Larner
· 3 July 2010
· Chapter 20: Gandalf Considers
Frodo has perhaps far too much reason to have questions and old griefs come back on him now, the dear Hobbit! Gandalf knows both these Bagginses well!
Author's reply
Indeed, these questions and old griefs are healing, but not yet healed, and Gandalf knows that he must begin to find answers to the questions before the griefs can be completely mended.
He probably knows them better than anyone else not a hobbit ever could-- and in fact, better than other hobbits, save three who remain East of the Sea now.
Antane
· 3 July 2010
· Chapter 20: Gandalf Considers
Frodo was in every way not only a remarkable hobbit, but a remarkable person altogether.
Quite! I do so look forward to how this is all going to play out! A little naughty of you to draw out the suspense here, :) but I have to admit that it makes it all the more enjoyable too.
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
With only 300 words per chapter, it's kind of hard NOT to draw it out, LOL! I'm glad you are enjoying it!
Lindelea
· 3 July 2010
· Chapter 20: Gandalf Considers
Very promising!
I love the way you sum up Frodo's character and experience. You pack so much into an economy of words!
Looking forward to hearing Gandalf's answers, but first Eldest is taking me to breakfast! (woohoo!)
Author's reply
I'm glad you think I sum it up well; since each chapter has to be precisely 300 words, I *have* to use an economy of them!
I hope you had a lovely breakfast!
Antane
· 2 July 2010
· Chapter 19: Time Out
Re: your reply to my review - I think the same so I look forward to seeing how this will develop under your skillful hands! And if it takes a while, all the better. :)
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
FantasyFan
· 1 July 2010
· Chapter 19: Time Out
Poor Frodo. He's far from healed, and as Bilbo realizes, perhaps too introspective for his own good sometimes. I have faith, though, that between them Gandalf and Adamanta can exert their charm, and their genuine love will make a difference.
Happy Birthday, by the way!
Author's reply
His healing has begun, but learning more about the whys and wherefores of hobbits and their destiny is part of that process, and it has only just begun.
Thank you!
GamgeeFest
· 1 July 2010
· Chapter 19: Time Out
I got a chuckle out of Bilbo in this one. He's certainly more Tookish than Frodo is, which allows him to not obsess over things. Oh, if only Frodo could more like that! I am eager to see what Gandalf will tell him.
Author's reply
Yes, I think he's more Tookish, and more typically hobbity than Frodo. But Frodo is Frodo, and he's half-Brandybuck, to boot. So naturally he will obsess a little more over things than Bilbo will!
Gandalf has a lot to tell him, but he may not tell him all of it at once.
Larner
· 1 July 2010
· Chapter 19: Time Out
A time out may be needed, but it is most unlike Frodo to be purposely rude. I'm so glad Gandalf intends to speak with him soon!
And I hope to have your birthday gift posted soon!
Author's reply
It is very unlike him. And yet, as another commenter mentioned, he was politely rude: he at least excused himself, if rather abruptly!
I look forward to it!
Virtuella
· 1 July 2010
· Chapter 19: Time Out
Just as well for Bilbo that he is a bit more thick-skinned, though a little bout existential Angst might suit him, too...?
Author's reply
I don't think that Bilbo is really prone to existential angst for the most part. It's not so much thick-skinned as it is a rather hobbity tendency to live for the present. This isn't to say they don't take an interest in the past or future, but that they seem to be more interested in day-to-day living. And they tend to make light of more serious things. Remember Merry's conversation in the Houses of Healing?
Frodo, however, has had a different sort of life than the average hobbit.
Antane
· 30 June 2010
· Chapter 19: Time Out
I look forward to those words so Frodo can understand or begin to his true worth and how beloved he is to the One Who made him and called him.
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
It's going to take a while. You see, in my own interpretation of JRRT's words about hobbits not being religious, I take it to mean that they basically do not have a concept of a Higher Power. Frodo, on the other hand, due to his exposure to Elves, and now to the Powers in the West *knows* better--in his head. But he has yet to understand what it means to him personally, or to internalize that in his heart.
Antane
· 29 June 2010
· Chapter 18: Memory
Oh, no, my beloved Frodo, not at all an afterthought! Don't you see how incredibly special hobbits, especially you and Bilbo, and even Smeagol, are from your remembered quotes? Not pawns at all, but sacred vessels.
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
He doesn't see it, no, not quite yet. He still has much to learn. But I think by the time he hears the rest of Grandmother's story, he will come to understand.
Virtuella
· 28 June 2010
· Chapter 18: Memory
I think this is a very understandable reaction, and Frodo is quite right to ask as he does.
Author's reply
If you look solely at the facts, it's not a very difficult conclusion to come to. After all, hobbits don't show up until the Third Age, they are never mentioned in the First or Second Age, and it seems they are inextricably bound up in the matter of the Ring, from Smeagol finding it first, to Bilbo finding it after him and passing it on to Frodo, it does rather seem that way...
Of course there is more to it than that.
Celeritas
· 28 June 2010
· Chapter 18: Memory
This reminds me of Gandalf's saying, after suggesting that Frodo was predestined, "That may be comforting to you," and Frodo's reply: "It isn't."
Which I had always taken to mean, "No pressure or anything," but there's always that free will/predestination undercurrent.
Poor fellow!--but even our own paltry creations can have both beauty and utility, and I have a feeling that when the Divine is involved the two get so mixed up in one another that they become indistinguishable. There may be a Shadow-fighting purpose in afternoon tea (creature comforts tend to work that way), but I'm blest if I can think what it is specifically.
Author's reply
Indeed. That exchange between the two of them was part of what set me on this particular theme of the story (there is more than one).
when the Divine is involved the two get so mixed up in one another that they become indistinguishable.
It often happens that we try too hard to second-guess Divine intent. Why did one person miss that plane that crashed when others didn't? Is there a reason someone was rejected for a much-desired job? Doesn't it feel purposeful if one is late for a meeting, only later to discover that there was an accident on one's route? Or that one misses by seconds a falling tree limb when walking?
But the truth is, our paltry minds cannot fathom the Divine, and our own cause-and-effect logic is very limiting.
GamgeeFest
· 28 June 2010
· Chapter 18: Memory
The Shire-folk, his people, hobbits. Had they never been anything more than pawns?
Those last lines say it all. Poor Frodo! To feel that way is truly horrible, especially considering all that happened to him because of the Ring. This is a lot for him to process, though I'm sure (or I hope) that there is another aspect to all of this he does not yet understand that might help alleviate the sting of it.
And I loved that Aunt Dora's voice is still chiding him. :D
Author's reply
though I'm sure (or I hope) that there is another aspect to all of this he does not yet understand that might help alleviate the sting of it.
Yes, there will be more that Frodo does not yet understand, which will play out in this story.
We don't tend to forget the "Aunt Doras" of our lives-- or their advice!
Larner
· 28 June 2010
· Chapter 18: Memory
Truly tearing, tragic thoughts! To think that Hobbits were always intended to--, well, to clean up after the rest? I see why he is so upset! At least not all his thoughts are merely for himself! He follows the steps of his uncle, yes; but also of those who marched out with Bucca of the Marish and how many others over the years?
Author's reply
Indeed.
The thing is, looking at the history of hobbits, objectively and story-internally, there is a lot that might point one to that rather distasteful conclusion: no one ever heard anything of them before the Third Age began, which happens *after* Isildur's failure to destroy the Ring. Both the finders of the Ring were hobbits: the Stoor, Smeagol, and Bilbo Baggins. Hobbits have a lot of resilience, and very little ambition for power as a race, and they also have an extra measure of compassion-- the ultimate "anti-Ring" weapon. The hobbits are mostly guarded away from influences that might have corrupted them. And then the one of the Istari best equipped to deal with the Ring is drawn to them...
But of course, that's not the whole story, is it?
Virtuella
· 26 June 2010
· Chapter 17: Troubling Questions
So does he think now that he was always meant to go on the quest, that his entire people had been chosen, even groomed for this task since their very beginning? How interesting, though of course one wouldn't wish that an entire species was conceived with such an utilitarian attitude.
Author's reply
I think it's a question that has to be considered from all angles when looking at the history of the Third Age. Obviously it's not a question Frodo is comfortable with, and he is going to have to come to terms with the idea.
And as for the idea "that an entire species was conceived with such an utilitarian attitude", it's not beyond the realms of possibility, though I think that we will find there is far more to it than that eventually.
Larner
· 26 June 2010
· Chapter 17: Troubling Questions
It would appear that the thought of Hobbits being predestined to save the world wrankles somewhat, or at least makes him feel as if he had been manipulated by the Powers, much as Fiondil's Glorfindel often finds himself resenting their interference in his life.
Excellent chapter!
Author's reply
The question of being predestined is a hard one to deal with even when one doesn't have personal experience of having to deal with a task to save the world.
GamgeeFest
· 25 June 2010
· Chapter 17: Troubling Questions
Troubling indeed. Of course, Frodo would make the connections and would be upset by them. He will need to take to sort out his thoughts and feelings on the matter before he is ready to hear the answer - which he already knows in his heart.
Author's reply
It's a large question for anyone to ponder, and even more difficult when the answers are personal ones. He does have a lot to sort out.
Antane
· 25 June 2010
· Chapter 17: Troubling Questions
I think Frodo does indeed know and has to sort out his feelings about that. I look forward to the next chapter! :)
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
Yes, it's not something he's going to automatically accept.
Celeritas
· 25 June 2010
· Chapter 17: Troubling Questions
Go Frodo! I'm absurdly pleased that he's thinking about this, and that he's not quite okay with it yet. This one is masterfully subtle.
Author's reply
I don't think he should yet be okay with it-- his role was one that he was ambivalent about from the beginning, and just because he is beginning to heal in the West, it does not mean that ambiguity will just go away.
And thanks. I did want to be subtle about it!
Virtuella
· 24 June 2010
· Chapter 16: Secrecy
"For the skill of going unnoticed was to be their greatest asset."
Very true!
Author's reply
It served them very well, at least!
Andrea
· 24 June 2010
· Chapter 16: Secrecy
So, that was how the protection of the hobbits began.
Through all the centuries it worked remarkably well.
Thanks to Mirime there were still people in Frodo's time who thought that hobbits were not real. Now they know better ;-)
Author's reply
Yes, for a very long time!
Now they know better-- indeed they do!
Larner
· 24 June 2010
· Chapter 16: Secrecy
Ah! Excellent advice! Wonderful to see this one moving once more, too.
Author's reply
As this won the Finish-a-thon poll, there should be frequent updates over the next few weeks!
Kitty
· 23 June 2010
· Chapter 16: Secrecy
Hm, there's some use in being a Maia; it makes you more respected among the Elves. Good to know they will keep this encounter more or less secret.
Author's reply
Yes, more or less. Mirime knows they'll tell Thranduil, but she also knows that this way they will not be spreading the news of the new little race all over Middle-earth!
Kitty
· 23 June 2010
· Chapter 15: Encounter Among the Trees (part 2)
Ah, much better. A little warning, but no hostilities. It could be interesting to see Elves and Hobbits interact in the future. But we will see.
Author's reply
JRRT said there was some interaction in the early years between Elves and hobbits-- it had to start somewhere!
Kitty
· 23 June 2010
· Chapter 14: Encounter Among the Trees (part 1)
Can you tell I'm playing 'catch up' with reviewing once again? Sorry for being so far behind :(
The first elf was certainly more sensible than the second; the Hobbits don't take much and shouldn't pose any threat. I hope things don't get ugly.