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| The Tenth Walker by Lindelea | 816 Review(s) |
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| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 128 on 4/17/2025 |
| I'm glad you're planning a part 2. You can't leave him there! Author Reply: Thank you! Part 2 was promised for April, and I've managed to make it work. So far. (Think good thoughts, if you wouldn't mind.) I agree! I can't bear the thought of Bill lost and alone in the howling wilderness! Thank goodness JRRT wrote a better ending for him than that! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 84 on 4/17/2025 |
| [Would we have done better with the Dwarf leading?] That is indeed an interesting question. But on the whole I think not - Gimli would have taken then into Moria, too. They should really have listened to Boromir. Author Reply: Was it that Boromir wanted to go through Rohan? I can't quite remember at the moment. We are so spoiled with our instant communications these days. It's hard to imagine a time when news travelled slowly – if it travelled at all! They couldn't know if the Rohirrim had fallen – and, actually, if the Company had passed through Rohan while Saruman still controlled Théoden, things might have gone very badly. After all, Théoden was not released from Saruman's spell until after Gandalf had died and been sent back, long after the decision to climb Caradhras or pass through Moria was made. And ultimately, listening to Boromir would have led to disaster, for he wanted the Ring to go to Minas Tirith. (I still think Gandalf ought to have whistled up Gwaihir, long before the Dark Lord mounted the Nazgûl on winged steeds, and simply sent the Ring to Mt Doom via airmail. But then the story would have been a whole lot shorter, and we wouldn't have all this glorious fanfic to read!) | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 83 on 4/17/2025 |
| Oh dear, that song is going to stick in everyone's brain for days now! Author Reply: ...at least I haven't stumbled across a Shire version of "This is the Song that Never Ends..." LOL! (Of course, if there were such a thing, trust Pippin to know it. Or even to make it up himself!) | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 82 on 4/17/2025 |
| [‘We started out on one of the longest, darkest nights of the year,’] The LOTR timeline is a puzzle, isn't it? Why did Gandalf tell Frodo to wait till September? Why did they tarry so long in Rivendell - checking the surroundings for nazgul hardly justifies the delay. And then a month's holiday in Lothlorien! Do yuo think Tolkien had some scheme in mind where the times of year are symbolic? Because if Frodo had set out as soon as Gandalf told him about the Ring, the quest could have been sompleted by midsummer! Author Reply: I'm not sure Gandalf told Frodo to wait till September? If I'm remembering right, he said to leave no later than September, and Frodo was the one who kept procrastinating until he'd run out of days on the calendar. But I am badly in need of a nap, so speculation is rather beyond me at the moment. I'm not sure about symbolic times of year, except that I seem to remember hearing at one time that he set the date for the destruction of the Ring (or was it the Battle of the Pelannor?) to coincide with some particular time frame from history or mythology or something like that. But with this groggy brain, I can't seem to dredge up any more details than that. Might he have had some underlying motive for having them set out on December 25? I have no idea. I only know that March was significant somehow, even though I don't remember why. Contrariwise, in my "Ferdi and Farry Go to Gondor" story, I have allowed myself some leeway in terms of timing, and so the New Company set off from Bree in midsummer and are likely to come to Caradhras well before autumn arrives, seemingly an ideal time for traversing mountain paths. I'm sure young Faramir would have liked to follow the same timeline as the original Fellowship in his quest for authenticity, but thankfully, the adults in the room put their collective feet down and set a different schedule than the one he proposed. I am definitely rambling now, so I'm going to leave off answering reviews (or even reading fanfic and then writing reviews), and take a nap. Cheers! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 81 on 4/17/2025 |
| I like your weather descriptions! On a recent reread of LOTR I noticed how Tolkien isn't using pathetic fallacy, but is describing weather as the random natural phenomenon it really is. When it's rainy or stormy, it doesn't mean anything, it's just that sometimes it rains! I think this makes the world more convincing, and your weather does the same. Author Reply: I have to say that Tolkien's descriptions of weather, for the most part, seem familiar, especially since we have gone camping in miserable rain as often as in pleasant weather. Weather happens, so to speak. Recently, however, I did read (or maybe I heard a recorded interview?) that one of the scenes he wrote about travelling in the mountains (I don't remember if it was in The Hobbit or LOTR) was based on his own experience of (I think) thunder and falling rocks and such while travelling through mountainous country. So in that case, the unnatural weather he described (wasn't there something in The Hobbit about giants battling? and Caradhras had something about fell voices on the air, I think) was taken from reality. | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 80 on 4/17/2025 |
| Poor Boromir; he gets a bad rep because of one moment of weakness, but on the whole, he is a very sensible and perceptive man. Gandalf made a some foolish decisions on the quest, most of which Boromir opposed. I'm glad you are showing him here to be so pragmatic and considerate. Author Reply: JRRT called Boromir a noble Man, if I'm remembering right. I wonder if Faramir was able to resist the call of the Ring in part because Boromir was their father's favourite? Did the stress of growing up with that knowledge somehow harden the younger brother? (By "harden", I'm talking about refining like steel under the force of forge and hammer.) Thanks! I have a great deal of respect for Boromir, in part because of some solidly-written fanfic I remember reading. | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 79 on 4/17/2025 |
| [It is near dawning, or at least dawn-smell is in the air, though there are few birds to sing at this time of the year, in this wild place where we wend our cautious way. Sometimes in that dark hour before the dawning, before the sky begins to lighten, the wind will drop to stillness, as if every creature in the world, even the air itself, holds its breath in anticipation.] This is a lovely description, and I have known mornings like this. | |
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 109 on 4/16/2025 |
| Yes, Gandalf can bestow warmth and courage. A much better power than turning people into toads :) Author Reply: Thank you for your thoughtful reviews! I just saw them as I was stumbling off to bed. Will come back tomorrow to read/say more. (((hugs))) | |
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 74 on 4/16/2025 |
| He keeps saying he's "only a pony," and usually after he's come up with a unique perspective or something very insightful. Author Reply: This observation makes me smile. Thanks for sharing your insight! | |
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 73 on 4/15/2025 |
| "How fearsome They would be, if they rode upon winged creatures!" Famous last words. Author Reply: Oh that awful thing called foreshadowing! Perhaps it ought to be outlawed... | |