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The Acceptable Sacrifice by Larner	15 Review(s)
Armariel	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/15/2006
Sad farewells...was dreading the parting of Aragorn and Frodo especially...and Aragorn and Elrond as well. But I think I'm getting some poetry ideas here! Who knows? We'll soon see, I guess....... ~~~{~@ Author Reply: Oh, am definitely looking forward to your poetry ideas, as it is almost always so very beautiful and moving. And if I offer inspiration for it, Hooray!

grumpy	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/7/2006
So sad the parting of Aragorn and his father and Frodo, knowing they will not see each other again in this world. more kleenexs are needed. Too bad the Ents did not keep Saruman under their eyes. He is bound to cause more trouble. Got to wonder why Wormtongue stayed with him. Author Reply: Yes, there is grief at the partings Aragorn knows will be for the rest of his life. And I agree about the Ents letting Saruman go. You KNOW he's going to cause more problems--heh! And I can't imagine why Wormtongue stayed with him--why so many stay with abusers is a question we've been baffled by for centuries.

Radbooks	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/5/2006
As I said, I want to change the story and have them all live together happily ever after! Unfortunately it's not a fairy tale and actually that is one of the things that I do admire about Tolkien's work that he made it more 'real' than many books. There was a cost and sacrifices had to be made by people... but I still don't like it at times - I'm human and want it all! :) I liked how Aragorn asked Celeborn to see that someone would still be there for Arwen when he passed. It was both a gutsy thing to ask and yet a very typical, loving thing that is totally in character for Aragorn. Of course he would want someone of her family there with her after he is gone. I say gutsy because I know how hard it would be for any of the elves to be there with Arwen to watch her fade and I know that Aragorn knows that too, but sometimes we ask our families to do hard things for us and families pull through for us - hopefully. I really liked this conversation between Gandalf and Frodo because I know how true it is! "You will find, Frodo, that Eru uses even our weaknesses for His purposes in promoting our greater good.” Frodo shivered slightly as he thought on that statement, pulling his Elven cloak more closely around him. “I don’t find that thought particularly heartening, Gandalf.” Gandalf gave an unexpected laugh. “No, I would be surprised if you did. To realize that we have become so predictable that the Creator can use our own responses for His own ends is particularly humbling.” Well done! Author Reply: Yes, we want Bilbo's proposed ending, although we have the fact of the whispered response, "Yes, but where will they all live?" Life isn't fair, and these four in particular had the chance to see just how true that statement is. Glad you, too, feel Aragorn's request is in character with him, and it was a particularly difficult thing for those who must see that fading. And that you appreciated the truth of that particular interchange is very gratifying. But how often have we seen it in our own lives? Thanks so much for the response.

Antane	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/5/2006
Another great chapter, Larner! Love comments on Iluvatar using even our weaknesses for good. Namarie, God bless, Antane :) Author Reply: God so often has done this in my life, and I'm certain in the lives of others as well. Thanks for showing the appreciation for it, Antane.

Baggins Babe	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/4/2006
I've been wanting to review for the last three chapters but committee minutes kept piling up and had to be dealt with. Spider bites can be a terrible problem - I saw a programme on venomous creatures and there was a woman who had been bitten by a spider nine years before and was still having problems - nerve paralysis, blood problems......... The doctors were talking about amputation but they still couldn't guarantee the rest of her body would not be affected in time. Considering the size of Shelob and the size of Frodo, it is unsurprising that the venom had such a terrible and long-lasting effect. I always found the farewells very poignant in the book, and in these chapters they became even more so - that fleeting glimpse of the three sons of Elrond, for example. The description of Aragorn holding up the Elessar stone has always brought tears to my eyes, and he must be grief-stricken, knowing he will probably not see Frodo again. Once again, I felt as though I was present for all these events. Author Reply: It was due to a documentary on spider and tick bites I decided to write my story "The Choice of Healing" as I did, and as I've continued in stories since. And I agree--the bite of a creature like Shelob, particularly as the offspring of Ungoliant, would be devastating to someone like Frodo, who was already in depleted condition when he was bitten and went on to worse in the ensuing days, on top of carrying the physical, mental, and spiritual burden of the Ring. The goodbyes must have been hard for all of them, and am glad you appreciated them as I've depicted them.

Andrea	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/4/2006
Wow! There was so much said in this chapter that it's nearly impossible to savour it all (is this the right verb? I'm not so sure...) Instead, I'd like to pick out one line: “Ah, my dear Frodo, you are such a wonderful mixture of pride and humility that I’m quite delighted to know you, although there are others who find you most perplexing indeed.” Wise, old wizard! He knows Frodo very well. These are the feelings with which Frodo awoke in Ithilien, and since then have never left him. It's a constant struggle between pride and humility and it leads to the question: Is there a future for me? Right now the Sea Longing is strong, but also the feeling that something is terribly wrong in the Shire, the feeling of malice! The latter is the most important now, the first is only a dream to him, for he thinks that his parting with Galadriel was forever. And he feels the change, but does not comprehend yet the true meaning of it! A perfect chapter. I'm looking forward to reading more! Author Reply: Am so glad that so much appears to have been written right for you. No, Frodo has no real idea what his future is to be; and he does have the struggle between appropriate and inappropriate pride and humility to face and deal with. He feels the urgency and is feeling pulled so many different ways as well. He's learning to sort out his own feelings from those of others; and is trying to understand what is happening to himself. Then to learn so graphically on an emotional level what he only knew intellectually before, that Bilbo is mortal and is OLD and will do soon what OLD people do--leave this world for the next--has to be one of the hardest things he can do. Thanks for the comments.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/4/2006
It's so sad to see these friends parting and heading off in separate directions, never to gather together again. And Frodo isn't helping himself by refusing to take the draught, but Obstinate is definitely his middle name. I feel for the other hobbits, too, who are about to learn (after the scouring of the Shire and things closer to normal) that you can't go back. Water never flows under the same bridge twice, and so on. Somethink, I think, Frodo already knows. Author Reply: They want their own homes and their own beds--except they probably don't fit their own beds any more, a thought neither Merry nor Pippin has yet considered consciously. And Frodo is going to learn that he OUGHT to have perhaps gotten the recipe for that draught from Elrond while he had the chance. The world has changed, and they have changed, and they are about to find out that they didn't necessarily change in complementary ways.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/4/2006
The pain of parting grows ever greater for these various friends and family--with each farewell, a little bit more of Middle-earth slips away for us. It is very nearly as painful, I think, to read as it must have been to experience, for we know that things will never be the same, and that the end of the Third Age is the end of all that has made Arda special to us. Perhaps that is the reason JRRT was so sparse in his descriptions of the farewells--if it is so hard for us to read, what must it have felt like to its creator, who had lived with this world for so many years? Author Reply: I hadn't thought of it in that way, Dreamflower, in terms of how Tolkien might have been moved by his own creations and the ending of their relationships. Thank you for the stimulation to my imagination (although perhaps that isn't all that necessary....) Thanks so much for the comments.

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/4/2006
wipes eyes and blows nose This chapter, and probably the rest of the story, needs a tissue warning, I fear. Even in the books I never got over the partings without crying, and Tolkien told us little enough. Hopefully Sam has enough handkerchiefs to hand out for all of us ;-) Considering Frodo was meant to be Aragorn’s twin brother, it isn’t so surprising he was able to draw on the Elessar, I suppose. And I fear even without knowing your other stories it is only too true the other hobbits will not or not for a long time understand what had happened to the Travellers. It must’ve been quite frustrating for all of the four, not only Frodo and Pippin. Sometimes I wonder – if Saruman and his bullies hadn’t had overrun the Shire and the hobbits could’ve returned to an unchanged Shire, could Frodo have healed? I have the impression the troubles in the Shire undid much of his healing. A pity we will never know for sure. Author Reply: I like to imagine that the experiences he has had have managed to open Frodo more to psychic probabilities and capabilities. We know he was prescient at the beginning of the quest; now his dreams and visions would be more pervasive, I suspect. And I think he would have responded to such things as the Elessar; and there was a reason why he was given the Evenstar pendant as well, that he was seen as both needing it and having the capability of actually using its power. and hopefully for others as well as himself. And how are those to whom "When the King returns" means "never" going to understand finding Sauron invading ones mind via palantir or the experience of the Black Breath as a result of stabbing the Witch King of Angmar, much less how a small ring on a chain around ones neck can end up weighing as much as if one were trying to drag the weight of Barad-dur itself? And most Hobbits have probably never considered the possibility that Sauron could be a real entity. Would Frodo perhaps have recovered if Sauron hadn't invaded the Shire? Well, in the movie that's the way it happened, and he still went to Tol Eressea. The feeling of being out of place and the sea longing and the inability to communicate what he went through would still probably have led to the decision to leave, probably.

shirebound	Reviewed Chapter: 58 on 1/4/2006
As the party rode North and crested the next rise the four Hobbits paused and looked back, as did all of the Dúnedain and the sons of Elrond, seeing the green glory of the Elessar shining in the King’s hand; and Frodo felt as if he were wrapped in a mantle of that renewing Light for much of the evening’s ride and most of the next day as well. You give such a new insight into that scene, which I always loved. What a poignant farewell for all of them. Author Reply: If the spiritual and emotional relationship I've postulated between Aragorn and Frodo existed, I felt this may well have been how Frodo would find that parting gesture might affect him. Thanks for the comments, and am so glad this moved you.

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