A Place for Gandalf by Dreamflower
KathyG · 27 January 2024 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
Dora and Eglantine saw her, and laughed. From the front room, Bilbo called out “Who was it?” “No one important, Bilbo, dear. No one at all.” Surely, she told him later, when the party was over! I can't imagine that Esmeralda would deny Bilbo the satisfaction.
KathyG · 27 January 2024 · Chapter 7: Mersday, 22 Rethe S.R. 1389
You know, Dreamflower, you could probably post your Mary Sue story here now! The administrators aren't nearly so strict about posting "falling-into-Middle-earth" stories are they used to be.
PSW · 13 November 2016 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
Another very nice story! I loved the whole bit about Gandalf's room, and how grateful he was for it. Also -- whew! Glad Bilbo didn't end up on that adventure w Balin... Thanks for writing!
harrowcat · 14 January 2016 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
There are several precious gifts being given by a number of people in this wonderful story. Some by providing a loving space to be or to grow. Some by letting go and accepting change and one by realising that his own needs must not intrude and disturb a fragile new balance that is being achieved. Loved every word.
KathyG · 11 September 2014 · Chapter 7: Mersday, 22 Rethe S.R. 1389
I'm sure it was. Too bad you're not allowed to post that story here! =)
KathyG · 11 September 2014 · Chapter 7: Mersday, 22 Rethe S.R. 1389
Yes, this is their first exposure to Men, and it's a positive one. And in my Shire, actually, they do meet at least one more, in about twenty-six years, in "Life of a Bard". Better make that two more--don't forget the toddler, Mary Sue! =)
Author's reply
LOL! Well, little Mary Sue was an AU, so I don't count that in the timeline. But it was an awful lot of fun to write it.
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
Ah, that would be a satisfaction, and to announce to Bilbo it was no one at the door! As for the fireworks--perfect for the evening! Absolutely perfect, and especially for Frodo!
Author's reply
Since Esme didn't get to see Lotho's "splendid bloody nose" I just had to give her *some* satisfaction! LOL! "No one" indeed! Well, with Gandalf, I just had to have them. I salve my canon-conscience by telling myself that they are just not as spectacular as the ones at the Party, or that he used to do for the Old Took. I mean, one *could* interpret it that way, if one squints, ;-)! By the way, I couldn't sleep tonight, so it was great to find my inbox full of reviews in the wee hours! Thank you!
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 12: Monday, 26 Rethe S.R. 1389
I love the taking it in turns to play the goblins! So very Sam! As for Merry--he's a delightful child!
Author's reply
I have so much fun writing about the childhood friendship of young Merry and Sam, before they were old enough to understand a lot about the social differences, which put a little distance between them as they grew older. I'm very fond of wee!Merry! *grin*
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 11: Sunday, 25 Rethe S.R. 1289, Evening
I, too, had thought of him as being somewhat reluctant. But it hasn't been totally thankless, I suspect--and now he has good friends here. Bless the Hobbits--and the Wizard!
Author's reply
Well, as we are given a few hints in the Silm and UT, it does seem that he was not terribly eager--perhaps that was one reason he succeeded. And I think that JRRT was remembering certain reluctant prophets when he fashioned Gandalf--remember how hard it was to persuade Moses to take up his task? And I think that the friendship he was able to find among the various mortals he knew was sort of a reward to him for doing his duty in spite of his reluctance.
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 10: Sunday, 25 Rethe S.R. 1389, Afternoon
I remember this chapter. Yes, he likes it! Hooray!
Author's reply
I had so much fun envisioning Gandalf's reaction to this gift--it was a scene I loved writing!
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 9: Sunday, 25 Rethe S.R. 1389, Morning
The S-B's do make quite the detestable family! Not that it will matter that much in the end--Lotho stays that way all his life, unfortunately.
Author's reply
Well, nasty people do tend for the most part, to stay nasty, sadly enough. Fortunately, it's not universal, and some find grace, as Lobelia eventually did--though very nearly too late.
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 8: Highday, 23 Rethe S.R. 1389
The son, unfortunately, they deserve! Heh!
Author's reply
Yes, sadly enough, the son they deserved. Nature or nurture? I think in Lotho's case, it was definitely *both*!
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 7: Mersday, 22 Rethe S.R. 1389
Too bad that when it came they couldn't just give all over to simply enjoying the adventure.
Author's reply
It was a shame! But I think the seeds of adventuring were already there for them--letting them enjoy the adventure was one reason I decided to write "Eucatastrophe: The Return".
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 6: Sterday, 17 Rethe S.R. 1389
Alas--growing up a bit fast. Yes, remember that stage!
Author's reply
Yes, poor Esme!
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 2: Hensday, 7 Rethe S.R. 1389
Excellent reasons for choosing Frodo, I must say! And with those two connections, the Mayor would have to be involved, and I sincerely doubt, also, that Will would go against Thain and Master! Heh!
Author's reply
*grin* Right! And it was a bonus for Bilbo to realize just how *perfectly* Frodo fit the bill--my Bilbo had always planned to someday bring Frodo to live with him, but this bit of knowledge gave him the impetus to finally *do* something about it!
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 5: Mersday, 15 Rethe S.R. 1389
Ah, so even then Sam said "Proper" a lot! Actually, I think I remember that, but it was a joy to read it again. And what better occupation for a Hobbit lad than playing in the dirt in the garden? Excavating and growing (then harvesting and eating) things are two of their most fundamental activities, after all!
Author's reply
*giggle* Well, you will always see the future adult in my hobbit children--and Sam, I'm sure, heard "proper" from the Gaffer's knee! Playing in the dirt! That was a fun and delightful scene to write, and drew from my own childhood memories of similar fun with a cousin--though I was the older.
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 4: Trewsday, 13 Rethe S.R. 1389
Yes, splendid indeed. And Merry has his own intuitions this time will be different, does he? Well, he is twice great-grandson to the Old Took, after all!
Author's reply
Yes, I know that some writers like to concentrate the Tookish insight on Pippin, but actually I believe there is canon evidence that all three of the cousins manifested it from time to time. Frodo, of course, is most obvious--though many writers think his prescience is merely Ring-induced, I do not agree. But both Merry and Pippin have flashes of foresight. All three of the cousins have prescient dreams in Tom Bombadil's house; and Merry has a rather strong and somewhat different reaction in the Barrow than the others. And Pippin has at least two canon occasions of prescience.
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 3: Highday, 9 Rethe S.R. 1389
Melancholia over his parents--I can see it, although I don't think that would be as strong as many write it. I know how my brother responded to our father's death when we were little, from what Mom, he, and other relatives have told me of the time. It will be devastating for Merry, but I agree--well worth it for the satisfaction of getting Lobelia where she lives! Heh!
Author's reply
For my Frodo, it was *very* strong the first two years--until Merry came along. After that, as long as he remained in Buckland, it was more or less seasonal--reaching its worst during the spring between the dates of his parents' deaths and his mother's birthday a few weeks later. The rest of the time, he was mostly a pretty normal child, though unexpected reminders of his loss would sometimes give him a twinge. Once he moved to Bag End, and his springs were filled with visits from Merry and Pippin to occupy his time, he had less time to remember and brood, and few reminders of his tragic loss to trigger his melancholy. Poor Merry! Frodo's seeming desertion was the major trauma of *his* young life, I think.
Larner · 9 August 2008 · Chapter 1: Trewsday, 29 Solmath, S.R. 1389
I'm starting this one over. I don't think I finished it last time, but that was when I was in constant technical difficulties with computers going bad for months. Yes, time to see to a proper room for Gandalf, and a bed and bedding to go with it!
Author's reply
I remember when you were having those troubles! I'm glad you were able to resolve them!
Imhiriel · 28 August 2006 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
More interesting as the plot for a new room for Gandalf is certainly the plot around Bilbo adopting Frodo as his heir. I find the way you have developed and showed this is very good. I first thought it a little odd that Bilbo seemed to first have thought about it mainly as a way of spiting the S.-B.'s, but in the further course it shows that it is about much more than that. Valid arguments, the genuince concern of Bilbo, Saradoc and Esmeralad for Frodo's wellfare, particularly taking into account his depression and his attachment to Merry. I'm also quite fond of that nice lawyer. This made me chuckle evilly: "It couldn’t be much longer to wait, he was ninety-nine after all, and then they could do as they wished. But if they antagonized him too much, he might do something drastic." Heh-heh, too late for that! "But he was ever and always a guest. But this--this was a place for *him*, made for him with love and care and a deal of thoughtfulness. This was as close to a home as he could know until his task was done and he returned across the Sea. Tears stood in his eyes." Well, in mine, too. Gandalf's thoughts mirror exactly what I thought at reading the description of the room. It's so sad that this will be the last time Bilbo will be seeing Balin before he goes to to Moria and dies there.
Author's reply
Oh how nice to get a review for this! I love to get reviews for my older stories! Yes--spiting the S.-B.s was what spurred Bilbo to action, but as you see, not only was Frodo the only legal possibility, but Bilbo had many other reasons as well. He just needed something to make him move forward and *act*. I'm glad you like Mr. Grubb! He's an old sweetie, isn't he? And his grandson is Frodo's lawyer years later, and cut from the same cloth. Yes, Otho should have kept a better handle on Lobelia and Lotho, shouldn't he? All this came together for me in the idea that Gandalf and Balin might have visited that year Frodo was adopted. I got the notion when I realized that Frodo's grieved reaction at Balin's grave seemed a bit more personal than if he'd never met him. It is very sad--Balin should have listened to Gandalf... Thank you very much for reading and reviewing! You really made my evening!
Endaewen · 8 February 2006 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
This is a beautiful story.
Author's reply
Why, thank you!
Queen Galadriel · 8 February 2006 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
Oh, I love this! Little Merry is *so* adorable, and I love your Saradoc and Esmeralda too-such wonderful parents! How thoughtful of Bilbo to fix up a room just for Gandalf. Yes, that would be greatly appreciated by the "Grey Pilgrim." And you do Frodo flawlessly here. I've seen him portrayed as being very weak and too vulnerable to have survived what he did. But you write him true to canon: the vulnerability is there, and still manages to get to my heart, but that's not all we see--there's also the caring, the joy in him, the brightness of soul, if you will. I don't know how to put it into words. I'm looking forward to reading "A Conspiracy of Hobbits" next. God bless, Galadriel
Author's reply
I'm glad you enjoyed this--it's one of my own favorites, and the first time I wrote young!Frodo and wee!Merry. I had a very good time fixing up Gandalf's room as well. I do appreciate that you like my portrayal of Frodo. I see him as anything *but* weak, ever. Vulnerable emotionally, yes, because of his great heart, and post-Quest, he gradually deteriorated physically. But he was *never* weak--he was made of stern stuff, the best genes of the Baggins, Brandybucks and Tooks mixed in him to create the perfect Fallohide. And I know exactly what you mean, and you put it into words very well. I like to portray him as mature and competent and capable and himself protective of his younger companions. It seems ironic to me that it is so very often certain authors who claim that Frodo is their favorite hobbit who are the worst offenders in making him weak and sickly and altogether dependent on others to get anything done--and I don't just mean post-Quest, for which there is *some* justification--I mean a Frodo who doesn't seem to know his head from a hole in the ground unless Sam, his cousins or Aragorn is there to tell him--and it's a miracle their version of Frodo ever gets to Mt. Doom. I always think that it comes from these writers wanting to coddle him and tend to him and baby him that makes them do him this injustice.
Gryffinjack · 13 October 2005 · Chapter 13: Highday, 30 Rethe S.R. 1389
*sigh* Now that was a fine story. It truly enriches the information given to us by Tolkien about how Bilbo had adopted Frodo. I am with Esme on this one - it was indeed good to see the S.-B.'s get their comeuppence. I daresay that most, if not all of the guests agreed. What a fine way to end the story, with Gandalf's fireworks!
Author's reply
There are a lot of really good stories about the subject. This is just my take on it, because a remark Frodo made in Moria seemed to indicate he had met Balin. And I had long wanted to write about how Bilbo came to build Gandalf's room, so they rather came together. But some other great stories about it are Primsong's "Nothing of Note", Obelia Medusa's "Adrift" and Inkling's "The Terror of Buckland". I think the main things that make mine different are that Drogo left a will. (Why doesn't anyone else seem to think that was likely?) That Frodo had wealth of his own, and that Merry, Gandalf and Balin were all visiting Bag End at the time. I felt Esme deserved to be the one to deliver the "good news" to Lobelia, LOL! After all, she never did get to see Frodo's handiwork on Lotho's nose! And I couldn't have Gandalf there at a celebration without providing fireworks!
Gryffinjack · 13 October 2005 · Chapter 12: Monday, 26 Rethe S.R. 1389
"That's all right! After I got over being boggled, it gave me quite a laugh. It's always flattering to be taken for younger than one is, but I wonder what I could have said to make you think that?" First, to answer your question: "I confess myself to being about the same age in human terms as Frodo, and going with a cousin of my own to a nearby building site, where we used the dirt and scrap lumber to build our own little town." You see, before that reply, I had indeed thought you to be much older, more like my own age of forty-one in human years. Your writing skills and understanding are more advanced and mature than I would think for a twenty year old, with few exceptions. But as Frodo is but twenty in this story, I took your comment to mean that you were as well. It was quite shocking to discover (incorrectly) that you were but half the age I had thought. Thank you for setting me straight, as it makes much more sense. Now for your review "proper" (which now makes me laugh and think of Frodo's order to Sam in your "A New Reckoning" any time I hear that word, thank you very much): A tweenaged Frodo is a delight to read, full of embarassment when he is the centre of attention amongst adults, yet still able to hold his own and do himself credit. You know, I had imagined that the talk would have been the other way around - that people would say that *Frodo* was the fortune-hunter because he would thus stand to inherit Bag End and all of Bilbo's remaining hidden treasure from his adventure, yet it makes sense that Frodo would have money of his own from his parents. How wise of Bilbo to let Frodo have some pocket money each year so he learns fiscal responsibility. As for Merry and hobbits in general not liking heights but Frodo's not minding them and even climbing trees (and Pippin later on) and Brandybucks being the rare exceptions that like to swim, are these your own creations or do they stem from canon? I do remember that in the books, Sam is afraid of the water. I well recall seeing Frodo in a tree in the movie version of FotR, but do not recollect anything on this subject in the books. If these are your own additions, I quite like them, as they help to round out the characters more. With Bilbo adding that contingency clause in his will, does that mean he was thinking of one day leaving all the way back then? It was quite fortuitous that he adopted Frodo when he did, otherwise he may well have gone with Balin to the mines of Moria. Were that there was a way we could stop Balin from going. It is a fine reference to future events, as is the sweet scene of Merry and Sam pretending to fight goblins.
Author's reply
Ah, I see. My fault for careless wording. First of all, I meant that I was an adolescent, as Frodo is in this story--I was about 13 at the time, which is the equivalent of a hobbit at 20. I forget that not everyone has that little converter in their head all the time the way I do! And of course, it was lo, those many years ago, clearly! But still, a lesson to me to be more clear in what I write! Well, the S.B.'s would have loved to have started gossip of that nature, saying that Frodo was a fortune hunter, but letting it be known Frodo had his own inheritance would nip that in the bud. (I can just see Lobelia trying to say something along those lines, and then the person she's speaking to saying "Why that can't be right! The lad has a fortune in his own right!" Which of course would tick Lobelia off even more.) I have read a number of fics where Frodo is depicted as penniless, but I simply don't buy that. Primula was the daughter of the Master of Buckland, and Drogo was a Baggins, whom I have always had the impression were very well off as a family, and not just Bilbo. The part with Frodo and Pippin liking to climb trees, and Merry's fear of heights, well, the fear of heights for hobbits in general is stated in canon. The idea that Tooks would not mind climbing as much is "fanon" instead, and I believe has its roots in an excellent story by Baylor, called "The Care and Feeding of Hobbits". I think perhaps it may have had *its* inspiration in Bilbo's climbing the tree in Mirkwood. I've expanded a bit on it, by making Brandybucks swimmers as well as boaters (for Brandybucks boating *is* canon) since I think a people who spent a good deal of time in boats would also learn to swim. I don't think that Bilbo was *consciously* thinking of leaving again, but I do believe it was *always* in the back of his mind. The clause would seem reasonable to anyone who knew all the difficulties Bilbo had when he returned from his first journey. I am glad you got the foreshadowing of Balin, for I've always been fascinated with the AU possibilities of Bilbo there with the Ring. And you are the first to note the subtle foreshadowing of Merry and Sam at play.
Gryffinjack · 13 October 2005 · Chapter 11: Sunday, 25 Rethe S.R. 1289, Evening
My mistake about your age. Had I read your biography at the top of your page, I would have seen that I had misinterpreted one of your earlier replies to one of my reviews. You still have a rather special gift with the written word, however.
Author's reply
That's all right! After I got over being boggled, it gave me quite a laugh. It's always flattering to be taken for younger than one is, but I wonder what I could have said to make you think that? One of the amazing things about online relationships: the erroneous mental pictures we have of our correspondants.