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Dreamflower's Mathoms I by Dreamflower	7 Review(s)
GamgeeFest	Reviewed Chapter: 60 on 4/16/2006
Bilbo's home life will be very much changed now that he's an ill-reputed Adventurer. :) But he had friends like Drogo to see him through this period of transition, and he has all those lovely books of Elrond's to keep him busy. Author Reply: Yes, it very much is a period of transition for him. He has gone from being a respected and staid Baggins to being considered unstable and unreliable. But he does have Drogo, and he will begin to spend more time among the Brandybucks and the Tooks over the next many years--their less conventional outlook will be more congenial to him. And of course, all those lovely books, and the occasional visit from Gandalf and his Dwarf friends. But it must have been a bit of an unpleasant shock at first.

Gryffinjack	Reviewed Chapter: 60 on 10/15/2005
First of all, thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to add the rest of your stories to your chronological list! As you can see, I am making immediate use of your efforts. However, you have inadvertanly listed one story twice on the Pre-Hobbit list. I think this is perhaps my favourite of your earlier generation stories. Poor Bilbo's homecoming was not all that he had hoped. First almost losing his smial to the hated S.-B.'s, then being declared dead, then having his pupils taken away from him, and lastly, the cold reaction of so many hobbits, including family. At least we know from Tolkien that he was able to restore a good relationship with most of the hobbits, although I wonder how long that took. This was a very good reminder of just how difficult a transition it is not only for Bilbo, but for the other hobbits as well. It also makes me ponder if this is what the Four Travellers would have had in store for them had they not come home to the Scouring of the Shire and handled the situation so admirably. Even so, I am sure that they still sufferred some of the same hardships upon their return that Bilbo did, quite apart from the horrible effects of the war and the ring. I don't know how you do it - your Drogo sounds so much like Frodo, yet not quite. It is easy to imagine him as being Frodo's father. Drogo had the interest in the world outside the Shire and some desire to go, but he lacked the Tookish sense of adventure to actually leave. In at least this way, Primula would complete him so that Frodo to do well on his own adventure (albeit that he had no choice but to leave the Shire). This is a fine story. Author Reply: Thank you so much! It has meant a lot to me to get reviews for my "earlier generation" stories, especially ones about Bilbo, because they do not get nearly the attention the stories of the four Travellers do. Poor Bilbo, I am afraid, gets sorely neglected in fic. I felt that Bilbo would indeed have felt much the sort of sting of alienation that his younger kin did later. It is canon that he was no longer considered "respectable" after his adventures, and I think that it probably took him a long time to re-establish himself in the good graces of the Shire. My Bilbo begins to spend every Yule in Buckland from the year of his return, and I think he would have probably renewed his ties to his Took and Brandybuck relations in the face of rejection from the more staid Bagginses. Being wealthy and the Master of Bag End, he would soon gain a different sort of respect from the working class hobbits of the Hill, but as we know, his past was still haunting him some 60 years later. I think you are right in that regard. Really, although I understood the reasons for it, PJ really missed a lot of the point when he left the Scouring out. Filmatically it didn't work, yet for the dynamic of the growth and of the re-integration into Shire society of the four who went away, it really was necessary. I'm glad you see Drogo that way. I want him to be like-yet-unlike his future son, and it's nice to know you think I succeeded. I think that, as adventurousness was the Tookish contribution to Frodo, and dogged determination the Brandybuck contribution, I think the Baggins contribution was imaginativeness and a thirst for knowledge. The three strains combined in Frodo to create a throwback to their original common Fallohide ancestors. I'm so glad you liked it. Thank you again for the lovely long review!

Anso the Hobbit	Reviewed Chapter: 60 on 7/28/2005
Very nice! Especially after reading your chapter about the family trees. Poor Bilbo! No-one treats him nice except Drogo. I`m glad they have a good relationship though and it also explains a bit about how Bilbo got to be so fond of Frodo. :) Author Reply: I think Bilbo must have had a special relationship with Drogo, for him to end up adopting his son. I posit that Drogo and Primula left Bilbo and Saradoc as co-guardians of Frodo. As long as Frodo was still quite young, Bilbo could be persuaded to leave him with Esmeralda and Saradoc. But I think he intended to take Frodo in eventually all along. That's my theory, anyway, and the way I develop it in my stories.

Baggins Babe	Reviewed Chapter: 60 on 7/25/2005
What a wonderful story! We know about the disconnected feelings Frodo experienced when he returned but this is the first time I've really considered Bilbo's feelings of dislocation from Shire society. It must have been very unsettling for him, to feel so undervalued by his fellow hobbits. I love Drogo and I'm so glad that he comes visiting, updating Bilbo on all the news. Thanks, Dreamflower. Author Reply: Well, we know that after his return he was considered "not respectable", and we know how important "respectable" is to hobbits in general. I am sure that he found his loss of reputation very difficult. But by becoming a storyteller, and by using his wealth and position wisely, he eventually overcame a lot of that. He still was not considered quite respectable, but he was once more a valued member of the community. It took him a long time though--remember how gossip still waged, years later? I think that Drogo must have been a very special hobbit, to catch the affection of a beautiful young Brandybuck, and to be father to such a remarkable hobbit as Frodo.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 60 on 7/24/2005
Ah, it is pleasing to see the first telling of the Adventure going to Drogo, to Frodo's father. Maybe there is a tiny hint of Tookish curiosity there in the corners of his being after all. Author Reply: I don't know that the curiousity had to be Tookish--after all, Sam was no Took, nor had a drop of Took blood--and he was always interested in Mr. Bilbo's tales. I think a good deal of it had to do with intelligence, as well as simply being very fond of Bilbo. And I did think it appropriate that Frodo's father be the first to hear.

Harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 60 on 7/24/2005
Oh poor Bilbo. To lose such a treasured vocation and because of hidebound viewpoints must have been heartbreaking indeed. I could have wept for him. Author Reply: Yes, Bilbo enjoyed his status as family teacher, and I am sure it did break his heart; but it led the way for his vocation as family storyteller instead, and gave him the time he needed to pursue his studies in Elvish languages. And of course, many years later he was able to resume teaching: Frodo, Sam, and even Merry and Pippin when they were visiting.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 60 on 7/24/2005
Good for Drogo! It's no wonder that he and the beautiful Primula produce the one suitable to be heir to Bilbo and, just by the way, saviour of Middle Earth. It was quite depressing to follow poor Bilbo round the place he was so happy to see again, only to watch his fellow hobbits turn up their stuffy little noses. (Not that I'm surprised that his students have found other teachers, mind. That would have been a long break in their education.) He needed a little fellow feeling and a pair or two of wide eyes as he told his tale. Author Reply: My idea is that Drogo was Bilbo's best and brightest--and incidentally favorite--student, and that the fondness was mutual. In a way a template for his later relationship with Drogo's son. It was sad. But I am quite sure that the hobbits felt he would be a bad influence on their children--and you are right about the lengthy break. If nothing else, his taking off without notice would have incensed most of the parents. And you are right. Drogo was just the right person, and those wide eyes were exactly what he needed.

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