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| On Solid Ground by Lindelea | 97 Review(s) |
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| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/23/2004 |
| And, I forgot to add to my review (as if it wasn't long enough already) that I'm thrilled that even though poor Farry has missed the wedding breakfast, he at least has gotten to hear the traditional toast. Not too many hobbits can say that Frodo Baggins gave the toast at their wedding! Author Reply: Everyone missed the wedding breakfast! Wonder how they'll make it up? I guess Frodo would have toasted Samwise, but don't know who else could claim such an honour. Thanks again for reviewing! Off now to try to get at least half a chapter done before seeking the pillow... | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/23/2004 |
| Goldi is so brave. I'm a blubbering fool at weddings of people I don't even know (including this one, by the way) but she walks head held high. In her heart they are already bound for better or worse: whether or not Farry can respond to her vows, they are already made. The explanation in the scene between Legolas and Gimli was good, but it made me think of Nell and Ferdi, which is of course a second marriage for Nell. It raises questions about a society where arranged marriages are often made in the gentried class. Where the marriage bond is so strong, how can a system evolve which discounts the vital importance of choice to love between the two parties? I'm not meaning this as a criticism, but rather a place where deeper exploration might yield something interesting. By the way, I liked how Gimli's whispered comment to Legolas was almost like shorthand. They know each other well enough that few words communicate much. I had to read it over to understand what Legolas got in a heartbeat. I am glad to see Robin Bolger is alive and relatively undamaged, and able to do the honors as Farry's witness. Plans for the wedding would have been finalized before the disaster, and I wonder, was Robin the original choice? Farry got to know the Bolger family much better in Runaway, and then Robin has been at the Smials for a while. Have he and Farry become close friends? Do you think Robin will be Farry's steward or chancellor when the time comes for him to suceed his father, and help him judge cases? Does Robin have a sweetheart at the Smials who was waiting for him to be found? I'd like to hear more about this, sometime. You do have enough spare time to write all the stories I'd like to read, don't you? (I think that's three I've asked for in two reviews today.) The wedding is so quiet. I didn't think hobbits could be that quiet. The sun is shining, a beautiful day as you said in the previous chapter, and everything one could have wanted for a wedding. The contrast between the bright flowers and Goldi's shining beauty, and Farry's stillness and the solemn onlookers is powerful and distressing. Then, Frodo's words are repeated, tying the timelines together again, and Farry is back with us. Legolas had sensed him leaving, and knew he was not there in the body that was still breathing, and now he understands that he was sent back. Farry obviously remembers the conversation with Frodo at this moment, but in the commotion that follows, will he forget it, like a dream that fades if not captured immediately on waking? I really hope not, for I think it would bring great comfort to Frodo's friends to hear of him. I wonder now, will they do the wedding over again, or at least let Farry have a chance to say his vows, or were the words Merry has already spoken binding enough? I also wonder about Pippin. Despite the fact that the entdraught healed him of much of his former physical maladies, he's once again close to death from shock due to blood loss. And we saw him come near to breaking once before, in Merlin. Frodo says he would die of grief now, should he lose Farry. Even though Pippin loves all his children deeply, Farry has always borne the expectations for the future of Pip's line, and to lose him would be a tremendous reversal to have to bear. And Pip thought for so long that he would die young, so I am sure he never even imagined he would outlive his son. Is it just that the horror of having to bury another child would be too much on top of bodily weakness, or is there something else going on here? Author Reply: As to the question of Farry's vows... well, that is going to be addressed, as a matter of fact. Ferdi was Nell's first love, as Odovacar well knew. When Rudi died there was nothing in the way of her marrying Ferdi, though of course upright hobbit that he was he'd never have thought to ask... it took Pippin and Odo to push them together. In the research I've done on this, it appears that in earlier generations when arranged marriages were common such marriages were often strong and loving, simply because the people could not imagine an alternative. They expected to come to love their mate... and so they did, because they worked at it. In your words, they chose to love. Thus Nell could marry Rudi and come to love him so well that she nearly died when he did. She accepted her father's decision that Ferdi had been merely a childish fancy, though Ferdi never left off his love for her (and was too honourable to do anything about it, which sounds like the norm for hobbit society rather than the exception, the way JRRT wrote his hobbits). As to the paragraph where Gimli mutters to Legolas, if it is the one I'm thinking of it is badly worded and needs revision. I rewrote it three or four times and was still dissatisfied. Hope my editor can do something with it. Glad Legolas understood! Robin is in training to become Farry's steward. The two are best friends and that is why Robin is standing up with Faramir at the wedding. Perhaps their friendship will develop in a future story but if so it is not on the time line as of yet. Hmmm. Food for thought. Perhaps it'll come out in the Gondor story, or perhaps in another story. Don't know yet, the Gondor story is just a brightness on the horizon at the moment. As to the timelines, is it understandable that a few moments in the Undying Lands corresponded with several days in Middle-earth, or do I have to state it more obviously? Sometimes I make assumptions and confuse readers. Farry and Frodo and the others... let me know if you are satisfied with the solution. You'll see it in the next chapter and/or two. (Just two to go, oh, my!) The wedding was binding and as to Farry's vows... well, you'll see. Nothing else is going on with Pippin. No more lingering chronic illness is on the horizon. He was simply badly injured, lost too much blood in a civilization that doesn't have blood transfusions, and was weighed down with grief in the bargain, thinking all his sons dead, not just Faramir. He knew Farry was with the others, and if Farry had died, then... anyhow, it was a logical conclusion considering the circumstances. Hearing young Beregrin was immensely strengthening to the Thain. Thanks for reviewing! You wouldn't believe how energizing the reviews are. I thought myself too drained to do any writing for a few days, but now I'm ready to tackle it again. | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 2/23/2004 |
| Mondays are so wonderful, because I get to catch up on so much lovely writing that I didn't get to see on the busy weekend. You've painted a very dramatic picture of the four women of the Shire standing together, waiting for the bodies of those they love to be brought out. Hope has been sustained for a long time, but when it comes to the moment when you will have to lift the shroud and have hopes ended, and then go on, it takes more strength than is possible to hold back tears. I am so happy for Nell and Ferdi. I had a sneaking suspicion that you would be giving Ferdi back his eyesight, way back at the beginning when he was having the bad headaches for no obvious reason, but I didn't say anything at all for fear you would decide not to do it. Then all the time in the dark, I wondered if he would see a light when they broke through. This was a much better way to do it, with Ferdi unconscious and his first sight Nell's face. How beautiful for them, almost a reward for their steadfast love through troubles and grief. I can't imagine how overwhelming it would be to see your children for the first time after so many years in the dark. Farry and Goldi have an enduring love too, young as they still are. Canon says they get married, and Frodo says that Farry will be Thain, and his children after him, but Goldi doesn't know that. She's determined to make his ending as happy as possible, any way she can. I don't know if there's precedent for marrying an unconscious hobbit, is there? I doubt she's interested in the legal niceties, though. She's got an ally in Estella, who also knows that it feels right. Was it always planned for Merry to do the wedding? Would Pip have performed the ceremony had the quake not happened, or would he have stood with his son? PS - I loved Siggy's not too subtle threat to Pippin - drink up and don't give me any grief, I'm too busy to coddle you today. I'm not sure that there's any tougher training in the Shire than to be a healer of Tooks. You really need to write a story of the healer's convention - you could make it absolutely hilarious. Author Reply: I have been planning since "Merlin" to give Ferdi back his eyesight just as happened. What fun to get to this chapter -- finally! I don't know about precedent, but since hobbits seldom marry twice I figured it would not be scandalous, but rather sad and sweet instead. Yes, it was always planned for Merry to do the wedding. Somehow it seems to me that a father shouldn't have to perform the ceremony for his own children, but should be able to stand by his wife's side to watch the fledgling fly the nest. Thus either Merry or Pippin could perform the wedding in the "Merrys" story, but not Sam; and Merry has to perform the wedding in this story, neither Sam nor Pippin. LOL. I can just imagine that convention. Workshops on vile-tasting draughts, dealing with Tooks, snappy comebacks to irritable comments... | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/22/2004 |
| Now you've made me cry! This was so sweet and Goldi was so brave. ‘For life,’ the Dwarf said so low that only Legolas heard, but he understood. Way to go, Gimli! ‘You look beautiful,’ he murmured, but then a frown crossed his face. ‘Goldi,’ he said worriedly. ‘It’s bad luck for me to see you before the wedding day.’ A true Took; sweet and confused! Just beautiful all the way through! Author Reply: Yup. It is a good thing to have a stalwart Dwarf at your side. Sweet and confused: I wonder if the Tooks know that this is truth? Thanks for the encouragement! | |
| Connie | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/22/2004 |
| Aaahh. That was perfect. Thank goodness Legolas didn't get a chance to object. I always knew Gimli was good for something. Also, please forgive all my misspellings. I noticed a huge one after I posted one of my last reviews. Thanks. Connie. Author Reply: Glad you liked it. A sad occasion turned into a happy one, I like that much better than the other way around! Misspellings? Happen to the best of us (of which, I am not. I love my spelling chequer!). There is a misspelled word (at least one) in one of the earlier chapters. Sure hope my editor catches it. Thanks for reviewing! Two chapters to go and then I can turn back and finish the "Merrys" story. | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/22/2004 |
| What a lovely chapter! "To refuse no joy set before us." Sigh. Will Faramir be able to tell Sam, Merry, and Pippin about his 'vision' of Frodo? I think that would bring them such joy. Author Reply: Thank you! I do enjoy hobbit weddings. As to Faramir and the telling... that will come out in the next chapter, or the last one (just two to go!). | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 18 on 2/21/2004 |
| How sweet that Farry woke up at that moment, a bit of sleeping beauty in the Shire. I imagine his emotions will be rather mixed up with joy, sorrow, love confusion, and hope running together. Author Reply: Ah, yes, we authors get inspired by other authors all the time. Sleeping beauty... in the "Pearl" story Nell kisses a frog (or someone tells about her kissing a frog, which is nearly the same thing), and it was all Ferdi's doing. So she kissed a frog, and eventually ended up with a "prince". Works for me. Thanks for reviewing! | |
| Bob's Your Uncle | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 2/21/2004 |
| Farry's not concious but still getting hitched? At least that's better than in France where you can marry a dead person if you can prove you planned to get married before your partner passed on and obtain presidential approval. I guess Farry's agreement to a wedding would count as an 'I do' - or were he and Goldi handfasted? Author Reply: Hullo, Uncle Bob, glad to hear from you! I had never heard about that quaint little French custom. Odd. Has anyone actually gone ahead and done that? I don't know if they were handfasted, haven't written a handfasting for them anyhow. But going by Tolkien's description of "strict monogamy" I figure that once two hobbits agree to wed, they're already wedded in their hearts, unless it's an arranged marriage (yes, as a matter of fact, those happen too in these stories), in which case the two are determined to make it work (got that idea from the mother and father in "Fiddler on the Roof" as a matter of fact). Divorce and separation are unthought-of in their world. Gee, did that last paragraph make sense? It's time to sign off and seek the pillow. Thanks for reviewing. | |
| Hai | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 2/21/2004 |
| Oh, dear unburied but not alright yet! I'm so glad that Ferdi can see again!! Maybe he was blind in the first place so that he wouldn't be incapacitated in this darkness! I hope they can get Faramir back! At least Frodo has already sent his spirit back I hope it can find it's way back to the body! Looking forward to more, thank you! Author Reply: You hit the nail on the head, Hai, this story was in the planning since before "Merlin" was written, although the blind hobbit was not originally planned to be Ferdibrand, but someone else. Thanks for reviewing! | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 2/21/2004 |
| Ferdi can see again! You did a good job depicting the peculiar mix of chaos, hope and despair that seems to come upon those who wait for word of their loved ones in perilous situations. While Ferdi took the prize for romantic comments, Goldi's was very sweet. Author Reply: Thank you. Ferdi is so very romantic about his Nell. Sometimes he makes *me* blush; it seems as if such moments when he's wearing his heart on his sleeve ought to be more private and not laid out in a story. | |