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Dreamflower's Mathoms II  by Dreamflower 6 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 7 on 5/4/2006
Yes, that loss would be worse than sailing West. Poor Sam, grieving either way; but he will not be alone--never alone.

Author Reply: No, he will never be alone, either metaphorically *or* literally. And yet, even with others to support him there will still be the loneliness of missing Frodo...

Pearl TookReviewed Chapter: 7 on 4/23/2006
This was beautiful, it made me teary. It had to help Frodo knowing Sam would be loved and cared for.

MEWD!!

Author Reply: Yes, the knowledge that Sam *would* have a life, and those who could help him to live it, and who would love him and take care of him had to make Frodo a bit easier in his own mind.

PIppinfan1988Reviewed Chapter: 7 on 4/23/2006
Beautiful. You have the most creative muse! I never thought about the next anniversary finishing him off. Of course, there are a lot of things that you've made me reflect on when it comes to Frodo. Well done.

Pippinfan

Author Reply: Well, actually, it's rather a popular idea in fanon. I have seen a number of other authors who have the same idea: Lindelea ("A Small and Passing Thing") and Larner ("The Acceptable Sacrifice") come to mind right away as handling that idea beautifully. But it's popular because of what JRRT says about Frodo in his Letters: he says that each anniversary, the illness was worse than the ones before. He also says that it was after the illness just before Elanor was born that Frodo realized he could not stay, and made up his mind to accept Arwen's gift.

Many of us have interpreted that to mean that Frodo thought his next anniversary illness would prove fatal, and that was why he had to leave before it occurred.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 7 on 4/23/2006
Good hands ... and, ultimately, so many of them!

Poor Frodo - yet he couldn't stay. Apart from his health, his departure is absolutely key in allowing Sam to be the hobbit he was meant to be. (Little as he would like to think it.)

Author Reply: Yes, and thanks to his prescience, Frodo was able to know that.

You are right. In spite of a lot of lovely AU scenarios in which Frodo stays (which are a good deal of fun, actually), it really is important to the Fourth Age that Frodo move on, and that Sam learn that his own hard-won wisdom can guide the Shire in its rightful place.

Yet I think he would rather his friend had been able to stay, and he return to his role as a simple gardener. But I don't think it would have been possible for him in the long run...he had seen and done too much to ever be that way again.

TiggerReviewed Chapter: 7 on 4/22/2006
So bittersweet this POV from Frodo. He knows he has to leave and that does sadden him. Yet on the other hand, Frodo knows Sam will be surrounded by so much love, it will soften the pain of Frodo not being there.

Yes, Frodo was leaving his Sam in good hands. The very best.

Thanks for sharing this w/us. :o)

Author Reply: That whole time had to be so bittersweet for Frodo. But the knowledge that his dear one *would* be surrounded by love had to reassure him.

I am glad you liked it!

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 7 on 4/22/2006
Oh, Dreamflower, that is so poignant. It's just...so sad. But Frodo is right: Sam is in good hands, even if things will never be the same in the Shire with Frodo gone.

There it is again: "...The next anniversary will finish me..." I've seen that in so many fics, and it's even come into mine (or rather into a piece that I hardly believe is mine, even now), but every time I read or right it it nags at me. What really would have happened? Or maybe I don't want to know.

Thank you for sharing this with all of us-I love it!
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: I think that the reason the idea is so popular is because it really exonerates Frodo of the accusation of abandoning his friends. Yet it also makes a good deal of sense considering what he went through.

We know from Letters that each anniversary was worse than the one before.

I was really influenced in my thoughts on Frodo by this essay, which you might wish to check out:

http://www.geocities.com/karynmilos/toodeeplyhurt.html

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