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Family Matters  by Lindelea 1 Review(s)
PSWReviewed Chapter: 15 on 5/17/2025
Ah, the winter sadness. It’s a rough season to get through, and they’re just starting out! But fortunately there are more chances for them to meet (and fewer chapters left, so it has to come sometime soon 😉)!

Author Reply: After watching someone I know struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder, I think "winter sadness" works well as a hobbity name to describe the malady. (The connection between mood and light also lends itself to being adopted for literary purposes as an aftereffect of being exposed to the Black Breath. It's even strangely fitting in light of JRRT's insistence that Frodo's malady – the reason he had to sail West and could not remain in the Shire – was not physical but emotional/spiritual/psychological. I think it was in one of his letters that I read that, but I haven't been able to find it again. It made a big impression on me because I had just finished writing a long story that explained Frodo's decline and decision to sail in terms of a physical illness, and what I read in that letter of JRRT's implied to me that the story should more accurately be labeled "AU" even though I had made an effort to write as close to "canon" and the spirit of the original text as possible. Sigh.)

You're right about "sometime soon"! I do believe that the story takes a sudden turn after the next chapter! (Just peeked and yes, that's right. Things are about to get interesting.)

Thanks so much for coming along for the ride and pausing long enough to share your thoughts! I do appreciate it.

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