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Shire: Beginnings  by Lindelea 3 Review(s)
DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 7 on 10/1/2004
Ah, what a lovely first meeting between Gandalf and the hobbits! "Grand-alf"? Ingenious!

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 7 on 12/20/2003
Very clever way for Gandalf to have gotten the name that the Hobbits use for him. Still enjoying this very much. It was very brave of you to try and tell this story. So much of it is pure imagination.

Author Reply: Don't know whether it was brave or foolish, but thankfully the story seems to be coming along. It is plotted all the way to Rivendell. There are scraps of outline for the Fallohides' arrival in Breeland, and then another outline is taking shape for Marcho and Blanco's exodus from Breeland to the Shire. Hoping to hit the high points of hobbit history. Whew. Don't know how far this will go... so much happens after Marcho and Blanco--the plague, the long winter and the starving time, the fell winter, Bandobras and the battle of Greenfields, hobbit archers going to the defence of Fornost when the Northern Kingdom fell... those might be other, separate stories, don't know yet quite how "Shire" will end.

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 7 on 12/3/2003
I'm sorry I haven't got to review much, there's just been no time, no time, no time! But I couldn't let this one go by. GRAND-ALF!!!! BBWWAAHAHAHA! It's so perfect! You have an incredible wit. I wonder how the Grey Wanderer felt becoming known to the royalty of Rohan and Gondor with a name invented by a three foot shoeless proto-hobbit?

I'm glad the hobbits went after the orcs and wanted to protect the Grey One, not that he really needed the help. They try to pay their debt for the rescue of Pick, and show from the beginning that there's more to them than might be implied by their appearance. In return, they've got Gandalf's attention, and help for their a-journeying. Saruman would have just blown them off. Gandalf's got to be curious about this folk that don't appear in any of the old lists, as Treebeard would say. They aren't of the Firstborn, but not quite like the Second Children of Illuvitar, either. They are kind and respectful to each other in this first meeting. And a relationship starts that will end up saving the world - no coincidences in Tolkien's universe.

I hope Gandalf pops up again somewhere in your story, as I imagine they'll need some more help sometime before they finally reach the Shire. How will he be remembered through the generations to come? Might Elrond lend a hand as well?

This story is quite engaging. I'm as curious as a hobbit to see what comes next.

Author Reply: It was lovely to find your review. I understand about being busy! Somehow, though, a response helps me feel that I'm not just talking to myself.

Since Frodo, Merry and Pippin are descended from Fallohides, I figure there's got to be something good there! And yes, the hobbits will have more encounters with Gandalf, and Arwen and her brothers, and eventually Elrond, though perhaps not the wood elves (must do a quick re-read of the Hobbit as I am not sure Thranduil recognised Bilbo the way he might've had he run across hobbits before). The People have a ways to go before they're driven to cross the mountains, an adventure in itself! And then there's the bit of story that comes after the mountain crossing... more fun in store, I think.

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