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Moments in Time  by Larner 7 Review(s)
harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 91 on 9/13/2009
have left. It is time, Freddy--time to finally test me to see whether or not it was a mistake I was even created to walk Middle Earth.”

Such words made the Bolger shiver.

Such words make me shiver too. And I can empathise with Frodo too. With only 3 years and a month to go before I too reach the magic Tolkien age of 50 I am asking myself the very same questions. And not reaching very positive conclusions.

Author Reply: Here I am, seven months from turning sixty, and at times I wonder what I've accomplished....

Yet I know I have managed to touch some lives for the better, and hope I'll have left this world at least a bit better for me having been here!

Thank you so very much!

Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 91 on 8/22/2009
I think we can all identify with Frodo's thoughts here at a certain age and there are always people ready to criticise. Frodo's story is a shining example.

Author Reply: I agree, Linda. I'm starting to have them myself at somewhat past the probable halfway point.

KittyReviewed Chapter: 91 on 8/20/2009
Some people find something to complain in absolutely everything, don't they? It must be frustrating for Frodo, but I fear there's no pleasing everyone.

No wonder his last words made Freddy shiver. I felt similarly, knowing what is in store for Frodo! Oh, he proved worth so much more than all these people who were complaining about him – and the sad thing is, they never understood.

Author Reply: Oh, I agree, Kitty! For those of us familiar with the story Frodo's words are too prophetic; for Freddy, it must have been so strange to hear such purpose in a fellow Hobbit, and particularly from his beloved older cousin. And to know that most of the Shire never understood Frodo either before or after the quest must have caused him a fair amount of pain, once he understood what Frodo had truly done.

Thanks so!

AntaneReviewed Chapter: 91 on 8/19/2009
Never a mistake, dear me! But I love this: “But, if half my life indeed is spent, perhaps it is I this time who wishes to see something of worth accomplished in what time I have left." This is just so me right now in my life.

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Author Reply: Oh, am so glad I'm not the only one to find this happening with me at this point!

Thanks so, Antane!

GamgeeFestReviewed Chapter: 91 on 8/18/2009
Dear Frodo, your life has not been wasted, for if it had been, you would not have had such devoted friends willing to risk everything to accompany you on your Quest. *hugs him* (But typical naysayers - never happy no matter what you do!)

Author Reply: Amen, GamgeeFest! Frodo did have devoted friends and relatives, thank heavens--he must have needed them so!

And the gripers indeed will gripe no matter what!

Thanks so!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 91 on 8/18/2009
It is rare in fic to see Frodo worrying about what he's done with his life, pre-Quest. It is even rarer to see him making use of one who would have been a very likely confidante: Fatty Bolger. Yet here you show both.

At fifty, Ring or no Ring, Frodo *would* have been thinking of such things. I think it was a crucial year for him, and even without Gandalf's news he would have been considering following Bilbo.

But there is a bit of desperation now. He is not making the choice freely, but under the constraint of a duty to protect the very Shire which has been telling him what a "waste" his life is.

And Fredegar Bolger, as a member of the Conspiracy, knows exactly what the trouble is, and cannot offer consolation.

Perhaps it's the ale that's loosened Frodo's tongue, but his words are those he's probably been thinking ever since he decided to leave.



Author Reply: I'm so glad you appear to approve, Dreamflower.

In reading Lindelea's "A Small and Passing Thing" I was struck by the relationship between Frodo and Fatty, and how it's Fatty who does his best to convince Frodo to write the story as requested by Bilbo, and how he ends up serving as Frodo's editor. So, that relationship ended up being written into my story, too, although I changed it somewhat. Poor Lindelea--I did so much blatant borrowing from her at the beginning! Heh! That Frodo would have one cousin who was truly a confidant seems so likely; Merry would have been too much a younger brother, I fear, so that it would be Freddy to whom Frodo might confess his feelings of dissatisfaction with what he's done with his life just seemed right!

Thank you so much for the thoughts, for they are indeed the ones I, too, had on the subject. And I'm grateful Anglachel posted this challenge for her birthday, to examine how one of the characters might have reacted to realizing he's about halfway through his expected life! It has sparked some interesting fics.

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 91 on 8/18/2009
perhaps it is I this time who wishes to see something of worth accomplished in what time I have left.

I feel that way myself sometimes! I can well imagine Frodo having such thoughts.

Author Reply: I do too, at times at least.

Thanks so, Shirebound!

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