News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| Stirring Rings by Larner | 12 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 4/29/2012 |
| Oh wow! I have finally had the free time to catch up on your repost this afternoon-- I can definitely see that you've made some significant changes, and yet it still retains its flavor. I look forward to seeing more of it! Author Reply: I'm glad to hear from some of those who are following the repost. Yes, a few important changes, but most much as they'd been before. Thanks to Fiondil for his assistance! | |
| curiouswombat | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 4/29/2012 |
| I do like this as a beginning for the hobbits' tradition of red signatures and seven witnesses for legal documents. Author Reply: I'm so glad you do. It was fun to figure out why and how these traditions started. And I did do a short story on the reaction of the Travellers when they realized how this started, beginning the series of tales in "'Neath Anor, Ithil, and Gil." That, too, was fun to write! | |
| Aiwen | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 2/25/2009 |
| This is really excellent. It fills in holes in the early history of the hobbits and the Istari very well. Thank you for writing - it is stories like this that keep me reading fan fiction. Author Reply: I note that I failed to respond to this comment when you wrote it. I've loved the thought of Middle Earth and how much care Tolkien put into creating it. Now I've begun reworking this story, and I hope to get it posted fully this time. I know I can do it--it's a matter of staying with it this time. I hope you will like the changes I make, although most of the basic tale will stay much the same. Thanks so much for your comments. I'm just sorry I never responded before, and that I let the tale languish so! | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 11/7/2006 |
| I like your account of the founding of the Shire,thank Goodness the Hobbits survived the dark years Author Reply: Am so very glad you appreciate it, Linda. Yes, somehow they survived, and apparently in hiding even then. The Creator must have found a lot to love in these small children. | |
| Kitty | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 11/7/2006 |
| I fear I love the chapters with the hobbits much more than the ones with Saruman, at least at the moment. The hobbits don't make me silently fuming through most of the chapter; on the contrary, I love them - but I find it difficult to stomach Saruman ;( And I love the way you use the names to make clear who their descendants will be, changing the familiar ones just so much that it is easy to recognise them. Well, the bad men had underestimated the hobbits quite a bit, and the hobbits showed a great presence of mind, considering the way how they first defeated themselves and then sent for help to Dorlath. You found a lovely way to connect this in the end with Argeleb granting them the Shire. Bless him - he did all of Middle-earth a great favour, even if he couldn't know it then. And Gandalf had a hand in it, too - why am I not surprised? And of course I was grinning widely about the way you invented the red ink and the seven witnesses. So it was simple coincidence what became so important to the Shirefolk hundreds of years later :D Author Reply: Yes, the tendency to fume when Saruman is present does frustrate one, doesn't it? And we do need to see also how the Hobbits become what they become in the end, for in many ways they are the charge given to Gandalf even he fails to fully appreciate, as the Creator often keeps His own counsel. And, from a seed planted long before the gift of the Shire is made, and once again Gandalf has done precisely what was needed at the right time to set things in motion for the need that comes. As for underestimating Hobbits--that is too much of a temptation for most folk, I think. A dangerous thing to do, of course--ask the Witch King of Angmar! | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 11/6/2006 |
| Ah, the official granting of the Shire - a moment in Middle-earth history that is seldom visited in fanfic, but possessing great significance. It's fitting that Gandalf should be involved, he's got friends all over the place, and a special fondness for the Periannath. Interesting and appropriate origin of the name Took. Author Reply: It's a terrifically important moment in its way for the manner in which history plays out fourteen hundred-some later, so I think it ought to get some play of its own. And when we're looking at how names develop, how ELSE could the family have earned its name? It had to be some similar situation, I'd think. | |
| SurgicalSteel | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 11/3/2006 |
| I just loved this - beautifully done, and I think entirely realistic that the granting of the Shire would've been more to answer a 'what do we do with this piece of land?' question from the standpoint of the Men involved. Author Reply: Oh, I agree. And Gandalf was able to pave the way for that land to be granted to a people that would love and nurture it and bring it to fulfillment. Thanks so much for letting me know how much you enjoyed it. | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 11/2/2006 |
| This chapter is so full of nice little touches, like the signing of the contract with seven witnesses in red ink, that I can't begin to appreciate them all at on reading. The aversion to killing is evident even this far back in hobbit history. I love the true seeing; Gandalf's gentle priming but leaving it for the King to do the right thing at the right time and your clever use of names that act as linguistic roots for those we are much more familiar with. Got to run off to work again and then down the motorway! Mum is now back on complete bedrest except for her morning shower and dinner. But that means being hoisted four times a day and isn't going to help the sores either! I really don't see how these are going to heal in the home environment. (sorry - not feeling very happy this morning - thanks for the lift of the story.) Author Reply: We know the Hobbits did their best to be pacifistic; and I do believe even then they wouldn't kill unless there was no other choice in protecting their own. Frodo experienced prescient dreams, and it's likely this was true in his Took forebears; that there might have been children such as Snowdrop is likely. I know that particularly when I was younger I had my share of prescient dreams, although most were focused on conversations I eventually took part in. Frustrating to have a gift that foretold only a couple truly important happenings, neither of which I could interpet until they happened. The Istari were supposed to be counselors, and evidence is Gandalf worked alongside folks once they were committed. I'm certain he would have primed Argeleb, and am only glad he followed through on it. Oh, dear, your mother is in for another winter of it. Am continuing to pray for her. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 11/1/2006 |
| What a fascinating and plausible account of just how the migrations, first to Bree, and then to the Shire, took place. I like the way you are showing the gradual evolution of the hobbit names, the origin of "the Took", and I liked the way the signing of the charter took place--inspiring the hobbits with their major legal requirement for official documents. And we see the characteristics that our main hobbits will come to inherit when the day comes. Author Reply: Oh, am so glad you like it and find it plausible. And the names would have begun somewhat early, I think. As for the reason WHY for the traditions of red ink for signatures of witnesses and the number seven, well, wouldn't such a situation as this have been THE most clinching reason of all? And once I thought of who would sign the Charter, that bottle of ink was already set to fall off the table for SOME reason. Hadda be! And the three strains start forming hybrids leading to the LOTR-era family traits. | |
| eiluj | Reviewed Chapter: 13 on 11/1/2006 |
| I loved the red ink and the seven signatures! Author Reply: So glad you do. There had to be some reason why the Hobbits came up with that legal requirement, and what better precedent could there be? Thanks so much for the response. | |