Stories of Arda Home Page
About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

Eleventy-one Years: Too Short a Time   by Dreamflower 3 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 36 on 5/20/2014
So, both mother and son are experiencing prescient dreams, then. Gollum and Frodo are seen, and apparently some of the grief that shall be part of Frodo's life before he goes to Tol Eressea. I hope Bilbo feels reassured.

Author Reply: Bilbo is greatly reassured; Belladonna's conviction that he'll have a son eases his mind on that score--but he doesn't make the connection that no wife is seen.

And Bilbo has absolutely no context for his dreams of Gollum. They make no sense to him, so he doesn't realize they are prescient in any way.

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 36 on 5/20/2014
But foresight was a tricky thing

That is very true! Both dreams, Bilbo's dream and his mother's show the truth, but it depends highly on the interpretation if it remains the truth.

Anyway, I hope Belladonna's words helped to cheer Bilbo up and give him new hope for the future. He won't be alone then, for Frodo will be with him!

Author Reply: Exactly. And I do think it cheers him up, and even though it doesn't mean what his mother thinks it means, she is still right: Frodo is the son of his heart anyway!

LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 36 on 5/20/2014
I so love your descriptions: people, landscape, flowers, food... I am brought solidly into the scene, and feel as if I'm at Bilbo's elbow through his entire ramble.

(A cheer for Mr. Tunnelly!)

I love the idea that the "grampus" saying came back with Isengar...

Bilbo's inner poetry shines forth throughout the chapter.

And then Belladonna -- her relationship with Bilbo is beautifully drawn. Both of them, it seems, have the Tookish gift of true dreaming, but Bilbo won't realise the significance of the dreams until many years from now, after his mother is gone, I think? Poor fellow, to think love might have happened, but that he let it slip away. I think Gandalf, years later, could offer some of the same words of wisdom that he gave to Frodo, about it all being part of a greater Plan.

Thanks!

Author Reply: Thank you! I am trying to be more descriptive and am glad that it's coming through to the reader.

*grin* Mr. Tunnelly is a wise hobbit!

That's one of his qualities I've always wished to emphasize; he's clearly always been a lover of words.

Dreams and prophecies are chancy things in M-e. They almost never mean what the person thinks they mean. (Think of Galadriel's warning about her mirror, or Gandalf's words about the palantir.) I think of all the dreams of various characters, only Pippin and Faramir do not misinterpret what their prescience means.

I think are you right about Bilbo; I think he will come to understand it eventually.

Return to Chapter List