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A Matter of Appearances by Lindelea	8 Review(s)
storyfish	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/4/2006
Oh my, this was a difficult read--shouldn't have read it in my tenuous emotional state right now, so I better hurry on to the hopefully happier chapters ahead. But I do appreciate the way you wrote this the hard way--from the brawny man's perspective, so that I found my sympathy was with him a little, so even though they deserved punishment I was glad--so very glad--they didn't have to suffer the birds, though they had plenty of time to think on that fate. Author Reply: I think they had plenty of punishment, too, and while the writing of it was unpleasant, I think it was also necessary to the story, after hearing of Red's past and what he was capable of in future if he were not stopped. Thanks!

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/2/2006
Oh poor Tolly. Good of Sam to keep an eye on him. I suspect that he might have to do so for some time to come - but he is practised at that! Sensible to send the other hobbits back. Author Reply: Belated thanks! Poor Tolly, indeed. And I do think this would have been too terrible for the other hobbits to contemplate. It is, perhaps, too terrible for Tolly, who has a record of letting ruffians go.

Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/1/2006
Surperbly well done, Lin!! "Only to find, reaching bottom, that he’d been wrong about the not-being. His last thought, as his body faded from his consciousness, was that he’d fallen from the frying pan, into the fire..." This was a wonderfully done chapter. I wonder if Red enjoyed his own begging as much as he had enjoyed the begging of his victims. And well done that Aragorn's men didn't really deliver the more gruesome death; they are after all Men of the West. But such a good job letting especially Red think he was going to be eaten alive. MEWD!!! Author Reply: Whew, thanks. For some reason I don't think Red had a good time. While I would have liked the ruffians to have suffered more for their consequences, I wouldn't want to stain the souls of the Rangers with such a deed on their hands. Yikes, I almost feel sorry for the wretches, when you put it that way!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/1/2006
And do we build our own hells, do you think? What torments has the brawny Man visited upon himself now that he no longer dwells in flesh? Alas that he didn't repent. He was given every chance--by the love of his family, what there might have been of it, by the succoring by Gandalf, by the mercy of Aragorn's justice that branded him but allowed him to seek redemption elsewhere, by the freedom he's known since he joined the Fat Man's company to leave it when he chose.... No, he's built his own torments and deserves them, for as he himself noted, he hated much of what this company did but failed to walk away from it. Glad that again it was only the thought that tormented them, and not the full reality, and that in the end they knew the King's swift judgment and not the prolonged torture given by other lands. Ah, Sam and Tolly, that you must see this. Author Reply: I wonder... it's too hot to consider metaphysical questions today. It is too bad that he didn't repent. Why could he not even have said that he was sorry for the choices he'd made? Not that such would have saved him. Selfish to the end, I guess. Yes, glad that the ruffians' own thoughts were enough torment. The Rangers are shielding Sam and Tolly as much as they can manage, too.

FantasyFan	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/1/2006
I feel sorry for them. Perhaps I shouldn't, but I do. They all die without even a name. No one to mourn them. No one to even notice. The brawny man recognizes justice. He knows he deserves what is coming, like the good thief. But he never repents, even though it would cost him nothing to do so now. He just looks forward to the oblivion of no more bad choices, and of course he has made his last mistake in thinking this. He's judged not fit for the feast. And so I feel sorry for them. Their crimes were horrible, but the consequenses are more so. Pity, at least, comes from Sam and Tolly and the Rangers in the manner of their death, if not mercy. Mercy we leave up to someone else. Author Reply: Funny thing, isn't it? A dark part of me wanted them to "pay" and yet their suffering could not bring any of their victims back to life and wholeness... And the final consequences, as you say, are horrifying. And you noticed, that none of them had a name. That was a deliberate decision, early on. Even they, themselves, were so dehumanized by their chosen profession that they used no names, though they would have said it was a protection against the forces of the law. I feel sorry for them too, strange as it may seem. I want all my characters to make a good end, to find a place made ready for them at the feast, and it is difficult to doom even the evil ones, for I can all too well imagine the circumstances that shaped them. I've never yet been able to write someone who was "pure evil", at least, not in my mind. There is always "background" that the reader never sees. Yet the world of Middle-earth can breathe a sigh of relief, that these two are gone, Red with his disgusting delights, and the brawny man without a conscience.

cookiefleck	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/1/2006
Very dark and harsh/cruel chapter, but compelling reading, especially the ending. Author Reply: Thanks. Appreciate the feedback. It was not an easy task, and something I'd rather have relegated to "background", only sketchily written and unpublished.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/1/2006
Dark, indeed. It's hard to let even villains find their due reward, isn't it? But I am glad that Red cracked at the end and begged and groveled. And I am very glad we never had Red's POV! ick And at last Brawny is realizing that he's getting just what he deserves. I hope that Tolly is not too traumatized by this--but as for Sam, I expected no less. He'd not leave Tolly to face it alone, and he loves little Faramir himself. A very grim, and yet somehow satisfying, chapter. Well done, dear! Author Reply: Huh, was in the middle of answering this when my Internet crashed. Um. It is hard! I think I learned from your example, though. Perhaps "Red" is one of the ruffians who ran across your Ted Sandyman. (Perhaps not. I'm not going to go back and read that story to look for parallels. Powerful, but I'm filled up-to-here with darkness and need to seek the light.) Tolly, I think, will not be so traumatized by the hanging as he might have been. After all, the hanging itself was a mercy, compared to what might have happened if the Rangers really intended to go through with the whole scenario (which I rather doubt, though if Pippin had asked it, I think they'd have done it). And Sam, well, I have a great deal of respect for that hobbit. He's seen some of the seamier side of life, and he's going to stick to Tolly like a cocklebur, until that hobbit is safely home and warm in the bosom of his family once more. (And Tolly has unexpected joy ahead--his best friend is not cold in the grave!)

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 37 on 9/1/2006
Oh my! A few hours of torment seem fair enough. Most of it - apart from the cold - was in Brawny's imagination anyway. And hearing Red beg ... I don't expect he knows the meaning of irony. And really, neither Sam'n'Tolly nor the Rangers were really going to go for the pinning them out for the crows option. (Not that the villains would know that - not having much concept of honour.) And Brawny was once rescued by a travelling conjuror? Name of Jack, by any chance? That one was offered a fair number of chances - and he did recognise his own failings. Red. Mad. By why? Pippin has his witnesses, too, who can vouch for fact that B&R will not be returning to trouble the Shire. Author Reply: Witness can be important, for closure. There'll be no Talk circulating amongst the Tooks this time, of Tolly letting ruffians go out of misguided pity. Hmm. I think the conjurer was going by the name of "Robin" at the time, but later he did use the name "Jack". And that is how the brawny man came to his knowledge of the geography of Tookland. He spent an entire spring-summer-fall wandering the Shire in the conjurer's company. Ah, yes, the Muse loves a little irony taken with her tea. (And she's had entirely too much dark chocolate, lately. Makes her savage, I think.) Thanks! (Whew, just a couple more chapters and I can call this "done" and work on Dreamflower's birthday present. And then yours, though at this rate it'll be your next birthday before you read it...)

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