Reviews (295)

Author's reply

One of the reasons I keep coming back to write about hobbits is the love JRRT infused into his story. The love between the hobbits he wrote about shines through so clearly! I knew he also found hobbits stubborn and insular and irritating, but then, nobody's perfect, I guess. Thanks!

Author's reply

Someone's got to swoop in, for sure! But since marriage contracts appear to be legal and binding (how annoying!), and Merry's not much of a rebel – he's more loyal and faithful than anything else – he might not be able to imagine a workable solution. However, there are others in the picture with lots of imagination and energy and nerve, so all hope is not yet lost, I'm glad to say. (Is that too much of a spoiler?)

Author's reply

They are so sad! And even though controlling parents may mean well or have the best of motives, they can do a lot of damage all the same. (Sigh.) I'm not sure just why my imagination saw Paladin as a strict father and Saradoc as a patient one. Sometimes my brain connects dots that I can't even see. Thanks!

Author's reply

He does get bored easily and too often gives in to the temptation to stir things up. There's a certain stone that fell in a well, for instance. And a rather larger stone that fell from a high tower... I remember when a sibling had pleurisy, the old-fashioned doctor prescribed something specifically for the pain in order to allow sleep and promote healing. I don't know what the treatment would be nowadays since opiates are not as freely given out as they were in the past. Thanks!

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He's one of the stubbornest Tooks I know! It's difficult to keep him down, as JRRT showed multiple times in the original book. (Thanks.)

Author's reply

Unfortunately, this is the root of the troubles that will plague him for the next couple decades, at least up until Samwise returns from the South-lands with a cure from Treebeard. When one of my beta-readers, who worked in a medical field, read this, she said that the scenario I'd written would result in permanent lung damage, and was I willing to deal with that? I hate rewriting. Isn't that silly? So I looked at my Fourth Age timeline, and I picked out Sam's visit to Gondor as the date when Pippin would be fully healed, and all the stories that followed Jewels were based on that reckoning. And I didn't have to rewrite Pippin's illness as an added bonus. Sometimes laziness has its benefits. Maybe it would have been easier simply to rewrite this part of Jewels. On the other hand, a lot of character growth was possible based on that timeline, and Pippin's health problems posed a challenge (both for him and for me) that added spice to the stew, so I guess it all worked out in the end. Thanks for your patience in listening to my thinking aloud...

Author's reply

He'd be perfectly unreasonable if he should expect such a thing! After all they've been through... (And if their positions were reversed, you know he'd be on the spot just as faithfully.) Thanks!

Author's reply

Merry and Pippin seem like two halves of a whole, don't they? Kind of like the lyrics of a Disney song I remember a fragment of, they "finish each other's sandwiches..." Thanks so much for reading and stopping to leave an encouraging word.

Author's reply

I think that Merry loves Pippin so much, he'd never allow himself to mar his younger cousin's happiness. And Pippin understands, somehow, that if he doesn't live life to the fullest, Merry will only blame himself for raining on his parade – and Pippin certainly doesn't want that! Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. Sorry about these belated replies.

Author's reply

Sam comes through, and so does Frodo, at least in his foresight in providing a written reminder of his love and care for Merry. I wonder if he foresaw this happening, or if he simply knew that all lives contain sorrow as well as joy? (Thanks.)

Author's reply

No, it wasn't a fun chapter at all. And there will be some lasting pain, just as in real life. The only way I could get through this part of the story was to keep my heart fixed on the future joy that was promised in the story outline. (((hugs)))

Author's reply

It is indeed heart-breaking. I seldom go back and read these chapters, myself, when I'm trying to pin something down in a current WIP. (Thanks.)

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This was one of the hardest chapters to write, knowing what was about to happen. I was sorely tempted to break away from canon and make the story AU. Aargh. Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment!

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I'm sorry to have to say that your observation is correct... (Thanks.)

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I'm so glad you liked it! I think we were reading Jane Austen in our homeschool about the time I began writing LOTR fanfic, so I'm sure her writing was an influence, along with Dorothy Sayers and a little PG Wodehouse. Really, the way Tolkien wrote his hobbits, I think he was emulating an earlier time in British history, the bucolic 1800s, at least in rural England and small country towns, along with the class distinctions that are so clear in the way he differentiates between Samwise Gamgee and the other Travellers. (Sam and Frodo remind me strongly of Dorothy Sayers' Bunter and Lord Peter.) You've got to wonder what they're doing for income, what with being able to go and visit for a month...!

Author's reply

They sort of jumped off the page at me when I first started writing them. The writing process and surprises that occur along the way never fails to astonish me, even now. (Just yesterday, a north-Took named Bolham the Red jumped out of my imagination and onto the keyboard with his booming voice and energetic personality and aggressive hospitality. To think he was mostly just a name to me for the past few years... and all of a sudden, he came alive. In a manner of speaking.) But then, your characters are so real, I might venture to guess you've had some similar experiences. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

Author's reply

Good for Gandalf! I've often wondered why he left it so late to let Merry and Pippin know! And it's sad that Frodo's other friends – Aragorn, Arwen, Legolas, Gimli – didn't have the chance for a final farewell. Is that unreasonable of me? Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts.

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I think Sam didn't see Frodo's deterioration because it happened gradually, over time. But it was obvious to his aunt and uncle, who hadn't seen him in a year. One of the reasons I'm drawn to writing about hobbits is the obvious love that shines from the pages of the original work. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! It took me a while to see your notes on these chapters, so apologies for the belated replies.

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Of course, of course... hobbits can explain any choice they make in terms of food, and make it sound eminently reasonable if the food sounds good enough! I really enjoyed this chapter, myself, and was tempted to create an AU version of the post-Quest Shire where Frodo didn't have to sail. (And I actually wrote at least one AU story where he didn't sail, probably as a result of that thought.) Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts!

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I've always seen Saradoc and Esmeralda as "safe" people, somehow. Perhaps the impression simply grew from the adult that their son Merry had grown into before the Quest began? Thanks!

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Often, 'protecting' is worse than simply having it out, I think. And a good side-benefit is reducing the probability of erroneous assumptions. Thanks! I appreciate your reading and pausing to share your thoughts.

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I've always seen Saradoc and Esmeralda as intuitive and empathetic. While they may not understand what their loved ones have gone through, they can see how much better Merry is when Pippin is around. (In contrast, I'm of two minds about Paladin. In one timeline, his relationship with Pippin is strained, and he's a critical father, so that his relationship with Pippin mirrors on a smaller scale Denethor's critical attitude towards Faramir; in contrast, in my alternate timeline, they have a warm, loving relationship.) Thanks for reading and pausing to share your thoughts!

Author's reply

Yes, the pony is one of the jewels the story is named for! Thanks so much for reading and stopping to share your thoughts.