| I am rereading this, the work that inspired me to start writing fanfic. Poor Lobelia, and the poor ruffians that are finding themselves responding to her commanding nature. They don't know the force they now have on their hands. To see her feeling compassion for this younger Hobbitas if he were Lotho is surprising; but then we know what will happen to Lotho all to soon. Her own foresight at work, perhaps? She, as with Frodo,is now showing a natural authority that these poor Men don't know how to refuse. |
I do enjoy your knack for writing scenes from several points of view. Here you focus on Lobelia's righteous indignation. She definitely knows what is right and what is not. It doesn't matter that Fatty, lying on the floor of the cell, reminds her of her son - he is not being treated justly and it is to her credit that she insists something be done about it. She, and her deadly umbrella, will brook no interference with putting things right. The telling line is, "Young Lobelia hadn’t been one afraid to get her hands dirty, though she hadn’t had to do so in quite awhile." I think of the oft-told assertion that a bully will back down when confronted by strong resistance from a potential vicitm, even when the victim is much smaller. The ruffians prove the point here. I suppose that Bilbo and Frodo can be forgiven now for never finding the exact way to deal with Lobelia, as the ruffians can't figure it out either. It makes one wonder what things would have been like, had someone found a way to harness Lobelia's energy to kinder ends, for all those miserable years.
I'm looking forward to seeing the encounter with Saruman from Lobelia's perspective as well. |
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