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All That Glisters  by Lindelea 10 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/15/2004
Very gentle and sad.

Hai TookReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/7/2004
Oh, dear that doesn't sound so good for Hilly and Posey. Maybe something can be done still though? I'm trying to remember if they ever had little ones in any of your other stories...but I can't recall any.

Oh my! Is the hermit in the boat the Pilgrim? I'm pretty sure it is, that is so neat the way you can tie so many of your stories together!

Looking forward to more, thank you!

Author Reply: I can't recall any Hilly and Posey having any little ones, either, but if anyone else recalls such, I certainly hope they'll let me know! That's the bother of having written so much; sometimes I lose track, or I lose my notes, or both!

You are very close in your guess; the hermit in the boat is not the Pilgrim, but Ulrich (or Reinadan). He's alone, now that his cousin has drowned, and is shadowed by the past: his part in tormenting the hobbits in the Lockholes. Since the birth of Elessar's son is some years in the future, Ulrich has a quite a few years of solitude ahead of him, yet.

Do you want to hear something funny? I actually went back to read the last chapter of "As the Gentle Rain" today, just to remind myself of his happy ending.

Read and commented on your Marigold's Challenge 11 piece, and wanted to let you know just in case you hadn't checked for comments today.

Thanks!

Anso the HobbitReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/7/2004
Oh, merrymaking indeed! What a leisurely time they`re all having. I loved all the conversations, ans expecially Aragorn and Merry`s. It`s not often we see them reall talk I think. I love how all Big and Little mingle together and have such a good time. sigh, I wish I could have been there :)

Author Reply: *hugs* Sounds peaceful, doesn't it, in a boat on a misty lake just before dawn? I can still hear the creak of the oars, smell the coffee being poured from the thermos, feel the chill of the air and remember the tendency for my eyes to close, still sleepy, as I wonder why I left my warm, soft bed in the first place... but it's all worth it!

Glad you stopped by and left a note.

Connie B.Reviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/6/2004
What a sweet chapter, but the ending was very sad. What's wrong with Posey? I have a few ideas, but no real clear notion.

Was the hermit(sp) the crazy guy from the story you wrote a few months back? For some reason my mind will not call up the title.

Thanks.

Connie B.

Author Reply: What are your ideas about Posey? I must admit I'm still working that plot point out.

The hermit is Ulrich, the ruffian-turned-mayor from "As the Gentle Rain". He wasn't fit for company for some time after he was freed of Saruman's influence and realised what he had done while working at the Lockholes. It took him years to come to terms with it, and finally he decided, as a sort of penance, to live alone and lonely the rest of his years... and then he had the ill fortune to save the life of the King's son, and was thrust into society once more.

Thanks!

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/6/2004
Interesting about the hermit. I loved that he suspected that Merry was Strider's son. I also love how Merry kept Pippin's secret and yet still answered the question. Enjoyed Sam in the garden with his sons and his moment of remembering Frodo too. Sad at the end and I wonder if anything can be done for her. I got the impression that the elves didn't think so. Also thought it fitting in light of what he knows that Pippin is the one that makes the toast about a short, merry life. Can't wait for more. Sorry if theis is all bunched up and rambling, but sinus headache has attacked tonight. I am lucky to be typing.

Author Reply: My goodness, even with a sinus headache you picked up on Pippin toasting the short but merry life! I thought that might be too subtle! (OTOH, sometimes I tromp too heavily and don't notice.)

Hope your headache gets better soon. Those things are miserable! And thanks for taking the time to comment even tho you're under the weather.

BeruthielReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/6/2004
What exactly is wrong with Posey? I'm afraid my brain isn't working today, I can't figure it out. Poor Hilly.

If Elladan and Elrohir can tell Posey is going to die, how come they don't seem to notice Pippin is also in worse shape than he lets on?

Nice to see the Ulrich cameo.

Author Reply: Still thinking on Posey, haven't had time to research. Some sort of chronic illness (perhaps what they used to call a "wasting illness"), likely, partly brought on by the stress of her little one's death. Happens. You can continue in relative good health and activate something that was always there, as if it was lying in wait, when you undergo extreme stress. Not consumption, I think, though it's possible. With such an infectious disease, I'd hesitate to inflict it upon the Shire. MS? Anemia? Weak kidneys? Ovarian or uterine cysts? Endometriosis--again, a painful illness and so I'm not wanting to inflict that on her and Hilly.

Who said Elladan and Elrohir haven't noticed?

Thanks!


DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/6/2004
Well, I see that poor Hilly will be losing his Posey--maybe then he goes off to sea? How sad...and of course he was so hopeful bringing her to them.*sigh*


Author Reply: *sighing along with you* Sometimes it's not fun when art imitates life.

As far as I can tell, Hilly will go off to Sea something like ten years from the "now" of this story. Of course, if I find mention of him later on the timeline I'll be happy to adjust that! But, curiously enough, he's not in any of the "later" stories set after the events of "At the End of His Rope", so far as I can tell. Tolly, yes, and Ferdi, and even Mardi, but no Hilly. Isn't that odd how that worked out?

As it is, hobbits are stubborn, and I think Posey will be around longer than even the sons of Elrond suspect, and will take joy in every moment granted her.

Thanks!

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/6/2004
There is a rhythm in this chapter of life and loss, of healing and hurts unhealed, of birth and of death. Merry is healing most obviously, and Posey will not get what she hopes for. The king is easing his cares, and the littlest Gamgees are growing in the ways of the world. The hermit will not heal for a long time, but I think that some of the age-long grief of the Elves is soothed by the brightness of hobbit spirits. Sometimes though, that natural rhythm is painful, and not even the Elves can solve all the hurts of the heart. Bad news is every healer's pain, and I feel as sorry for Elladan as I do for the hobbits, who have the comfort of knowing that even though the worst may part them, they will meet again, somewhere, sometime. A sad comfort.

Author Reply: Sad comfort, yes, for there is so much living to get through, sometimes, before the anticipated reunion! And then, from what I read in JRRT's works, the joyful reunion is not necessarily what he had in mind. But I must write such endings in the way that brings me comfort, or I couldn't write them!

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Somehow knowing that people are reading and thinking about what they are reading makes it easier to write the hard parts.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/6/2004
No, not Posey! That's cruelty to hobbits! And poor Hilly - what will become of him?

And Ulrich!? Is he going to rescue Merry and think he's saved Aragorn's son - or is he going to hang round the lake for a few more years yet?

Exciting!

Author Reply: I'm sorry. It was a struggle, hammering out exactly what would happen with that sub-plot. But Hilly will go to Sea, and I cannot see him leaving wife and child(ren) to do so. Originally according to the outline the healers were supposed to help Posey regain enough health to conceive again, but... looking at the possibilities, I think it's less hard for him to lose her, eventually, than to lose her and a child in childbirth, or to lose her and a child later on.

...at least he will not be losing her immediately. From what I can tell, his going to Sea is still perhaps ten years away. If I could find some mention of him in a story later than "Rope" (and even there, I'm not sure I mention him by name but rather by inference)... but I haven't, so I figure somewhere in the back of my head this was always the plan.

Makes me wonder if JRRT had stories for some of those hobbits in his genealogies. For one hobbit that went to Sea he has a death-date--did that hobbit return, then? For another, who "went on a journey and never returned", you have to wonder, what happened?

Ulrich was something of a cameo, just because I wanted to, and I knew he'd be there according to his back story in "Gentle Rain". He'll live as a hermit for some years before saving the King's son's life changes his life.

Arwen BagginsReviewed Chapter: 46 on 12/6/2004
Uh-oh! I don't like the sound of this! What exactly do you have up your sleeve? You've got to post it soon.

Author Reply: Which part, exactly, don't you like the sound of? The last, I imagine. Or was it the fact that the hobbit children always have a guardsman guarding them, meaning that the Big Folk are not quite so trusting as the hobbits, and possibly for good reason?

More coming soon this week, I hope. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

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