Hmm. Technically I probably shouldn't be doing this, but I'm one of those people who will explain something I don't think another is really understanding.
For those of you who don't realize it, my story is forty five years old, give or take a year or two. I wrote this before I even knew what fan fiction was, so there were no rules, a situation I am very fond of. As a matter of fact, I often ignore rules as a matter of policy.
"Guest", I deleted your review only because you did it anonymously so I didn't have a chance to discuss this with you. I'd love to have a conversation about this. I bear you no ill will and there's no hard feelings, of course if you don't re-visit my story you won't know this.
I read a lot of stuff by Chris Tolkien that he wrote, well actually edited his father's stuff for Tolkien fans like me, but this is waayyyy before Peter Jackson came on the scene. In fact, when I wrote this story (ok, well, gave it a start) there were NO red-headed elves! (at least in print) Other people like me who were unknowingly writing fan fiction may have invented their own, but to my knowledge, my Celebriel was the only red-head in the elven world I knew about.
As a matter of fact, I was rather shocked when I saw red-headed elves. I thought that this was my domain. BTW, I checked my copy of the Silmarillion and saw no mention of red hair, only black, gold, and silver. Since I'm a compulsive researcher, I keep a collection of books at t hand, but, as I said, everything I own pre-dates Peter Jackson's version of the LOTR.
I'm glad that his movies sparked an interest in Middle Earth, and evidently there's a lot of stuff out there that wasn't before, but I don't own it. I don't go to libraries for research because I always forget to return books, so I have no idea what's out there anymore. I'm basically happy with my resources at hand.
In my LOTR universe, Celebriel is the only one with red hair, which is what I wanted her to be. I wanted a unique "one of a kind" elf, and that's what I wrote. If anyone wants to go "mano a mano" with me over this, tell me what source you're using so I can look it up for myself.
I understand "purists", I really do. I'm a bit of one myself. I enjoy historical fiction, but start having problems when it steers too far from the truth. For those of you who don't like my character's hair color—well, at one point I gave her black hair, but since I preferred the red, that's what I went back to.
Now if anyone wants to argue with me over this, cool, just don't do it anonymously. Give me a way to message you so we can have a get-down, lively argument, okay? I don't often delete reviews (face it, I can use all can get), but if I feel they're off point, or you don't leave me a way to respond to you, or if you insult me or my characters, chances are I will delete it.
Once again, "Guest", if you want to get back to me on this, I'm open!