News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| The Tenth Walker by Lindelea | 779 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 127 on 3/23/2025 |
| Oh, boy! And the minute when Bill has to be left behind approaches, if not in the next chapter, then possibly the one after. How many chapters will this story consist of, before you start posting Part 2? Author Reply: You've guessed right: the next chapter concludes this part of Bill's story. Part 2 will probably be much shorter, LOL! Thanks for coming along for the journey and stopping to share your thoughts. I appreciate your feedback. | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 127 on 3/22/2025 |
| and then I solve the riddle! It is a word that will allow the Company to pass! I can almost begin to understand Dwarf ponies' fascination for riddles. That's a delightful detail. :) Author Reply: How I love Bill! He always tries his best. | |
| Itarille | Reviewed Chapter: 127 on 3/21/2025 |
| It's good that Bill busied himself with solving riddles! Otherwise he would have been bored listening to his people argue all night about the door and the password. Who is "curious-than-Merry"? Pippin, I suppose? But Bill referred to Pippin as "Youngest". Author Reply: All of the hyphenated "Merry" names refer to Merry. Throughout the story, Bill is confused at Merry's name since the hobbit is so often not merry. Thus, Bill tries his hardest to name Merry accurately while never able to figure out what to call Merry. Poor pony. He does his best. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts! The last chapter of Bill's journey as the Tenth Walker is due to post on Tuesday, and Part 2 telling of his journey home is scheduled to start posting in April. (Think good thoughts.) | |
| Erulissé | Reviewed Chapter: 126 on 3/21/2025 |
| Oh Bill!!! And poor Sam. “But then all other impressions are shut out, as if a door has been closed, leaving me alone in a darkened room with the wizard. I become aware that Tall Hat's hand is resting on my head, and from his hand, I can feel warmth and light pouring into me and spreading through my very being. The walls of the room where we seem to stand brighten, and I hear voices speaking to me as the walls of this room inside my head show me evolving pictures of mountains and streams and trees and cliffs and more... as if I might follow them somehow, by looking for the same pictures with my eyes that I can see in my mind... I am putting it badly, I know, for I am only a pony.“ This is amazing! This is exactly what I imagined when I read the TFotR for the first time!!! You’ve just put it far more eloquently than I could. And we got his characteristic line! “… for I am only a pony.” I for some reason adore this line. To me it is a perfect summation of Bill’s whole character and personality. He is so delightfully unassuming and sweet, but also wise at the same time. This is exactly how I imagine a kind horse or pony talking. I also love the chapter names you come up with! It makes it so easy to figure out what is going on. I usually never remember chapter names for most stories I read, but it’s so easy in this one! I love that. I have always wondered how Bill got back to Bree, and I can’t wait to hear it! I had always wondered if Gandalf sent him there, but I guess it would’ve made more sense to send Bill back to Rivendell. I am curious why Bill decides to go back there, or if he just sort of winds up there? I can’t wait. :D Author Reply: Thank you for your thoughtful review! It was fun to read your impressions. Like you, I have become very fond of Bill over the course of the journey so far. I have definitely imagined him (from reading about his uncomplaining patience in the book) as you have described him here. To answer your question at the end, the question of Bree or Rivendell will be made clearer in Part 2, as Bill is making the journey homewards. (((hugs))) Very little is left of this story, and Part 2 will begin posting in April if all goes well. Think good thoughts! | |
| KathyG | Reviewed Chapter: 126 on 3/20/2025 |
| Hey! I was going to type a review before it got sent! Feel free to delete the first attempt, Lindelea, Oh, boy! The time has come for poor Bill to leave the company. Now you'll really have to figure out where things go from here, since all we know from canon is that he somehow makes it back to Bree. And Bill will have to figure out where to go, and how to survive en-route. Author Reply: Been there, done that – quite recently, as a matter of fact! I typed out a lovely long review on my phone and tried to post it, and it... disappeared. Ah, poor Bill. I do have his return journey outlined and written in draft form all the way to the Grey Havens (and back to Bag End). However, because of the SoA chapter limitation (150 chapters, I think it is?), I'm going to have to close this one out as "Part 1" of a "to be continued" story and tell the rest in a separate "Part 2". Just thinking aloud. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! I appreciate your encouragement. (And at least as soon as the Watcher in the Water slams the Door and Bill is off on his separate way, I can resume reading the story you and DF wrote! There's something to look forward to!) | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 126 on 3/20/2025 |
| I become aware that Tall Hat's hand is resting on my head, and from his hand, I can feel warmth and light pouring into me and spreading through my very being. What a marvelous scene you've conjured here. If anything can ease the grief and disbelief of this parting, you've found it. Author Reply: You might not believe (but then again, you might, considering your carefully constructed stories) how long and deeply I agonized over this scene, trying to figure out what Gandalf meant by "words of guard and guiding" and how these "words" might bring Bill safely back to Bree even though he was alone. In the end, the only way I could write the rest (I mean, up to the "snakes" and the doors slamming shut) was by envisioning those "words" as disengaging Bill from his Companions somehow, distancing him in a way, so he wouldn't be like a horse that runs back into a burning stables seeking safety but would be able to move forward, on the journey Gandalf laid out, instead of trying to run back to Samwise and the rest. (I hope that makes sense! I had too many cups of tea today. I should really switch to decaf or herbal.) Thanks for reading and pausing to share your thoughts. I really appreciate hearing from you. (((hugs))) | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 67 on 3/16/2025 |
| Merry now, Merry is so underrated, so I'm glad you're bringing out his solid qualities here. Author Reply: I'm so glad to read this! Merry has always been my favorite hobbit, ever since I first read the scene where he crawled, sick and shaking, behind the Witch King and stabbed him in the back of the knee. I was only a young teen at the time, but he's remained my favorite since that day. (Before that point in my first reading of the book, I'd fallen in love with Frodo on Weathertop when he defied the Black Riders. That's a teen for you.) | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 66 on 3/16/2025 |
| [I am glad that our Big Man and Tall Hat are with us, for it is good to have someone with intelligence in the party.] I chuckled at this, and I suspect you meant this a at least a little bit sarcastic. Gandalf took seven decades to work out what Bilbo's ring was. Aragorn can never decide if orcs are more dangerous at night or by day. Personally, I thin Boromir is the most competent of the party, but Gandalf persistently ignores his advice... Author Reply: LOL, actually it was an echo of Pippin. (That hobbit certainly knows how to make me smile.) Thanks for reading and pausing to share your thoughts. | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 65 on 3/16/2025 |
| Oh, did Aragorn not carry a shield? I never noticed that! [The wind hisses through the heather on the high moor.] Lovely use of alliteration! :) Author Reply: (I have to admit to you, I'm a bit face-blind. So the first time I saw FOTR, I couldn't tell the difference between Aragorn and Boromir except for the actions a character took.) I first noticed the difference when I saw the first film. One of the camera shots (obviously planned for the impression it would make) at the Breaking of the Fellowship part was of Boromir's shield, leaning against a tree. That's when I realized he was the Big Man with the Shield, as Bill labels him, out of the two Big Men in the Company of Walkers. The book mentions his shield as they set out from Rivendell, but the film really emphasizes the shield in that scene where he's left it behind. (I can't remember if he has his shield when he tries to defend Merry and Pippin from the Orcs or not...? It would have been his only defense against archers...) Thanks! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 63 on 3/16/2025 |
| Oh, I so agree with you about the rope! In fact, given that they were a whole two months in Rivendell, the Fellowship seem woefully unprepared. Why doesn't Frodo have a map? Why did the scouts not check out the situation in Rohan? Why didn't they encase the Ring in iron or something? Ahhh, the questions... Author Reply: Soooo many questions...! LOL! | |