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| The Tenth Walker by Lindelea | 838 Review(s) |
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| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 104 on 7/2/2025 |
| [Wizards who are walking along in front of other folk should not stop suddenly. ] I really like that for an opening sentence! And so Bill trod on Gandalf's robe just like Mr Collins on Kitty Bennet's frock... It never occurred to me before, but if they had managed to cross the pass, they would have taken Bill with them - to Lothlorien, but not on the boats. I wonder how he'd have liked staying in the Golden Wood... Author Reply: I'm not sure it ever occurred to me before, either! (Or if it did, I've forgotten.) (Trying to imagine Bill's thoughts on the Golden Wood, and the Lady... I think he would have liked the Lady a great deal, actually. If she could charm a Dwarf, one can only imagine the impression she would make on an observant pony.) Again, thanks so much for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts and impressions. I do appreciate it. | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 102 on 7/2/2025 |
| It's true, he did say it! ;-) Author Reply: He did, indeed! (Thanks!) | |
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 101 on 7/2/2025 |
| I've never had - or even heard of - a dried apple tart. Maybe it's an American thing? It's a very touching scene. Author Reply: A tart made from dried fruit is something I remember from reading about past times when fresh fruit wasn't available year-round. (Maybe it was a book about American pioneers? I don't recall the context anymore.) Some people might have canned fruit and used it for pie filling, while others dried fruit in the sun (for example, turning grapes into raisins). Dried fruit travels well. It can be used in travel rations as well as reconstituted to be used in pies and tarts. I do remember that my horse seemed to enjoy dried apples almost as much as she loved fresh ones. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to leave an encouraging word. | |
| 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. | |