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A Small and Passing Thing  by Lindelea 2 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 3 on 4/21/2023
I see Saruman continues to show some of the magic of his voice.

Drugs? Not nice!

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 3 on 10/1/2003
I see you've added a prologue to this story. It seems as if Sam has found the secret treasure-trove of stories I was wishing for. LOL! I suppose I have as much eagerness as the Fairbarn hildren to read a new story about the hobbits - that's what brings me here, after all.

The crossed out titles remind me of Bilbo more than Frodo - Frodo seemed to have a firmer grasp of what he wanted to say. But it does call attention to the title, which is somewhat enigmatic. I remember a conversation in Mordor, about evil being a small and passing thing, and light and beauty existing above it all. It's comforting in a way, but it also speaks to the smallness of our entire lives in the grand scheme of things, which is humbling at least if not downright depressing.

Once again a hobbit looks at Fredegar's emaciated, pointed face and thinks they are seeing a Took. I know Fredegar is part Took, although I can't remember the exact lineage. Perhaps is it a measure of his Tookish obstanancy and spirit coming to the fore. Fatty is a Bolger through and through, but the Rebel is just as much every bit a Took. (By the way, when you think of how a Took looks, are you influenced by Billy Boyd?)

There are a couple of important points in the last chapter that certainly make the plot flow plausibly. The ruffians think Lobelia may be a spy - therefore they are less eager than they ever were to challenge her. That makes it easier to swallow their fear of an old hobbit harridan. And, once that fear is removed by Sharkey's visit, they drug her in order to safely move her to the cell. A very sensible move on the ruffian's part. In the dark, all alone, will they even bother to feed her, now that they are back in control? Will the treatment of the other prisoners return to its former brutality? Once again I am wishing for the travelers to rescue the hobbit prisoners soon.

Oh- and I love "They were not at all trustworthy, to her thinking." Only Lobelia would think any of them should be.

Author Reply: To answer your question, I don’t know how influenced I am by the movies. I try to write strictly in book canon, though if I can give an occasional nod to Peter Jackson’s efforts without stepping out of book canon, I will. I think, mostly, I took JRRT’s description of the Fallohides being “fairer and taller” and thought of them as perhaps a bit narrower in the face as well, so it would describe Pippin and Frodo (and possibly Merry, being half Took and his Brandybuck side descended from Tooks, though the Brandybucks probably mingled some with the other hobbits in their area—what a story that would make! The move from Tookland to Buckland...), though the average hobbit has broad cheeks and a good-natured, rather than handsome, face.

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