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Tangled Web by daw the minstrel	30 Review(s)
Nilmandra	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/16/2004
Legolas searching for Hobbit made me giggle even today. He is so sincere! Poor Legolas - I have the feeling the dwarves will be finding some mirth in this one. Elrond gota bit of a cameo! He did good. Already I can see Gelmir is feeling better. Author Reply: I love Legolas's protective instinct, and it is too bad that it just comes out funny here. He's doing his best! He just never read The Hobbit. Thank you for reminding me that Elrond would be handy in taking care of Gelmir. How could I have not realized that???

mysticheero	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/16/2004
Hey-dee-who me darlin' I love the latest chap. I've been readin' since ye first posted and its only just occured to me that I haven't actually reviewed ye before - I'm sorry. That was careless of me, but I hope to make amends by giving ye a nice long review and review each further chapter ye post for this. Well, where to start - outside of I love it!!!!! - um yes. I only just figured out that the Dwarven group is the lot that go to the Lonely Mountain and that the child is Bilbo. How thick can I get? Anywho, I love the development in this fic - its not going to fast or dragging its butt either - so the speed is just perfect with pleanty to keep the reader occupied. I've just had a talk with my very cool english teacher, about creative writing and original stories (like the one I did for me coursework ((its a novel so I had to hand in a single chapter of my choice!!)) ) Anywho, yeah, I hope that ye post more to this delightful fic soon, I just love it to peices. Toodles and Ta me dear. Keep on typing the honey Author Reply: Glad you like it, mysticheerio. I had a wonderful time planning this story and picturing how people would react as it gradually dawned on them just who the Dwarves and the "child" were. From the Elves' point of view, this whole group is very mysterious and a little threatening. And poor Legolas. He's so earnest about making sure little Hobbit is safe and he is wrong, wrong, wrong in his assumptions. Pacing is tough, especially when you post chapter by chapter. You have to make each chapter interesting but you also have to move the story along. So thank you for your kind words. I had never done any creative writing at all until I started writing fanfic about a year and a half ago, and I'm really enjoying it.

Rose Sared	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/16/2004
Thank you daw, I needed that pick me up after a rotten day of family traumas - who'd have a family I say. Then I read your fic and feel much better - if thrandy's fam can cope so can I. (faces into sun with chest out) ahem Thanks again for the escape Rose Author Reply: Nobody knows how to get at us like our family does. My son can walk into the house and have me shrieking for his amusement in about three minutes. (He's clever.) I hope your family is not facing the same sort of threats that Thranduil's is! Although, I'll bet that for Legolas the worst part of the day wasn't the spiders; it was having Thranduil tear into him like that. Ah well. They'll all get over it.

caz - baz	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/16/2004
that last bit was so tense. well now they all should be happy - well not Gandalf. i'm relieved everything worked out. i wonder if Thranduil knows. he probably does. well i'll be off to "revise" now. Author Reply: I think they all ARE pretty happy, Caz-baz. You're right about that. It must be almost unbelievable to them. Of course, the Orcs and spiders are still there and Sauron just went somewhere else to cause trouble. Hope your exams are over soon.

Manderly	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/15/2004
This chapter was so packed with excitement that I was near suffocation from holding my breath by the time I finished it. You really created some pretty terrific images - a flood of spiders!? Just the mere thought is enough to stir up the nightmares. And the trees so thick with webs that the light is blocked out? Yuck and yuck again! The battle with the orcs was pretty amazing. Not being able to fight from the trees must had caused havoc with the elven fighting strategies. For a moment you had me worried about Gelmir. I am glad you decided to be merciful. Amazing chapter! Author Reply: The spiders were pretty disgusting. Tolkien says there were "hundreds" in that colony. The thought of hundreds of normal sized spiders has me cringing, let alone giant ones. I seriously considered offing Gelmir. His life was hanging on by a thread there. But there's a much bigger battle to come at the end of this story and I didn't want to detract from it. So Gelmir lives!

sofia	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/15/2004
i think its starting to make sense to me. the dwarves and the 'hobbit' are the same people in the book 'The Hobbit', right? Poor Gelmir, I wonder why Sauron just left so suddenly. Does Suruman have something to do with it? Update soon. -sofia Author Reply: Yes! You are looking at the story of "The Hobbit" from the Wood-elves' point of view instead of Bilbo's. Excellent! Knowing that should indeed make the story make more sense. Saruman certainly wants Sauron gone because he wants the One Ring for himself and they've both been searching in the area where it was lost. This is the point in Tolkien's story where Sauron goes to live in Mordor, and Tolkien tells us that he did it more or less voluntarily. I asked myself why. I suppose it could have been because the White Council had the power to actually destroy him if he didn't leave. But Tolkien had also told us that at what must have been more or less the same time (August 2941), Bilbo puts on the One Ring to become invisible in the spider battle. I decided those events were connected and Sauron left because he knew the ring had been found.

Dot	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/15/2004
Y’know, I was watching out for this all day whenever I got a chance but because I was at work I had to print it out to read it ‘cos the computer is for public Internet access, not mine (and apparently reading fanfic isn’t why they pay me) but then not only did most of the paragraph beginning “He gestured toward the trees…” come out with xxxxx through it but Net Nanny kicked in and shut the whole system down! I was so intrigued as to what you could possibly have written but apparently our computer has just developed an objection to talk of scary spiders;-) And oh how I hate those spiders! You always manage to make me freak out with the graphic detail! You’re right that Legolas is genuinely worried about this Dwarf child. I laugh every time he refers to him as “Hobbit” but really it’s not that funny at all. All of the elves know full well what dangers are in the woods and must be horrified at the thought of a child out there alone. At least Legolas seems to be willing to accept some responsibility on the part of the Elves. He does still seem troubled by Thranduil’s reaction, though. I hate to say it but I think Eilian was always the best off really of Thranduil’s sons – far away from home and the difficulties of playing dual roles. Anyway, Legolas can’t undo anything now and he might as well just get on with things. But who knew it would be so darn difficult to just kill a few spiders and round up the Dwarves?! Actually, I thought Legolas was brilliant in this chapter. He really assumes control with more ease now and doesn’t really question himself, while at the same time respecting the skills of those around him – like Annael’s tracking abilities. Plus, he’s sensitive enough to put the ‘child’ first, even though he was specifically ordered to deal with the spiders. You’ve brought him a long way! It’s fascinating to watch the elves’ confusion as they note such things as the large footprints for a child, the fact that he’s light-footed for a Dwarf, and seemingly killed spiders on his own. I always got the impression in ‘The Hobbit’ that the elves hadn’t a notion that Bilbo was there. I mustn’t have read it properly! I suppose now they’ll have to keep looking for him even after the Dwarves are caught. There’ll be utter confusion if they question the Dwarves about a child!! How frightening that there’s such a massive spider colony now where there was no trace of one only two days ago. It seems that they’ve just missed some very exciting dwarf and hobbit escapades as well! It’s kind of amusing that Legolas worries now that the Dwarves won’t be able to fight the spiders. Sometimes I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone reading this. I don’t know how you keep track of everything… I mean, the Elves even hear Bilbo singing! Let me just say that you’re doing an incredible job of showing exactly the other side of the story. The whole fight with the spiders was just awful. Truly horrible. I love that you’re such a vivid writer but when it comes to things like this sometimes I wish you’d just say “There were spiders but the elves killed them.” That’d do me just fine! shudder So they found the Dwarves in the end, eh? It sounds like Sinnarn is quite enjoying himself. But then Thranduil tends to smile rather than frown at him! I presume he did have enough sense to leave someone guarding the clearing…?! And back to Dol Guldur… I had a knot in my stomach reading this! It sounds like chaos reigned for a while when those Orcs started coming. But, wow, I’m more impressed than ever by the skill and determination of Eilian’s warriors. I LOVED the White Council magic bit. I really liked the way you describe it as “darkness were being torn away”, as though there was genuine cleansing of evil. Plus I’d never have made the connection with the Orcs only being out during the day because of the darkness of the place and now suddenly light penetrates and they can’t cope with it. Poor Gelmir! I’m very fond of him and don’t like to see him hurt. Still, at least he just happens to be in the same place as the best healer there is. Not everyone can say they’ve been treated by Elrond himself! He better be alright because I have my suspicions that there’ll be some killing-off done before this tale comes to an end… It’s quite good of Elrond to see Eilian’s distress and offer to help Gelmir; what Elrond’s just been through can’t have been easy. I suppose he might have been shocked too when he sees the truth of what Mirkwood’s warriors face on a daily basis. “It was almost as if his attention were elsewhere rather than on us.” Ai! Bilbo! The ring! You’re such a genius, daw. Hand on heart, there’s no way that would have dawned on me. And so he goes to Mordor and bides his time. Although, I do wonder why when the ring is in Mirkwood. Ah well, at least there are no elves in Mordor. And Saruman is “exultant”? If Gandalf knows Sauron wasn’t completely destroyed, then he must have too and I thought he wanted Sauron overthrown to get the ring himself… Or maybe, being more powerful than Gandalf and becoming quite fond of all things evil himself these days he felt the presence of the ring too. Or maybe he’s just happy that they’ve accomplished something… It’s quite moving to see Eilian and Ithilden’s disbelief. It makes me wish sometimes that I didn’t know what the future holds for poor old Mirkwood. I wonder if Thranduil can tell? I’d say he can, surely? Although, he is a tad distracted at the moment! That last line made me smile. I’m not used to Eilian wanting to leave the south and go home. He obviously misses his wife just as much as she misses him. I imagine Ithilden will do all he can to get his brother home as soon as possible. Whew, I’m worn out after all the excitement of this chapter! Luckily it’s almost bedtime here… I’m really going to have to learn how to sum things up in an eloquent sentence or two instead of rambling on. And on and on…:-) Author Reply: I emailed you the chapter file, Dot, in case you didn't get it. Legolas has indeed come a long way. He's almost Fellowship!Legolas now. Being in the Home Guard for the first time has put him in his father's path far more than he's been in the past, and that's giving him some problems that I think he needs to settle in his own head. Because his father is king, he owes a kind of obedience that most adults do not owe their parents, and I think that's problematic. I've tried to show Ithilden as someone who can obey his king but still differ from his father, but Legolas is only figuring out how to do that now. Looking for the "child" first is part of that. In The Hobbit, it's actually very difficult to tell what the elves knew or didn't know. That's part of the challenge here. They certainly didn't know Bilbo was in the caverns. The White Council's magic was something I'd been worrying about describing, so I finally decided to just show what Eilian felt but he doesn't see what they did because he was busy with the Orcs. That solved my problem. :-) I was all excited when I decided to try to link Bilbo's wearing the ring and Sauron's departure. Tolkien tells us very little about it. VERY little. But this made sense to me. It's at moments like that that I realize how much fun it is to try to make sense of canon rather than just go with my first instincts which are probably more predicatable. Anyway, I loved this review. Pleasant dreams.

tigerlily713	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/15/2004
Curious how easy that seemed to be. I'm excited to read more of anything you choose to bestow us with! Author Reply: Oh yeah. Too easy. Sauron had been preparing a place for himself in Mordor anyway, and I'm trying to suggest that when Bilbo put the ring on to escape the spiders, Sauron must have known. I'm glad you liked it, Lily.

Jebb	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/15/2004
Another stunner I loved this from Legolas's musing over hteplight of little 'Hobbit' right through to the ousting of Sauron and Eilian's thoughts of better things to do at home! It obvioulsly still hurts Legolas to feel the full weight of his father's displeasure whether it be personal or offical and I can understand that it would be foolish indeed to court Thranduil's disapproval as Legolas knows too well from his childhood. It must be difficult to be both son and subordinate for his thoughts and experiences will always go back to his childhood and it must double the sting when he feels he has lost his Adar's approval. I thought the ousting of Sauron was wonderfully handled if I may say so enough but not too much detail and the personalities shone through If you haven't guessed I am thoroughly enjoying this story Author Reply: I think you're absolutely right that the double relationship of Legolas and Thranduil (king and father/warrior and son) must make their lives much more complicated and difficult. Thranduil has absolute power over his adult son in a way that most parents don't have once their children grow up. Thranduil and his sons plainly love one another; it's just hard for them to work out the proper role sometimes. I'm glad you liked the ousting of Sauron. I was worried about it and was glad to be able to get away with just showing what Eilian felt rather than having to explain what the White Council did. Who knows what they did?!!

nessie	Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 6/15/2004
Yay! Hehe, I was laughing when Legolas was concerned for "Hobbit" the child-dwarf. Oh, will they all be shocked. I'm glad they finally got rid of Sauron from Dol Guldor, he was starting to make the forest a handful! I hope Thranduil could tell that he's gone, it would probably make him feel loads better. But then he might be even more annoyed that they took action when HE didn't show up at the council, but Ithilden did. GELMIR! Oh, I KNEW it was him that got struck, it's always somebody close to the person who saw it but ignored it so they could survive and stuff. That last bit of the chapter...Is that all males ever think about? Geeze...Update asap, wonderful chapter! ~nessie~ Author Reply: I have to admit I giggled at Legolas too, although it seemed cruel because he's so earnest. And really, if Bilbo HAD been a child, Legolas would be right to be concerned. The adult dwarves had a bad enough time as it was. Gelmir had the good fortune to be hurt when Elrond was there (if getting hurt is ever good fortune). And that may not be the only thing males ever think about, but it soaks up an awful lot of their brain power, I'm afraid. Hence, they act the way they do. :-)

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