Discussing: Unfair
Unfair
Anglachel1
Message: 6526
27 Mar 03 1:52 PM
Original Post
General Audience
Read-Only
Message: 6526
27 Mar 03 1:52 PM
Original Post
General Audience
Read-Only
Unfair
Nothing big, just a little light entertainment, plus some speculation in the author's notes about who atually took the silver spoons from bag End.
Toodles - Ang
Re: Unfair
Re: Unfair
Well, I am trying to reconcile the antipathy between herself & Bilbo and Frodo with her obvious gumption (she did go into the Lockholes for attacking a Big Person with umbrella, after all) and the fact that she could be greatly generous.
I like to think that Lobelia was a little short-changed in Fodo's account of things. ;-) But she was still one formidable old lady. I can imagine her getting into a lot of trouble in her youth, and not being the most pleasant person to deal with.
Ang
Re: Unfair
kete
Re: Unfair
Flash forward to Lobelia walking along the banks of the Baranduin, several months later. Her brother and Violet are now married and, as far as anyone outside of the family is concerned, they have a lovely baby girl. They just had to move their marriage up a few months because, well, you know how impatient these young folk can be...
Lobelia is not so much nasty, I think, as she is hard-headed and very opinionated. She is also very angry about the social double-standard concerning sexual relations, and is just independent enough to go against advice as to how she should behave. She is also embarrassed and a bit afraid that word will get out and she *will* be ruined. Finally, she can be vindictive when she feels threatened. So, I can see her growing up to be indulgent and protective of her own family, very suspicious and hostile to people who seem to have it easy, but with a core of stubborness that won't let anyone get away with anything, not even her own son.
A tough old bird, in short. I *like* Lobelia!
Ang
PS - Did you read my short fic about Bilbo in Erebor, "Treasures"? I think you'd like that one, too.
Re: Unfair
Re: Unfair
Somewhere I have a half-sketched short story about Gimli & Legolas where Legolas learns a few obscure facts about Dwarves. Snicker. The poor Elf. Someday I'll get it written.
Ang,
who is fighting off a very evil nuzgul unleashed by Celandine concerning Bilbo...
Re: Unfair
Re: Unfair
Not only is Lobelia actually young in this fic, not only is she not crotchety or ... wait, nevermind, she is embittered. Heh. But she's young and bitter and hurt for reasons which make sense, and your use of the "well, we'll just attribute the child to another relative" ploy works far better here than it ever did in Kurtz's Deryni books. Kudos for making that work.
This also explains Lobelia's relationship with Bilbo for me and the way they just repel each other (or at least, Bilbo repels Lobelia; Bilbo seems more bothered and irritated by the S-Bs, rather than having a truly personal score with them). Here is Lobelia, who has been wronged--she gave her trust to the wrong man who took advantage of her--and then her family is treating her like a pariah and fully intends to continue to do so for years. It's not wholly her fault, and she isn't really a rebel--she wants the respectable life. Of course she does--she's a hobbit, a matriarch in the making--her future lies in attaining respectability and thereby power. She made one mistake, and that future seems on the verge of being closed to her forever; if Otho hadn't married her, I think she would've gone insane or been utterly ruined spiritually.
Compare this to Bilbo, who, post-Erebor, seems to *revel* (or maybe "wallow" would be Lobelia's term) in his notoriety and lack of respectability--he keeps doing odd things, disrupting society, making people uncomfortable, and yet nothing happens to him. No one tries to lock him away; no one forces him to behave for the sake of marriage. He's rich, he's famous, people (inexplicably) *like* him, and he's aging incredibly well, and he has Bag End and is technically clan chief in a way. He's The Baggins. The one and only. No wonder she can't stand him, given her situation. He is everything that is a threat to her, and he succeeds, where she is facing a life of fear and drudgery and self-denial at the hands of her scandalized parents.
So good for Lobelia, for taking Otho--this is the woman who runs at ruffians with an umbrella. And good for Otho, for seeing past the rumors and having the guts to risk his social position to marry her; even better for him that he was willing to face her betrayer. This is the hobbit couple that I can see as fitting into LoTR and making sense of characters who are otherwise very much, um, "characters", if you know what I mean.
I'm so pleased that this nuzgul bit. Well done once again!
