(no subject)

[rabidsamfan]

Temptation

A nice little hole with a bit of garden of my own, was all I told Merry she’d offered me, and didn’t mention it was Bag End’s garden I saw my feet standing in – I planted those lilacs myself, and I know their smell.

I wonder if she offered him the same thing. He’s loved that hole as much as Frodo ever has. I saw how he walked each room after the last party. If he hadn’t decided to come along with us I expect he might have bought it himself.

But it wouldn’t be home nohow. Not without Frodo.




Timeline (fiction only, most recent version, includes AU) first previous next last

Comments

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

Excellent.

I planted those lilacs myself, and I know their smell.

Great idea.

[ansostuff.livejournal.com]

I like Sam/Merry stories, there are too few of them. This was a nice contribution.

[pippinswolf.livejournal.com]

How did you know I was musing on this very issue last night?
Beautiful job.

[illyria-novia.livejournal.com]

I read this several times before I realized that "she" here is Galadriel. *grins sheepishly* But once I understand, everything falls beautifully into place, especially the significance behind the lilacs. Wouldn't it be nice to have the other hobbits' temptation laid out in a drabbly manner like this? *blinks innocently*

[shirebound]

What *did* Galadriel offer Merry? *wonders....*

Fantastic drabble, as usual.

[danachan.livejournal.com]

I'll just innocently blink and suggest that maybe it would be cool to see the temptation of the other hobbits laid out all nice and easy-to-read, like illyria_novia and shirebound did...

*grins*

I really did love this. I mean, can I just go on and love how you do the drabble such justice? And it's Sam and Merry and it's fab and I love it and you keep doing that thing where you don't even waste a single word...

*loves*

Re: Temptation

[eykar.livejournal.com]

The last line needs a little tweaking, unless you really mean that Galadriel offered Sam Bag End without Frodo. I can't imagine Galadriel being so inept; that would be an accusation, not a temptation. I would find the punchline more fitting if Sam considered selling Bag End to Merry himself, now that Frodo isn't here.

Re: Temptation

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I think that Galadriel offered Sam Bag End, and without Frodo -- at least for the sake of this drabble. It's a home independent of the Gaffer, a garden of his own, and a place he can take a bride. And it's Bag End because that's the one place he loves (and knows) better than Bagshot Row. But giving up the quest also means giving up Frodo. And yes, I think that Sam is human enough to have had times when his feet hurt, his back hurt, and all he wanted to do was be somewhere safe and his own where he didn't have to think about saving the world.

Re: Temptation

[eykar.livejournal.com]

It's an intriguing thought, however unlikely. At what point do you think Sam decided that Bag End wouldn't be home without Frodo? If he found the offer implausible as soon as Galadriel made it, then it wasn't much of an offer.

Or did you mean that Galadriel was digging for Sam's dark side -- the aspect selfish enough to both desert Frodo and add insult to injury by taking over his home -- sort of to make sure that he had one? My best guess has always been that she offered him a normal life -- wife, children, food, sex, etc. -- to test his resolution but not to search out hidden evil. (What an unlikely place for evil to hide!)

Re: Temptation

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I think she offered him a "perfect" home and garden -- and drew on his own ideas of perfection, which happened to be Bag End. Not so much a search for evil, as an offer of what a tired, grieving hobbit might find the most comfort in. Don't forget that Gandalf is newly "dead" to them all.

It's not a dark side she appeals to in Sam, it's a selfish side -- in the sense that it's tending to self and not to others. He's a hobbit; he likes to be comfortable and warm and well-fed. It's a part of his nature just as much as it is his nature to be loyal, and there are times when those two things must come into conflict.

And she doesn't really want to destroy the quest -- she turns down the Ring when Frodo offers it to her -- but her own dark side might have made the choice that harsh, if you want to think of it in those terms.

Re: Temptation

[eykar.livejournal.com]

>I think she offered him a "perfect" home and garden -- and >drew on his own ideas of perfection,

That makes sense, and fits with how JRR wrote it. However now I'm thinking vaguely of an AU in which Galadriel likes to bring out people's worst side, sort of to expose it to the light and hope it dries up and blows away.

Heavens, I wasn't imagining that she wanted to destroy the quest -- more that she was searching out weaknesses that might threaten it, so as to put the bearers of those weaknesses on their guard.

Re: Temptation

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I want to see your story... Go for it!