News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| Jewels by Lindelea | 7 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/11/2025 |
| Lindelea! 'You will always have to choose to walk in the Light, to turn your back on the Dark, from now on, but at least you are aware now that the choice must be made. Better than being taken unawares.' I think this is sage advice for anybody at anytime to be honest. Now more than most. And of course Frodo should definitely be the one to talk with Merry! "Waggon" I did wonder! LOL. Wonderful chapter, I shall continue! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: Definitely good advice. Some people I know and love struggle with chronic depression and must make this conscious choice every day, bless them. So glad you're enjoying the story! Thanks for pausing to share your thoughts. It's always a pleasure to hear from you. (((hugs))) | |
| Periantari | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/7/2025 |
| Frodo looked over at his cousin. Merry still stared at the clouds, but a shadow had fallen over his face. 'I think...' he said, striving for the right words. His hand sought the jewel. 'I think,' he began again, 'that when one has been touched by Shadow, it leaves a...' he had been going to say 'stain' but thought better of it and said instead, '... a mark. Even though the Shadow has passed away, the mark remains.' He thought of Merry's fits of melancholy and understood them better now. After all, he had his own evidence of remaining stains that could not be scrubbed or sanded away. 'You will always have to choose to walk in the Light, to turn your back on the Dark, from now on, but at least you are aware now that the choice must be made. Better than being taken unawares.' I loved this part because it shows how understanding the hobbits are to each other because they did both suffer from the Black Breath and had an experience with the Witchking- Frodo being stabbed, and then Merry being able to help kill it. I love when Frodo gives comfort to Merry and the other hobbits - shows that he is indeed wise and a truly giving hobbit. Author Reply: Frodo was always the older, wiser cousin, at least it has seemed so to me, in his relationships with Merry and Pippin. Although... in one of Sam's anecdotes (In At the End of His Rope, I think it is), Frodo gets down on the same level with little Pippin and the two of them raise quite a muckle of mischief! (And now, somehow, I want to read a story about Merry being the wiser cousin and helping Frodo at some point...) All my stories with Frodo-Merry interactions seem to have a tinge of melancholy for some reason. Though I do mention them making mischief together in some places, I haven't written a whole story about mischief and hobbity mayhem featuring those two cousins. At least, not yet. Thanks for reading and pausing long enough to share your thoughts! | |
| PSW | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 2/13/2025 |
| “You will always have to choose to walk in the Light, to turn your back on the Dark, from now on, but at least you are aware now that the choice must be made. Better than being taken unawares.” ❤️❤️ We all have to make that choice, every day - and it’s so important to know it. Much better than being taken unawares… ;-) It’s a great idea for Merry and Pippin to get out on their own for a while. They’ve both got such big clans to live amongst - take the opportunity while it’s there! Author Reply: We do all have to make that choice, though some of us are more aware of that fact than others. You're right about the value in the knowing. I've imagined for a long time that the months they spent together in Crickhollow served as a critical period that allowed them to process their experiences safely, with each other (who had lived most of the same experiences) and without the distractions of daily Shire life. They could socialize as they wished, go visiting or schedule splendid parties when they wanted or ride around the Shire or even keep to themselves if need be. Thanks for encouraging me to revisit this story. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/28/2006 |
| Yes, it is past time to speak to Rosie; and Frodo's own words of wisdom do come from experience he's not yet sharing. | |
| Pearl Took | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/5/2006 |
| This is delightful, Lin!! I don't remember if I read it before, but I'm really enjoying it :) I love all the various "jewels"; well done!! Author Reply: Ah, Pearl, how lovely to hear you are enjoying this! "Jewels" was my first major effort, and it is the "chain" on which all my "pearls" of stories hang. The timeline I made for "Jewels" ended up being the doorway to an entire Shire in my imagination. Isn't it funny how that works? | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/4/2006 |
| How is it that Frodo and company hit immediately on the perfect way to drive the dark away from Merry? Song and light and laughter work well, indeed they will work well for many years, but were they just lucky this first time, or is it just hobbit-sense? Frodo at least is attuned to what Merry is going through, and is watchful for the return of any symptoms. But who does he have watching out for him? Perhaps this is why he asked Sam and Rosie to move in with him - it is his own version of surrounding himself with loving hobbits. I've always thought that Frodo probably loved little children very much. His experience when he was growing up showed him surrounding himself with successive generations of younger cousins. What a shame that he never was to marry and become a father himself. It is such a key conversation that Frodo and Merry have in the garden. How sad it is for Frodo to realize once again that his cousins have been marked so deeply by their ordeals, and I wonder if it didn't also dash some of his own hopes for recovery to think that others who had undergone terrible things, like he had, might always have to be on their guard against the Dark. To me, Frodo pretty clearly suffered a form of post-traumatic stress syndrome, in addition to whatever physical ills he might have taken away from the quest. I don't claim to have any personal knowledge of the struggles people with this disorder go through, but I have had my own struggle against a form of the Darkness. It is a difficult thing to have to choose to walk in the light, and one of the most difficult things about it is the knowledge that the struggle will probably never end. For Frodo to come to a place of some acceptance, as painful as it is, is only one more remarkable thing about him. Author Reply: Hmmm. How is it that Frodo and company hit immediately on the perfect way to drive the dark away from Merry? I think it is, as you said, just hobbit-sense. Hobbits have been driving away the darkness with light and song for hundreds of years, after all. I do wish Frodo might have married and had children of his own. It is a measure of how wounded he was, and how little of him was left, perhaps, that he was unable to settle down to married life. I read PGY a long time ago and was fascinated by the two timelines, one where he stayed, even though the marital arrangements don't seem to bear much relation to what JRRT put forth in his letters. (His discussion of life-long monogamy and "all else [being considered] under Shadow" has stuck with me since I first read and pondered it.) I wonder, sometimes, if my writing in regards to post-Quest Merry is AU. JRRT doesn't mention at all any aftereffects on Merry's part, after all. He and Pippin ride singing through the Shire, bright and brave in their mail. Nor is any struggle mentioned on Sam's part, so far as I remember of the Grey Havens chapter. Perhaps I write Merry fighting melancholy because it is something that runs in my family, and we so often write what we know. I do, however, like to write Frodo as coming to a peace with his lot. It was comforting to give him a reprieve of sorts in "Long and Passing Thing" (oops, it's really "Small" not "Long" but we call it "Long" around here), thinking he was dying, and giving him a chance at life even if he had to sail away with the Elves to find it. Better, in my mind, than him being so broken, so shattered that he had to leave. I never had peace with that scenario, whether or not that was JRRT's intention. | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/4/2006 |
| I remember a little bit of this Lindelea. Looking forward to re-visiting an older friend. Author Reply: Ah, glad to hear that re-visiting is a pleasant occupation. Thanks! | |