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Stirring Rings by Larner	10 Review(s)
Radbooks	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/24/2006
Oh, this was fun to read! How the hobbits left their homelands and headed west towards their eventual new homes in the Shire. I also liked reading about the three different types of hobbits... I've read of that before, but you made it clearer somehow... someway. I enjoyed the fact that some of them got to go to Rivendell and see Elrond. I assume that Bilbiolo of Makers of Bags is one of the ancestors of Bilbo Baggins? :) Author Reply: Apparently you're now caught up with school starting and all. Good to see you back! I've tried to imagine what the three lineages would have been like from Tolkien's descriptions, and so this came out. So glad you feel this helps you see it all better. And yes, Bilbiolo is an ancestors to Tooks, Bagginses, Brandybucks, and Sackvilles. Someone else wrote a short story in which Elrond first met a Hobbit entering Eriador, and so I tried to imagine what kind of time such Hobbits must have known in the crossing of the passes. And you know, I hope as well as I do, what wildfires and avalanches can do, as close as we live to the mountains ourselves.

Linda Hoyland	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/20/2006
A most enjoyable snapshot of Hobbit history. Author Reply: Thank you, Linda. Now to get the next chapter quite finished and posted.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/18/2006
Probably just as well Saruman was busy making life worse for men ... Gandalf makes a much better friend for the hobbits. Mind you, Saruman was far too tallist to recognise that such a small people could play such a large part in the history of Middle-earth. A bit like fearing that mosquitos killed more people than lions - oh, hang on a moment ... Author Reply: I love the idea that Saruman is "tallist" and agree with that evaluation myself. But just as Sauron overlooked the importance of Hobbits, so far Saruman has done so as well. But that we are more afraid of the rare lion than the apparently inoccuous mosquito that so often carries disease such as malaria and Nile disease and other nasties is such a reality; and so we avoid drinking the liquor in the martini and choke on the olive! Heh! But I like to think that for the longest time Saruman didn't even think about Hobbits until he realized they'd been involved in finding, safeguarding, and eventually carrying the Ring to its destruction. Too bad he couldn't have continued unaware of them, of course.

Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/17/2006
Ah, how interesting! I've hoped for a while that someone would look more closely at the Hobbits' coming to Eriador, and this is very real. The'yre very different from the folk of the Shire that we see in the LOTR trilogy itself, and yet very like them, somehow. And Bilbiolo is obviously an ancestor of Bilbo and Frodo! :) Of the makers of bags, is he? Very clever. I've read that many sirnames came to be because of the trade of the family or group of people. And Gandalf is already fond of this Hobbit. :) God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: Of course these are different from their distant descendants, for they've not yet become "manified," if you will. There's quite a bit of time before the Hobbits of Eriador become those we are more familiar with in Bree and the Shire. So far they remain largely hidden, and rarely have much to do with the Big Folk save to trade for the moment; although they are quite hospitable, of course. And, of course, Gandalf is already fond of this Hobbit, and it will forever color his interactions with the race, I think. Place names, the names of fathers, identifying features, and names of professions were very common sources of surnames. My nick comes from the Alvin Maker stories by Orson Scott Card and reflects my profession as it did for Peggy; my maiden name came probably from one of my ancestors owning the property through which a stream or river ran shallowly enough to allow it to be forded, and he probably collected a toll on those who used that ford; my mother's maiden name probably came from the family tendency to produce rather short and slightly built men who tend to appear dark, a description that certainly fit my grandfather and is the translation of the name "Blynn," and all you have to do is look at how Sam's family name first was Gamwidge, the village from which they originally came, shifted to Gamgee, and then was changed completely to Gardner to see how names have been known to change if someone is best known for a particular thing such as being the most consummate of gardeners that was ever born.

shirebound	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/16/2006
"The Coming of the Periannath" jumps with joy Oh Larner, what a fascinating history you're weaving. You make it so easy to see the evolution and migration of these very special folk. Indeed, arriving in Middle-earth in the Third Age, only knowing the evils of fire or plague (and not war or betrayal), they would be a Race -- in spirit and outlook -- very different from any other. Author Reply: Oh, am so glad you appreciate it, Shirebound! Thank you! And the coming of the Hobbits to Eriador must have been done quietly for most of the rest of the folk there to remain basically unaware of it for so long, and not to consider them dangerous or likely to take over their territory or try to exploit them earlier than happened. That they would have hidden themselves in the early days seemed therefore likely. And in coming west as they did so quietly, they managed to slip right under the radar of Mordor.

Lúmë	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/16/2006
If all history lessons were so nice to read, I'd have done better in history in school ;-) So that's where the Bagginses came from, and that's where their long history with Gandalf began! I was going to comment on the "my sister" / "your sister" thing but I see Kitty's beaten me to it :-) Author Reply: I caught that error in my rereading of that chapter that night to my client who loves my stories, and have it corrected now. Man, I embarrass myself sometimes! And I like to think that Gandalf and the progenitors of the Bagginses and Tooks would have hit it off from early one. Am so glad you approve.

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/16/2006
So the family connection goes back a very, very, very long way does it. I have a vague memory of a comment in the book to the effect that Gandalf knew more of their history than did the hobbits themselves and so we see it is true and Elrond as well. Lovely history lesson Larner! Author Reply: Yes, Gandalf knows a good deal the Hobbits themselves don't remember; and I do like to think that the earliest of Gerontius's and Bilbo's lines would have appreciated Gandalf very much, and that the associations would continue for a very long time. So glad you approve!

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/16/2006
Nice expansion of Tolkien's history of the hobbits! Bilbiolo son of Forodor of the village of Makers of Bags And he loves stars? Well, that has to be one of the ancestors of Bilbo Baggins of Bad End and his heir Frodo :) Lovely story, and I enjoyed the meeting between Bilbiolo and Gandalf. No wonder Gandalf knew his hobbits so well if the acquaintance goes so far back in the history of hobbits! Oh - Gandalf was intrigued. "If your father is a Fallohide and your sister’s husband dislikes those of the different clans, how is it he came to marry my sister you mean 'your sister', not Gandalf's sister (though I would love to meet one grin) Author Reply: I think that the Old Took and Bilbo would both see parts of themselves in Bilbiolo, and probably Frodo, also. It said in the book Gandalf knew more about the true history of Hobbits than the Hobbits themselves; and so I thought I'd work on that one. I caught that error as I was reading from the original text to my client who loves my stories, and corrected it yesterday before I had time to read your note. Am grateful for your heads up, of course. Typos are us, it appears!

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/16/2006
An interesting account of hobbit-kind! I really like the distinctiveness you draw of the Fallohides, and the parallels, of course, to our lads in later years. And of course, a very fateful meeting, though we do not see here if Gandalf had any particular foresight as to how fateful. But of course, his fascination remains. Of course, you know, it would be interesting to see a lot more tales of these early hobbits, and the poor son of Ortholo. hinthint* Author Reply: Oh, there are more stories coming within this one, of course. But these blasted plotbunnies are doing their best to run the nuzguls off, I find! Please bear with me! And thanks so much for the feedback. Am so glad this view of how the Hobbits might have lived east of the mountains and why they came west into Eriador is so well received. Have based the wildfires and drought effects on our experiences here with the coastal ranges--so many serious fires tend to spring up just over the Cascades from us there in the rainshadow; and I myself live in a small rainshadow valley of the Olympic Mountains and see so markedly how just a few miles and degrees of angle can completely change the climate from one area to the next.

French Pony	Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 9/15/2006
Oh, a fateful meeting indeed! Having Elrohir meet the traveling party is a nice reminder of just how old Elves can be. Elrond's sons are born and grown up by the time that Hobbits make their first appearance west of the mountains, events that are ancient history to Bilbo and Frodo. Interesting derivation of the names, by the way. Kind of reminds me of the work that Edward Rutherford does in his novels about English history. Author Reply: I don't think I've read any Rutherford, so must look into his works now. But I know from other research how surnames often came to be applied, and this seemed a logical indication of how Bilbo sprang from the Bagginses. Tolkien himself indicates that the Gaffer's family came from Gamwidge, and that in time the placename for his hometown came to be his last name, corrupted to Gamgee, only to be overwhelmed by Gardner as a result of his most famous son's avocation. And I felt that one of Elrond's sons, being about nine hundred years old or more at the time, was the perfect Elf to first become aware of the invasion of Hobbits into Eriador. And it does show how Elves endure for centuries, in spite of the twins' age in comparison to so many others of their kind of whom we know to be living in ME at the time. Thanks so much for the response.

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