Oh, thank goodness for the nature of Elven rope! And for the common sense that finally kicked in at the end when he had one more chance. A knife-oh how horrible!
Nice to see Paladin and Eglantine being kinder and more considerate, and the rest of the family being open as well. "big brother..." LOL!
God bless,
Galadriel
Author's reply
It's hard to figure what he might try next--after all, Sam didn't think Frodo would want to try a means that was "messy"--and knives can be messy unless you know precisely what to do withthem. Maybe he would seriously consider the knife, or maybe something else.
When younger the Kid had an emotional hijacking one day, and I found myself literally clinging to his leg to keep him from running off and doing something horrible to someone--most likely himself. Like Frodo contemplating the water skin he was drinking from, suddenly the storm was over and he looked down and realized just how silly the two of us looked, me sitting on the floor, clinging to his leg. He started to laugh and assured me it was now safe to let go, and I was relieved to comply at last.
And the family is relaxing a bit, at least today.
As for "big brother"--heh!
For a chapter so full of sorrow, depression anguish and despair that was truly beautiful Larner. Thank you for elaborating on the incident with the rope so well. And, I agree, if Frodo had tried a third time he would not have been thwarted but, oh, what an awful end it would have been.
I love the glimpses in the palantir and feel for Aragorn and I enjoyed the discussion about the Rangers and the Oliphaunts. I can just imagine Sam with a pet one butr perhaps he is better sticking with the cat!
And in the end comes acceptance! And with acceptance the beginning of peace.
Author's reply
I wasn't certain whether or not to follow this one through so thoroughly--after all, I'd done the situation with the three vials of poppy juice in The Choice of Healing. But I found this one wanted to be followed through upon after all, and so it got itself written.
I agree--Sam is FAR better off with a cat than an oliphaunt--imagine what a mumak would do to the gardens?
Frodo at least accepts he must accept going West, either by ship or by a proper release rather than through self-destruction, at least.
Am so very glad you found this hopeful.
Kitty
· 1 March 2006
· Chapter 92: 92: Challenging Thain and Lady
You know I love Paladin and Eglantine, but just now I want to slap them! It was their fault that Frodo felt obliged to try to help Pippin and had to go through this. Only a pity Paladin came not earlier to the bathing room – it would’ve served him right to see all the scars. It would’ve been a bit difficult to tell Frodo to let them vanish, wouldn’t it?
As for their conversation during the meal, Frodo’s argument about Glorfindel and the Valar was intriguing. And obviously not even Paladin and Eglantine dared to doubt it. Another good argument was the sun being there although Ferdi can’t see her any longer.
But the rest ... *rolls eyes* They were hopeless. How sad they distressed Frodo so much in his last time on Middle-earth!
But I am truly impressed of Willigrim. The way he went straight to Pal and Lanti and told them what he thought - wow! I’d like to know what they thought of the dressing down they got from the healer.
Loved the image of Pippin running around the garden to make up for standing guard for hours! It must’ve been a sore trial for him at times to remain so still for so long.
Author's reply
I can tell you from my experience with my over-imaginative grandmother that dealing with someone intent on NOT seeing the truth is HIGHLY frustrating, particularly when they insist you change things to meet their desires for reassurance rather than accepting things as they are.
So glad you like Frodo's arguments; but he still resists the arguments he knows should be guiding him more. Frodo is as very much afraid at this point as Paladin and Eglantine.
Willigrim is, I think, a good healer indeed, and a good example for the colleague in the infirmary, whom I like to imagine is Lindelea's Woodruff.
As for Pippin having to run a bit--I've seen it in enough of my students, the need to get up and move after having been immobile for quite some time. And Pippin is PHYSICALLY young, after all.
Oh.
What a chapter! I didn't think you could top the last one.
But while the last chapter was the equivalent of an emotional tempest, this one had the sad beauty of a battered ship coming into a safe harbor at sunset, tattered and torn and battered and blown, yet safe at last.
Several things stood out for me here: Frodo's quiet talk with Ferdi, including the bit about oliphaunts, his conversation about shoes and stockings, and I was very struck with the subtle contrast between Eglantine's and Frodo's opinions of his breakfast--she, distressed that he did not eat more; he, pleased that he had eaten more than he normally managed.
But the section at the end, as he finally gives up on trying to take his own life, is so beautifully melancholy. But at last, he can see his way clear, though it will be so very hard and so very sad, for those left behind.
Author's reply
What a beautiful description, Dreamflower. Thank you.
We tend to mix such odd things into our conversation, speaking of the sublime moments after speaking of the prosaic and before venturing into the ridiculous. And Ferdi is able to help Frodo as well as others to clear away the deadwood that obscures their perceptions.
And depending on the point of view the same experience can be frightening and reassuring, as does how much Frodo has eaten for breakfast.
And yes, the ending is melancholy--yet hopeful in its way--or at least it is a release of sorts from the tension he's been under.
Believe me--dying is often far harder on us left behind than it is on those who actually are dying.
And then a Light shone behind him, and he turned from the fire, turned to the Light. There was a clear path before him, away from the Mountain. He held the Lady’s star gem in his hand and no longer the Ring. It was no longer the scent of sulfur and brimstone that filled his nostrils but the clear scent of the Sea
And so we come at last to Frodo's difficult decision; I hope time passes quickly until he can be in the company of Elrond and Bilbo once more.
Author's reply
This is the beginning of awareness that Frodo can choose to go West the proper way, by ship or perhaps accepting his end when it comes rightfully. But he is turning away from the selfishness of self-destrucion, and is realizing that the healing will be there, one way or another, when the time is right.
At times between now and then he will feel life has become hectic, I suspect, trying to do all before he must away.
shirebound
· 1 March 2006
· Chapter 92: 92: Challenging Thain and Lady
Intriguing that Frodo's illness might be indirectly responsible for healing the rift between Pippin and his family.
Author's reply
Yes, the weakness of Frodo begins the healing process as Paladin and Eglantine are brought up short as to precisely what effects their protestations have on him and must, by extension, be having on Pippin as well. But it does help.
Dreamflower
· 1 March 2006
· Chapter 92: 92: Challenging Thain and Lady
I wanted to read and review this last night, but kept getting interrupted, darn it!
This was a brilliant chapter, very long and full of great meat to chew on. You covered a lot of ground here within just a few scenes.
Pippin truly has to be extremely distressed to even go to Frodo over this at this point in time, for he and Merry both realize how hard Frodo is finding it to cope right now, and normally he would not be burdening his cousin with his problems with his parents. Here, he's been stressed enough to regress to a bit of his pre-Quest behavior, to go running to his older cousin with this conflict. Once he's unburdened himself, however, he quickly starts to worry about Frodo again.
Pippin never despaired--had always been the one to find the humor needed to bring others out of their moods. Frodo felt frightened to see Pippin in one of depression such as he now displayed.
Frodo’s reaction to all this shows his natural tendency to worry more about others than about himself. This is something he has always had to a certain extent, but now, added to his native empathy and compassion is that layer of self-denial. He will not put forth any effort to justify himself on his own behalf, but he will say and do things extremely difficult and distressing on behalf of his dear companions, especially for Pippin, who, for all his new growth and maturity, remains in Frodo's heart his "baby cousin".
I love the way you show how observant Paladin was on the ride to the Smials. Paladin’s observations as Frodo rode--how easily he tired, the care taken for him by the others are cluing him in *in spite of himself* to the true state of things. It is only his own stubborn will, and his denial of his own intelligence that is keeping him so intransigent.
The voice telling him he should not have hidden his scars was a nice touch. Frodo was able to tell himself that it might have been a good idea--once there was too late to take the advice. You show later that he did not *really* listen again...
Ferdi’s talk with Frodo: very well done. It is ironic that the one who actually cannot literally *see* is the most observant person. I like the matter of fact way that Ferdi dealt with Frodo here, and the advice and caution he gives him for dealing with Pippin's parents.
The voice telling Frodo he would not be alone…very good touch!
I love how subtly Frodo leads into the talk of Pippin, telling them the things that would make them proud of their son, how well he handles himself, how respected he is by the King and court, and how their raising was helpful to Pippin in gaining that respect.
It was also good that he was blunt, about his appetite, about his health…
Eglantine’s denial in the face of the evidence of Frodo’s health is almost ludicrous, and it is no wonder Pippin has become frustrated and stressed over her refusal to understand.
Paladin’s denial, however, borders on the irrational. He is intelligent enough to draw the right conclusions from the evidence, but his pride won’t let him--he thinks he knows more of the world than he actually does, and the experiences his young kin have don’t jibe with what he thinks he knows. Talk about Took stubbornness!
And of course, he still has some resentment over the fact that Frodo “let” Pippin and Merry go with him--I love the way Frodo turned the tables on him with *that* argument!
For a moment the Took and the Baggins shared the knowledge that a determined Peregrin Took was not to be stopped by normal means.
Paladin’s refusal to belief, I am beginning to think, was not so much a refusal to *actually* believe as it was a refusal to *admit* that underneath it all he *did* believe. But since he thinks such things could not possibly be true, then to admit he’s beginning to find it all too plausible, would mean to admit that perhaps he, himself, was “cracked” or “mad”.
For just a moment Paladin Took forgot he wasn’t supposed to believe in the Ring and Its power. “You let Sam carry that thing?”
And there of course we see it: he “forgot” he wasn’t “supposed” to believe. His disbelief is a mask and an act--one that is fooling only himself, and even there not terribly successful.
Oh my, I do *like* your Willigrim (great name for a Took OC, by the way--well done!)
I love the very matter of fact way that he got the information he needed to properly treat Frodo, and the way he listened carefully to what Frodo had to say. It was a crying shame that Frodo made him promise not to tell about the whip scars. But your Willigrim is wiley, and was very specific in his promise.
(And we see, once more, how Frodo is again rejecting the “Voice’s” advice--he’d have done far better towards breaking down Paladin’s and Eglantine’s resistance if he had not done so.)
And then to go and beard the Thain and his Lady in their own quarters, and lecture them soundly on Frodo’s and Pippin’s behalf--well, that was Tookish spirit and then some! Because he *only* promised not to tell of the whip-scars, he is free to tell them of the other things he observed. And by doing so, he is able to break through that wall to a certain extent.
I sincerely hope that what he told them left them shaken and distraught--they need to be shaken up enough to wake up, and see what they are doing…
I am so glad that you chose to show/tell this incident in even greater detail than in previous stories. This chapter was filled with emotional drive and impact, and you set the perfect tone for it!
Author's reply
I've been having the time trying to respond to reviews--between phone calls and a Dalmatian intent on putting her nose repeatedly on the keyboard and causing all kinds of interesting effects, it's taking me forever today.
Yes, Pippin's been very upset, and unburdens himself with Frodo, who wants to fix everything up, even though he knows he's dealing with other stubborn Tooks. And you are certainly right that Frodo will do far more for the good of others than he will for himself, which is most distressing.
Paladin, I think, is a mixture of several things--he hates he feels helpless to have protected his son; he doesn't have the experiential base to understand what Pippin tells him and doesn't WANT to believe things were so much worse out there than in here; he wants to put the past behind them all and pretend all are as they were before Pippin disappeared after Frodo, and he wants to feel some measure of control over a world that suddenly showed itself to be totally unpredictable; and Frodo and Pippin become his focus for trying to exert that control. Eglantine wants to believe there was no real danger, so is willing to rewrite history to make it the way she wants rather than the way it was. Both are extraordinarily difficult individuals to deal with--speaking from experience.
And as you note, Frodo is at times grabbing at excuses not to follow the advice offered him, from a Voice he KNOWS by now has his best interests at heart. He accepts the reassurance and the advice but doesn't always act on it. But that he hears it at all is even more important.
Ferdi had all his preconceptions literally knocked out of him when he was kicked repeatedly in the head and was blinded. As a result he's a bit easier to talk to, and quicker to see things as they are rather than as he would prefer them to be; and he's listened before.
And your perceptions about Paladin are so very accurate, and have added even to my own understanding. He doesn't want to believe, and so he clings to his desired scenarios against all argument, even when as you noted the mask slips and he demands to know why Sam was allowed to touch the awful thing he is trying to desperately not to believe in.
Willigrim is perhaps one of the most competent and empathic healers I've written into the Shire, I think; so glad you like him, too. And then at the end of his dressing down he gives the proper healer's advice to Paladin and Eglantine as well--get the muscles relaxed and get some rest, and then stop trying to prod everyone into changing things just for emotional comfort or they'll drive the ones they love most away.
grumpy
· 1 March 2006
· Chapter 88: 88: Time Granted
I am glad that Elladan came to Frodo, and gave him some hope. Also liked it that one of the twins stayed home to keep a eye of their father.
Author's reply
At that point in time I think Elladan and Elrohir were glad to be twins so as to be able to be in two places at once. Elrond's power has been significantly decreased by the loss of his ring's abilities once the Ring was destroyed. No matter how prepared one might be for such an event it still must have been stressful seeking to adjust to that loss. And to give over all he has done and go into the West must also have been stressful as he begins making plans.
However, I've also noted that our children seek to become our protectors as they see us aging and facing crises, certain we can't handle them on our own. My own daughter's concern for me is heartening and at times borders on interfering. At least I know I did right by her, having elicited such caring from her.
harrowcat
· 1 March 2006
· Chapter 92: 92: Challenging Thain and Lady
A depressed Pippin is a sad sight to see. And Frodo continues to be so protective of his cousins even at the cost of his own health. But many parents find it hard to accept that their children are grown up and have experiences and opinions of their own especially if that growing up has been done while away from the family home. These two are extreme examples of it though! The reaction of wanting to wrap Merry in Cotton wool is typical too and very hard to bear with. Lovely writing as usual Larner.
Mum is home but not very happy as the carers are all different and there is only one carer at a time when she really needs two to work the hoist. I have to admit I wish I was closer to give a hand.
Author's reply
Oh, I agree about Pippin--although he'll have one more grave disappointment with his father before things get better. But Frodo wants to see the arguments stop and reconciliation begin, trying to keep things under control until the goading gets`
Author Reply: Oh, I agree about Pippin--although he'll have one more grave disappointment with his father before things get better. But Frodo wants to see the arguments stop and reconciliation begin, trying to keep things under control until the goading gets too bad.
So glad to hear about your mother and that she's home at last, but understand about the caregivers. Those hoists can be quite the thing to work--had a friend who was parapalegic due to polio as a child, and we had loads of fun working his. And at least you can drive to be with your mom fairly easily--when it was my mother I had to drive that far just to get to the airport to fly to be at her side, and had twice the drive on that side I had on this end of the journey.
Tigger
· 1 March 2006
· Chapter 92: 92: Challenging Thain and Lady
Well it's about time someone laid into Paladin and Egalatine!! Long overdue and Willi did it exactly right.
Sorry I haven't reviewed in quite awhile. Got really sick again after getting home from Ottawa and then the last two weeks I was busy following the Olympics. I've been reading every update though and my heart just aches for Frodo and Sam and Rosie and everyone that loves Frodo.
This story has just been outstanding and I'm looking forward to the next chapter. :o)
Author's reply
I'm just glad you are doing as well as you are now, Tigger. Life can be a real pain in the patoot, can't it?
And it's about time Paladin and Eglantine are told plainly that their continual refusal to accept what they're told is harmful in the end.
Queen Galadriel
· 28 February 2006
· Chapter 92: 92: Challenging Thain and Lady
Yeah, Willi, let 'em have it! Maybe that isn't kind (okay, okay, I know that is unkind) but good grief! Paladen and Eglantine are being just plain silly! Make the story nice and safe so it looks like Pippin was never in danger; how am I supposed to believe that-it's ridiculous! For pity's sake! As if either would solve their problems. But it does make it realistic.
The scene with Ferdi was interesting. He loves Frodo and means well, but "I'm sorry" almost never helps and I find usually makes it worse. And you know, I had to laugh a little in spite of the seriousness of the moment. He reminds me so much of a guy I used to go to school with! Rather talkative and not afraid to speak his mind, good sense of humour, and yet sensitive and caring beneath the surphace. And *definitely* not afraid to touch anything...*shudders* I must just be really squeemish, because I cannot stand to actually touch scars. I can read about them or whatever (usually, anyway) but when it comes to it, my younger brother can freak me out by forcibly showing me the little scars he gets playing rough with his friends...and of course he thinks it's funny! :)
Poor Frodo, in so much pain! I wouldn't feel kindly at all towards the Thain and his lady in such a situation either. It's so sad to watch Frodo's health deteriorate like this! It seems that in every story I've ever heard (I've never really watched someone die like this-my grandpa did, but they didn't allow us children near him because they thought he had tb) there is a stage of realising what's coming, and then of a bitter struggle against it, and then a sort of submissive, almost (touchingly) saintly stage in which the individual accepts coming death and merely tries to do what he can in the time left. I can see that happening in all of your stories, most strikingly in TTOF, and I'm wondering which is most heartbreaking, the middle or the last stage.
Just as a side note, I'm working on your Frodo-Aragorn story, but it's taken a couple of astonishing turns already and seems to insist on being three or four chapters long, so it may be a while longer. Between school and trying to make adjustments between a BLm20 and a new Pac-Mate (I wish it was summer!), and a Victor Reader Vibe that has suddenly proven to have a mind of its own and randomly has problems, I don't seem to have much time. Not to mention all the other hobbits have managed to get into the argument as well (on Frodo's side) and Frodo himself is being extremely difficult, even for me. This is going to be another one of those crazy plot lines like "A Promise and a Gift" (not the story, the intricacy of the plot) so is going to require some serious thought.
Well, still have some studying to do tonight. Can't wait for the next one!
God bless,
Galadriel
Author's reply
For those who returned from the death camps, all too often what they got from family and friends were demands not to trouble them with uncomfortable truths. They were told that "dwelling on the past" wasn't healthy; they were told to get on with their lives and "put it all behind them." They were told to look forward and not back.
However, to put that reality behind them was impossible, and for many it wasn't until decades later they were finally allowed to tell what had happened to them, as a new generation who KNEW they themselves had never been threatened with the camps but easily could be so in the future if the past was suppressed, who didn't themselves feel guilty because they'd not faced what their relatives and friends had, finally allowed and encouraged them to tell their tales, let themselves listen, affirmed that what those who'd been in the camps was indeed worse than their worst images of Hell, and that they were heroes for having survived, that they couldn't be responsible for the lives that were lost, but for what they'd been able to do to help at least a few others along the way.
It was a freeing experience that came to its peak in the late eighties and early nineties.
I suppose that in my view of Middle Earth Eglantine and Paladin are those who wanted to try to pretend the horrors didn't happen after all. While things were bad they faced them; but when the bad times were over--well, then it was time to pretend it WAS all over and that their son had managed to come through unscathed. They don't have the experiential base to fully understand what happened out there; they feel guilty they couldn't protect Pippin, Merry, Frodo, and Sam; stories from fireside tales they are now told are real; and as long as they don't look too deeply they don't have to see--or touch--the scars on their son, their nephew, their beloved cousin, the gardener's lad--allowing them to continue the illusion that none of it happened. They hope to fence out that reality that is awful and that threatens be denying it.
But doing so is as much a betrayal of their son as that given to Holocaust survivors in our real world.
My husband didn't truly go through the "saintly" phase you mentioned, although I've known a few who did, including my late sister-in-law. But he did try so hard to make certain I'd continue to be protected and provided for once he was gone.
As for hating to touch scars--how much is the idea it could happen to you if circumstances were different, the knowledge this is an insult to the body you can do nothing for, the feeling that this just isn't right and it's hard to accept that? Yet I certainly understand both your feelings as well as those of Eglantine and Paladin. We all have our overwhelming fears. In the case of the Thain and his wife, I do think it was the feeling of helplessness in not being able to protect the one they so loved from a worse reality than they can properly imagine.
Antane
· 28 February 2006
· Chapter 92: 92: Challenging Thain and Lady
I think the Thain and his wife are even more stubborn than the legendary Baggins in their refusal to belief and poor Frodo and poor Pippin nearly driven mad just trying to get them to believe. I don't blame them in a way, but I just want to shake them and yell "It happened! Deal with it!"
Author's reply
Yes, a lot of the stubbornness in the last two Bagginses we know and love undoubtedly is enhanced by that of the Tooks.
As for wanting to shake them and yell that--well, you never met my Grandmother, on whom the behavior of Paladin and moreso that of Eglantine is based. There were a couple times when I did yell precisely that at her--"This is the truth--deal with it!" She, however, unlike the Thain, never did understand what I or any other meant, or come around.
Andrea
· 28 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
*Look at you, the Lord Frodo Baggins of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth, lying in the dust, a wretched, crawling, hole dweller, barely worth the attention of those seeking to keep their feet unsoiled.*
It was a shock to hear that voice again and I don't find any other expression: I hate that voice!
At least, Frodo was able to get rid of a large part of what was left of the Ring in himself. But that happened far too late, I fear. He is fading, and he knows, this cannot be stopped.
Along with that his physical condition gets worse and worse, and even the stubborn Baggins has to admit: fighting is useless! So he decides to purchase that poppy juice - only as a last insurance, so to speak, nothing more - for now! But stubborn as ever he tries to convince the others that he is doing well, and fails, of course. Not only Brendi realizes it at first sight, Sam knows it also.
At last Brendi said softly, “You think you’re dying, don’t you?”
That must have been hard for Brendi to ask and for Frodo to confirm.
Still there is a second option, but not much time left.
BTW, I found it very interesting what Queen Galadriel said in her review. When I first read "The Return of the King" I didn't see it coming that Frodo had to leave Middle Earth. But when I read it the second time I recognized lots of small hints that all led to his departure in the end. Now I think, I simply didn't wish to let that happen - and so I ignored it ;-)
Author's reply
One of my favorite books at the time I first read LOTR the first time was Abraham Merrit's "The Ship of Ishtar, whose main character is suffering from a severe case of depression and shell shock at the beginning due to experiences in the First World War.
Another was Lloyd C. Douglas's "The Robe," in which Marcellus for a time fights the same condition after taking part in the execution of a man he feels was innocent of any crime--plus this is his first experience having to take part in an execution.
I could pick up on the signs the same thing was happening with Frodo, and that he was hiding it, more or less successfully--yet not so successfully that Sam didn't realize he was going to leave the Shire, although he plainly thought Frodo would retire to Rivendell. I wasn't surprised at that, but HAD completely missed all the clues as to the relationship between Aragorn and Arwen, so much so that when she appeared for the wedding all I could think was, "Who is this chick and how come she gets to marry MY man?"
Anyway--the echoes of the Ring's voice are still there, even though he has finally managed to release his desire for it; and it can still cause a good deal of damage to his self-esteem and will to continue or to open up to others.
And neither Brendi or Sam can ignore the fact Frodo is failing, or at least they can no longer pretend it's not as serious as it is.
Bodkin
· 28 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
Everyone wants to feed Frodo up - but only those who know him well have the sensitivity not to push.
Something which had remained coiled in him for years, wound tighter and tighter all during the time he’d carried Sauron’s Ring, suddenly broke free
Good. It's almost become something he looks on as a defining part of himself. Needs to let it go - but not an easy thing to do at all.
And the more people who understand why Sam becomes his heir the better. Saves trouble later!
Author's reply
If I'd seen Frodo then I would have wanted to do the same.
Yes, it's here that Frodo stops thinking of the Ring as part of himself, although all his self-criticism from now on will tend to take what he thinks of as Its voice.
And you're certainly right the more who realize why Sam and not a blood relative, the better for the entire Shire.
I do like your discription of the gardens, and beds of plants, plus the path of blue stones leading up to the hill. Sounds like a wonderful place to spend the day. Loved Brendi's thoughts on the distroying of the ring.
Author's reply
So glad you appreciate it all, too, Grumpy.
Brendi is one of the few in the Shire who knows almost the full story before it's all over, having heard bits and pieces from this one or that. And he's one who has to care for what happens to Frodo, as friend, relative, and personal lawyer. Plus, he receives, in his way, a special bequest from Frodo in the shape of a second love he didn't expect to find, and a family to go with it.
Kitty
· 27 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
We’re coming to the part of the tale I don’t like at all ... poor Frodo, these nightmares are so horrible, and it is depressing to see how much sway the ring held still over him. At least he was able to get rid of a part of it.
As for Brendi, I love him more and more. He is a wonderful hobbit, so intelligent, discerning and compassionate, and I am glad to know he found his own happiness with Narcissa in the end. And I think he could help Frodo a bit, forcing him to acknowledge certain truths. Well, he’s a lawyer, and they tend to be used to complicated trains of thought and to keep track of little details, so he is able to think things through very well ;-)
Author's reply
How often when we feel bad anyway such nightmares as these come. How much of it is simply fever, how much his feelings of guilt coming out, how much leftover residue of the Ring is hard to say. But I think at least some of the healing would begin to take part even in the mortal lands.
I'm so glad people like Brendi so, for he and Ruvemir, Narcissa and the twins have become so much a part of my imagination's view of Middle Earth any more.
Yes, the mind schooled to follow logic and evaluate assumptions is needed here, and helps further weaken the shell built up around Frodo so that when he reaches the Undying Lands it can be more easily stripped away completely.
demeter d
· 27 February 2006
· Chapter 90: 90: Birth Come, Death Contemplated
...bur you were not alone, child, then or ever... at the heart of the whole tale. There were always short times of trial, but in the end and always, love comes back. Poignant.
Author's reply
This is a hard thing for many who are in a lot of immediate pain have difficulty keeping in focus--that they aren't alone. And I think this would be very true for Frodo at that point.
But the fact remains he wasn't alone and that he was surrounded by love both there in the Shire and beyond as well as beyond Middle Earth. And I'm glad he was.
harrowcat
· 27 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
Look Larner - you can't do this to me you know! I can't be crying as I try to drive down the motorway at 70 miles an hour!
Author's reply
I'm sorry! Do watch out--I've driven on your motorways, after all, and know how much more dangerous they are than even most stretches of our interstate freeways, for we have far more empty spaces and less congestion than you do once you get outside our metropolitan areas.
But we are getting into the difficult times, after all.
demeter d
· 27 February 2006
· Chapter 89: 89: Light of Stars
This is the kind of gratitude we who love these stories would wish that Frodo could have received. Sweet, warm and wistful.
Author's reply
I agree, Demeter. Frodo deserved a lot more credit than he got, of that I'm certain. That a few like Will and Bard would appreciate that while most would come basically for the food and being around everyone else seemed logical for me.
So glad you appreciated this chapter as you've expressed.
Antane
· 26 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
Child, is it a burden to care for one so well beloved?
No, darling, it isn't! Don't leave because you think you are a burden.
"I thought I wanted you--that your presence meant I wasn’t truly alone?” he demanded in a fierce whisper through clenched teeth. “Why in Middle Earth I ever thought that comforting I have no idea....I wanted you? I wanted you?! Just so you could belittle and destroy me?”
You realize now more than ever what it's done to you. Stop listening to it! Listen to the other voice, the one that actually loves you, listen and talk to Sam and your cousins. You can't bear this all alone. No one can. You are not a burden!
Oh, Larner, I know you are writing from personal experience and not only is my heart breaking for Frodo, it's aching for what you went through too.
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
Well, a good deal of it is projected from the experiences discussed with my husband--when he'd speak of it--before he died. Another friend who also had diabetes and kidney failure preceded him by two years, and he was stoical and did his best to hide from so many what he was experiencing, and it was difficult watching how people finally came to the realization just how bad he was. My husband's condition was even more complicated due to multiple degenerative conditions each adding its own little bit.
And yes, finally Frodo is beginning to put aside the voice--except when it speaks to his own feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
French Pony
· 26 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
It looks like the story is just beginning to wind into its last act. Frodo really has given up on the Shire. He has no joy of life any more, and he's starting to make the preparations. One way or the other, he's leaving, and his friends and family are just beginning to acknowledge that. And in the springtime, too, which makes it even sharper.
Although now I find myself wondering how Frodo will ever find it within him to travel all the way to the Havens.
Author's reply
Tolkien indicated that it was due to repeat of the illness at the time of Elanor's birth that Frodo realized he would never properly recover or fit in any more, which indicates this is the time at which he began actually thinking of his alternatives. As the days came closer to the fall fit of memories he must have gotten near frantic.
I admit I up the ante bit with his physical condition reflecting more strongly the experiences and wounds he suffered; but I do feel that there would have been longterm residual effects of what Frodo went through.
As for how he made it to the Havens--well, he was traveling with the greatest healer on Middle Earth, ring or no ring.
lotrgirl1415
· 26 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
Hey!
Okay Haven't reviewed for a while.
I feel so very sad for Frodo. I keep imagining him being so skinny in my head.
*cries*
Will there be more angst to come health-wise for Frodo?
I do wish he had courted(or attempted to court) Narcissa Boffin in this story...
Because even though i love Tolkien's LOTR, I've always wished Frodo had found a lass for him, no matter the lenghth of time.
*sigh*
keep up the great work!
xoxoxoxoxo
--Katie
ps: love the addition of the kitten...reminds me of my brothers(and mine) cat Garfield.and reminds me of my deceased cat Pippin...who died 13 months ago.I luv kittens!^-^
Author's reply
We still have a few more months before Frodo leaves Middle Earth, so of course there's going to be some health angst, unfortunately for Frodo.
I, too, find myself wondering what it might have been like had Frodo had the courage to marry Narcissa. I think it would have helped him accept a type of healing, at least; but then I think it would have been a more earthly healing than going to Tol Eressea gave him. But I've enjoyed a number of stories in which Frodo married and knew some joy--in some stories Hobbit maidens have ended up inexplicably in the Undying Lands; in some he found joy before he left, or instead of leaving. And in Armariel's stories he meets a sea maiden who gives up her immortality to bind herself to him.
As for the kittens--have had many cats and dogs all my life. My Pippin was just loving up against me. Unfortunately I lost his brother Merry a year and a half ago, which was a great grief. Two gorgeous Siamese males.
When I first read LOTR, I didn't realise how the Ring or Sauron could be so ominous-at least, not fully. But these last few chapters have given me more of an appreciation for just what it did to Frodo, and it makes me really hate it!
And I've come to dread the mention of poppy juice. It's irrational, I know, but it seems every time I've ever read about it it has something to do with adiction or suicide, and I can't see Frodo succumbing to either. Oh, I know, he was in a lot of pain, and I'm perfectly aware that I have no idea what I'm talking about. But still, I just can't get used to such an idea. I've never let it stop me from reading a good story though.
Well, I'm glad Frodo will confess to Brendi; that's a plus. It must be a relief to let someone know-since either he has no idea or he refuses to see that it's obvious to all those who love him best.
This chapter has to be one of the most poignant in the story so far.
God bless,
Galadriel
Author's reply
I have commented before that, just as Ian McClellan indicated Middle Earth is one place we love which has never existed except on our hearts, even so the Ring is one of the most loathed objects that never existed--except in our hearts.
It was made by one of the greatest of the Maiar, who learned his own way and craft from one intended to be one of the greatest of the Valar but who refused to accept obedience but insisted on dominating all, trying to usurp all power to himself. That such an article--reputed to hold the greater part of Sauron's own vanity, hatred, will for domination, envy for all he himself could not create, and will to destruction of all else--would have been devastating on whoever held It once It awoke.
It wove its way into the foundations of his mind and consciousness; losing it after seventeen years of having It ever there must have been terribly damaging. And letting go the desire for It's presence must have been terribly hard.
My adopted daughter's birth family is the true stuff of nightmares. Her oldest birth sister, rescued from it, kept running back to it, again and again. Her experience with life was so twisted she could not accept that there might be a place out THERE which was better than the home she knew. Better the devil she knew than the one she imagined had to be worse--out there in the larger world. I won't tell you what that family went through, but it was about the worst we can imagine.
Even so Frodo, whose closest companion has been that Ring in his pocket, one who didn't go back home to Number Three most nights, must have found having that awareness wrenched from him in such a violent manner, must have felt at times completely bereft, even as he rejoiced it was gone.
Linda Hoyland
· 26 February 2006
· Chapter 91: 91: Fading
Poor frodo,no wonder he wishes Aragorn were there to help and support him !
Author's reply
Yes, I think at times like that he did wish for Aragorn at the same time he wouldn't want Aragorn to see what he was descending to as he worsened.
Antane
· 26 February 2006
· Chapter 90: 90: Birth Come, Death Contemplated
I'm glad the Ring hasn't been able to rob him of all joy and that the Voice is there to comfort him even as the memories torment him.
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
No, the Ring can't quite conquer him, even now when he tends to feel so very empty. And he has his little Elanorelle to love and care for, and to help him remain grounded.