Stories of Arda - Lord of the Rings Fan-Fiction Archive


	About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

Relapse by Periantari	4 Review(s)
Lindelea	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 9/2/2025
p.s. Dreamflower probably explains the calendar much more clearly than I did in my previous review: http://www.storiesofarda.com/chapterview.asp?sid=4201&cid=27457 Author Reply: Thanks so much! I will check it out. :)

Lindelea	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 9/2/2025
I'd be honored to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me. If I don't answer your email within a few days, please post in a review that you sent an email so I can look for it. (I'm sorry to say that I don't always see emails... they get buried in the avalanche, so to speak.) In the text below this paragraph, I geek out (quite possibly an understatement); but here's the short version: If you set the wedding for June 1 or later, the Travellers will have time to get to Edoras even if they start out a few days after Sam's wedding, which the Tale of Years says happens on May 1. And then, if you're trying to work within Tolkien's timeline, they'll even be able to get back to the Shire before Frodo resigns as Mayor on Mid-year's day if they give themselves enough travelling time. Let's see if I can do this right (putting a link in). In case this helps: One source I consulted estimated that it was 650 miles from Bree to Edoras. I just checked the distance again, and the AI part of the search engine calculated the distance at 425 miles. (However, the calculation doesn't quite make sense, since it only cites the web page that calculates the distance at 650 miles. So I don't know if the AI misunderstood the chart it was drawing from, or what. Frustrating!) A web search on "How far can a pony go in a day" yielded the following: A typical, average pony can cover around 20-30 miles in a day, but this can vary significantly based on fitness, breed, terrain, and weather. Highly conditioned endurance ponies or wild horses might travel 30-40 miles or more, while a poorly conditioned pony may only manage 10-15 miles. Thus, if you divide 650 miles by 30 miles/day, you get about 22 days (with no rest days) travel time. I've used the distances at that web page to calculate travel times in many of my stories. It seems to have been put together with much thought and care. I've also tried to manually estimate distances from various maps and books (for example, The Journeys of Frodo) using a ruler and known distances for comparison. I am endlessly fascinated with the level of detail Tolkien incorporated into his creation. Regarding timing, I think (but I may be wrong) that Mid-summer day would be the same as Mid-year's day – the summer solstice? (I may be wrong because I've read that "equinoxes mark the start of spring and fall, while solstices mark the start of summer and winter". In that case, mid-summer comes after Mid-year's day... and I am in danger of confusing myself, LOL.) Along those lines, in one of the Appendices, Tolkien says, "It appears, however, that Mid-year’s Day was intended to correspond as nearly as possible to the summer solstice." He places Mid-year's day right around the end of the sixth month and the beginning of the seventh month. (The Shire calendar inserts two or three extra days between those months, while the Steward's calendar used in Gondor does not.) But then, maybe my thinking reflects what I've gleaned from Tolkien's writings, for in his Tale of Years he has Aragorn and Arwen marry on "Mid-year's Day", while in the text he says, "And Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undómiel in the City of the Kings upon the day of Midsummer." He seems to use the Shire calendar in the Tale of Years (the day before the wedding is called "Lithe"), so the royal wedding appears to happen on one of the extra days inserted between the sixth and seventh month on the Shire calendar. In that case, Mid-year's Day = the day of Midsummer = June 21 on our calendar or June 32 (yes, I know June only has 30 days, but I'm approximating) on the Shire calendar (and I'm arbitrarily equating "Forelithe" with "June"). (Sigh. I am such a geek when it comes to this stuff.) As a last note, Tolkien's calendar is a little offset from ours, considering that Mid-year's day (between month 6 and month 7) is the summer solstice (~our June 21), as I just mentioned; Tolkien also notes that our New Year's Day corresponds to January 9 in the Shire. At this point, I sort of give up... it gets too complicated for me to try to be precise in labeling time the way Tolkien did in his calendars, and so I fall back on the easier course of calling the sixth month "June" and the seventh month "July" even though there's not an exact correspondence. At least the calendars in the Shire and Gondor both have 12 months like our calendar, even if they differ a bit in terms of where extra days are stuck in to make the year come out right. Anyhow, the point I'm making (or trying to make) here is that "May" would still be considered "spring", and "mid-summer" appears to fall on the summer solstice according to Tolkien (or technically speaking, maybe mid-July, if you're thinking halfway between the start of summer and the start of autumn). If my reckoning is right. Numbers and I are not on friendly terms, sad to say. I find it's hard work to pin them down. Beg pardon if this is too much information. Author Reply: Thanks for the information! I love being geekly about this Middle-earth knowledge because it's so rich and so fun to make sure that we get the right distances and times. I really appreciate it. I think that if it takes about 22 days on pony, then it'll make sense to calculate about 3 weeks for the hobbits to get from Hobbiton/Crickhollow to Edoras without rest. And delaying Faramir and Eowyn's wedding would make sense if Mid-summer's day is in June. I think for my story, i had Aragorn and Arwen wed in mid June so they can be in June instead of May in order for Sam and Rosie to have their wedding first. My calendar will correspond to what Tolkien has in Appendix B so following Gondorian calculations? I do not have your email so if you can email me so i have it, it'll be great! my next draft should be emailed to you first, if you do not mind. :) periantari@gmail.com Thank you so much!

Lindelea	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 9/1/2025
Just reading the title brings a smile! The letter from Faramir and Éowyn sounds so cheerful and hopeful! And at least Edoras is not quite so far to travel as Gondor or Ithilien would be. But oh dear! Such a difficult decision! I suppose if Rosie goes with Sam, it could be considered a honeymoon... Reading on to see how they work it all out. (Some of the timing is confusing to me. A week to go from here to there! They will have to ride hard and fast, I think, from studying maps of Middle-earth to try and grasp the concept of distances, which has always been a struggle for me. And mid-May is Mid-summer's day? But then I remind myself that maybe the Gondor/Rohan calendar is different from the Shire calendar.) I love the idea of multi-day wedding celebrations both in the Shire and in Rohan. The wedding preparations sound beautiful and are filled with joy and promise. Faramir's mixed emotions are understandable. I'm so glad Imrahil notices and speaks to him about it. The description of the wedding, especially the vows they speak to each other, is wonderful. It seems very fitting that the ceremony includes honoring the dead. Faramir's dream, followed by his conversation with Frodo, is interesting. Like Faramir, I wonder if anniversaries will be easier to bear with the passage of time, the strengthening of their bonds, and the birth and growth of their children? Is Frodo foreseeing Faramir's future, just as Faramir's dreams have foretold Frodo's choice to sail? They seem very alike in spirit at this moment. This goodbye is so poignant. Sigh. I'm glad to see "TBD" at the end of the chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next! Author Reply: Thanks so much for the interesting thoughts esp. about the time that it takes for the hobbits to travel to Rohan and also the timing. I do agree that it'll take longer so i'll revise this part of the story to make it make sense. It takes a week (if you're traveling fast from GOndor to ROhan so perhaps it'll be double or even triple the time from Hobbiton to Edoras? Thanks for pointing this fact out! Regarding the time of the weddings, would it make sense to space them out even more? Tolkien did not mention exactly when Sam and Rosie wed only in the "spring of 1420" (page 1024). He was even more reticent about Faramir save the note he did in the Peoples of Middle earth when he mentioned it was 3020 in Rohan but did not give any more detail of when. I assume mid year. Faramir's dream, followed by his conversation with Frodo, is interesting. Like Faramir, I wonder if anniversaries will be easier to bear with the passage of time, the strengthening of their bonds, and the birth and growth of their children? I do think it would be easier with the passage of time but these are still tough times and it is interesting to guess on how Faramir and Eowyn handle anniversaries of their loved ones especially when the Black Breath is involved! Thank you for the kind thoughts- makes me want to answer the above questions even more by elongating the whole story. The post-Quest Faramir and how he handles the future does seem important to flesh out. :) Can i email you more thoughts?

shirebound	Reviewed Chapter: 22 on 8/30/2025
What a marvelous event, and a very moving leave-taking between Faramir and Frodo. They had bonded strongly from the very beginning. They know and would be happy for you, believe me. It’s time to make new memories now A perfect thing to say! Author Reply: Thank you so much! I liked writing these scenes so i'm glad that they worked for you. I liked the Faramir and Frodo character arc too and found that so important to talk about post-Quest. Maybe there will be more one offs after this . :)

Return to Chapter List