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| When the King Comes Back ( Brandy Hall ) by Dreamflower | 4 Review(s) |
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| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 12/15/2007 |
| Am reading through this for the MEFAs, and I apologize for not leaving a review every chapter. However, this chapter caught at me especially. All are telling what happened to a selected audience; now, to convince them. Pippin's tossed-away explanation--no, that would never have gone over well with his dad! Poor lad--ruled DEAD! And now it's not orcs but true Men he's had to fight.... | |
| Gryffinjack | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 12/24/2005 |
| I really am enjoying how you keep showing what the different hobbits are doing at the same moment. The Brandybucks are a practical lot, dealing with the logistics of feeding so many mouths with winter coming on. I find it very interesting to see how all of the Brandybucks do seem to have common personality traits, such as this one. They really do seem like one large family and the cousins do seem like cousins. And the relationship between Merry and his parents is spectacular! The way Saradoc lauds so much praise on Merry in front of others is every kid's dream come true. Very nice establishment of the continuing problems our Travellers face with the way Pippin feels crowded at the Great Smials. I am sure Merry will also feel awkward under so many staring eyes and of course Frodo and Sam want none of the attention in the first place. Your attention to canon is wonderful. Pippin and Merry certainly would continue to go around armed and not afraid to use their weapons, especially while some of the ruffians might still be about. "Pippin sat breathing heavily for a moment, shaken. Then he looked at his sword. The blood was *red*, not black. He turned his face away and vomited. He wished Merry were here." While Pippin undoubtedly saw red blood on swords before, and might have even killed some of Sauron's men before and not just Orc's, this statement is extremely powerful. You really are setting up very nicely how Merry and Pippin continue to need each other and must be together. Author Reply: Merry was an only child, although of course, he'd had Frodo in his early years, and I think that made his relationship with his parents more stable than that of Pippin, who had three big sisters. Saradoc is a very good father, isn't he? They do have to adjust to all the attention. It's quite different from the attention and acclaim they recieved in Gondor--this is from people who knew them as children, and may have trouble reconciling that knowledge with what they are like now. Yes, that is canon, for JRRT described them as riding about in their splendid armor and livery. I'm sure that Pippin had seen red blood on swords, but am not so sure he would have killed any Men before. We know he killed orcs and a troll; Merry did slay one of the Ruffians in the Battle of Bywater, but we've no indication Pippin did. And in times of emotional stress, Pip's *always* going to wish for Merry's presence. Merry Christmas! | |
| Pervinca | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/22/2004 |
| Oh, I'm so glad you've written this story from Merry's point of view too! I like the way you've written in scenes that were only hinted at in Pippin's version. Now I'm hoping to have the story where Sam tells Rosie what happened! (Btw, loved the idea of Frodo telling the Gaffer about Sam's deeds. I've used that myself in a story, because I can't see Sam telling his Dad himself, but I'm quite certain Frodo would have done the deed for him). Please continue soon! Author Reply: What really got me started on this one was several scenes that came to my mind while I wrote the other one--even though I was cutting in some Merry and Frodo POV, I was trying to keep it mainly for Pippin, but I didn't want to lose those scenes. It just seemed right to me that the hobbits are telling those closest to them of their experiences. I know a lot of authors have them never talking about it at all, but I think, especially in Merry's and Pippin's case, that their families would have wanted to know. In Frodo's and Sam's case, it would have been each of them trying to bolster the other. | |
| Grey Wonderer | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/22/2004 |
| Poor Pippin! He thinks it's over and yet it's not. Now he will have nightmares for certain. Hope the food probelm in Buckland is soon solved as it sounds more serious than they seem to be letting on to Merry. Author Reply: I just checked the story, and a whole paragraph got put in the wrong place. I'm not sure what I did there, but I think I fixed it now. Yes, Pippin and Merry are still going to be clearing out ruffians for a while; I also wanted to show that there would be a different reaction to killing a "person" ( as shown by the red blood ) to that of killing one of the "wicked races" such as Orcs and trolls, that had black blood. Although Tolkien seemed to indicate that Merry slew one of the ruffians in Bywater, I don't recall Pippin ever killing anything but orcs and a troll during the Quest. | |