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Honour  by Lindelea 10 Review(s)
TariReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/1/2020
What a beautiful tribute to Frodo, Merry and Pippin.

Author Reply: Thanks so much for reading and stopping to leave a good word. It is good to hear from you.

Hugs,
Lin

Hai TookReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/24/2020
Very somber and appropriate. I like the idea of the hobbits remembering their heroes.

The cadence of the writing and the imagery are beautiful!

Author Reply: Thank you so much! This one sort of wrote itself, as if someone was reciting it in solemn observation of a somber occasion. You know how a story, told over and over, begins to fall into a rhythm of its own?

Anyhow, I appreciate your reading and stopping to leave a good word. It is good to hear from you.

Hugs,
Lin

bobbygniuReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/19/2020
Great story. Brought a tear to my eye as I read it at Starbucks this morning. Thank you.

Author Reply: Thank you so much! I can't begin to count how much fanfic I've read at Starbucks over the years, or in coffee shops at conferences, before March came roaring in like a lion and locked me into my house like a modern-day hermit of sorts. I miss Starbucks... Here's hoping for plenty more visits in the new year.

I appreciate your reading and stopping to convey a word of encouragement. Blessings to you.

Best,
Lin

bobbygniuReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/19/2020
Great story. Brought a tear to my eye as I read it at Starbucks this morning. Thank you.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: Author's Notes on 11/15/2020
Again, memories that needed to be brought to life once again as we remember that there are moments to fight, and then times to give up the anger and fury and battle-lust that we not destroy ourselves.

Thank you so for this!

May my current story finally make it to the site--it has been so long in the writing!

Author Reply: And your current story did make it to the site, and as promising a beginning as I’ve ever seen!

Part of the idea for this came from the reports of combat veterans (some of them relatives) and the memories that haunted them the rest of their lives, and the troubling suicide rate for veterans that testifies to their anguish. Knowing what the Professor said about hobbits’ respect for life, I’m glad he showed a glimpse of Frodo in the battle, saving the combatants from even worse memories. From his own and his companions’ experience, mingled with what he must have seen in soldiers of Rohan and Gondor in the months following the victory, I imagine he had some insight into what the hobbits at the Battle of Bywater were facing after peace was accomplished.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/15/2020
Oh, Lindelea, how much this says, and so well! And to think that they recognize how necessary it was that Frodo cautioned them to hold their hands that they not give way to a vengeance that could destroy their humanity--that has made me tear up.

Love the structure of this so much as well as the message. Honour indeed! May the Creator rejoice that Tolkien and you have given us this message of what honour should look like.

Author Reply: You know, it strikes me (every time I read that passage) that Frodo served a noble purpose in that battle. He saved more than lives that day. Tolkien made a point of saying that no hobbit had ever killed another on purpose in the Shire. If Shirefolk hold life so dear, I don't think it would not be stretching things too far for them to be haunted by the Men's lives they took, and I think the memory of shooting down helpless, unarmed opponents would be too much to bear, once the battle was over and they came back to their senses. I think "what might have been" is haunting all on its own.

So blessings on Frodo, for his wisdom and mercy. I'm glad the Professor included that small mention.

Thanks so much for reading and stopping to leave an encouraging word. I'm hoping to do a little reading (I'm always hoping, it seems) soon. I can't wait to dive in to your stories again.

Hugs,
Lin

demeter dReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/12/2020
So glad to read that you have been working more than ever, and not sick after all! More than one reviewer in the last month has said, anyone heard from Lindelea? Pacific North West being the ground zero that it was, we hoped you hadn't got it. I can relate to busy. Far from suffering from shut-down, my business is busier than ever. McDonalds in the Portland Region had allowed dining rooms to re-open, with distancing. We were open inside about a month, then due to local conditions were told to close it again. But we now do bumper-to-bumper two drive-thru lanes clear out to the street! And through the summer when a tourist family would pull up in a large travel trailer, the manager watching the windows would send me out with my pad and pen, and we would walk the order out to them! This was a quiet, lovely piece. It feels exactly like the kind of memorial that the Tookish archers would have crafted. Growing up our next door neighbors were a World War One veteran and his wife. Mr. Kotter would sit on his front porch and explain to anyone who would listen why 11-11-11 meant something, and why they had gone to war. My own thirty some daughter would visit him when we visited my mother, and has vowed to carry his message for another generation. Now, his comrades are ALL gone. We have maybe three old men among our sit in the corner and drink coffee group at work who are still World War 2. The rest of the "old men" are now Korea, and increasingly, VIETNAM! I am of the tail-end of that generation. And the Iraq veterans coming in with their children are looking older, too. The Hobbits had the kind of war that my Viet vet "older brothers" would have envied. A clear-cut battle to protect your own homes and family from enslavement and death. Some of the wars in my generation have been "muddy" to say the least. And, yes, the kind of damage to one's SOUL that would have come from remaining caught up in that kind of battle-lust can be very real. It is very wise of your Ferdi to acknowledge that. The part about them toasting Bywater, the Captains, and Frodo, but not mayor Sam looking on made me smile. The King himself could honor Sam, but Sam would stoutly insist he had done less than others!

Author Reply: *Hugs!* Good to hear from you! When I think back, I think there must have been WWI veterans at the observances I remember. I don't know if they marched or if they rode in convertibles in the parade. I was a young teen when Vietnam ended. I remember how badly soldiers coming back from Vietnam were treated, compared to the WWI, WWII and Korea vets, and it saddens me. They deserved so much better.

I'm glad you're keeping well. Sorry to have caused worry. I will hope to stop in oftener.

MirkwoodmaidenReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/11/2020
Lindelea!!!!

So happy to see a posting from you! The story is wonderful.

"Next, all of them – marchers and riders – do something curious. Each takes a single arrow from his quiver, leaving the quiver empty. He nocks the shaft to the bowstring... and fires it into the ground, ruining the arrow into the bargain, so that it will never take another life again. The deep thrum of many bowstrings, the sound of rising battle, falls again to silence." Very powerful. As always you write of hobbit ways so wonderfully.


The feeling of reverence with which you write this story really reminds me of when I lived in England and went with my friend to the Cenotaph in Central London to the Remembrance Day commemorations there when all the Armed Forces along with London Transport lay wreaths of poppies at the Cenotaph and veterans of the wars marched by placing their own poppies for Remembrance. The two minute silence at 11 o'clock. Absolute silence save the tolling of Big Ben and the wind blowing through the leaves still left on the trees. It was one of the most solemn and memorable times from my living in England and your writing evoked those same feelings. Wonderful, thank you!

I hope you are well. After not seeing a post from you these months, I will admit that I worried if you were OK. Stay Safe! Mellon nin!!

((Hugs))

MM

Author Reply: *Hugs!*

People kept saying that editing was going to fall off the cliff, so as the jobs rolled in, I just kept working, impossible hours and tight deadlines, waiting for the income to dry up. But the spring became a firehose! I guess everyone is staying home and finally getting around to writing that dissertation... At least it kept my mind off the current Troubles. Here's hoping some kind of sanity will emerge sooner than later.

Veterans Day was a solemn occasion in our small town, and those small-child memories resonated with me as I was pondering this story. That sounds like the feelings that you remember. I remember, on that day, every year, my parents were solemn. They both lost friends in WWII. My dad's entire military school graduating class, except for two young men (including my dad), either died or were captured by the Japanese in the Pacific theater. My uncle came back from being a medic at the Battle of the Bulge and "spoke not a single word for six months," according to the family stories. My mom learned "In Flanders Fields" as a little girl, and she recited it every year as we came home from the parade with our crepe-paper poppies. It always had an impact on me.

So good to connect. I wasn't really okay (not sleeping, and working too much), but I'm hoping things will get better. I do want to be able to read (and write) fanfic again. It's my happy place. I'm glad you're still posting. So much to look forward to reading! Stay well, my friend.

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/11/2020
Wonderful Lindelea.
Thank you on behalf of all who remember.

Author Reply: *Hugs!*

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/11/2020
Each takes a single arrow from his quiver, leaving the quiver empty. He nocks the shaft to the bowstring... and fires it into the ground, ruining the arrow into the bargain, so that it will never take another life again.

Ohhhh. This is absolutely lovely. Thank you for sharing this beautiful, very moving tale... on this day of Remembering.

Author Reply: Thank you, dear friend. I hope this finds you and yours well.

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