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Roast Mutton Revisited by Dreamflower	9 Review(s)
Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/29/2009
Oh poor Bilbo! I've been hoping you would do something like this, show us how you invision it actually happening. Although I was introduced to LOTR first, I became familiar with the Hobbit very soon afterward, at a very impressionable age, and I find it hard to imagine such an overall cheerful story in a dark light, though it makes perfect logical sense. This was excellently done! nudges a line of other Hobbit plot bunnies forward Author Reply: Thank you dear! It's good to hear from you again! It is difficult, sometimes to reconcile TH with LotR--they are so different in many ways. I thought this might explain some of it!

GamgeeFest	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/24/2008
That would be frightening indeed. I think I would have passed out, lol. I do like your take on this, that The Hobbit was so much more carefree, so to speak, since Bilbo narrated it that way. It keeps open the possibility that it was more frightening than Tolkien wrote it, so that others could make it more in sync with the tone of LOTR. Author Reply: That was exactly my thinking on the subject--it's clear that the evil Bilbo encountered on his Adventure was pretty dark, yet he told it in such a light and humorous manner, that it doesn't seem all that bad until you look at it objectively. I'm glad you liked it!

Kara's Aunty	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/12/2008
Hello Dreamflower, This is really delightful wee story -poor Bilbo being thrown about by those Trolls but what a sweetheart for setting the sheep free! What a great idea to expand on the book's version of this incident. You did it extremely well. The quarrelling Trolls reminded me of (very much) taller versions of Óin and Glóin - except there was no sensible Thorin to pull them apart! I enjoyed this muchly! Maureen :) Author Reply: I thought it might show a bit of both his hobbity compassion and his impulsive Tookish side, if he felt sorry for the sheep. And a sheep made a lot more sense than a talking purse. You know, I had not thought of that! But you're right! Still JRRT did describe Oin and Gloin as fighting. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/1/2008
So, the truth is out at last! grin Slowly catching up with reviews. Author Reply: At last! Yes--the three trolls were a lot worse than Bilbo let on, weren't they?

Grey Wonderer	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/26/2008
You know, I have wondered about Bilbo's trolls vs the trolls in LOTR too. If I recall this isn't your first story on the subject either. Didn't you write one in which Pippin questions Bilbo about that very thing? LOL I enjoyed this very much. Thanks for the link. Author Reply: No, it's not! The first one I wrote was one of my very earliest stories: "A Question of Trolls". I'm so glad you enjoyed it, dear!

Baggins Babe	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/26/2008
Dear Bilbo, wanting to free the sheep. Somehow that is a very hobbity thing to do, revealing the basic kindness of hobbits. Very frightening though, for Bilbo and the dwarves. Trolls are not comical I imagine, and their intentions were far from good. Glad there was resistance and thank goodness Gandalf was on hand to deceive until the sun rose. I'm sure Bilbo gave the Shire children a sanitised version of his travels but the true version probably gave him nightmares. Author Reply: Not only very hobbity, I think, but very Bilbo. He seemed to easily empathize with others--after all, he pitied Gollum! Also he was impulsive when he allowed his Tookish side to be in charge! No, I do not think trolls are comical--and yet there seemed to be a "tradition" of "comic trolls" in the Shire. (Think of "Perry-the-Winkle" or Sam's troll-song). It occured to me that Bilbo might be responsible for that perception of trolls, with his story of "Tom, Bert and Bill", who were scary enough even under their comic guise--but not nearly as scary as they would have been in person! It is easy enough to imagine how much scarier a story The Hobbit would have been if JRRT had used the same style of writing as he did in, say, RotK! But having it in Bilbo's POV, and told in his hobbity way of "making light" of serious things, it comes across as much less scary than it was.

Antane	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/22/2008
How very hobbit like to rescue that poor sheep! But I can feel Bilbo's horror too that the dwarves were captured and one of them put in the same sack where the sheep was. But all is well that ends well. :) Namarie, God bless, Antane :) Author Reply: Well, I was trying to think of something a little more "realistic" than the "enchanted purse" that would alert the trolls to Bilbo's presence--so that seemed reasonable. Yes, all was well at the end, just as in the original--but it was much more traumatic than poor Bilbo ever let on to the children of the Shire!

Soledad	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/22/2008
An interesting take on a well-known episode. I especially liked the characterization of Óin and Glóin. And the touch with the Quenya was neat. Author Reply: As I was working through the original, it told us that "Óin and Glóin began to fight", and the word "fight" seemed to me to indicate coming to blows, rather than simply arguing--the Dwarves were always arguing. I tried to imagine what would bring them to that. And I thought that perhaps Glóin might have some of that warlike belligerance we see in his son. And I remembered Gandalf at the gates of Moria, and thought that he might have used the Quenya in addition to the proclamation in the Common Speech. I'm very glad that you liked those touches. Thank you!

eiluj	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/21/2008
Very cleverly multi-layered! (And it made me go and re-read a few chapters of The Hobbit ... which must be the greatest compliment of all.) Author Reply: It's always a good thing to re-read The Hobbit! I'm glad it did that! And thank you for calling it "multi-layered"--I really appreciate that!

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