shirebound
· 21 March 2005
· Chapter 8: A Small Measure of Defiance
Merry and Pippin looked at each other and unspoken words passed between them. They once more faced the minstrel.
"You may have failed your master's trust, but you haven't failed ours. You asked us yesterday if there was anything that you might do for us. Both Pippin and I agree on this: we want you to write for us that lay."
How wonderful! And I can't wait to "see" Frodo through Farohan's eyes.
Author's reply
It has taken me a long time both to answer your review and to post the next chapter. I'm sorry! However, Farohan is finally able to "see" Frodo (and Sam!) in Chapter 9. At last!
shirebound
· 10 March 2005
· Chapter 7: Truth and Rumour
"There are the learned who will make the written accounts, but few shall read them--they will gather dust in the archives soon enough! But lays are sung and remembered by many more people. And so--it is the minstrel's responsibility to write such a lay that inspires, enraptures, and tells the truth."
That's marvelously written, as is this entire story. Every chapter just makes me more eager to read the next.
Author's reply
Ooh, thank you! Fortunately, I will be able to post the next chapter *less than 2 weeks* after this previous one--something rare for me!
Bodkin
· 10 March 2005
· Chapter 7: Truth and Rumour
Ignore Menelor, Farohan, and write your lay anyway. Let Menelor produce his poet laureate bit of commercial trash that shows his ignorance of the people involved and their actions, and then blow them all away with your talent and insight.
Author's reply
I think that Farohan would be very grateful for your support, even if he wouldn't want anything too rough said against his master. But Menelor certainly *is* lacking in the research that Farohan has done on hobbits...
Arwen Baggins
· 9 March 2005
· Chapter 7: Truth and Rumour
Aw, poor Farohan. I once felt the same way when a professor felt "less than confident" about my ability to complete her course. I hope he does better with his task than I did with mine - assuming that he gets it back, of course. I'm sure he'll find some way to honor the Ring-bearers!
Author's reply
Oh dear. I'm sorry that fiction is copying reality in your case. Farohan certainly isn't out of the picture yet! :)
Grey Wonderer
· 9 March 2005
· Chapter 7: Truth and Rumour
I was so shocked and hurt for poor Farohan. I do hope that Menelor changes his mind. I did enjoy Farohan's talk with Beregond. It showed both of their worries very well. Looking forward to more of this one. I am anxious to see what Farohan will do now that he has been told that he will not be allowed to write the lay for Frodo.
Author's reply
Farohan certainly has been dealt a sharp blow! I think that you may find at least one of the answers to your questions with the next chapter. And... I'm glad you enjoyed Farohan's talk with Beregond. I've always been fond of Beregond--for his loyalty and love for Faramir, his courage and conviction. I'm sure that as joyful as the time in Ithilien must have been, he would have been weighed down by the question of his own future.
Dreamflower
· 9 March 2005
· Chapter 7: Truth and Rumour
Oh dear! I'm sorry to see that his master has lost faith in him! But I am sure that this will turn out all right...
Author's reply
Farohan's path has taken a sharp turn to the left. But he's not out of the picture yet!
GamgeeFest
· 8 January 2005
· Chapter 6: The Crucible
Hehe, Farohan's going to learn real quick not to offer things freely to those two. Wonderful chapter as always, I loved Pippin's reflections on his cousin, trying to describe him in all the different ways that he is and finally just ending it with "He's Frodo." Pippin will not be quite prepared for how much Frodo has changed from his task, none of them will be I think. Keep up the good work and good luck on your studies!
Author's reply
Thank you! I'm almost finished -- only four weeks to go! Given what Pippin has said in this chapter, I think that he may have slightly more of an idea than some others. He's already noticed quite a change, and just as Frodo changed "from the crucible" of being stabbed by the Morgul knife and volunteering to go on the Quest, so can he perhaps imagine further change from the crucible of Mordor. But you're right -- he cannot know how much that change may have happened or necessarily some of the details why (e.g. what happened at the Sammath Naur). Even Frodo himself, I think, doesn't fully realize it until he reaches the Shire and begins to have the "anniversary illnesses".
esamen
· 6 January 2005
· Chapter 6: The Crucible
"The Ring-b...Frodo... seems such a puzzle," he said. "Could his Quest have really changed him that much? From a... mushroom-stealer to such a.. an... elf-friend, and...and such a noble being?"
Pippin pondered this. At last he spoke.
"I wasn't even born when Frodo would make his raids on Maggot's farm. I only became old enough to know him after he had moved to Hobbiton. Living with Bilbo changed him, I think. From what I gather... from what Merry has said, actually, it was as if Frodo had found a kindred spirit within Bilbo--and perhaps the other way around, too.
I really like this bit of dialogue. I'll show you why -- here's a little quote from my bulletin board: "The reward is not what you get at the end. The reward is who you become along the way." You have written a beautiful and insightful exchange.
In fact, I think that this whole chapter is well done on many levels. Your knowledge of the actual canon and the way that you are presenting this story -- Pippin telling the minstrel about Frodo -- is terrific. A whole new look at the tale.
Nice work! Please, update soon! I'll be watching down the road for your next chapter! I have to admit to being a big Frodo fan, so I hope he makes an appearance!
Esamen
Author's reply
Thank you for your thoughtful review! I can't promise you an appearance from Frodo, but on the other hand, I won't say that there definitely won't be one either. You'll just have to wait and see! :) I like your quote very much and I agree, it is a very appropriate one -- for all of the characters on the Quest. I'm not sure Frodo would wamt to agree with you; I imagine that he'd prefer to return to life in the Shire untroubled by what he went through. Yet even so, he would certainly recognize the value of the changes and, in the end, choose not to forget or lose his knowledge and understanding. After all, he is the one who tells Sam to read stories from the Red Book to the people of the Shire so that they, in remembering the bad times, come to love their land all the more.
shirebound
· 6 January 2005
· Chapter 6: The Crucible
"Imaginative, curious,... how can I describe him. Alert and quick of mind, but also full of high thoughts. He wasn't always accepted by other hobbits--with his desire to learn of all the goings on of the outside world, tramping about the Shire, speaking Elvish, being lettered..."
What a marvelous description of Frodo! It's fascinating to try to discern how the Ring-bearer was "shaped" into his destiny, either from childhood or during the Quest (or both).
Author's reply
That is an interesting question that you raise. I have sometimes wondered if Frodo was "shaped" into his destiny (i.e. by some power from without, e.g. the Valar, or even Iluvatar), or was it simply that he being who he was was what made him take up the Quest when others wouldn't have? In that case, the "selection" process that saw him become the Ring-bearer would have been through his own character and his own choices. I prefer to think of his "evolvement" as the latter, because that implies a greater sense of free will, and it speaks more to his own strength as opposed to being an unwitting pawn of the Powers. I know that this may not be what you meant (you may have just been talking about his own innate character changing through circumstances) but it's something that has interested me nonetheless!
Grey Wonderer
· 5 January 2005
· Chapter 6: The Crucible
I am so glad that this has updated. I really do love this one. I think Farohan just might be a timy bit afraid of Merry at this point. It must all be so confusing to him with all of the different accounts. I loved Pippin's chattery way of speaking about Frodo and the way that he and Merry want to think about what Farohan can do for them. I wonder what they're up to now?
Author's reply
This story *will* get finished, despite long gaps (after mid-February, things should speed up and smooth out). I'm so glad that you've been so patient! As for Farohan, he *is* just a little uncertain around Merry right now... I think that Pippin is a lot easier for him to interact with -- he is a little more straightforward, at least! As for what they're up to...
Rosie-Ann
· 25 October 2004
· Chapter 5: From Sunrise to Moonlight
I'm stuck somewhere between laughing and crying - this story, chapter five in particular, is so poignent and wonderful. If I were at all good at writing lays or such like that I'd happily write a lay to go with this - but then again, it would be at least as long as the Red Book by the time I got everything important in to it! Perhaps I'll try anyway. For my own benefit...
Oh, don't mind me, I'm just rambling. This is a wonderful story, though. One line would have me laughing out loud, and the next would have me on the verge of tears.
Wonderful.
~Rosie
Author's reply
Only now do I realize that this review has been sitting here patiently for me to read it! I think the email somehow got lost. I'm sorry!
What a lovely review. Thank you so much for telling me that I have moved you to laughter and tears--what a compliment! Don't you worry... ramble all you'd like! :) (And I think that I'd be hopeless in trying to pack all of Frodo's deeds into a lay. I don't envy Farohan his task.)
FantasyFan
· 12 September 2004
· Chapter 5: From Sunrise to Moonlight
I must say I am enjoying your story very much. Poor Farohan! It's an enormous task to know Frodo, and he's been thrown into in under a good deal of pressure and with scanty and contradictory information. It's a good thing that he's got a few more days to work it all out. I'm looking forward to getting the perspective of whomever he talks to next.
Author's reply
Thank you! Yes, Farohan's going to need those few days! And Frodo is such a complex character... I don't envy Farohan at all!
Fantas
· 12 September 2004
· Chapter 5: From Sunrise to Moonlight
Grey Wonderer
· 12 September 2004
· Chapter 5: From Sunrise to Moonlight
I hadn't thought about where the song would be sung until this chapter. I like that the minstrel is able to control where he will perform the song and that he is thinking what will best suit his needs. The talk with Merry was priceless! Now the minstrel is probably completely confused after all that talk of stealing mushrooms and being a greedy hobbit! Too fuuny! I wonder what the minstral will make of it all and how he will use the information that he has now. Looking forward to more!
Author's reply
I really enjoyed writing about the "flummoxing of Farohan" by Merry. Merry isn't going to make it easy for the poor minstrel, no, not at all. Thank you for your review!
daw the minstrel
· 12 September 2004
· Chapter 5: From Sunrise to Moonlight
Interesting question about where Frodo ends and the Ringbearer begins. Where do our private selves become the person of the public deeds we do?
I have to tell you a story though that I thought of while reading about Farohan. It's from David Lodge's very amusing novel, "Small World." It's about this guy who teaches in some small university in rural Australia and longs to make the big time. He submits a proposal to give a paper at a big conference and to his own surprise gets accepted. Then he has to write the paper and he finds that he always gets stuck in the same place. He's actually still stuck there when he gets up to speak at the conference and just when he's coming to that place, with terror in his heart, someone has a heart attack at the back of the room and the session ends! Maybe Farohan can pray for something like that. :-)
Author's reply
I enjoyed reading this story. What thing to happen! But, alas, Farohan will have no such reprieve. We already know that he must sing the whole blessed thing from beginning to end, since it is recorded that he does so in RotK. And, yes, you have put your finger on one of the key points of the story: the difference (or lack thereof) between Frodo and the Ring-bearer.
shirebound
· 12 September 2004
· Chapter 5: From Sunrise to Moonlight
What a fascinating story! I do love this description:
"A minstrel's work lay in the recording of events and the teaching of people -- to be continually at the service of the Court which asked for such knowledge to be given, sung and written."
Good old Merry, to give such a down-to-earth impression of Frodo -- and yet laced with respect and wonder, all the same. He knows that Frodo can't have changed very much... yet wonders, in the same breath, if he indeed has.
Author's reply
You have caught the very "essence" of Merry's involvement in this chapter. I do love reading your reviews, Shirebound. You so often go unerringly to the heart of what I'm trying to convey.
Grey Wonderer
· 25 August 2004
· Chapter 4: Of Hobbits and Oliphaunts
I was so pleased to see a new chapter of this one posted. This is such a wonderful story. I am enjoying seeing what others think of the hobbits. Your minstrel is a lovely character. You can see the work he is putting into his song. I can't wait until he meets with Merry and Pippin. I also hope he gets to see Frodo at least before completing his song. Looking forward to more.
Author's reply
Thank you for your review! While this story is not big on action, it is giving me the chance to explore those aspects you mentioned.
shirebound
· 25 August 2004
· Chapter 4: Of Hobbits and Oliphaunts
What a truly exquisite story, written with such care and craft! The detail about Farohan longing for a harp to equal the Ring-bearer's character is truly marvelous. Each chapter is a gem.
Author's reply
I'm so glad you picked up on that point! It is one of my favourite parts of the chapter. Thank you so much for your lovely review!
Tathar
· 25 August 2004
· Chapter 4: Of Hobbits and Oliphaunts
Splendid chapter! I really love Farohan, and watching him make each new discovery about the hobbits is wonderful. I especially liked this part:
**"Elf-like," Farohan amended. "He speaks the Elvish tongue and he is spoken of as being fair. I wish I could see him! It is difficult to write this lay when I know so little. I know of most of his journey now, and I know of how two people view him, but he himself remains a mystery to me. Is he like Pippin, or is he of a different quality? A lay fit for a hero that looks and acts like Pippin would be different from one who seems to be Elf-like!"**
That's an interesting point that I hadn't thought of before - a lay written for Frodo would have to be very different than a lay written for Pippin, or another more "hobbit-like" hobbit. It's fun to discover new things along with Farohan! :)
Can't wait for more!
Author's reply
Thank you! Writing this story is making me consider things afresh, too. And Farohan has many more discoveries to make. He has not yet had a chance to truly talk to a hobbit. However, that will change in the next chapter...
daw the minstrel
· 25 August 2004
· Chapter 4: Of Hobbits and Oliphaunts
This made me stop and think about how hard it is to generalize about hobbits if Pip and Frodo are your two samples. I think Farohan is right that Pip is the more typical. Still I suppose the things they have in common -- their love of the Shire, their enjoyment of peace and the simple pleasures of food and merry making -- those are the things that matter. And I suppose you'd have to name their mutual courage too.
Author's reply
Absolutely. Pippin and Frodo are quite different, yet they are of the same culture and background. Farohan knows that mere facts of the Quest are not enough, yet Frodo is proving to be quite elusive...
girlofring
· 24 August 2004
· Chapter 4: Of Hobbits and Oliphaunts
this is coming along so well.
Author's reply
I'm glad you like it.
Creashuns
· 20 July 2004
· Chapter 3: Of Names and Hobbits
This is such a lovely tale! I am joying it so much!
Thank you for sharing it!!
Author's reply
You're welcome. I'm glad you like it.
Tathar
· 19 July 2004
· Chapter 3: Of Names and Hobbits
Ohhhh, this is excellent! First of all, I love minstrels in general, and secondly I too have always had a fondness for the unnamed minstrel who sang the Lay of Frodo. Your idea is so creative - I would never have thought of it. As Frodo is my very favorite hobbit, I just love hearing the rest of the Fellowship telling of his trials and courage to this loveable, curious minstrel. And to travel along with Farohan through your beautiful writing style just makes it come alive.
Marvelous, I can't wait for the next chapter!
Author's reply
Thank you for your lovely review! Writing is going rather slowly at the moment for a variety of reasons, but I enjoy creating Farohan's story very much. And as Frodo is also *my* favourite hobbit, I love writing about him in this different way. It gives me a chance to examine the character in a new way.
maya_ar
· 19 July 2004
· Chapter 3: Of Names and Hobbits
Hello,
This is a lovely idea for a story, and I'm enjoying the way you're writing it. Looking forward to future chapters!
cheers,
Maya
Author's reply
Thanks! The idea for this story is one that I've had for a long time, and I'm very fond of it. I am just so surprised that no one else has done it before (at least that I know of).
trishette
· 19 July 2004
· Chapter 3: Of Names and Hobbits
Beregond was quite right in marking hobbits as very fond of food judging by Pippin! The poor growing tween, living on rations considered meager even by Men! I cannot wait until your next chapter comes out.
Author's reply
Thank you! Beregond certainly is quite observant, I think. And I'm halfway done the next chapter, but unfortunately "real life" is interfering at the moment!