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| Stirring Rings by Larner | 13 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Linda Hoyland | Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/31/2006 |
| Interesting to see how differently Sauraman and Bombadil see life. Maybe with a wife Sauraman would not have been so greedy for power?Who knows? Author Reply: Yes, it might have been the making of the Man--Istar. But then, if she'd been as too weak by him I suspect he'd have made her life miserable, while if she'd been ambitious and one to seek advancement herself she might have just made matters worse. I can't see him happy with a normal, supportive woman, really. | |
| harrowcat | Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/31/2006 |
| Hm.. you are as bad as Gandalf! Speaking ever in riddles! Maybe just as well as Saruman doesn't seem to have retained enough wisdom to be careful about what he says and to whom. But perhaps he is like any neophyte to a cause - far too full of initial enthusiasm for caution about the effect he will have. Or perhaps it is more to do with his self-centeredness and surity that he is right every time. That prophecy is going to take a long time to come true though. A certain house at Crickhollow might be involved I guess. Loved how you wove places and people we know from the book into this. Author Reply: In the Tale of Years it isn't completely clear when the Istari came--only that it was during the decline of the three northern kingdoms and the reassumption of power by the house of Arthedain. We know that Saruman came first, and then Aiwendil/Radagast, then the two Blue Wizards, and finally Olorin/Gandalf. They would have been greeted by Cirdan, as the indications show all came through Mithlond; they would have received their names fairly early on by those they met in Eriador, I think, and would have started following their courses early on. That the Barrow Downs were beside the Old Forest and along the road indicates this had to be adjacent to the royal seat of Cardolan, since in the Appendices Tolkien tells us that Cardolan held the land later settled by the Hobbits as the Shire. And as I'd decided to place the King's house on the east side of the Baranduin in "Floods and Glamors" it only made sense to continue this. Crossroads of major routes routinely become the sites of major villages and later towns and cities; Bree was probably settled and wiped out several times over the centuries. It was probably originally one of the major market towns of Arnor, and probably fell to Cardolan when the kingdom was divided by Earendur, considering how close it, too, was to the Barrow Downs and the Baranduin. As exposed as it was, I suspect that the particular town development described in this chapter was destroyed in the last assault on Cardolan by Angmar, and that the Bree we know from LOTR was built later on, probably at much the same time as the coming of Hobbits into Eriador. Don't forget that we know Frodo spent about ten years living in Buckland after his parents' deaths, as well as whatever time his family might have lived there prior to that. His night's stay in Crickhollow only adds to the prophecy. Bombadil had already settled down in the Old Forest, and so would have been present and probably known to at least Saruman, Radagast, and Gandalf; and it wouldn't be right not to write him in now, I think! So glad you appear to appreciate what I've written. | |
| Kitty | Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/31/2006 |
| You know, Larner, you managed to make Curumo/Saruman quite despicable here. It didn't occur to him to offer the remains of Cardolain any help, didn't it? And why get I the strong feeling he betrayed willingly Endorgil to his death only to have his own foreseeing proven true? Not to mention I've a strong idea just *who* this hooded stranger is. Saruman is an idiot to tell someone he doesn't know at all so much. Looking at this chapter, it is no wonder he turned in the end to Sauron or tried to supplant him. Author Reply: Arrogance will out, and Saruman probably held his for a VERY long time. He could have aided the house of Cardolan, but didn't, as you note. As to whether he wittingly betrayed Endorgil is, I think, anyone's guess; but I suspect that Saruman would have been one of those who believes that anyone not seen as capable of holding onto what they have deserves to lose it, and wouldn't grieve over the demise of what he sees as a failing dynasty to begin with. Curumo has become a piteous individual, hasn't he? | |