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The King's Commission  by Larner 11 Review(s)
FreyalynReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 8/22/2014
I've just been re-reading this over the past few days - and have shed a tear or two at the end of it. Lovely, lovely writing - beautiful characters and situations, and as I'm sure I've mentioned to you before, as a knitter/spinner/dyer/sewer, I delight in the detail you put in about such crafts. Thank you so much for sharing your tales with us.

Szepilona10Reviewed Chapter: 999999 on 8/26/2012
So, I just finished reading this for the umpteenth time...it might be my favorite of your stories...but there are a few stories competing for that title (this, Lesser Ring, and Tenant...well, mostly anything with rangers :D). I was at work today (at our local university's cafeteria...not glamorous, but when you're a senior in high school, you take whatever job you can get :P) and I saw a man who was Exactly as I imagine Ruvemir; he had his stature, beard, everything! (though, the glasses weren't exactly Middle-Earthy ;)) Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how much I still enjoy (re)reading your stories, 4+ years after discovering them :)

~Szepilona~

TiggerReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 6/11/2012
I have spent the last week or so re reading both Lesser Ring and this. I can't explain why either. Just that I had that kind of a "feeling" I needed to revisit Ruvemir again. And what a lovely re visit it was too. :o)

Now...I have a couple of plot bunnies to sic on you. If you're willing that is. :oD

First...I'd love to know just what The Royal Family of Harad ended up recieving as an addition to the Family. A Prince or a Princess? Also what Aragorn and Arwen's reaction to the news, which I have no doubt Aragorn saw happening in the Palantir, and what gifts they sent to newborn and Family. Also Pippin's reaction, as he was there when the announcment was made there was a new baby on the way.

Speaking of newborns...I'm a Great Auntie!! My niece Lisa had a lovely and healthy baby boy on Saturday and they've named him Parker. The first Grandchild for my Sister and Brother in Law and first Great Grandchild for my Mom and Judy's Dad.

If you could pass that news along to everyone over at LJ, I'd really appreciate it. Yes, I'm still having problems w/it, but now I think it's just due to how old this computer is and my slower than slow still on Dial Up connection thanks to being in Rural Canada. I did get a laptop earlier in the Spring, and it works wonderfully in the real world where there's High Speed/WiFi, but there's no connection I can see for the plug in for a modem connection. I may just be missing it, but I don't think so.

The next time I'm over at my Sister's though, I plan on posting a very long catch up post over there. Not sure when that'll be though. Anyway...

Second plot bunny!! You mention during the Feast for both the New Year and to celebrate the dedication of the Memorial Elanor had pride of place at the table beside Aragorn in honour of it also being her Birthday. I can't help but wonder just what she was thinking or feeling at that moment. I'd think it would be quite the experience for any child, but especially for a Hobbit child.

Okay then...I'm either still your friend or you're ready to throttle me...LOL!! :oD

As always, I so enjoyed both of these stories and keep enjoying whatever you share w/us of your newer stories whenever I see a new posting of yours on the main page here. Hope you have a fantastic Summer and I'm sure it'll come to no surprise at all to you I'm counting the days until a certain cauldron's lit in London in a few weeks time. ;o)

Take Care and ((((HUGS))))

SoledadReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 2/15/2008
Hi Larner,

I finally got around to read this one - it's quite marvellous. I like your main character a great deal, and I love what you've done with the various cultures of Rhun, Harad and so on. I was glad to recognize several oringinal characters from your other stories. Your private little corner of the Ardaverse is a lovely one indeed.

Author Reply: Thanks so much, Soledad. Ruvemir grew on me throughout the writing of this story. He appears also in "Lesser Ring" and "The Ties of Family," and will soon appear in another short story, I hope. Someone loved how his work appeared in "Reconciliation" and wants a tale on the Storyteller statue, so am working on that at the moment.

Reviewed Chapter: 999999 on 5/6/2007
Wow! Truly epic!
Now that I see the questions that yuo've asked yourself, I understand where you got your inspiration for this tale. (Novel?)
I admire your dedication in writing such a long story- thank you for sharing your amazing work.

Author Reply: Oh, I have written a couple true novels--this and "The Acceptable Sacrifice"--indeed, "The Ties of Family" and "Lesser Rings" also are decent novel length as well, I think. Most of mine tend to get a bit wordy, I fear.

And thank you for reading this and obviously enjoying it. Ever since the day Ruvemir crawled out of the space where the drawer is missing in my waterbed pedastal, he's continued a part of my view of post-LOTR Middle Earth.

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 3/28/2006
Yes, I've devoured the rest of this story. It just so happened that I was fortunate enough to wake up this morning with the really bad cold everyone has around here lately, and so got to finish this today. I meant to stop and review chapters I liked several times, but when I enjoy something, I read really fast.

Now. I don't know how you do it, but it seems you can write a story about anything you like--let it be as thrilling and full of happiness as you please--and I can still be crying at the end...and it's always the very last chapter that does it, except for "For Eyes..." in which it's the last several chapters. I also admire the way you wrote Ruvemir's good-bye to Aragorn. "I won't be leaving on my feet this time." That cuts to the heart, and I was just about to protest, "No! Why does he have to die?" But there is a peacefulness about that scene that stopped me short before I'd finished the thought. He'd led a full life, after all, filled to overflowing with love and blessings, and in the end the physical difficulties he had such a hard time dealing with at times didn't keep him from anything good or worth having. I think that's how it is with a lot of so-called disabilities; I've heard, more times than I care to count, one or another of my relatives or maybe family friends, saying (generally indirectly) that I miss a great deal of joy because I don't see this and that. I don't think so. Oh yes, there are times when I'd like to see what something looks like, for writing purposes usually, but that's what the imagination is for. And there are times when I'm thankful to be blind. And as to what you said about acceptance, sometimes we whom some seem to see as so different have a hard time being accepted, so of course it's natural that we should accept one another, no matter what our differences.

Now I'm going to try to backtrack here. That was a very, very clever plan to catch Landrion, very clever indeed! It was almost amusing, and would have been if not for what came after. He might have deserved it, but I don't like the thought of anyone, no matter how vile, being tortured to death, and I don't even want to think about how it was done.

Ivarnon really must have been drunk, and rather ill-natured, to try something like that. I'm so glad Liana found happiness at last with one who accepted both her and Angara. And of course the romances springing up everywhere were most delightful. :)

Wonderful to see poor Mirieth healing, and Ruvemir helping her and of course all the apprentices. I think maybe Mirieth, once her health was recovered, would make an excellent foster-mother, and she needs it.

But speaking of those connected with Varondil, I must say I don't think he received enough of a punishment, and it's unfair to those in the Houses of Healing as well. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him! :( But I can see Aragorn's reasoning too and can hear him say, "Perhaps he can find some measure of healing, in time, through helping in the healing of others." Ever the compassionate one, when it's most difficult to show compassion.

It was wonderful to see the change in Celebgil as the story progressed, and seeing him at the end with his own shop and profession really brings it home just what he was saved from.

Oh, and Pippin's pranks were funny. The house was really cute, and the study transformed into a stall was hilarious! I can just see that young pony, unfastening the gate, walking right up to the door of Brandy Hall, and just striding right in when it was opened. :) And Elanor's fancy about her Uncle Frodo was very, very sweet and would have delighted him, I think.

Of course I enjoyed the full description of the memorial, too. An excellent design, and very detailed. But I must say :), if you want to do a model, you do have a task before you. Still, if/when you decide to try, I wish you luck.

To see Frodo laughing over what he was told by Gandalf in the last chapter was wonderful, though it still saddens me that he faded so that he rarely spoke. And the description of the mantle was beautiful.

A wonderful story as always, and a perfect ending. I've really enjoyed this, meeting these intriguing original characters and revisiting the familiar and already-beloved ones, and following them and especially Ruvemir, on a kind of quest of their own.
God bless,
Galadriel

P.S. You know, it's wonderful to know I'm not the only one that has trouble with spelling, even if Thoronduil or whatever really is inexcusable! :)

Author Reply: I was very surprised to see how far you came today, and am flattered you enjoyed it so. I truly like Ruvemir--have ever since he crept out from under my bed to introduce himself to me. It's been quite a relationship, and it must be very similar to what Tolkien felt when he suddenly found Boromir's brother stepping out of Ithilien to enter his story. He wrote to his son how this character had pushed his way into the story, and that he found he liked him immensely, and I find myself the same way with Ruvemir.

Tolkien admitted his own story was focused on our relationship with death, and that Frodo and Sam certainly should have died there on Mount Doom. But for the one who formulated "the Gift of Iluvatar" I feel he must have been more comfortable with death than he perhaps realized directly; and so I prefer to see my characters fairly happy when their times come. Certainly in "Light on the Way" Aragorn isn't particularly worried about what he'll find on the other side, he's quite happy about it, and grieves only for the way it will tear at his beloved Arwen. And in "The Choice of Healing" when you read it you will find Frodo and Sam accepting the Gift very gently and with humorous anticipation.

Ruvemir has had a good life, and he's not only not afraid of dying, I suspect he's looking forward to standing in the Presence and thanking Eru for the chance to do what he's done. And the chance to see Frodo himself must have been too good to miss in his eyes.

I felt I was quite ruthless enough with Landrion that I could allow Varondil a good long time to appreciate what he'd done. Landrion knew what would happen if he ever got caught and must have known the chances were strong he would get caught one day; for Varondil, I doubt seriously he ever thought anyone in authority would catch on. And handling bedpans I hope will help him indeed to build character.

So glad you appreciated Pippin's new level of practical jokes--jokes intended to delight as much as to bewilder, I think. And I do think Cyclamen and Elanor would have fun figuring out how Uncle Frodo manages from day to day in the miniature Hobbit house in the garden.

Anyway, whatever you decide to read next, enjoy it.

grumpyReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 3/19/2005
Hi! Just wanted to say how much I totally enjoyed reading your story, I looked forward to each and every chapter. Your story was wonderful, loved how you weaved together Ruvemir and Aragorn with the other characters and their stories.
As a great fan of the rangers of the north, I really liked how you wrote about Aragorn's kin, Hardorn, Halladan and Gilfileg, whom I am glad to know is now looking for a wife.
thanks for the great story!

Author Reply: Well, the Rangers of the North are important, too.

So glad you followed through on the entire story and found it so satisfactory. Thank you.

KittyReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 3/17/2005
Now it is truly over ... *sigh*
It was a very touching end for this story, and it was not so sad as I had feared. In the contrary, I was glad Ruvemir got a glimpse of Frodo, and I loved the idea with the cloak. Hopefully they will meet in the West again and have the chance to talk, it would be so nice for Ruvemir to get to know Frodo personally.

Thank you again for sharing this wonderful story! I will wait eagerly for more from you, and in the meantime I am reading your earlier fics and probably re-reading this one.

Author Reply: Thank you, Kitty. It makes me weep to read it, but they are the healing tears that Aragorn knows as he goes back to find Arwen.

Mysterious JediReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 3/17/2005
Who's John Wilder?


Author Reply: I'm working on that. Look for it one day in your favorite bookstore.

sgt pepperReviewed Chapter: 999999 on 3/17/2005
::: thunderous applause :::

thank you for the last few months of highly, highly enjoyable reading!!!

Author Reply: Thank you, sgt pepper, for following it and enjoying it. I am so pleased this has been so well received.

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