Title: Bond of Honor
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing: Haldir/Éomer
Categories: Romance, Drama, Alternate Universe
Length: Long
Warnings: Uninformed bonding...?

Author on LJ: meri_oddities
Website: Other Oddities of Fiction

Review:
The Lord of the Rings has always been plentiful with what you might call rare pairings as most newcomers tend to focus on the fellowship as whole before dipping their toes into other characters. A sound place to start but hampering when you consider all the possibilities the other characters present. ‘Bond of Honor’ is a prime example of that and lovely place to start branching out if you haven’t already. Beginning just after the battle of Helm’s Deep, with untold numbers injured and near death, Éomer finds himself offering his aid and his strength to an elf he knows little of but who he would not see die and unknowingly forges a bond between them.

While bonding stories as a whole are not a rare commodity in the LotR fandom, one’s that aren’t immediately inundated with ‘true love’ notions or an edge of the unbelievable are and as such are generally overlooked in the grand scheme of things because readers tend to think that it might not end happily. That’s not the case here and the author proves it by making the bond between Haldir and Éomer equal parts plausible and matter-of-fact. They didn’t intended to bond and don’t even realize it’s a possibility until it’s already happened and they’re seemingly stuck together. This is, in the long run, a good thing as the closeness that is forced upon them due to the bond also forces them to spend time getting to know one another and eventually leads to them to falling in love.

Combine all this with the ever deepening intensity of the war and Éomer’s journey to being King of Rohan, which I have woefully neglected mentioning but is in itself is well-written and interesting, and it’s an ultimately satisfying and thoroughly enjoyable read.

Bond of Honor