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The Acceptable Sacrifice by Larner	23 Review(s)
Eliazbeth Wherry	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 12/11/2008
Dear Larner, I'm so glad Frodo has found something to keep himself occupuied(I misspelled that). Also I'm joining Szepilona...When are you going to put Halabard in another of your stories? God bless Elizabeth Anne Lucy Wherry Author Reply: I'm also glad that Frodo found things to do about the camp. And one day I may write my Aragorn and Halbarad story. You and Szepilona may wish to read Radbook's "In Aragorn's Safe Keeping" stories at http://www.fanfiction.net to get a good idea of the relationship Aragorn had with his kinsman, although she has a couple stories on here, too, with their relationship. Right now I have so many storied going at the same time it's difficult to get to all of them, much less add more! Thank you so.

PIppinfan1988	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 5/23/2006
Ah! Excellent debate at the Round Table--and Sam's input being the most intelligent. After all, his Gaffer did fill him with all of this lovely wisdom. :-) Frodo's spearheading the project of making "wheel chairs" and such for amputee soldiers is wonderful deed. Pippinfan Author Reply: I have always seen Frodo as one who brings out the best in those he encounters as much as possible (although when working with Lotho, Lobelia, and Ted Sandyman there doesn't appear to be much there to work with from the beginning--but I digress). For his mere presence and simple questions to begin the process of folk realizing they CAN find ways of living in spite of all and to lead to this joint effort to help paralytics and amputess just seemed logical, and is, after all, how the rehabilitation services system of today's world began after World Wars One and Two. And of COURSE Sam's father's aphorisms will come into play here. Sam sees through to the heart of the problem and reduces it to its clearest terms, and realizes that many of the enemy are simply acting in according to orders and Sauron's own example, which of course was not particularly wholesome and certainly wasn't intended to be humane. So glad you are enjoying this!

Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 12/9/2005
At last a bit of a respite for Frodo and those watching over him :) I'm glad he found a way to get out of himself for a while. Author Reply: Yes, the ability to help others can help to turn attention away from ones own ills for a change. Glad you appreciated it!

Lindelea	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/17/2005
He soon was beginning to move through the tents of the healers, first following Aragorn and then by himself, seeing Men who’d lost limbs, who were recovering from stomach wounds, whose broken bones were finally knitting, who’d been partially paralyzed by what they’d experienced. Some were still in terrible pain, but all smiled as they saw him come, even those who’d been worst wounded. He felt drawn to them, although he couldn’t say precisely why; and he would often sit with this one or that, speaking with them, discussing families, wives, children, their homes, their plans for the future. His obvious interest in them would loosen their tongues, and many confided their fears that they wouldn’t be able to contribute to the family or the needs of their people any more once they were returned. I love this picture of Frodo reaching outside of himself and his pain to help others. Isn't that so often the best way to combat despair and depression? I wondered if he might have remembered Lalia and her wheeled chair, while this was happening? But the soldiers' need sounds nobler than mere overeating to the point where one's legs won't bear one's weight. It was interesting that it took a hobbit to tell men how to show forgiveness to their enemies. Author Reply: I wrote a nice review to this yesterday that got eaten, evidently, but the posting gremlin. AARGH! Yes, Frodo is reaching out, and it is helping both himself and others, although he doesn't quite recognize how much it is helping either as yet. Whether or not he remembers Lalia's chair I don't know--I suspect it is the Men and Gimli who are actually thinking of ways of circumventing the newfound disabilities, much as such brainstorming led to the rehabilitation movement here in the United States in the wake of WWI and WWII. And definitely nobler needs deserve rehabilitation and effective prosthetics more than self-indulgence to the point of disability. And, yes, it takes a Hobbit to break through the habits of centuries of seeing those from Rhun and Umbar solely as enemies and not Men in their own right. Thanks so much for the review, Lindelea.

Grey Wonderer	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/16/2005
This was a wonderful chapter! I liked the way Sam spoke up with the common sense of it all that the others seemed to be missing. I also like the fact that Frodo, Gimli and others were involved in making a return to normal life possible for the wounded. Author Reply: Sam was always the one who underestimated his own wisdom most. And I think in the end he would have been the one, next to Frodo, whose wisdom Aragorn respected most. And I was in part reflecting the reality of the rehabilitation movement in the wake of WWI and WWII, for this is how many of the rehabilitation techniques and prosthetic items began their existence.

Periantari	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/28/2005
That the Ringbearer had become so involved with their folk and their rehabilitation impressed all, and he won even more respect that day, although he didn’t recognize it. He should win lots of respect for all that he did for Middle-Earth. Bronwe athan Harthad. He should be thought one of the best beings to ever walk Middle-Earth for being so self-less I'm glad that Aragorn is keeping both Frodo and Sam preoccupied--that is the only way to keep the mind off dark thoughts and feelings of guilt... And indeed, Frodo is properly named. :) Really liked the last part. I really like your Aragorn that you portray. Author Reply: Am glad that the image I portray of Aragorn is so pleasing, for he's always been the one I've been in love with. I love Frodo and Sam and the rest, too, of course; but it is Aragorn who first caught at my heart. Yes, he's going to care for those he's come so to love and to whom he owes so much.

Lily	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/25/2005
Oh, you're updating so quick! I hardly finished chapter 8 when chapter 9 shows up already. How do you do this? Anyway... chapter 9 is now saved so here are some comments on chapter 8. This was great work. It was good to see Frodo finally accomplishing something again. It seems he is slowly realising his worth again, isn't he? I'm humbled by your knowledge of the Unfinished Tales. So, perhaps you can tell me what Iorhael means in English? sparkles with ignorance Author Reply: "Iorhael" and "Frodo" both mean "Wise One." Iorhael is Frodo's name translated to Sindarin. In Tolkien's proposed epilogues to the story he had Aragorn send a letter in Tengwar lettering to Sam letting him know in very official language that he was coming to the newly finished northern capitol of Annuminas on Lake Evindim for the summer, and he was formally inviting the whole family to meet him at the Brandywine Bridge and go on north afterwards with him. The letter had two sides, one with the invitation in Sindarin and one in Westron, and he translated everyone's name to Sindarin; Iorhael was shown as Frodo-lad's translation. For a while Tolkien dithered between Iorhail and Iorhael and finally settled on the latter. Conin is another version of Frodo's name, I believe in Adunaic. Sam's name in Sindarin is Perhael, as both Samwise and Perhael mean "half-wise"; Aragorn indicated in his letter he'd have been better named Panthael, or "fully-wise." Berhael was I believe the Adunaic form of his name. The odd things one learns in reading and writing fanfiction! You aren't the first one to ask, either. And when you come to Frodo being called "Cormacolindor," that is a translation of "Ringbearer."

Radbooks	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/25/2005
Loved this chapter! I don't know when wheelchairs were invented in our world, but I am certain they could have been in use much earlier than they were. Most of the time, we've shuffled those men and women who are wounded in our wars (throughout all of the years) off to the side when we are done using them. Now, the best thing would be not to have any wars, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. :( So we should honor and respect those that serve and are injured. But wheelchairs would have been helpful to lots of other people besides those wounded in wars. It was great to see Frodo taking an interest in the world around him... in the men and sparking the whole project. And then Aragorn taking him to the council to explain it so that he could get them to accept the men from Harad and Rhun. Sam is so wise in his simplicity - you just have to love him. Nice job! Author Reply: Wheeled conveyances have been in use in Europe for a very long time, from flat platforms on which individuals could creep forward noted in literature from the Middle Ages on to the woven invalid's chair Clara in "Heidi" used. Many wheeled chairs were used at least since the early eighteen hundreds. But it wasn't until the wake of WWI that rehabilitation came into its own with chairs beginning to be devised to allow their users more personally motivated mobility instead of having to rely on someone pushing them. As a teacher of visually impaired children and adults as well as a mobility instructor, I've had to study the rehabilitation movement in my own specialty. Much has been done over many, many centuries; but true mobility training as taught today truly began with the Veterans Administration Hospitals, which began to finally formalize rehabilitation training and mobility techniques. We are refining them all the time, and now what started with returning veterans is now being taught to our VI children from their earliest days. Believe it or not, much good has managed to come out of even such great evils as the last two world wars. And that Frodo would serve as catalyst for many to begin looking for alternate methods of living fuller lives, Aragorn realizing how this is likely to positively impact the nobles in accepting the wounded from among their enemies into Gondor for healing and rehabilitation, and Sam adding his practical evaluations of just how Sauron's own thought processes would have impacted the acceptance of their wounded by the Haradrim and Rhunim all seemed so natural to flow together. Thanks so much for the feedback.

Baggins Babe	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/24/2005
This is the perfect way for Frodo to find healing, in the healing and helping of others. I love the way he takes an interest in their hopes and fears about the future, and I hope he realises that he is a catalyst for change. Sam's comments were so right - trust Sam to come up with the commone sense remarks. He has definitely changed. PS. In my last review I mentioned the whaleship Essex - this was what inspired Herman Melville to write 'Moby Dick.' A fascinating and true story of Nature fighting back. Author Reply: It is in helping others that we most help ourselves, of course, and hopefully that Frodo's interest is aiding others to heal is helping him to heal as well. And Sam is beginning to appreciate that, like his father, his observations are inspiring others, although as his observations are less aphorism and more response to what he sees about him, in the long run he will be the more effective teacher. Yes, he's growing, as Gandalf later observes before he turns off at the Old Forest to allow the four Hobbits to return unsupervised to the Shire to put into action the lessons they've learned in the outer world for the succoring of their own people. Oh, so it was the Essex that inspired Moby Dick, was it? I'll definitely have to find more source material on it. Thanks for the reference you gave me already. I'll follow up on it as I find time.

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 10/24/2005
Now we know who’d invented the wheel chair! Who would’ve thought Frodo was involved :D Honestly, I love this chapter! The other wonderful part was what Sam said about the ability of the forces of Mordor to think for themselves. No mere gardner any longer, indeed! The Sam from before the Quest would never have dared to speak at all, I’d think. But he was absolutely right. I am sure I’d not been able not to grin, and very smugly at that, when he told all these Lords this! As it was, I was grinning widely through most of the chapter. The nobles of Gondor will soon learn to esteem the hobbits even more! Author Reply: Some of the greatest observations we get are from our own children; and here the lords of Gondor and Rohan are beginning to realize these child-like creatures are more attuned to human need than they are. And it's good practice for when Sam becomes Mayor of the Shire! According to others I've read, Tolkien himself had begun thinking about Ferumbras's mother Lalia and her wheelchair, including the "accident" that led to her death, so apparently Hobbits had already begun using at least one such device in the Shire. I've only read those of Tolkien's letters that have been shared with me by others, so haven't seen that one yet. Will have to look for his compilation of Letters now. I've read a couple of Warren Lewis's compilations of his brother's letters; now need to read Tolkien's. And all the free world deserves to esteem the Hobbits of the Shire. It is with reason Aragorn seeks to protect them.

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