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| The Acceptable Sacrifice by Larner | 15 Review(s) |
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| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 86 on 2/21/2006 |
| Beautiful description of the gardens of Bag End - I felt like I was there, smelling the flowers and (well, I would) dodging the bees. Aragorn's building a chair for the Steward of Arnor to use in the White Tower, by the Steward of Gondor's Chair? Hmm, interesting. Well, I hope there will be a chair for Faramir when he visits Annuminas. Author Reply: I am truly spending time I ought to be using otherwise to answer reviews here, but I can't fully begrudge it. I'm not allergic to bee stings, thank God, but am to penecillin, so can understand your concern about the bees, although usually neither honeybees or blumblebees will bother folks unless the folks bother them first. Only bumblebees and honeybees that ever stung me I was bothering them. Now, yellowjackets and ground hornets are just plain nasty and aggressive--all you have to do is be anywhere near their nest and you'd best watch out! So very glad you love the gardens as I've described them. I hope that by that summer they were coming back to fullness of beauty again, with Sam in charge and Frodo appreciating them. And yes, I do in my mind have a black and grey chair for the two Stewards in Annuminas as well as in Minas Tirith. I first introduced the grey chair in "The King's Commission," I think; and I'm sure I had it there in "Lesser Ring." Thanks so much for the response! | |
| Kitty | Reviewed Chapter: 86 on 2/21/2006 |
| Oh, dear Brendi! He was wonderful in this chapter. So understanding and helpful (well, maybe save from the end) and he even managed to make Frodo laugh over his own absurd thoughts! Well done, Brendi! Larner, I enjoyed this chapter so much! Finally Frodo was able to open up a little bit and to talk about this horrible last moments with the ring. And if he would only think a bit more about what he told Brendi, he should be able to realise that he did everything he promised to do and everything he could do. And certainly more than all the powerful others could have done. That is enough, Frodo!! Loved Aragorn's remark about the height of the dais, and now I wonder if I will ever see the steps in Gondor reduced. Aragorn has hundred and twenty years to wear the worthies of Gondor down, after all :D Author Reply: Yes, Brendi is good for Frodo, dear Hobbit that he is. And Frodo has to accept he can only be responsible for so much and no more; but this helps widen the crack in his armor of self-righteousness so that when he begins his discussions in the Undying Lands he finds the healing indeed, as that armor finally crumbles away and he's able to emerge for healing. Frodo was the best one for the job, but he's no longer the Tragic Hero and needs to accept his proper place and role as a simple child of Iluvatar, which is glory enough for anyone who will accept it. And so glad you liked Aragorn's comment, although as his throne is in a Citadel on top of the city of Minas Tirith it is indeed physically higher than Frodo's stump seat atop the Hill. But we can forgive Frodo that one, can't we? (Grinning) | |
| Antane | Reviewed Chapter: 86 on 2/20/2006 |
| Now this is getting interesting - how *is* that voice? Don't tell me though. I'm glad Frodo get a lot to think about from his cousin and to hear him laugh, now that was wonderful! Confession is good for the soul and he needed to hear *again* that this wasn't his own personal failure. He says right out that the Ring took him and more than once he has said this, but he still blames himself for being taken. When are you going to believe, darling, that this isn't your fault? "Oh Frodo, I love you past bearing..." Some many people do. Namarie, God bless, Antane :) Author Reply: Oh, I think you know who that voice is, Antane. And Frodo is indeed beginning to let that moment out, to see how absurd he is behaving, and that he is loved in spite of as well as because of his failings. And Frodo does need to laugh. There are times in the last few months when he does anything but laugh. As for blaming oneself--it's a failing all too many of conscience fall to, while those without consciences refuse to admit they need to do that once in a while. Now, if we could only even them out somewhat.... | |
| Queen Galadriel | Reviewed Chapter: 86 on 2/20/2006 |
| Oh, I loved Brendi's remark about the monarch of the Shire sitting enthroned! :) I'm glad Frodo had the chance to talk this over with one so wise and kind and genuine as Brendi, willing or not, and it's good that Brendi really tries to understand whereas some might be tempted either not to believe it (if they were really lacking in perception, that is) or to shake their head and not really make an effort. I said before that it wouldn't be fair to Narcissa for Frodo to marry her and then have to either leave or die; but I was wrong. It might have been better for both of them, in some ways. And I know this might be really obvious, but I can't think what the particular meaning behind the voice not addressing Frodo as Iorhael could be. I'll probably think of something, though, when my brain is a little less tired and half-dead from so much studying. Ah, how I wish I could just read and write all the time! :) And now I've finally put my finger on what it is that draws me to your work: it doesn't look as if it was invented, but rather as if you had merely written down facts that you had witnessed or that had been told to you. That's the way Tolkien wrote LOTR, and I think you're the only fanfic author I've ever come across who can do that. God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: Brendi is reflecting Frodo's own arguments and perceptions right back at him, and thus making him see how he is holding himself back from the level of healing he COULD have known in the Mortal Lands. It is a Jewish understanding that on the Day of Judgment we will be responsible not only for answering for every ill deed we've done but also for turning away from the legitimate pleasures offered us. We were put on this earth to live and live well and responsibly and with enjoyment. Enjoyment and pleasure, when legitimately obtained, are fulfilling and are our proper reward just for being here. It is only when we try to grab the pleasures that aren't ours or twist them to what they aren't intended to be that they become the lizards on our shoulders as shown in Lewis's "The Great Divorce" instead of the mighty steeds intended to bring us that more quickly before the Father's throne. What Frodo and Narcissa or any other lass he married could have made of the life granted them together we don't know, for he didn't accept that possible path. And so he came, still a virgin, for what we know, to the Undying Lands and probably through them back to the Creator. As for the monarch of the Shire--here I was just letting my secret feeling Frodo and Aragorn were indeed spiritually brothers loose for the moment. Why not, right? As for why it was significant Frodo was not addressed as Iorhael, I will advise you, when you can, to read Lloyd C. Douglas's "The Big Fisherman," for Peter told I think Demetrius there were days when Jesus called him Peter and days when he called him Simon. As for the last comment--I am humbled, truly humbled, as well as delighted to be compared to the Master, you know. It's the greatest compliment that can be paid me. Thank you. | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 86 on 2/20/2006 |
| "Oh, my beloved cousin--you are the best--and the most conceited--Hobbit the Creator ever saw born into the Shire. You don’t want to have had to have shared the glory of destroying Sauron’s Ring--you want to have done it all yourself, even though you know, and probably knew from the moment you offered to carry It further than Rivendell--you couldn’t do it alone. Oh, Frodo, I love you past bearing--you know that, don’t you?” And very slowly the stricken look on Frodo’s face began to fall away, and gently he began to join in the laughter, laughing, laughing more loudly, more fully, until he was rocking with it. The page he held fell into his lap as he sat back, and he laid his head back and closed his eyes, still laughing softly. “You are right, Brendi. I’m about as absurd a Hobbit as was ever born.” That's a marvelous scene. Brendi's relentless getting at the truth, and logical conclusions, are just wonderful. Author Reply: Yes, Brendi is the proper, decent, good lawyer to counter Timono and Marcos; and he uses his skills to get Frodo to see--for the moment at least--just how absurd he is. He may forget it tomorrow, but slowly the guilt is being worn away so that when he gets to the Undying Lands he is able to shed it completely--although even there they worry about his stubborn insistence that he is responsible for everything. So glad you liked this one. | |