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Jewels  by Lindelea 6 Review(s)
MirkwoodmaidenReviewed Chapter: 25 on 5/12/2025
Lindelea!

Oh no! This is where some of Pippin's health problems begin. Well sometimes we are forced to re-evaluate our life choices. Dear Pippin.

(((hugs)))

MM



Author Reply: MM!

You are exactly right. A long time ago, when I was still fairly new at fanfic-writing, this was known as "the infamous chapter 25". Arising almost by accident out of a discussion with someone who advised me on medical issues in my stories, it ended up shaping Pippin's character arc on my timeline of the Fourth Age Shire, all the way up to the year Sam travelled to Gondor and back, when the Mayor brought back a miraculous cure from Treebeard. (Whew. That was a long run-on sentence. I hope it's intelligible.)

Thus, for a long stretch of years, Pippin has a built-in reminder of the consequences of leaping before he looks. He probably needs it though, for he's impulsive enough even when hampered by ill health that it takes him from this point until a few years after he becomes Thain for the lesson to sink in.

All that said, he really is an engaging character...

Again, thanks so much for reading and generously sharing your impressions. I appreciate your thoughtfulness!

(((hugs)))
Lin

MirkwoodmaidenReviewed Chapter: 25 on 5/12/2025
Lindelea!

Eeeeek Pippin!

"Boromir's voice sounded close by. This cold will be the death of the halflings. He sounded worried. Cold? What cold? Pippin was feeling warmer by the moment."

So not good!!

"'It's naught but a cold,' Pippin said, fending off her questing hand. 'I'm fine! All I need is a bit of brandy!' He poured himself another half a glass and told another story. Not long after, he confessed, 'Come to think of it, I am feeling a little tired. I think I'll turn in.'"

Pippin volunteering to go to bed! He is either actually sick...or planning something. LOL!


"Pippin kept them laughing with his stories of Yule at Great Smials, and no one noticed that he was too busy talking to eat much."

Pippin...not hungry!?

Must dash to work! Will finish at break!"

(((hugs)))

MM

P.S. The book came in! Have read a bit. I think it will be a wonderful reference book!




Author Reply: MM!

Oh! I'm glad you're enjoying the book! I know I have been enjoying it. I've found it hard to read in a straight line – I keep dipping into it here and there as the impulse strikes (or a question, or a thought, or...)

You are an astute reader, and your suspicions are well-founded.

Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! I'm always glad to hear from you.

(((hugs)))
Lin

PeriantariReviewed Chapter: 25 on 4/10/2025
Love Pippin h/c in this chapter- it was frightful when he slid in ice and had hypothermia, but glad he got found quickly and the healer and Merry are by his side!

Author Reply: He is a stubborn fellow, and this misjudgement on his part will shape the next decades of his life... but they will also make him more thoughtful about everything he does. I love to read stories where one cousin rescues the other! (So it was natural to write one. Or several.)

Thank you for reading and stopping to share your thoughts!

PSWReviewed Chapter: 25 on 3/1/2025
Yikes - glad they found him in time! I’m sure it was different, traveling in the days when you didn’t know what kind of weather was coming. Now hopefully he can get this lingering cough kicked! (Though this being fanfic, I don’t necessarily expect it. ;-)

Author Reply: Unfortunately, this is the root of the troubles that will plague him for the next couple decades, at least up until Samwise returns from the South-lands with a cure from Treebeard. When one of my beta-readers, who worked in a medical field, read this, she said that the scenario I'd written would result in permanent lung damage, and was I willing to deal with that?

I hate rewriting. Isn't that silly? So I looked at my Fourth Age timeline, and I picked out Sam's visit to Gondor as the date when Pippin would be fully healed, and all the stories that followed Jewels were based on that reckoning. And I didn't have to rewrite Pippin's illness as an added bonus. Sometimes laziness has its benefits.

Maybe it would have been easier simply to rewrite this part of Jewels. On the other hand, a lot of character growth was possible based on that timeline, and Pippin's health problems posed a challenge (both for him and for me) that added spice to the stew, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

Thanks for your patience in listening to my thinking aloud...

Pearl TookReviewed Chapter: 25 on 8/30/2007
I'm so glad they found him in time!!

I recently read a book called "The Children's Blizzard" a true account about a prairie blizzard in the late 1800s that killed many school children because in much of the area, it hit during the day and they were sent home from the schools only to get caught out in the storm.

This had me thinking of that book.

I look forward to more :-)

Author Reply: I remember reading a book about a more recent blizzard, in the 30s or 40s, I think, that hit Minnesota around Veteran's Day. A lot of hunters and fishermen perished, I think, and a whole train full of people were stranded.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 25 on 8/30/2007
A bad time to become ill, I fear. At least Socks followed orders and fetched help. But is this the start of the respiratory failure he faces in the future?

Love Heart sitting by him afraid of waking him.

Author Reply: Yes, a bad time. You're right, this is the start of his serious lung problems, compounding the damage done by the troll. This is also the start of Ferdi's downfall--he was supposed to be Pippin's escort, and Paladin (unfairly, perhaps) blames him for Pippin going out into an ice storm alone.

Are you coming down Labor Day? We're still planning to do tea but not sure which day.

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