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A Took by Any Other Name  by Lindelea 14 Review(s)
Eirinn LeighReviewed Chapter: 9 on 11/20/2015
But Pip never found out... what happened!?

ImhirielReviewed Chapter: 9 on 12/5/2006
"...tradition is, when one under the Ban falls seriously ill, sentence is lifted, but there’s been nothing of the sort in this case."

"Came here to see the lad, out of his head with fever, and left without saying a word. Woodruff as head healer is the only one who’ll openly defy the hobbit..."


If Woodruff were not so brave as to defy Paladin, what do you think would happen/would have happened? Would Paladin really risk endangering Ferdi's life for the sake of his foolish, wrong-headed, despotic, tyrannical, heartless etc. pride? (Sorry, but this just makes me so angry everytime I read it...)

Author Reply: I think, perhaps, that if someone had not taken Ferdi up when he collapsed, if Woodruff had not defied Paladin, that Eglantine would have dragged Paladin by his ear to where Ferdi lay, in the corridor, and the shock of how far things had gone would have brought him to his senses.

So the irony is that Ferdi's Ban would have been over four years sooner, if nobody had done anything to help him at a time when he couldn't help himself.

Either that, or Eglantine would have had Woodruff declare her husband mad and unfit to be Thain (wonder why they didn't do that anyhow?) and then she, as head of the family after Paladin's removal, would have reversed the Ban. But it would have been an irreversible act, for Paladin, and so she never quite got up the nerve to do so. Perhaps she never stopped hoping Pippin would return soon, or perhaps that her constant chipping away at Paladin would bear fruit and her husband would have a change of heart.

It was heartening to read this review, almost like having a new review, though you wrote it some time ago.

I don't know if I'm making sense today. Am groggy from a headache. But belated thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

CuthalionReviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/21/2005
And now I'll have to go and read the other tales about Ferdi to fully understand what all this is about. You got me positively hooked! *smiles*

Author Reply: Music to my ears!

("Flames" is sort of a basic "Intro to Ferdi", if you were wondering. Don't be put off by the length; I'm told it reads fairly quickly, perhaps due to short chapters. And Pippin and Merry -- and Frodo! -- come into the story sooner or later.)

Thank you for taking the time to comment!

Author Reply: Pardon if I'm being a nuisance. I just remembered you're a fan of Samwise, aren't you? Another story that talks about Pippin's relationship with Ferdi is "StarFire", and that has much more of Sam and his family, though not the same amount of detail of just how Pippin "ruined"--or nearly did so-- Ferdibrand in the first place as a byproduct of defying his father.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/20/2005
Ooh, am very disappointed in Paladin Took here. Doesn't seem the least bit fair.

Author Reply: O I know. I think Paladin's cracked, personally. Nursed his bitterness until at last it consumed him.

Thanks.

Anso the HobbitReviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/20/2005
I like your Merimac! It`s good to see some of the stories from the Buckland side too, and he was after all highly involved in things.

How was it that Saradoc remained ever true to himself after becoming Master, but Paladin had lost himself as Thain?
An important question I think! Might you explore it? :)

Author Reply: Possibly, possibly. Am exploring bits and pieces of it, anyhow. The first cracks in his relationship with Pippin show up in "Pearl of Great Price", and the real shattering happens in "Thain"--which is going *very* slowly at the moment.

I think the Brandybucks might be just a little better-balanced than the Tooks perhaps. Or maybe the difference started as early as when Gorhendad (is that right?) laid down the Thainship and left to found Buckland on the "wrong" side of the Brandywine...? Could be a story there...

Thanks!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/20/2005
I hope that Ferdinand hears what happens (I've had a psychic event and suspect I know) and doesn't end up blaming Merimac for not being able to bring Ferdi's torment to an end. If there is one thing that Pippin learned during the quest, it is responsibility - he would not have left his cousin to endure Paladin's bitterness if he could help it. Although I doubt he would be willing to bring Diamond and the as-yet-unnamed (and unborn) infant under his father's rule.

It would be interesting to find that Paladin left extensive journals that Pippin finds and reads in later years, so he can understand better how his father changed from the da of his youth to this extremely unpleasant hobbit.

Poor Ferdi - and his father. They're only about half-way through this torment.



Author Reply: Ah, those psychic events. Sometimes they're quite exciting, and at other times they're rather dismaying, and sometimes they're both at once (as in the rewriting of this story, when I found the obvious solution to the plot hole, and hated it).

I think the observations you've made here will be answered in the Epilogue to this story, still a few chapters away.

Hmmm. Extensive journals. D'you think Paladin would be the type to do that? I wonder... Or maybe Eglantine...?

Poor Ferdi and his father. And poor me. I seem to recall a conversation between Pippin and old Ferdinand, where Pippin asks how he could possibly make it up to Ferdi, but I haven't yet found which story it crept into. (Unless it was "background" and subsequently cut, in which case I don't have to worry so much about continuity. But perfectionist that I am, I'll still worry over it until I find it.)

Thanks!

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/20/2005
‘Is he mad?’ he demanded, and it wasn’t Bilbo he was talking about. ‘This goes beyond stubborn pride...’

Loved that bit. It usually is Bilbo when the word mad is used, isn't it? Now, I am wondering how this will go from here. He can't bring Pippin back just yet and I am certain that he doesn't tell him. It does seem as if he believes that Pippin doesn't know about this if I read his remarks correctly. I wonder if he gets that chance to tell anyone and if not, why? LOL More questions that you can't answer except with more chapters. Hope your computer recovers soon. I will be watching for more chapters on this one. For some reason the Ban reminded me for that story, "A Man Without a Country". Where the man is doomed to stay at sea for the rest of his life for the crime of treason and cannot set foot on his home soil. Funny what comes to mind while reading, isn't it?

Author Reply: I do think it is Bilbo who is the byword for madness in the Shire (and perhaps, to a lesser extent, Frodo, though he might be more "eccentric" than "mad").

I do think you've read Merimac's remarks correctly.

I haven't read "A Man Without a Country" though I've heard the title before. What a sad premise!

If only the computer will hold out I'll try to update Monday or Tuesday.

Thanks.

Connie B.Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/19/2005
I think Merimac is going to have a harder time dragging Pippin back home than he thinks. We are talking about Paladin's son here, and the apple of stubborness didn't fall far from the tree.

This chapter is so sad in a way. It so clearly illistrates how words spoken in haste and anger have long-term concequinces(sp).

Thanks for another great chapter.

Connie B.

Author Reply: Ah, don't sell Pippin short. He might be stubborn, but he's also too proud to let someone else carry the blame and punishment for his own actions.

However, sometimes circumstances don't always work out the way we think they're going to...

Thanks!

Hai TookReviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/19/2005
Well I'm glad that Ferdibrand was at least taken care of when he fell ill. It must be hard to for Merimac to think of the Paladin he use to know in comparison with the one who is now Thain. To think that he was once a close friend of Ferdinands as well! Then to put Ferdinand's son under The Ban!

Hm, I'm wondering what will happen when Merimac returns to Brandy Hall. It seems at this point Pippin won't be in much of a position to travel to Buckland, and when he is well I'm wondering how things will progress in this respect. As always looking forward to more!

It also sounds like there must be some good stories of Merimac, Saradoc, Paladin and Ferdinand when they were younger.

Author Reply: And to think that Paladin was unjustly put under the Ban, himself...

I honestly think he blew a gasket when raging over Pippin's defection. He was never quite the same hobbit after that.

Hmmmm, Merry and Sorry and Dinny twice over, sounds like there *ought* to be some stories there... (especially when you add Ally and Aggie into the mix)

Thanks!

trishetteReviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/19/2005
*pats Merimac* I can see why he's quite had his fill indeed =o(

Author Reply: Merimac certainly appreciates the sympathy. (As I left him he was muttering the sort of thing you'd mutter under your breath: "Tooks!")

Thanks.

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