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| Jewels by Lindelea | 114 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Pearl Took | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/5/2006 |
| This is delightful, Lin!! I don't remember if I read it before, but I'm really enjoying it :) I love all the various "jewels"; well done!! Author Reply: Ah, Pearl, how lovely to hear you are enjoying this! "Jewels" was my first major effort, and it is the "chain" on which all my "pearls" of stories hang. The timeline I made for "Jewels" ended up being the doorway to an entire Shire in my imagination. Isn't it funny how that works? | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/4/2006 |
| How is it that Frodo and company hit immediately on the perfect way to drive the dark away from Merry? Song and light and laughter work well, indeed they will work well for many years, but were they just lucky this first time, or is it just hobbit-sense? Frodo at least is attuned to what Merry is going through, and is watchful for the return of any symptoms. But who does he have watching out for him? Perhaps this is why he asked Sam and Rosie to move in with him - it is his own version of surrounding himself with loving hobbits. I've always thought that Frodo probably loved little children very much. His experience when he was growing up showed him surrounding himself with successive generations of younger cousins. What a shame that he never was to marry and become a father himself. It is such a key conversation that Frodo and Merry have in the garden. How sad it is for Frodo to realize once again that his cousins have been marked so deeply by their ordeals, and I wonder if it didn't also dash some of his own hopes for recovery to think that others who had undergone terrible things, like he had, might always have to be on their guard against the Dark. To me, Frodo pretty clearly suffered a form of post-traumatic stress syndrome, in addition to whatever physical ills he might have taken away from the quest. I don't claim to have any personal knowledge of the struggles people with this disorder go through, but I have had my own struggle against a form of the Darkness. It is a difficult thing to have to choose to walk in the light, and one of the most difficult things about it is the knowledge that the struggle will probably never end. For Frodo to come to a place of some acceptance, as painful as it is, is only one more remarkable thing about him. Author Reply: Hmmm. How is it that Frodo and company hit immediately on the perfect way to drive the dark away from Merry? I think it is, as you said, just hobbit-sense. Hobbits have been driving away the darkness with light and song for hundreds of years, after all. I do wish Frodo might have married and had children of his own. It is a measure of how wounded he was, and how little of him was left, perhaps, that he was unable to settle down to married life. I read PGY a long time ago and was fascinated by the two timelines, one where he stayed, even though the marital arrangements don't seem to bear much relation to what JRRT put forth in his letters. (His discussion of life-long monogamy and "all else [being considered] under Shadow" has stuck with me since I first read and pondered it.) I wonder, sometimes, if my writing in regards to post-Quest Merry is AU. JRRT doesn't mention at all any aftereffects on Merry's part, after all. He and Pippin ride singing through the Shire, bright and brave in their mail. Nor is any struggle mentioned on Sam's part, so far as I remember of the Grey Havens chapter. Perhaps I write Merry fighting melancholy because it is something that runs in my family, and we so often write what we know. I do, however, like to write Frodo as coming to a peace with his lot. It was comforting to give him a reprieve of sorts in "Long and Passing Thing" (oops, it's really "Small" not "Long" but we call it "Long" around here), thinking he was dying, and giving him a chance at life even if he had to sail away with the Elves to find it. Better, in my mind, than him being so broken, so shattered that he had to leave. I never had peace with that scenario, whether or not that was JRRT's intention. | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 7/4/2006 |
| I remember I wondered a little that Pippin sent for Frodo (and Sam) rather than for Merry's parents, who are at least as close, if I remember where Long Cleeve is. But then, Frodo is family as well, and Merry's parents would have no better understanding of what is happening to him that the healer did. And I imagine that Pippin was well used to looking up to Frodo, looking to him for answers. It's a measure of Pippin's capacity to hope that he's still looking for answers, after the healer has written Merry off, and not just family to sit the deathwatch. I can't imagine what Diamond thought, watching Frodo call Merry back with the jewel. "Elvish" it seemed to her, though she has no experience of Elves to tie to it. "Magic" might have been what I would have thought. and it probably would have frightened me (or any other serious, sensible person) to see Merry go from death's door to joking with Sam. And Hurray! for Frodo. He really takes charge. He gets both himself and Sam there is good time, he understands exactly what is going on, he figures out a way to focus Merry on the Light with the jewel, not to mention whatever calling he does in the silence, he deals with practical matters of getting food into both Merry and Pippin, and doesn't forget to thank the farmer's family. Thank goodness for a cousin like Frodo, with leadership skills and extraordinary experiences to draw from. (I do love Frodo, for many reasons. Right now I love him for never giving up.) Author Reply: Yes, I made Long Cleeve the apex (if that's the right term) of a triangle, about the same distance from Bag End as from the Bridge. I think that Saradoc calls Pippin on this point, and Pippin has no satisfactory answer save that he wanted to spare Merry's parents the pain that he knew in the Houses of Healing after the battle of the Pelennor. But I haven't read over the whole of the story in so long that my memory is fuzzy. I think it might have frightened Diamond, and excited her at the same time, to see such magic. She is drawn by wonder much as Sam, seeing the Elves for the first time. Ah, yes, Frodo. The Frodo of the book is so much more than the Frodo of the movie, who I fear is all good looks and very little substance. But lest I enrage serious movie!Frodo fans I will say no more on the subject at this time. I'll just say that the Frodo I write is the one I remember following to the ends of the earth, along with faithful Sam, when I was only thirteen. (And again and again, what with the re-reading.) | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 7/4/2006 |
| This chapter is the stuff of nightmares for Pippin. They both had such a hard time leaving behind the horrors of the war, but by this time I think they were optimistic that the past could be left behind. No wonder Pippin is frozen in horror when Merry is injured. I imagine that he was just stunned that after every bad thing that had happened that they had survived, to have Merry hurt again over something as simple as racing a pony over the fields was just too much. Then the ultimate nightmare: Merry is lost in the Shadows, and Pippin doesn't have a king there to help him find his way back. I remember the first time I read this, and I was as stunned and horrified as Pippin. Yet at the same time it seemed exactly right. Merry had been under the Black Shadow three times (in Bree, at Weathertop, and the massive trauma of Pellenor) and as hardy as hobbits are, the damage would have to be significant. If Frodo suffered anniversary illnesses, it made sense that Merry might, as well. I also liked the way that the farmer and his family, and the healer both know and don't know the Travellers. They are the celebrities of the Shire, and very recognizable in their gear. The Shire acknowledges what they have done, but they don't know the details until Pippin has to spill them at Merry's bedside. I imagine most of the stories Pippin told while Merry was unconscious were tales of their childhood, but I'm sure there were also some of the happier tales of the quest, of their exotic friends, of the foreign places they visited, and of wonders and terrors that might have been routine to the teller and intended recipient, and make Ruby and Diamond want to run from the room (had they not been at the same time fascinated, not to mention aware of their duty). Hearing all the stories has to make Merry and Pippin so much more real to them. They are, after all, not just 'lordly'; they were hobbit lads who got stuck in trees, and it sets up future relationships very nicely. Author Reply: Masterly summation of Pippin's reaction. As I mentioned, sometimes I think that my take on Merry is AU. I don't know what JRRT would have said about Merry suffering anniversary illness the way Frodo did. After all, Aragorn did say something in the Houses of Healing that rather contradicts the idea. No wonder Ruby fell in love with Merry (and Diamond with Pippin), after coming to know them, in a sense, through Pippin's lifeline of voice and hand, holding on to Merry. And dinner is ready, and I must go and feed hungry folk. But it has been nice to engage in a bit of give-and-take. | |
| FantasyFan | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/4/2006 |
| I am so glad to see you're finally posting 'Jewels' here at SOA. I never could think of a way to fix Estella's age either - so we'e going to happily not care that Tolkien made a mistake about it. Was just re-reading 'A Healer's Tale' the other day - and I would like to say that that story is one of my favorite, so well designed and written, and made Woodruff my favorite OC, as well as making my heart bleed for Pippin - and I remember the chapter where Merry has climbed a tree, and Ferdi is telling him not to look down. How fortunate that the Brandybuck has Took cousins, who were able to teach him such important things. I supposed he returned the favor by teaching Pippin to swim. Like the little touches in this chapter, like armour not being good for tree climbing, and the light bantering tone between the cousins is perfect for this stage of their lives. Author Reply: LOL, happily not care that JRRT made a mistake about it... (You don't know how many times that thought has crossed my mind.) The cousins are so very young here! Especially Pippin, who is much different from stories set later. Sometimes it's fun to go back in time, but it is an awful lot of work too, trying to get the voices right. | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 7/4/2006 |
| I remember a little bit of this Lindelea. Looking forward to re-visiting an older friend. Author Reply: Ah, glad to hear that re-visiting is a pleasant occupation. Thanks! | |
| Endaewen | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 2/21/2006 |
| Please double check this story. The summary says 53 chapters, but there are only three here. Author Reply: Thank you for your comment. There are 53 chapters to the story, but only the first three have been beta-read and edited. I hope to have more time to edit the beta comments and post edited chapters after school lets out for the summer. Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to read and remind me that this story has been sitting for *too* long! | |
| pipinheart | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 10/26/2004 |
| THis is good..... You have done a great job with the characters poor merr,and pippin is so worried about him... Good job | |
| Lyta Padfoot | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 8/19/2004 |
| More of 'Jewels', yeah! | |
| Anso the Hobbit | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/14/2004 |
| I so love this story! And now you`ve put it up here too. That`s great. This si so wonderful. Sometimes I wonder how you manage to come up with one after another of such brilliant, long, exciting and beautifully written stories. I`m going to read this chapter for chapter again now, as you post them. Thank you! Author Reply: Bless you, Anso, for your lovely and encouraging words. Hope this finds you well, and that you get good and reliable internet access again soon. | |