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| The Acceptable Sacrifice by Larner | 23 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| 6336 | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 3/13/2013 |
| Have just started rereading this. Dosen't Frodo ralise that if he had not had the stength of will to deny the ring all thge way from the Shire to the mountain, Sam would not have been able to get him to the Sammath Naur(Sp?) and Gollum would not have been there to take it into the fire? Silly Hobbit! Lynda Author Reply: You made this comment just as I again began suffering from computer problems, an inconsistent occurrence since early December at this point. Yes, Frodo is being silly, but he at least is awake and beginning to realize that being alive isn't necessarily as horrible as he might have thought. Thank you so, Lynda! | |
| Eliazbeth Wherry | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/26/2008 |
| When I put email just now I meant email address | |
| Eliazbeth Wherry | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/26/2008 |
| I really like this subject since why Frodo was so calm after distroying the Ring was always a big thing I pondered, which is probably why this is my favorite story. Also don't try to email me as your email will not get across unless I have your email. Author Reply: Then we must resort to this for now, although I believe you can send a private email via this site as well. Tolkien in his letters did state that Frodo was calm and at peace because he saw himself as having sacrificed himself for the safety of Middle Earth (and probably mostly for the safety of his own corner of it in the Shire), and that he truly believed his death would be upon him in moments--that the sacrifice would be consummated. But it did not come--not then--for he still had lessons to learn and help to give and life to learn to live again before the end. How much he left undone due to growing weakness and disassociation and how much due to his own inability to accept he could not do all he would do--who is to say? He had such a mixture of pride and humility to him! And if you should desire to email me directly, my email address is not precisely difficult to learn. It is blslarner@olypen.com at least for now! Heh! | |
| Elizabeth Wherry | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/24/2008 |
| I started your story The Acceptable Sacrifice at my best friend's house and as soon as I got home I had to google Stories of Arda and read more of not only this story but all the others. Thanks for writing such awesome stories Author Reply: I am honored, Elizabeth! Thank you so much for letting me know. This story was inspired by Tolkien's comments on why Frodo appeared so calm and at peace there on the side of Mount Doom after the destruction of the Ring, and I found it took on a life of its own, and managed to combine two story ideas I'd had gnawing at my vitals. Now, if I can just find time and energy to finish with the Nuzgul that keeps playing in my jewelry box! I'm about halfway done with that one, I find! | |
| AspenJules | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 8/23/2006 |
| Ok.. I'm liking this. I especially like the Voice - its refusal to allow Frodo his warped reasoning but always attempting to straighten it/him back out. Not sure if I'll like this - these fics are always depressing to me with such a depressed Frodo (guess maybe I identify too closely) but I've been meaning to read it for ages now. You are doing a great job so far. Author Reply: Yes, Frodo is getting some gentle correction, which of course he needs. I hope you don't find it too difficult to read. There are beautiful moments and bad ones, I fear--but, then, that's life. At least you get to see the ups and downs, and the good done by Frodo along the way. | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/16/2005 |
| I love how Frodo thinks of Sam as the hero for all of his deeds and how he is able to take pride in what Sam has done even if he doubts his own efforts. His thoughts on his sword were very realistic. Natural that he would see it in that way. This is lovely so far. Author Reply: Eventually this becomes more another of my stories much as I've written before, but it will return to this kind of format as Frodo returns to the Shire, I think. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/30/2005 |
| Fascinating, to see the back and forth of the arguing in his mind. Is it Gandalf who speaks to him, or some other power, or has Frodo himself grown so wise, and yet fights still with his fleshly self? I want to go back home, sit on the stoop as evening falls, smoke my pipe, watch Sam working in the garden, smell stewed mushrooms cooking from the kitchen.... (this was so very poignant. It is sad truth that we cannot go home again.) Author Reply: It is always the question as to whom Frodo argues with, whether with himself or someone else; I don't think he knows yet at this point. No, we can't go home again, for as we change so does home as well. Either we have to work to make it home again for us, or we must move on. So glad you are reading it. | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/20/2005 |
| Oh, another excellent chapter. How often we fight within ourselves about whatever tasks we have been given and we think we have failed at them and we find all the little things we did wrong or should have done better. (And I know that I tend to over think things like Frodo is doing here!) I like the idea of the sword as a symbol of protection, because of course it is, but I hadn't thought of it in quite those terms before. I'm off to read the next chapters! Author Reply: I was trying to think why they would insist Frodo wear a sword that night, considering how he obviously felt about it; and this is what came out. The sword and the mithril shirt are part of what he was meant to wear, I have always thought. I, too, overanalyze things, and have always suspected Frodo was a kindred spirit there. Glad that this has stimulated thought. | |
| Inkling | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/19/2005 |
| “The gift of analysis” gave me a chuckle…that wouldn’t be anything like mortality, would it? Gift or Doom, depending on how you look at it. I sometimes think I’m burdened with a little too much of that gift myself! A nice exploration of ideas that Tolkien only hinted at in LOTR, and just a bit further in Letters. Poor Frodo never really was a simple hobbit, was he? Author Reply: Almost any gift we have can become a burden if we let it--and Frodo has been stimulated by the Ring to allow his mind to run a bit wild, leaving him analyzing everything automatically any more. We all need to just let go and let things happen without looking for hidden meanings. As I've suggested before, the Ring's most effective tactic was to use the person's greatest gifts against them. And glad you appreciate how the Letters helped inspire this work. | |
| PIppinfan1988 | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/18/2005 |
| "Did you not realize that only if you destroyed yourself could you hope to destroy It? You knew It had taken you so very deeply that you could no longer willingly give It up--that to see It on the hand of any other than yourself would drive you mad. That is why you intended to throw yourself into the Fire with It, was it not?" That is so awesome--JRRT talks about this in one of his letters, naturally, I'd have to re-research to give the exact number, but it's there. He mentions mercy and sacrifice in this letter in describing the outcome of Frodo and the Ring--he was answering a reader who remarked about Frodo "failing" at Mt. Doom. JRRT gave a host of underlying reasons as to how Frodo truly *succeeded*. I don't know whether or not you've been inspired by that, but I so enjoyed reading JRRT's response in that letter, and I was reminded of it when I read this tale. Absolutely wonderful! Pippinfan Author Reply: If you read some of the responses I've done below, you'll see I was indeed inspired by Tolkien's own letter. I wanted to see how I could get it into this story; and certainly I've hinted in other stories that this was the strategy Frodo had considered most strongly. But, from Cirith Ungol on, once he snatched the Ring from Sam, this is undoubtedly one of the few workable ideas I suspect Frodo could have thought on. Glad you appreciated how I worked it into the story. But all three were necessary to see the end of the Ring, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum, and I'm glad only one died there. And finding that the same forgiveness he gave Gollum now needs to be applied to himself would be difficult. | |