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For Eyes to See as Can  by Larner 18 Review(s)
harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 27 on 10/9/2023
Yet another reading through of your delightful tale Larner.
Still brings both tears and laughter.
hoping all is well with you my friend.
Hugs Elizabeth

Eirinn LeighReviewed Chapter: 27 on 7/8/2015
This was heartbreakingly beautiful especially the beginning and ending thirds. The middle third (covering the events of the quest) felt quite rushed and rather jarred me out of the story flow.

Author Reply: I am so glad you chose to read it, as it was my first foray into fanfiction. I'd not wished to tread at that time into situations that the Master had already written to, so for me it was enough for Sam to assume his own Master had written all that was needful to know about the quest itself, and to concentrate on the periods before and after the quest.

Thank you so much for your feedback!

Szepilona10Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 9/30/2012
So, I have no idea why I haven't read this before, but it's fantastic! It definitely goes on the list of my all-time favorite fanfictions. Sam is a very interesting individual--he sees himself as a lowly gardener, but is really one of the smartest and most important beings in Middle Earth. To read about 'Mr' Frodo from his point of view, gives a completely different perspective than third person does. Anyway, this was a great story (even though it doesn't have rangers in it! :D)!
God Bless!


~Szepilona~

Author Reply: I am so honored, Szepilona! My first story, written so long ago now, in response to "A Small and Passing Thing" by Lindelea as she posted it on FanFiction.net. I always felt that Sam's intelligence had to have been played down by Tolkien, particularly if he, too, was educated by Bilbo. And I found I had to include some of my own obsessions from when I was younger, such as caddisfly larvae and their often beautiful constructions, as an exemplar for metamorphosis.

No, no northern Dunedain Rangers in this one, or at least not deliberately.

Thanks so much for the comments and compliments!

Socrates399Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 3/1/2009
I read this once before, but I just realized that I have never reviewed.

This is beautiful! I am always impressed when you (along with one or two other fan-fiction writers who I follow) create a story that is faithful to Tolkien's work, and yet very original. Thank you.

Author Reply: Thank you for taking the time to reread and comment, Socrates. That you find it original considering I was referencing Tolkien himself and a host of the fanfics I'd read just before reading Lindelea's "A Small and Passing Thing" is a great compliment indeed! It was my first fanfic story, and the one that got me started as one hooked on the genre. I am honored so many have appeared to like the story as well as they have.

Thank you so very much!

GamgeeFestReviewed Chapter: 27 on 5/20/2006
I finally finished reading this and it is just beautiful. Such a bittersweet ending, yet so full of love and hope as well. It is hard to see just what Frodo thought of himself at the end, that all he could see was his failing and self-loathing, and not his strength and selflessness. Being in Valinor will help to heal that. I cannot say enough good things about this story, just that it's one of my favorites and will forever change the way I see Frodo after the Quest. Thank you for sharing this.

Author Reply: Ah, you've found the First Story. Yes, this is one of my favorites as well, and am so glad you found this moving.

Pain and depression can so deeply wound us. I suspect Frodo found a great deal to look down on himself about after the quest; he needed the grace to get past that.

This makes the knowledge Frodo was granted the grace to go to Eressea more meaningful, for he finally had sufficient physical and emotional healing he could begin appreciating he was indeed beloved and worthy of the love all others wished to shower him with.

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 27 on 4/20/2006
Wow! Why didn't I find this story earlier?
For here lie the roots of some of the best stories I ever read!
What a wonderful idea to see Frodo through the eyes of Sam - until he, too left Middle Earth, and then to give the last words to Aragorn.

Those dark pictures are frightening - especially the one of Frodo as Gollum. His dreams must have been pure agony!

I'm just glad to know that you, too, see a reunion of Frodo and Sam in the end, and a last meeting with Aragorn.

Author Reply: Oh, I am glad you found it. I admit that Lindelea's and others' works heavily inspired this and were even referenced in it, and am grateful the original writers appear happy to see the references.

But I felt it was time that Sam's point of view be examined, and had a great deal of enjoyment putting myself into his--footsteps.

And the dark pictures would be part of what Frodo would have sought to draw to deal with the darkness he found himself. Writing and drawing out the fears and worries, I always felt, would be how he dealt with that which worried him the most.

Yes, I see Frodo, Sam, and Aragorn finding one another in the future.

Thanks so much for letting me know you've read this and appreciated it.

EndaewenReviewed Chapter: 27 on 2/17/2006
This was beautiful.

Author Reply: Thank you very much for the indication of how much you enjoyed it and that you found it beautiful. The feedback makes the writing worthwhile.

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 27 on 1/27/2006
Oh...my... Yes, I've come back and read it again, all in one go. When I first stumbled upon this fic, and found you, this seemed a tale so real, so very believable, so much more, so far beyond what I thought fanfiction could be, that it just rendered me speechless and made my heart swell to bursting with a feeling I still can't describe. Now, rereading it, it seems more within my grasp, but no less amazing. It still leaves me feeling ready to weep with the sheer magnitude, but unable to do so. I won't ask how you did it-that's a vain question. But I will tell you that this may be the most-for lack of a better word-glorious piece of fanfiction I ever hope to read. And this certainly won't be the last time I read it, either.
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: I will try to respond to this tonight. I am still responding from the server, to which I cannot yet transfer files, not until the desktop is repaired. To have people reread a story is a pleasure and a joy; and to have it praised so highly is a greater one.

The first fanfiction stories I read were by Chip of Dale, also known as Tom Fairbairn, particularly his short story "Changes" in which he describes Frodo's thoughts in the movie moment of going aboard the ship at the Grey Havens. Then I began reading Baylor's works, and then that of others, until I read Lindelea's "A Small and Passing Thing," which directly inspired this story. It's a wonderful thing to find that I am now inspiring others as I myself was inspired. You yourself have quite a gift, and I hope you continue to exercise it. It will be a pleasure, when you are becoming famous, to be able to tell my friends, "I remember when she was first beginning to post fanfiction."

Thank you.

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 27 on 9/20/2005
Larner, stayed up to finish it last night. I liked the pre-Quest stuff best, but overall great stuff! Is it any wonder that I love my dear Frodo - I am getting more and more appreciation and awe for what he and Sam did and endured through these stories. I love that Frodo refered to baby Merry as his 'brother-cousin'. I love that Sam offered Aragorn a hankie and the king's own love and grief for Frodo and Frodo's love for him expressed in that letter. I love that little teasing, thankful letter to the conspirators. I would only quibble about one thing - when Sam refers to himself as Frodo's man, since they are hobbits and not men, it sounds strange, but lovely, lovely and I can't wait to read the sequel!

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: As you go through more of my works, you will find that Hobbit handkerchiefs have come to symbolize the empathy and love between Aragorn and his friends from the Shire.

That Frodo and Sam became such brothers of the heart was obvious; that there would grow into as close a relationship between Sam and Aragorn seemed natural, and as you progress you will see I have some personal ideas about that three-way relationship, too.

I've been in love with Aragorn since I first read the books well over forty years ago now, and I have always honored Frodo and Sam's willingness to offer themselves, Frodo for all others and Sam for Frodo's own sake.

And the need to try to bridge the gap, and to try to shield others from pain, is a universal one. Sam would find it hard to share that with his beloved Strider, but would realize he must know one day just how much agony of body and spirit Frodo went through before choosing to leave not just the Shire but Middle Earth as a whole.

Am so glad you stuck with it.

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 27 on 9/19/2005
Larner, wow! I am only halfway through this - one must sleep at some point though I'd rather keep reading - but what a wonderful, beautiful love story you have constructed here! I was reading more of it during the ads while Two Towers was on TV and have been looking forward all day at work to returning to read more. So far, I love esp. Sam growing wildflowers for his Frodo to enjoy at his favorite place to read, write, paint - what a touching, loving gift - and that he stayed out with him all that night when Frodo was crying over Bilbo leaving. You even inspired my muse to wake me up during the night with a thought for a story of my own with Frodo writing down and locking away the things that bother him the most. I'm now dying to finish your story and read the sequel!

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)



Author Reply: Am so glad that you enjoy it, Antane. Sam and Frodo's relationship is one of the most beautiful in modern literature, and as I say in the prologue I think Tolkien undervalued Sam terribly. Wanted to see him come alive. And I think Sam would have done almost anything for Frodo to make things more beautiful for him.

Thanks so much for letting me know how you feel about it, and hope you enjoy the rest as well.

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