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| The Acceptable Sacrifice by Larner | 15 Review(s) |
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| PIppinfan1988 | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/3/2006 |
| I'll try not to do this too often, however, the past few chapters, to me, seemed to belong together, so to speak. But watching Aragorn take his kingship and set up house was very well done! LOL, I often wondered how royalty did such. Lovely inside tour of the Citadel. And Sam's reaction to the large, Man-sized tub was too cute! I got a nice snicker out of that. :-) Pippinfan Author Reply: Am so sorry to be so delayed in getting back to you. Home system still down, and all funds are being deflected elsewhere in a series of crises I still have difficulty appreciating. Am so very glad you appreciate Aragorn's coronation and the first steps to taking charge of the new home front. He's not been a king before, but must have learned the rudiments of household management and establishing control from Elrond and his kindred among the Dunedain. But I see him as one who would refuse to be distant and highly formal save when it was necessary; it is by establishing bonds of mutual trust and respect I see Aragorn as dealing with those he must rely on for day-to-day comfort. Yes, Aragorn is the King now, and I think that Gondor would delight in his coming once they realize how productive and positive his rule will be, and how it affirms others and not just himself. | |
| Lily | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 1/3/2006 |
| It's a joy to finally find the time to read at least one chapter of this wonderful story. I love to see the hobbits through the eyes of others and you do a great job in writing the folk of Gondor - and Aragorn as King. He really is kingly here, and so are the Lord Hobbits, though they themselves might not recognize it. Author Reply: So glad you are able to read a chapter now and then. Yes, there is royalty, and then true nobility, and the five of them, Aragorn and the Hobbits, have the latter. Am so glad you like it! Thanks! | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/19/2005 |
| So Aragron is going to do a bit of redecorating is he? I'm with him on his choice of green. My favorite color. I loved poor Sam's reaction to being known as a Lord throughout all of Middle Earth. Poor Sam makes me think of that saying, Some men are born great and others have greatness thrust upon them. Or make that hobbits instead of men. LOL Author Reply: I indulge in a great numbers of greens and wine colors myself. As for greatness being thrust upon them--heh! Love Twelfth Night, also. Very apt for Sam's situation indeed. | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/4/2005 |
| I enjoyed the description of the Royal Wing, it was nicely done. I can't imagine the hope of a people to keep up a place for a thousand years in the expectation that a king might someday return. So that part where Balstador is thinking about the things that had been done over the years to check on the Royal Wing just struck me as sort of amazing. His insight into Aragorn was so very good, how Aragorn had specific things he wanted done for the hobbits and yet had given no direction for his own needs or desires. Of course his knowledge about the Citadel and Gondor is going to make everyone wonder and will, I suppose, make those among the servants be even more in awe of him. At least it would if I was a servant and this new king showed up and knew things that he shouldn't know when he had never been there before. It would be something I would be talking about! :) Author Reply: Good servants TRY not to gossip about their masters--but THIS one must be causing consternation and the desire to tell folks. Yes, the same hope that has guarded a dead tree for a thousand years in hopes one day it will be uprooted and a new one planted in its place has also seen to the maintenance of the King's Wing, for the beloved hope one day one might reenter it, bring life to it, bring a wife and children back again to it. And that such a one has come from beyond all hope, coming in the twilight between hope and despair, one age and the next, must be a wonder to all. I'm looking forward to the King's meeting with his new staff. | |
| Kitty | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/3/2005 |
| Ah, so it was Gwaihir who suggested to name Frodo and Sam 'Lords'? Good idea - they are less likely to object under these circumstances than they'd do if it was Aragorn, I think. Poor Balstador, I suppose it would've aided him if Aragorn had thought a bit more about himself and to tell the man what he wants for his own rooms. It is difficult to prepare the rooms for someone one knows not and to have to guess what he wants, is it not? You're probably right that Aragorn simply didn't think about it before. Well, he was much too busy directing how to make others comfortable. It is about time Arwen arrives and takes things in hand ;-) Author Reply: Yes, it is about time for Arwen to come and help take care of the practical matters, although that is coming. For now it is enough for Aragorn to try to make certain of the comfort of those whom he considers his guests and extended family and under his care. And I figured that if it was Gwaihir himself who was seen as having initiated the ennoblement, there'd be the least squawk from Frodo and Sam. Hard to disagree with someone who could pick you up in a talon and carry you away and leave you stranded on a mountaintop if he gets frustrated with your reluctance to accept proper honor due you. | |
| grumpy | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/3/2005 |
| So it was the king of the eagles who brought up that Sam and Frodo should be caled lords, very smart of him. I first thought in order for Aragorn to feel comfortable in his rooms they should put in a few trees and maybe a ranger or two. but I think he would like it a lot more if they plunked Arwin in there, and made the queens room a nursery. Author Reply: I suspect he actually said something to the effect of "All of those who are children of Iluvatar shall honor them from this day forward," to which Aragorn and Gandalf agreed, and the plan was hatched. But certainly Gwaihir is one that Frodo isn't likely to argue with--plus the fact remains he's back at his aerie far in the North, while Frodo is down here in Gondor trying to make sense of things. And I do suspect that in the end only one of the two rooms will be used regularly by Aragorn and Arwen; but custom has decreed two chambers, so that's what they've got now. Thanks for the laughs--I can see them transplanting a tree into the King's chamber--a mallorn, of course.... | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/3/2005 |
| Balstador will indeed discover that Aragorn knows his way around. The rooms sound splendid - but it was very wise of the hobbits to realise they needed something simpler if they were to be happy. And I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that Aragorn spends his first weeks as king sleeping on the floor! All that luxury will seem most uncomfortable after all his rangering. Author Reply: I wonder if he'd be all that uncomfortable--after all, he did apparently have a bed he could count on in Rivendell, and they had beds of sorts in the pavilion in Lothlorien. But if that bed is too soft he might well ask for a firmer mattress. And I agree--the Hobbits need something at least a bit more "home-like"--and it's not likely in the Citadel. And I love to imagine how Aragorn will be "outed" as Thorongil--am working on that idea at the moment. | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/2/2005 |
| What an inrteresting tour of the rooms !I'm not surprised Aragorn likes green, I always have blues and greens myself as they are restful. I liked the way all the aces hail the Hobbits as lOrds. Author Reply: I love blues, greens, wine colors, and subtle golds, myself--they're the colors I wear most often, and even my house is green right now. And I would think that the ennoblement of Frodo and Sam was pretty universally accepted. Am so glad you appreciated the brief tour and Aragorn's preknowledge of the Citadel. I suspect that the King will shortly be "outed" within the Citadel itself. Am trying to figure out exactly who does this, of course.... | |
| French Pony | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/2/2005 |
| The level of detail of this story continues to impress. All the history of how the Royal Wing has been maintained over the past thousand years, the way the Hobbit rooms have been set up compared to the plainer decoration of the King and Queen's apartment -- I love it. Although I do hope that when Aragorn said he preferred green to gold, he didn't mean for that green to go with the wine-colored drapes. If he did, then it is proof that eighty years spent in the Wild has a radically detrimental effect on one's sense of interior decorating. Green and wine red! Arwen will have something to say about that, I'm sure. I loved this bit: And it has been ratified by my foster brothers in the name of Imladris and the Golden Wood, by Legolas representing Eryn Lasgalen and his father’s people and the whole of the sylvan Elves, by Gimli for the Dwarves of Erebor, the Iron Hills, and the Misty Mountains, by the folk of Rohan and Gondor and Arnor, and by Merry and Pippin as representatives of the Shire, as well as Gandalf for the Wizards and their masters. Once the Ents have ratified it all of the free peoples of Middle Earth will join in the recognition of your Lordship. It is no empty honor that has been given you. So there, Frodo and Sam! Author Reply: Amen! You two have been made lords and are going to have to live with it, because the rest of Middle Earth isn't going to let you forget it! And am so glad you appreciate the details. It's in figuring out such details I have some of my greatest fun. I will tell you, though, that there are greens that go with wine reds--very deep greens. I happen to love the combination, so pardon me if I project a little more of myself on our favorite characters! Heh! As to Arwen deciding differently--well, they just MIGHT end up spending most of their time in her bedroom rather than his. | |
| Armariel | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/2/2005 |
| Wonderful details. Feels like I'm right there almost! Author Reply: So glad you appreciate it, Armariel. I've been imagining it myself, trying to see it all in my mind's eye, and they try to describe it from there. | |