Good characterisation of Theodred, one has the sense of the darkness closing in on him and everything, everyone he loves. Good use of Shadowfax as a focus for Theodred's hope.
Author's reply
Shadowfax was actually the inspiration for this one-- I'm currently re-reading TTT, and for some reason this time when I got to the part where Gandalf was talking about Shadowfax, I thought of Theodred, and this was the result. And I'm glad he came off well, since I hadn't written him before.
(Just an FYI-- I'm also changing the first couple chapters of AAOD that involve him, to bring it closer to book canon, so I'm going to put the rewrites up now.)
Thanks for reading, and good to hear from you.