Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 47: Of First Impressions and Old Friends
I like this very much. The flashing back and forward gives it an almost dreamlike quality, and yet it's coherent and crisp. I laughed at Boromir's astonishment over the hobbits' laughter. :)
Author's reply
I had quite a challenge to get the POVs to mesh--I confess it was an experiment to see if I could show two different people having the same memory at the same time.
It must have baffled the Big Folk to see the hobbits laughing so hard over something that to them just seemed slightly funny!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 46: Rainy Day at Whitwell
Aww! This is just like being wrapped up in a warm blanket or a big hug. I feel like I just went back in time and relived an afternoon of my grandmother reading to me when I was their age.
Author's reply
A nice "fluffy" blanket, I hope! I freely admit this story was pure fluff and an excuse to have a Tip & Tulip tale!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 45: Ripples of Fear
I love to see Boromir in this light, especially with Pippin. In the books and especially in the movie, we see more of the rougher side of him and only hints of the gentler nature that Faramir had more of.
Author's reply
Poor Boromir only gets a few chances to shine in the books or the movies--but I think that we do get some hints of his protective nature in the Caradhras chapter and also when he saves Merry and Pippin.
And also: if he had not had a kind and gentle side, would he and Faramir have still been so close, after the way Denethor played favorites? So there *are* a few hints.
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 44: Four Dances with the Bride
I just love this. My favorite is Frodo's. It makes me happy to think that maybe he was told something like that when he returned to the Shire.
Author's reply
Well, he kind of captured her young heart in "A Sight to Remember", LOL! But of course, he was grown and had a much higher status--so he was unattainable and therefore a "safe" crush!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 43: Whatever Happened to Rusty Cotton?
I don't remember reading about Rusty before, but she's such an endearing character. *hugs her* I'm so glad of such a happy ending for her.
Author's reply
Rusty first appeared in "Pippin the Protector" and then everybody asked for another story with her, so she was also Pippin's partner in crime in "A Sight to Remember". Then everyone wanted to know what happened to her when she grew up...
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 42: On Amon Sûl
Another awesome gap-filler! To me this was always one of the most chilling fun to read scenes in FOTR. I love your dramatization of it!
Author's reply
Thank you! It's very chilling and scary; poor Frodo!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 40: Dreamsong
Merry leaned his head against the back of the settee and closed his eyes to listen. Pippin played a familiar Shire ballad at first, a sweet and sad one, and then he began to improvise. Merry could hear in the ever-changing melody their journey and their friends: Frodo, dearer than dear, best beloved all their lives; and Sam, loyal and steadfast; Gandalf, whom they'd known since their childhood, and yet never truly known till they thought they had lost him; Strider, so much more than he seemed at the start, lordly and high beneath his Ranger guise; the lightness that was Legolas, merry and grave at the same time; the sturdiness of Gimli, stalwart and true. And Boromir was there as well, brave and proud and sorrowful and doomed…Fangorn, and Rohan, and Gondor…and home…and through and under and within every lingering note, the hopefulness of his Pippin…
*chills* Beautiful. I especially love your description of Boromir.
Author's reply
Thank you, dear! I love it when people quote their favorite bits back at me!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 39: Looking for Magic
You capture Gandalf so perfectly here. Pippin too, as usual. Yes, he will find a jewel. Not just a jewel, a Diamond. ...I couldn't resist. :)
Author's reply
I couldn't resist either. I think Gandalf was showing off just a little. ;)
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 38: Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose (the Great Auntie Pringle Remix)
Wow. Fascinating POV here. I really just want to give her a hug, even though I might be as fearful as Pippin in such a situation.
Author's reply
Cathleen's Auntie Pringle was a fascinating character--I really wanted to show *her* viewpoint for the remix!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 37: Sandcastles
I know I'm probably overwhelming you with reviews. But I can't help it! This is so very sweet and warm on this cold, rainy day. Hobbits would delight in sandcastles, I'm sure, no matter how old. Now I want to see, or write, Frodo building them...:)
Author's reply
Oh, I love to find a full inbox of reviews, dear! But it may take a while to reply to them all!
I think they'd enjoy making sandcastles, I really do! Perhaps Frodo learned to build them when he was on Tol Eressea!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 36: Eucatastrophe: Five Years After
I love your eucatastrophe! Also love that song, and Merry's jumpiness. :D
Author's reply
I'm more than a little fond of that AU myself!
*grin* I've always liked Bilbo's "Man in the Moon" songs!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 35: The Fellow in the Corner
Strider heaved a sigh of exasperation, and placed his palm over his face. This was *not* what he’d had in mind. The ridiculous hobbit was going to draw even *more* attention than his friend’s tale. He shook his head and leaned forward to watch what happened next.
LOL! Love his POV.
Author's reply
I think it's so fascinating to explore his POV at a time when JRRT never meant us to; it would have been a major spoiler to know what he was thinking! But really, here he was knowing Gandalf and Bilbo and all about the Ring, and he just had to have been thinking *something* like that!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 34: Concussion
Aww! Now I'm incredibly nostalgic and need to reread The Hobbit too!
Author's reply
I hope you enjoy your re-read! I'm overdue for another myself!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 33: Spring Chicken
Mmm! Sounds lovely! It's also cool to see Sam and Pippin together in a story.
Author's reply
I like to examine all the combinations of friendship between our favorite hobbits--so it's fun to show Sam and Pippin together sometimes!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 32: Enthusiasm
Heehee! :D Excited Pippin is so cute!
Author's reply
He is kind of adorable, isn't he? ;)
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 31: And So It Begins
Oh yes, so much more trouble than they knew...
Author's reply
And it was just the beginning of the Troubles...
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 30: At the Cottons: 13 Rethe S.R. 1420
Ah, poor Frodo. Yes, that would be embarrassing, and hard on the Cotton women, too, not knowing what's wrong.
Author's reply
No, they don't know exactly what's wrong, though of course thanks to Sam, Rose has some suspicions--and at least Sam told her what to do!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 29: Enchantment
Somehow I knew the mythical creature would be a unicorn. Your description of her is beautiful, and how original that she made the water safe for others!
Author's reply
Well, I don't know about original--purifying water was one of the mythical attributes of unicorns from ancient times, and I kind of based the story on a supposed "eye-witness" account of a Medieval traveler who claimed to have seen this happen. Whether it was true, or a dream or just a story he made up, it was a very lovely and poetical tale.
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 28: A Shortcut to Disaster
Ah, I love seeing dramatizations of moments in the books. :)
Author's reply
*grin* Me too!
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 27: Pippin and the Mask
*giggles* I have no idea how many times this happened with one of my younger siblings or cousins. Little Pippin is just soooo cuuuute!
Author's reply
I love writing Pippin when he's so young!
It's fascinating what will frighten children--sometimes it makes no sense at all.
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 26: The Byrding's Decision
So romantic and sweet. :) And especially nice to me now since my own wedding is in sixteen days! I love Faramir Took's nickname in your stories. It's very hobbitlike.
Author's reply
Why congratulations, my dear!
I hope you and your beloved will be as happy together as I have been with mine for the last 37 years!
I wanted something different for his name--it seemed like almost everyone called him "Farry", but since Merry's son was to be "Perry", well...
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 25: Recycled
Aww, LOL. This is just how I feel when I find that relatives have kept really...interesting artwork of mine from when I was small.
Author's reply
LOL! It's not so bad if it's kept put away somewhere--but if they put it out on display for the world to see it can be really embarrassing!
(But that's the fun of it for the older relatives. One of my dearest joys is to watch my son turn red when I show his girlfriends his baby pictures...)
Aww...*sniffle* I love this first-person present tense POV and the interactions between Frodo and Bilbo. I haven't read the books in a long time and need to again, but they feel very right.
Author's reply
Well, we know that book-verse Frodo was quite well aware of Bilbo's plan, but it did not mean he had to like it. I think that at some point they had to have had a conversation like this.
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 23: A Little Hobbit's Big Birthday
Aaaawwww!! Love little Bilbo!
Your stories have a true-to-life element to them that's really amazing and brings the fantasy of Tolkien's world so much nearer to reality for me.
Author's reply
I do too. I wish more people wrote about his childhood.
Thank you very much dear! *blushes*
Queen Galadriel
· 4 April 2013
· Chapter 21: A Passing Troll
...Oh my gosh! He ate her! :O
That really shouldn't make me giggle. But I really can't help it.
I'm so overwhelmed by the stories I have to catch up on. But as you're one of the very best writers of fanfic I know, I'm revisiting you and a couple of others before any new ones to help me decide if I can actually write this again, aside from finishing one of my long abandoned ones. Sorry in advance for flooding your inbox! :D