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| The Tenth Walker by Lindelea | 835 Review(s) |
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| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 100 on 6/22/2025 |
| [It seems as if the sight of the sheer, treeless slopes of the mountain ahead of us has troubled him, and he must get his fill of trees now, while we are in their midst. ] Yes, I can imagine Legolas thinking like that. Author Reply: I found it interesting that the only thing that could tear Legolas away from the forest was the Sea. They seem so unalike. I suppose one similarity that might make sense to me lies in my love of (and fascination with) waterfalls, which are found in the forests around here. There's something about the sound of the falling water, along with the mystery inherent in the look of a waterfall always changing and yet ever the same from moment to moment. My love of the ocean springs from similar sensory impressions: the sound of the surf and the way the size and shape of the waves are always changing, yet the sight of the breaking waves seems the same from moment to moment. I have definitely fallen into rambling, as I mentioned in another review reply, so I'm going to heed the cats' increasingly imperative hints and take myself off to bed. Thanks for listening. And many thanks for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 98 on 6/22/2025 |
| Lovely little hiking ditty! [Make-a-ring around the fish! When he splashes, make a wish!] I am not familiar with this game; did you invent it? [‘I should think an Eagle or two would come in quite handy right about now, don’t you?’] Now, now, no snarking at Tolkien's plot devices! ;-) Author Reply: Thank you! I have made up most of my LOTR poetry, including hobbit songs and rhymes, though I must admit that for some of the more complex poetry I've drawn heavily from Tolkien's examples. The fish-wish rhyme was my attempt to come up with a Middle-earth version of "Ring around the Rosie", which I've been told describes details of the Black Death. (Somehow I can't envision hobbits making a children's rhyme that describes a plague. Children of Rohan or Gondor, perhaps, but not hobbits; at least, it would seem out of character to me.) | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 96 on 6/22/2025 |
| The ruminations on fear are beautifully worded! Ah, once the characters discover they could write themselves a peaceful evening, next they'll write themselves comfortably back home, and then where would our story be! Author Reply: Again, thank you for your encouragement. I've always wanted to be an artist, but I've had to settle for drawing pictures with words. I've never been able to draw or sketch pictures of what I see in my head or with my eyes, so words will have to do. Wouldn't they be thrilled to discover that particular magic! (Somehow it sounds like something you might find in a Twilight Zone episode.) Gandalf might have flown on that Eagle's back from Orthanc to Rivendell. But wait. In the story, doing what he did, he drew off some of the Black Riders, if I'm remembering right. So maybe that wouldn't have been the best possibility. Probably the quickest end to the story would be if Círdan and Elrond had picked Isildur up bodily as soon as he said he was going to keep the Ring, carried him to the Crack of Doom, and thrown him in. But then, as you have so aptly observed, where would our story be? (Don't mind me, I'm in a fey mood tonight after finishing another WIP. Writing the final chapter of anything is a strangely melancholy exercise for me. But then, I suffered a shock when I read, He drew a deep breath. ‘Well, I’m back,’ he said. And the book ended. Just like that. And I wanted it to go on and on because I'd come to love the characters so. Which is probably why I started writing fanfiction. But I'm rambling, which is a sure sign I need to close up the laptop for now.) Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 95 on 6/4/2025 |
| This made me think how coolo it would be to have an archaeological expedition into Middle-earth, discovering old roads and ruins. And how I wish I could see their stars! Author Reply: I get that same feeling every time I read a story that includes ruins. From my younger years, I remember clearly the joy of exploring old crumbling ruins from various periods of history (e.g. castles, chapels, walls, Roman roads, a salt mine founded in the 1500s, a reconstruction of a prehistoric village on stilts, and Roman baths in Europe; ghost towns and the still-visible ruts of the Oregon Trail in the Western US; cave paintings that I don't remember anymore where I saw them because it was so long ago). I can close my eyes and remember walking up a stone stairway in a castle ruin where feet have worn down the middle part of each stair, passing arrow slits in the outward-facing wall, pausing to peer outwards and imagining what the place was like when it was full of life and animals and people... I've never been on a "dig", but the idea of digging down through layers of history is also a fascinating concept. Their stars! Yes... I'd love to see the night sky in Middle-earth during the various seasons, and learn the names and shapes of all the constellations... | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 93 on 6/4/2025 |
| I'm happy you are taking me back to this part of the journey, which I've always really liked, with the whole mountian panorama and the lingering memory of the elves. :) Author Reply: I have long had a secret wish to visit Hollin. Even with the uneasy notes JRRT added, it sounds like a lovely place. Thanks! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 90 on 5/14/2025 |
| You've picked up that eerie moment in the book and made it eerier. Personally, I rather like corvids, and whatever they might do to other animals is nothing in comparison to the cruelty humans inflict. But if you need a good spooky bird, a corvid it has to be. Author Reply: Weren't they the birds in the playground scene (and maybe other scenes) of Hitchcock's The Birds? Very eerie! Frightening, even. It wasn't long after seeing that film that I swore off horror films. JRRT seemed to have a better opinion of them, though, at least in The Hobbit. If I'm remembering right. They're so intelligent, and I've found their customs and culture fascinating in the past. I always stop and watch when I see a crow or two driving away a much larger raptor; so bold and brave and clever and determined! It's too bad Saruman used them for nefarious purposes. Do you think the silence (I think a single croak is mentioned in the book) increased the eeriness of the scene? Thinking back on it, that single croak must have made an impression on me in reading that passage and writing this chapter since it's something Bill mentions. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 87 on 5/14/2025 |
| I love that scene in the film, a rare moment that does Boromir justice. Lovely that you picked it up here. And yes, I can see that the poise from dancing could also help with fencing. Author Reply: I remember Boromir as "a noble man" though I think JRRT actually describes Denethor with those words. He's a tragic figure, and yet from the glimpses of him given throughout the book, it's no wonder he's been the subject of interest for so many excellent fanfic writers. He's not all brawn and muscle, but also intelligent, observant, practical, caring and even sensitive (though forced to suppress it or, at least, hide it most of the time). I can understand the temptation to write an AU where he lives and gets to see his beloved City safe at last. It's a difficult day (woke up with no spoons today; was Lobelia visiting recently?), so I'm taking great comfort in reading reviews and dabbling in fanfic. Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it. | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 86 on 5/14/2025 |
| Ah, so what we amateurs call an LBB - "little brown bird." Author Reply: Hahaha! That resurrected a faint memory of one of my older family members... Thanks for the chuckle! | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 128 on 5/10/2025 |
| Now all makes sense to poor Bill, split at last from his Sam and the other Hobbits it has come to see as his new herd. May his separation from the Fellowship be eased as he finds his way home, guided by the Wizard's pictures and the voices gifted to him for his guidance within the empty lands he now faces. Beautifully wrought to the end, my friend. Author Reply: Thank you so much, dear friend. I'm glad this weekend gave you some space to read and (hopefully) relax. (((hugs))) Happy Mother's Day to you! (I think I probably wrote this in another review reply, but it bears repeating.) | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 127 on 5/10/2025 |
| Love the pony's vision of what the others see, and his appreciation for the worry as to how they will enter the Mines. Author Reply: He can certainly read their emotions, even though he can't make sense of the lines that appear on the rocky surface of the cliffs. (While I've seen video of studies where dolphins and other creatures were able to learn to recognise fairly simple symbols and shapes – who knows what complex shapes they naturally respond to in the wild? – I'm not sure if any such studies have been conducted with equines. So I went with the idea that Bill couldn't distinguish a star from a rune or a tree in a 2D rendering.) Thanks! | |