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| The Time of Probing by Larner | 6 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Andrea | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 8/25/2013 |
| only the shard twisted free from the tongs, trying its best to fall again onto Frodo’s chest! Oh my! The shard is "alive" like the Ring is! Which means that it chose its way to its target independently. I don't know exactly how Arwen could find out its position, but without her help the chances for Frodo to survive would have been very small. Author Reply: I doubt that the shard is quite as "alive" as is the Ring--I imagine it to be much like a heat-seeking missile, one that seeks to follow through on the target that it has been tuned to until it can go no further, and then going inert as its programming can no longer be followed. By seeing the shard and perhaps the position of whatever tool was in her father's hand at the same time through the use of scrying and so advising her father as to the one instant when the shard would be in the clear, I'd think it would be much like surgeons today using microfiber cameras to locate obstructions so that they can pinpoint the cutting and do as little ancillary damage as possible. I agree--with this kind of help, Frodo's chances for survival were so much stronger! Thanks so! | |
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 8/6/2013 |
| A very realistic and dramatic vision of what Tolkien only hinted at. The evil shard truly has a will of its own. Author Reply: I suspect that the shard, as was true of the Ring, had its orders and sought however it could to see it done. And it was good to join others in looking at this seminal moment in Frodo's life. Thanks so much, Linda. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 8/4/2013 |
| Elrond suddenly gave the Wizard a piercing look. “Do you know,” he asked, his voice barely muffled by the cloth over his lower face, “what has been twisted in order for the Morgul knives to do their work?” Gandalf looked surprised and puzzled by the question. “No, I must say that I do not. Why?” Elrond shrugged. “We know that the Enemy cannot create anything new, but can only twist what was there already as part of the original Song of Creation. There must be some other process that was twisted to cause the victim to become a wraith. Also, from what realm was the wraith world wrested?” A fascinating exchange, and one I hope you intend to expand upon, whether in this story or another! Author Reply: Actually, I have expanded upon this, in "Filled with Light as with Water" and "Reunion." Although there will be some comments on it in the Author's Notes. Gandalf saw a bit of transparency about Frodo on his first awakening, and foresaw that Frodo would not come to harm but might in time become as a vessel of glass filled with light for eyes to see that can. This indicates that the intention of the spell of the Morgul shard was turned from evil to whatever proper process had been twisted to empower the Nazgul's cursed blades, and that in the blessed transformation the individual subjected to the process apparently became increasingly a creature of Light. It has always been my fancy that Earendil underwent this process as a result of wearing the Silmaril in the Nauglamir to find his way to Valinor, and that Frodo thus followed the example of the Mariner. And in my-verse the Wraith-world was created by seeking to usurp a portion of the Realm of Possibilities, and that the Rings of Power allowed their wearers to enter this realm in order to find the portions of the Song that allowed the works of their imagination to be made manifest. With Frodo freed from the curse of the Morgul blade he could enter the proper Realm of Possibilities as would an Elf Lord, once he realized this was possible to him, and in my-verse he used it to color and make more life-like the clay figures he took to constructing in his later years on Tol Eressea. Thanks so, Dreamflower! | |
| Antane | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 8/4/2013 |
| I am glad that Frodo's kin go to be there beforehand. All that suspense and dread and then it was over. Thank God! Wasn't expecting the shard to have a life of its own and try to get back in. Dear me. I wonder indeed where it came from, what part of the Song had to be warped... Namarie, God bless, Antane :) Author Reply: How the shard came to have that much autonomy I'm not certain--it's one of the parts of the story that wrote itself, I found. It is interesting to explore the Master's world and to figure such questions out, isn't it? Thanks so, Antane! | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 8/4/2013 |
| Whew! It took the skill and dedication of many to see the shard rendered purposeless, in the same way it took many to see the Ring to its destruction. I love this line: the thought that they might not be able to assure him of their love had been driving him to distraction. Author Reply: I suspect that at this point Merry could more easily imagine Frodo dying than could Pippin, and I'm certain he would be in a terror at the thought of Frodo not being reassured at the last moment of the love they all had for him. And, yes, I think it took the work of many to see the shard conquered. And I'd not realized that what you say is true--it took the work of many to save Frodo, to re-empower Narsil, to see the Ring to Its destruction, and to best Sauron and Mordor. Thanks for that perception! | |
| UTfrog | Reviewed Chapter: 11 on 8/4/2013 |
| You do such a good job describing the tension. We know the shard was successfully removed, yet you made the surgery so real that we wondered if it would be. Great story. Author Reply: Thank you so, UTfrog. I'm so glad to know that I was able to convey just the atmosphere I'd hoped to describe! | |