own self-interest but they have also grown to respect Grim. I wanted them more involved since they have always been part of his story. I also plan to have him find a way to free the souls as he promised them he would.
So yes, Nocturnal "sent" her agent to help Grim and Hircine while Meridia kept Molag from helping Mora. But it all has to be done by the rules as it were. As for Hircine - he has changed a little from using the Wild Magic and his recent experiences not only with Grim but with Sam and being so involved with mortals lately. He no longer sees them as play things ... although that just means he will be more indifferent to them versus good/bad by our standards. Mortals will still be called to his hunts but they will do it by choice for the rewards shall be great for those who win. I will also cover more in the Epilogue but Hircine finally got what he always wanted - Grim and Erik have become part of his pack and shall join him in the hunting grounds when they die. of course they shall be able to visit Fenrir! Yet he paid a price for this as now he must guide Grim along a very long path to become the next Fenrir when Fenrir finally fades away. But Hircine should have a few centuries before that happens. In the end Grim is still Fenrir's heir and will replace him but now they both have the time they were meant to have. That is the fix that the Caretaker made to their timeline.
There may be one more hint of Elisha in the Epilogue so keep your eyes open so you don't miss it! Glad you liked how I handled her, Sam, and Hircine.
In the end I wanted to write the ending I wanted to have for my favorite characters versus one that might have more emotional impact if writing an actual book. I very much wanted my main characters to have a sort of "new beginging" so they could almost start fresh. Now they can focus Mirrak, the Vampires, Civil War and Thalmor, and other stories I want to do. I am still unsure about Alduin - I will resolve that in the Epilogue. Right now I am leaning towards saying that the Caretaker fixed the time line so that Dannee is the true dragonborn in Grim's world. Grim would still have Thu'um but he would not need to face Alduin as Alduin was already defeated.
Thanks so much for all your support over the years and Happy New Year to you as well!
PS - I have already come up with the chapter for Grim's next book, Champion of Fenrir. My books are:
Book I - Wolfborn
Book II - Mother Grim
Book III - Fenrir Unbound
Book IV - Champion of Fenrir
The first chapter will most likely be "A Princely Favor."
Happy New Year my friend!!