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Dreamflower's Mathoms I  by Dreamflower 4 Review(s)
Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 55 on 4/24/2006
Oh, this could go right along with "Care and Feeding!" If only it had been enough! As it was, it was enough to free him in the end, and that's a comforting thought.
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: "Care and Feeding" remains near the top of the list of my all-time favorite stories, and it was a big influence on me and my own stories, so that is a huge compliment--thank you.

GryffinjackReviewed Chapter: 55 on 11/17/2005
You know, Gandalf could have said this about any one of the Big Folk in the Company. It's true for all of them.

These stories about Boromir always make me feel a bit sad, even when are showing his good side. *sigh* He really was very hobbity at heart.

Author Reply: Yes, it's true for them all; but I think Gandalf had begun to realize that the Ring was *concentrating* Its efforts on Boromir.

Anything with Boromir does tend to make one a bit melancholy--knowing his fate lends a certain amount of bittersweetness to any story with him in it, even if the Ring is never mentioned.

Have you ever read Pipkin Sweetgrass' "The Bee Charmer"? It's a delightful
"Boromir lives" AU, in which we learn just how hobbity at heart the Son of Gondor was. I love it.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 55 on 6/27/2005
Considering Baylor's The Care and Feeding of Hobbits, this is MOST appropriate indeed. Lovely drabble.

Author Reply: That is what inspired it. "Care and Feeding" was one of the first fics I read, and remains to this day at the top of my favorites list.

mirthorReviewed Chapter: 55 on 6/27/2005
Yeah, & why didn't you stop him from coming along then, Wizard!

He, he. Always wished Tolkien hadn't have needed someone to sacrifice, because it never made sense that Galadriel & Gandalf allowed a warrior that spellbound to be a part of the Nine. But, if he'd been left back in Rivendell, he wouldn't have become the tragic hero we all love.

Good drabble & this is exactly how I imagined the Son of Gondor to have warmed to the hobbits. Thanks for sharing.

Author Reply: Story external, you are absolutely right: there had to be a sacrifice, and it had to come from within the Fellowship, to show just how powerful and insidious the Ring was. And JRRT chose Boromir because he wanted it to be a Man, who fell because of pride and despair, and it could *not* be Aragorn.

But story internal, I think that Gandalf and Galadriel did not feel it their place to gainsay one who seemed fated to be one of the Nine. Unlike movie-verse, in which Elrond actually *called* the Council, in book-verse, everyone who showed up, came by "chance, if chance you call it". Actually, *Faramir* was the one who *should* have come, and Boromir's insistence on taking his brother's place was what brought him into the Fellowship, and possibly into conflict with what should have happened.

Also, I don't believe Boromir was all that spellbound in Rivendell. He showed that he was open, with the idea that the Ring could be used, but he allowed the others to gainsay him. I think that in Rivendell the Ring was fairly quiescent, and only began to try and feel the others out *after* the Quest had begun. But that's my opinion only--the text is fairly neutral on that, and it could go another way.

But I believe Gandalf hoped all along that Boromir *would* overcome the temptation--and actually, he *did* break the Ring's spell on himself at the end, as he was an honorable Man at heart, but it was too late by then.

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