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In Darkness Buried Deep  by GamgeeFest 138 Review(s)
nancylea57Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 12/15/2008
i can see where this one would put you thru the wringer but thank you for going there and getting it to its conclusion, very nice story.

Author Reply: This was challenging to write, though not for the emotional upheaval. I couldn't pin down what the story was supposed to be *about*. It eluded me for the longest time and it didn't help that my free time to write was pretty non-existant at the time. Obviously, it did finally come together. I'm glad you enjoyed the result!

RenaissanceGrrlReviewed Chapter: 17 on 1/13/2006
*sob*

There's only one word: Beautiful.

Author Reply: Thank you! I'm glad you liked this. I was a bit worried about this jump in time and place, but it seems to have worked. Thanks for reading!

RenaissanceGrrlReviewed Chapter: 16 on 1/13/2006
"Only because I'm so sneaky." This, for some reason, particularly cracked me up. Teehee...

What is it with Merry being so obsessed with faces and hair?

SPAMMIT, THAT WAS A REAL TEAR!

Author Reply: Merry's a baby and baby's are always patting people's faces and pulling their hair, especially when they see someone is distraught. :)

Yes! I made you cry! Now you can't say you've never cried reading a fic! Muahahahahaha! *clears throat* :D

RenaissanceGrrlReviewed Chapter: 15 on 1/13/2006
*snerk* Some of us are already swooning. *clears throat and resumes SERIOUS review*

"Does that make me a bad son?" *sniff, sniff*

Cufflinks! I swear, the people who run the stores around here don't know what they are either. I ran all over Mountain Home looking for a pair for my dad for Christmas. Even the JEWELRY store only had two pairs!!! O_o Not that that has ANYTHING to do with the story, lol...

Yay! Woot for mending friendships!

RenaissanceGrrlReviewed Chapter: 14 on 1/13/2006
I just realized that I hadn't posted these! Sorries! O_O


See, I put my break to good use. ^_^

It's actually been documented (over and over) that couples who had thought they couldn't have children suddenly conceived after adopting, so Merry being born after Frodo's arrival is entirely believable.

The only question this leaves me with is, if this happened, then why did Frodo leave later to live in Bag End? Not that Bag End isn't the world's coolest house and all (ignore the fangirlish squee right about here), but what I always got from the books was that Frodo got lost among all his cousins and moved in with Bilbo to gain some quiet and one-on-one attention.

Author Reply: The theory is that the couples put so much pressure on themselves to have a baby that they pretty much doom themselves to *not* have a child. Once they've adopted, the pressure and stress are off, and here comes Junior nine months later. :)

That question, and more, is answered in "The Usual Suspects". ~_^ As for the book, the Gaffer might be more of an authority on the Bagginses than other hobbits in Hobbiton, but he doesn't necessarily know what happened to cause Frodo to come to Bag End. I mean, in "A Long-Expected Party", he goes on and on about Gorbadoc Brandybuck and how he ran the Hall, but if you look at the family trees, Gorbadoc died before Frodo was even born.

PeriantariReviewed Chapter: 12 on 11/28/2005
And when he was lifted from the ground, he thought himself floating upon a cloud or perhaps upon an eagle’s back, far above the earth and with no fear of falling.

Lovely foreshadowing~ i loved, so very loved the whole ethereal dialogue that you have in this part. "aww Frodo! hang in there!"
And i love Sam's song from Cirith Ungol put in there too--i love that bit from the books so much. :)

Author Reply: I think I overdo the foreshadowing at times in my stories, but I just can't help myself. This one though was very much intentional, as were most of the others. In fact, I think there was only one unintentional foreshadowing, and that was Frodo's words to Gil after getting out of the forest, about how "all he did" was go somewhere everyone else had the sense to stay out of and how that isn't courageous. Frodo never could see or appreciate how strong he really is.

The Cirith Ungol song is easily my favorite, and is obviously where I got the title for this story from. It was only fitting that it be included here, especially since it was Sam who was to be Frodo's protector.

PeriantariReviewed Chapter: 5 on 11/28/2005
aww poor Frodo~ All those feelings of fear and worry and loneliness and then Gil's little taunt really spurred him on to do something that no one would think he would do...
And the description of the forest was really well done~ very scary atmosphere you built, and it was very effective.
oh poor Frodo. :(
::goes to hug him tight::
(yes sorry, i'm reviewing backwards. :P)

Author Reply: I never had anyone review backwards before, lol. That was kind of fun! :P

Gil's taunt was the final straw, in many respects. It would, eventually, have come to something like this, if not quite so dire. Frodo could only have buried those feelings for so long before it got the better of him. But it all came out for the better in the end. ^_^

I reread parts of "The Old Forest" chapter in LOTR before writing this, and it helped me to anchor it down. I didn't want to go too above what Tolkien had described, but I did want it to be more frightening, simply because we were seeing it from Frodo's perspective. A child is going to see and experience things differently from an adult, and they often overexaggerate what is really happening (another reason the forest seems more mild and tame when the searchers go through).

periantariReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/28/2005
That bit with Frodo trying to get the fruit and realizing it's poison was so suspensful and so well-written. I was getting scared fro Frodo and was just... omg, "no Frodo don't eat the fruit!"
poor, poor Frodo. :(

Author Reply: At least Frodo learned a valuable lesson (one of many). He won't be popping mysterious fruits into his mouth again. He'll take care to look at what he's eating.

Suspense just seems to come to me most easily for some reason. Maybe because I like it so much. ^_^ This was actually inspired by that old movie "The Bear" about the bear cub who's mom is shot by hunters. There's a scene in that movie where the cub eats poisonous mushrooms, and it's actually pretty cute. This is the Stephen King version of that, lol - or, should I say, the GamgeeFest version of that. And of course it couldn't be mushrooms because any hobbit would know in a heartbeat if a mushroom was safe or not.

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 17 on 11/27/2005
That was perfect! I love how Frodo just knew at that moment that Sam was his protector. I do so hate to see this one end for so many reasons but I do think that this was a perfect ending for it. I hope that Gil, Piper, Edon, and your other OC's will make future appearances in other stories because I became attached to them. This was a lovely story!

Author Reply: Perfect? Oh, my. *blushes*

Frodo has suspected for quite a while that it was Sam (perhaps that's why he caved and let Sam come with him to Mordor?), but to have it confirmed in that moment, his darkest hour thus far, did much to give him back a bit of his strength and resolve.

Look for Fendi and Morti to make appearances in my next story, and Gil will get an honorable mention. I do have plans to bring at least Gil back, and Edon and Piper will have roles to play if I ever get around to writing that Quest fic I've been talking about forever. I've become quite attached to them as well, and I'll be looking for ways to bring them back.

Thank you so much for reading this and for your wonderful support throughout! I'm glad you enjoyed it. ^_^

Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 16 on 11/27/2005
I nearly cried when I read the scene with Frodo and the little boat. Such a fitting way to say a proper good-bye to his parents. I wonder if he ever told Merry about it later on? Simply lovely.

Author Reply: Thank you!

The little boat was a last minute addition. The first part of this chapter was originally the epilogue, but as I said before, when I added the song earlier in the story, I then wrote a new epilogue and turned this into a full-fledged chapter. I'm glad I did it, if only to give Frodo this much-needed moment of closure. He's such a thoughtful young hobbit, and he finally, with the help of his friends, figured out what he needed to do to help his parents. He couldn't go to them, but he could send them another boat.

I'm sure that Merry did eventually learn much about Frodo's years in Brandy Hall once he was older. These are things Frodo would want him to know, but he would also want to make sure Merry was old enough to understand before he sat him down and spoke to him about them.

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