News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| A Horse for Bandobras by Lindelea | 49 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/23/2025 |
| Hobbits: “… full of surprises. Soft as butter they can be, and yet sometimes as tough as old tree-roots.” You got that right. Author Reply: You've hit on one of the many reasons I love hobbits. I never seem to get tired of them, and even now, they often still surprise me. I'm so glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for pausing to leave an encouraging note. | |
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 14 on 2/23/2025 |
| A horse against ponies? No fair. Author Reply: Actually, in the research I did for this story, I found that some breeds of ponies can run faster than some breeds of horses! I thought the comparisons were very interesting. Also, the fact that Friend had recently recovered from battle injuries and then almost immediately engaged in a 100-mile endurance race, for all practical purposes, might have made the All-Shire Race less of a sure thing. Anyhow, I hoped it might sound that way. (Either that, or he's a little too good to be true. But then, he is a Ranger's horse. I'm sure they're a cut above the horses of ordinary Men.) Thanks! | |
| Lady Forlong | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 2/23/2025 |
| I love the way the horse picks his own name when Bandobras isn’t even trying to think one up. And we never find out if he ever had another name, because that’s what Wanderer calls him when he comes to get him at the end. Author Reply: LOL! Hopefully it's just ambiguous enough that when the Rangers asks Bandobras to "take care of my friend for me", he might or might not be telling Bandobras the horse's name. And just like Wanderer goes by an alias, it's possible that the horse's name is also a secret, and "Friend" is as good a name as any to call him by. I'm glad you came along for the ride! Thanks for reading and pausing to share your thoughts. | |
| Leithian | Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/21/2025 |
| A sweet end to the story. They are certainly heroes and Archie's song will long be sung around firesides, as little Hobbits gather around, cosy and warm. In the excitement of all the events I'd almost forgotten about the Wanderer who 'loaned' Friend to Bandobras. I was really hoping to see more of him, if your Muse would be so kind as to tell us more about Wanderer and his travels. I haven't had my fill of Ferdi either! I never knew that he was the Thain rather than Bandobras, but now I'm fond of him too. Do you think Bandobras ever went to Rivendell? Or that he ever met Gandalf and got whisked away on one of his adventures? Author Reply: And Dobby will be embarrassed every time Archie plucks the opening chords to that particular song... LOL! He may even feel the need to excuse himself from the room for a bit, as some of my more modern Tooks do when their deeds are remembered. While I know that Wanderer returns at intervals to check on/visit the hobbits of Long Cleeve, and will eventually leave Friend with the north-Tooks for a well-earned retirement, at this point, I haven't caught many glimpses of him and his kin in their home environment or on their home turf, keeping the Bree-land and the Shire safe. I am starting to eagerly devour stories about the Northern Rangers, though, so I'm with you! I'd love to read more about Aragorn's predecessors over the centuries. I figure the Orc-invasion of T.A. 2747 must have been an extraordinary time for the Dúnedain, stretching them to their limits. I wonder, for example, about the impact on them of the news that a party of Orcs had reached the Shire? (They were pretty perturbed in my Fourth Age story where the same thing happened.) Did they have to ask Imladris for help to stem the tide? Unfortunately for the Dúnedain, my brain was taken over by Hobbits, for the most part, decades ago. (I say "for the most part" because Beregond was the first LOTR character to catch my attention and imagination, followed by Faramir, to a lesser degree, and Halbarad, though I've only written a little about Faramir and very little about Halbarad. But Frodo won my heart at Weathertop [in my first reading of the book], and Merry became my favorite hobbit on the Pelennor Fields [again in the book, the first time I read through it], though that may not be evident from a look at my stories.) It is possible that, as I continue to read excellent fanfic, I may find my imagination seized by certain members of other Races in Middle-earth. But I cannot say anything for certain. The nature of the Muse is that I cannot order her to tell me a particular story, no matter how many piña coladas or how much dark chocolate I might offer as compensation. She's stubborn that way. When she deigns to whisper a story to me from her comfortable spot in a dark corner, it usually comes "out of the blue" and often isn't something I ever planned to write. Added to that, she seems to prefer to dwell in the Shire amongst Hobbits. Perhaps it has to do with their lifestyle, like six meals a day and people giving others presents on their birthdays (meaning *lots* of presents all year round!), or her enjoyment of teatime, or something like that... There's a lot more about Ferumbras (who later became Thain Ferumbras II) in the "long form" of this story, currently existing as an outline with about half of the chapters written out in draft form. I may feel encouraged to take it off the shelf and work on finishing it after I've dealt with some of the other WIPs languishing on the shelf. That said, if Bandobras had any of the adventures you've mentioned, the Muse hasn't told me about them yet. We can always hope... Thanks so much for reading and taking time to share your thoughts! Author Reply: p.s. If you might be interested in other Hobbits who visited Imladris and befriended Gandalf, my "Shire: Beginnings" story has a few such chapters. | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/21/2025 |
| What a lovely conclusion. I hoped that Wanderer would return! Thank you for sharing your wonderful stories. Author Reply: You know how much I love a satisfying conclusion, where all sad things are undone (or at least as many sad things as possible). That's one of the things I love about your "Quarantined" universe! I have started exploring your stories again. I revisited "Avalanche", "Peregrin Took: Child, Tween, Knight" and "Shelter" last night. Wonderful stories, indeed, and perfect for lifting the spirits. | |
| PSW | Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/20/2025 |
| Aw - glad that all ended well! And that he and Ruby are together and Friend is back w his master (even if it is a little sad he’s going). I enjoyed this story - thx for sharing! Author Reply: I'm so glad you enjoyed the story! Thanks for coming along for the ride. :) p.s. I do believe that when Friend grew older, Wanderer brought him back to Long Cleeve to retire, thus allowing Bandobras to continue "spoiling him silly". That's the satisfying ending I envisioned for Bandobras's Horse, anyhow. I'm a staunch fan of happy endings. | |
| Leithian | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/20/2025 |
| Dear Lindelea! I have waited so long to read a fanfic on this Battle, and you have delivered beautifully. 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘬𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯-𝘴𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. Hobbit battle tactics were fun to read, but I tried and failed to avoid the mental image created by this line, LOL. Golfimbul's (I pictured him as Bolg from the Hobbit trilogy) appearance was really impactful, I held my breath for the two paragraphs it took for Bandobras to deliver justice. And we finally have the famous head-flying scene that inspired golf (I love JRRT's humour). Do you know that in some earlier drafts Golfimbul was called Fingolfin? Ewww. Cheers for Ruby and Bandobras, they definitely deserve the happy ending. And now you must tell us how Bandobras ended up being called the "Bullroarer Took". Take care Author Reply: Thank you! I'm so glad it clicked. I've been pondering the Bandobras-thing for a long time. (How did he get a reputation for riding a horse that lasted into Pippin's time? How could a *club* do the damage JRRT described?) In fact, I first wrote about hobbits mentioning Bandobras and his "illegal entry" in the All-Shire race back in 2004! But I didn't begin to imagine how he ended up with a horse until sometime in 2020, when I first started posting this story. (It was deleted in the Breach of January 2025 and recreated since then.) Full disclosure: the melon thing kept coming to mind after I watched The Accountant, where the target melons seemed symbolic as well as practical and have stuck with me since seeing the film some years ago. When I can get away with it, I minimize writing description where the films were very specific (like Frodo's blue eyes; I think JRRT called Sam's eyes "brown" but never named the color of the other hobbits' eyes, unless I missed it) and the books' descriptions were less detailed, to allow readers to give full rein to their imagination and mental picture-building. For my part, when I'm reading, I almost always get momentarily thrown out of my mental movie-building when I run across "Frodo's blue eyes" in a story since my mental image of Frodo (formed decades ago) is quite different from the Frodo of the films. (Don't get me wrong. I found Elijah Wood very cute. He just wasn't the Frodo I'd "known" for decades before the first film came out.) I don't know where the idea came about that the annual archery tournament in the Shire was deliberately designed to train warriors for the defense of the Shire even if the Shire-folk should forget the reason behind it after a long time of peace and plenty. It might even have sprung from our preschoolers' ballet classes where the teacher led the little ones through all sorts of games that would build muscle memory and lay the foundation for ballet skills, eventually, when they were old enough to understand and apply their skills. (These classes were long ago, when two of our wee hobbits – now all grown up – were both under age five.) Anyhow, I've envisioned the designers creating the various events as "games" that would put to use the same skills that hobbits would need in battle. Sorry about the melons. Try not-thinking about a pink unicorn, instead, to distract your imagination? Y'know, I probably read about those changes in the goblin leader's name some years ago, but I had forgotten, including forgetting that the goblin chief had "Golf" in his name! LOL. Aargh. I should have put something in about Bandobras roaring like a bull as he struck off the goblin's head, but it didn't occur to me. I have no idea (at the moment) how he got the name! If the Muse is ever in a mood to answer questions, I will ask her. She's a bit Gandalf-ish in that respect. Not so close as she used to be, but laughs more than she talks these days. | |
| PSW | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/19/2025 |
| What an exciting battle! (Though I wasn’t a huge fan of that melon-splitting analogy …eww. 😂) Just in the nick of time to save the day - and to get a kiss along with it! Good for them! Author Reply: Seriously, I tried not to think too deeply about the melon analogy. The main point is that the first Thain and the chiefs under him designed the annual archery tournament with tests that demanded training in skills that would translate well to the battlefield. They also specified rich prizes for the top finishers for extra motivation in times of peace. By this means, Thains down the centuries were able to ensure that there would always be skilled, trained archers to be mustered in defense of the Shire. (But, yeah. I try not to think of the melons. Ew.) I have the feeling that Ruby and Bandobras have been kind of dancing around each other for a while. The strain of battle certainly broke the ice! (Thanks.) | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/19/2025 |
| Well done, and bless the Professor for leaving us so many gaps to fill! Author Reply: Thank you! I am grateful for the gaps and also all the hints and clues and crumbs he scattered throughout his works that could be picked up and stitched together to make a plausible gap-filler! (His golf-invention joke always bothered me because I couldn't wrap my head around a club being able to make the goblin chief's head go flying. In many ways, this story is my attempt to resolve the problem to my satisfaction.) I appreciate your coming along for the journey. Just the Epilogue to go, and then this one is finished. | |
| PSW | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 2/19/2025 |
| Yay, Archie’s alive! 😁 But it’s not looking so good for the next group - ride like the wind, boys! Author Reply: Good thing Ferumbras planned the journey so that the ponies wouldn't be used up by the time they reached Long Cleeve... | |