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Dreamflower's Mathoms I  by Dreamflower 7 Review(s)
Celeste Lucretia BlackReviewed Chapter: 62 on 5/15/2021
Good work, Faramir

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 62 on 4/24/2006
Oh, I love the foreshadowing here. Very gentle, but poignant all the same. And you don't see very many stories about Merry, Faramir, and Eowyn in the Houses of Healing, so this is a delight!
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: Yes, gentle and poignant was what I hoped for, and I am so glad that you feel I succeeded.

You are quite right--and I am not sure why, as there is all sorts of potential there!

GamgeeFestReviewed Chapter: 62 on 4/16/2006
Merry in a tiff. It doesn't happen very often but he takes it to an art form when it does. The seashell would be a most appropriate gift for Frodo when he returns, for reasons they can't begin to imagine. It saddens me to know that Merry will one day come to hate the sound of the sea, when he takes such delight in it now.

Author Reply: No, it does not happen often. But being stuck in a strange City full of Big Folk, with all the worry of every person he cares about being gone into mortal peril--yeah, I can see why he'd be in the occasional bad mood.

I felt the seashell would have been just a little ironical, for that very reason--a sort of bittersweet comfort, though he doesn't know that at the time.

good_one_pipReviewed Chapter: 62 on 3/13/2006
Is this the same seashell that pops up in Grey Wonderer's "Trust a Brandybuck and a Took story?" Anyway, I'm so glad Merry can be himself again. It really breaks my heart to see any of our hobbits in pain.

Author Reply: We both wrote our stories for the same Marigold's Challenge 19--we had similar elements that we had to include, so by sheer coincidence (or Marigold's deviousness, LOL!) our stories seemed to fit together. In two other of her challenges, I've had my stories "fit" with someone elses'. Amazing!

It is heartbreaking to see them in distress--but at least we know that things worked out for them in the end.

GryffinjackReviewed Chapter: 62 on 12/8/2005
A glimpse at those left behind.

"There was nothing but the foul darkness of the Enemy to be seen. And somewhere, out there in the worst of it were all the people he had come to hold dearest...And they had left him behind again, alone and useless--not even as much use as a bit of baggage, really, though he had thought of himself that way more than once. He ran his left hand over the chill of his right arm, and shuddered. It was horrid."

I know I already mentioned this on my last review or two, but poor Merry! I hate how he was left behind by the rest of the Company. I know it was a for the greater good in the end and that Merry had a role to fulfill, but still... one small hobbit alone among strangers in an unknown land facing a deadly evil, left behind by all of those most dear to him who now faced almost a certain death ... it was one of the hardest things he had to face. *That* was what was so horrid for Merry, not the chill of his right arm.

Good old Strider, remembering to alert the healing staff to the significance of a hobbit with no appetite! Oh! And I really liked the way that Eowyn came to Merry's defence about not being called a "halfling"! Very amusing thoughts by Merry on the subject.

Merry and Pippin are usually so bright and cheerful that it is quite disturbing to see either one of them feeling so low. I loved the way that Eowyn and later Faramir were alarmed by Merry's attitude and tried to brighten his spirits immediately. Of course, Faramir would have picked up on Merry's ill spirits immediately with his strong Numenorean skills.

I think the three of them, having been left behind to heal from the Black Breath, would have felt a bond of sorts with the other two in addition to the obvious bonds of shield brother/sister for Merry and Eowyn and romantic interest between Eowyn and Faramir. I can easily see the three of them trying to cheer each other up whenever the shadow of melancholy and darkness was upon one of them.

The seashell immediately reminded me of Frodo going to the Undying Lands in the not-so-distant future. It was almost eerie to read about that, knowing what was to come. I love foreshadowing in stories and this one was very well done; subtle, but clear.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 62 on 8/12/2005
A whisper of hope indeed. And healing foreshadowed, as well as the loss.

Author Reply: Thank you--yes, I wanted the good foreshadowed as well as the sad.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 62 on 8/9/2005
Poor Merry. Being left behind to worry is such a trial - but I love the way Eowyn coaxes him out and attempts to cheer him up. And the shell - and the sea - and Frodo. All very indicative of the future.

Author Reply: Yes, it was probably the hardest thing he'd had to do--actually stay behind! But I think he mostly coped pretty well. My notion is that he had used up a lot of his own reserves of hope trying to cheer Eowyn when she was down. So then it was her turn to return the favor.

Yes, when Marigold gave me a seashell as one of my elements, Frodo was the first thing that came to my mind.

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