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| The Acceptable Sacrifice by Larner | 21 Review(s) |
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| PIppinfan1988 | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 5/23/2006 |
| “What must I do?” asked Frodo almost dully. “Smile and laugh as much as you can, Frodo. Oh, what a wonderful remedy for Frodo's heart, though they were all too short lived. The bit with "stalkers" stealing underwear was quite comical. :-) The recover process will undoubtedly be slow enough for Frodo and Sam to catch up, and I am ejoying reading about it. I love to read the various takes on what happened in Cormallen. :-) Pippinfan Author Reply: To smile and laugh and find joy in the moment is not easy when one feels like death warmed over and can't easily move without pain, as well as suffering depression at least partly brought on by his physical condition as well as his feelings of failure. Glad you enjoyed the idea of the groupies of the end of the Third Age, out to get a look at these new celebrities who are housed apart and in such an odd manner. Yes, recovery is slow, but is complicated by the fact that for Frodo, too much scarring has gone too deeply. | |
| Elf Friend | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 3/3/2006 |
| “They’d take my underwear?” asked Sam, shocked. At the Man’s nod the two Hobbits shared a horrified look." That part made me laugh out loud. :D Also, did Aragorn really refer to Elrond as "Ardar"? That part just seemed a bit odd to me. Great story, it just keeps getting better and better! Author Reply: Did I write "Ardar"? I'll have to edit, obviously. I certainly meant "Adar"--Sindarin for Father. And I do think groupies would have made themselves obnoxiously obvious then as now. Dreamflower has done a wonderful expansion on this idea in one of her later stories about the Hobbits in Minas Tirith meeting a minstrel Pippin once knew back in the Shire. Can't think of the title at the moment, unfortunately. | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/16/2005 |
| Aragorn is doing such a wonderful job of seeing to the hobbit's needs. It must have been quite a nightmare for Frodo and Sam not to be able to eat as they had before. I can't think of much else that would upset a hobbit more. All of the conversation and quiet moments in this story are so very lovely. I like your Sam very much! Author Reply: I am so glad you appreciate this. But waking and finding his digestion so compromised must indeed have been terrible for Frodo in many ways, and indeed mostly because he IS a Hobbit. As I have him say in I think The Choice of Healing, he was intended to eat and eat well, not to peck at food like some picky child of Men. And still am glad you appreciate the moments of humor and gentleness. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/4/2005 |
| Where did the scent come from, the odor of the Sea, that Sam smelled? I told him I needed your permission to leave the post assigned to me, and that to do so without it could mean my execution, and he went pale, and asked my forgiveness. (Ah, yes. Echoes of what Beregond is going through, at this very point in time.) (A note about the chamber pot. Considering the function of a chamber pot, I should think it would be placed out of the way, under a bed, rather than on a shelf. Just a thought.) Frodo began to laugh, and sat back helplessly, clutching the blanket about him as he rolled his head from side to side. “You’d expect sense from someone just in his teens?” he finally asked. Pleased to see Frodo could laugh, Aragorn smiled. “He’s a Man, and not a Hobbit, Frodo. I was fighting orcs beside my brothers when I was but fifteen, and came of age at twenty. But some Men do mature more slowly than others.” (Somehow this made me want to laugh. Expect sense from someone just in his teens? I know a number of teens who are very mature in their outlook. Most of them are homeschool students, a few are not. But I know an awful lot of silly teens as well, who'd likely be horrified to be called "silly".) Excellent, even though I was interrupted three times in the reading. Looking forward to reading more on a quieter day. Author Reply: As Tolkien had indicated that the athelas tended to have different scents for different people, reminding them when used for Eowyn of the breeze off a mountain glacier, I decided that for Frodo it would smell predominantly of the Sea often with an echo of the scents of the Woody End, as a foreshadowing of where he will find his final healing. As this time it had been used primarily for Frodo, that would be the scent lingering in the enclosure, I thought. In purchasing washstands in England for our antique store, we often found the simpler stands had a fairly wide rounded shelf for the basin with a smaller one above it to set the ewer out of the way when washing (although it usually sat in the bowl between times), and a shelf at the bottom on which to set the chamberpot. For the larger ones more similar to dressers, the chamberpot was often set inside a cupboard. If there weren't enough chamberpots for all within a room, it tended to be in the commode stands or on the bottom shelf of the washstand rather than under the bed to make it easier to find if one awoke in the middle of the night, rather than waking folks up fumbling about under the beds looking for it. But you are correct to common placement for such things, particularly in rooms where there was but a single occupant. As for sense out of teens--I've known both those who were marvelously mature at fourteen and horribly childish as twenty-two. We just don't all mature at the same rate. But for Hobbits, used to thinking of teens as only larger, hungrier children, the idea of someone who's a teen who is expected to have sense must have been bizarre. So it appears we have similar experiences. I was a bit of a mix, myself--very mature in some ways while a complete infant in others at eighteen; my daughter was pretty mature at that age although she went to pieces at fifteen; and my son didn't really become mature until he was in his late twenties. | |
| periantari | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 10/28/2005 |
| I love this story so very much. I love the tender comfort that you give to Frodo and the healing part is one of my favorites by Aragorn. This is one of my favorite parts of this chapter: “Yet, the fact remains you are still here, Frodo, and still able to know laughter and pleasure. You deserve to know joy again before you go onwards. We hope to help you know that again.” Unfortunately, Frodo cannot find joy in Middle-Earth which remains a very tragic ending... but expected, i thought. :*( Author Reply: I seem to have missed this review. I am sorry! Yes, Frodo cannot fully know joy in Middle Earth, although he can feel some. But the Ring destroyed to much of him and left him too scarred in body and spirit to be fully joyful any more. Thanks so much for the review, and I hope I didn't miss any more! | |
| Radbooks | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 10/25/2005 |
| I never thought about men wanting to touch and steal things from Frodo and Sam, but I'm sure that men haven't changed that much from then to now and as heroes they would have to put up with that kind of nonesense. Just all of the care Frodo needs on a daily basis is overwhelming, he is so physically wounded, let alone the spiritual wounding that is going on for him. (Let alone Sam) I'm so glad that Aragorn saw that Frodo was truly only comfortable with Gandalf, Sam, and himself taking care of him. I know that as a king he would be incredibly busy, but you would have to take care of him - both as someone you love and for what he has done for Middle-earth. Frodo truly is fortunate to be surrounded by those who love him and by someone who knows how to care for his wounds. Author Reply: Iluvatar saw to it that Frodo was surrounded by love as he awoke in Ithilien, as he saw to it he was followed by it throughout his quest. And I, too, am glad that he had such a one as Aragorn serving as primary healer as he recovered--as much as he could. I'm still amazed that the two of them did survive the last throes of Mount Doom, and am glad Tolkien saw it as a form of reward, and for Frodo the chance to see that his sacrifices were not in vain, and that those who accompanied him were better fitted to their future roles by having gone with him or having aided him however they did. As for the Frodo and Sam groupies--they seemed to be begging to be included in this chapter. So glad as always to hear from you. | |
| Inkling | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 10/24/2005 |
| I wonder if Frodo would feel a certain amount of pressure in having everyone telling him that he deserves to know joy again…of course he knows it’s because they love him and want him to be happy, but it’s just one more thing to feel guilty about, or like a failure, if he can’t manage it. That’s one of the things I like so much about your stories…they get me to wondering! Author Reply: You can blame it on the Professor himself, of course, as it was his example which has set all of us seeking to further explore the ideas he started or inspired. Am so glad you find yourself further stimulated to continue on thinking by my stories. Thanks so much for the compliment. | |
| TithenFeredir | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 10/23/2005 |
| Poor Frodo has so much to overcome. It must be terrible for him to be unable to tolerate even a light meal. I would think being able to eat would be very important to a hobbit's sense of well-being. I'm glad you give attention to his spider-bite. Such a wound would need to be carefully watched. But at the same time to have to expose the marks of his beating in Cirith Ungol must have been mortiying. It's a good thing he could laugh at the idea of people stealing his undergarments. (I love it that you call them small clothes.) ~TF Author Reply: Spider bites have been found to all too often have very serious long-term effects on human health, and have been implicated in creeping necrosis of skin tissue, joint disorders, digestive disorders, cardiac disorders, and so on. I had just watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel on research on tick and spider bites before I wrote "The Choice of Healing," and so I ended up focusing a good deal on how the bite from Shelob, who was indicated to be Ungoliant's child, might have led to the physical decline of Frodo after he returned to the Shire; I'm trying to stay true to that vision in this story as well, although it is set earlier than "The Choice of Healing." Also, there would have been serious problems with his stomach following his near starvation while going through Mordor. Both together would most likely have seriously impaired his digestive processes, I think. For someone who'd become a fairly private individual as had Frodo, letting his physical scars would undoubtedly have been mortifying. Hobbits had no history of warfare or bravery on battlefields. To bear scars from FIGHTING would not have been likely to be seen as particularly admirable; and for Frodo, with his artistic nature (as I see him) such things would be even more offensive and embarrassing. And I just love the idea of a young soldier trying to sneak under the sides of the Ringbearers' enclosure, wanting to see their heroes and maybe run off with a souvenir. Thanks so much for the review. | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 10/22/2005 |
| I had to chuckle at the notion of people sneaking into Frodo's tent to gawk at the sleeping Ringbearer and maybe make off with some relics. Nowadays, they'd sell his underwear on E-bay! Good that Frodo was able to laugh at the situation. Author Reply: Sometimes you need to laugh, or you'd simply go crazy! And I found it enjoyable imagining how the common soldiers among the wounded and those remaining in the camp would have reacted to the Ringbearers being just over there in that grove.... People will do so many odd things when we become interested in fame or notoriety. Thanks so much for the feedback, Raksha. | |
| Aragorn | Reviewed Chapter: 6 on 10/22/2005 |
| “I suddenly lost what little I’d eaten the last time I ate,” the Hobbit answered reluctantly. It must be horrible for a hobbit to admit this! I can understand, how Frodo feels. I love coffee, but my stomach is not of the same opinion anymore ;-) “I don’t understand why I can’t be just as I was.” Aragorn would do everything to make this possible, I'm sure. But it is, as Gandalf said somewhere in LOTR: "Some wounds will never heal". But, let's not lose what little hope is left. Again, Aragorn succeeded in making Frodo laugh! That's the right way, Aragorn! Go on! Author Reply: I entertain IBS, a sliding hernia, and acid reflux disease, so in describing Frodo's symptoms am writing from personal experience as well as what I've learned reading Holocaust survivor literature, on which I based much of Frodo's experiences, both emotional and physiological. If you've become intolerant of the acids in coffee or of the caffeine, I can certainly sympathize! And, yes, there is no way Aragorn can heal everything with Frodo; but just getting him to laugh again is a good part of the way. Thanks so much for the comments--they keep me writing! | |