New fanfics & thoughts on a radio drama
Mar. 24th, 2025 06:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42So... You thought that my impassioned live-blogging of The Lord of the Rings would be the only writing on the subject that I'd ever do? Oh, how wrong you were. I seem to be terminally incapable of enjoying a series without writing fanfic for it. So... Here's some fanfic for it!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/64047877
Title: "The Finest One"
Word Count: 2,478
Relationships: Nothing romantic... it focuses on Frodo & Bilbo
Rating: Idk man. T, I guess, but only because I don't like rating my fics any lower than that because it feels like I'm saying they were written for children.
Warnings: None.
Description: Before Frodo leaves Rivendell following the quest to destroy the Ring, he feels the need to fill Bilbo on a gap in his story.
I wrote this because I NEEDED more Frodo/Bilbo bonding than we got in the book, and I also needed Frodo to know how highly Bilbo thought of him. I also couldn't help but wonder what Bilbo would have thought if Frodo had confessed to him about claiming the Ring at Mount Doom... so this story spun out of that. I'm pretty satisfied with it!
The next one is a bit less comforting, though...
https://archiveofourown.org/works/63953590
Title: "Work to Do"
Word Count: 4,678
Relationships: Whatever the fuck Sam & Frodo have got going on (nothing is in here that wouldn't be shown in canon, though)
Rating: T
Warnings: Self-harm is a prominent theme. It's probably not the kind of self-harm you're thinking of, but it is definitely self-harm, so PLEASE be mindful of that before you decide to read this.
Description: Sam talks down to himself. This has an effect.
This is... sort of vent-writing, I guess, or whatever it's called when you deal with something by projecting it onto a character. I feel sort of bad that I did this to Sam, and I also feel terrified to have shared it. But I think it needed to be shared.
...Anyway! I might as well use this as a segue into another thing I want to talk about- The Lord of the Rings radio drama that the BBC broadcast in the 80's! I listened to it once last month, I think shortly after reading the books, but I didn't post about it because I didn't want it to seem like this book was taking over my life. Well... a month has passed, and while I can't say the book has taken over my life, I will say I'm still eager to get my hands on every adaptation of the story that I can find, so I'm listening to the radio drama again and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I really enjoy the movies, but I think I might like the radio drama more because it's much closer to the books and has an absolutely outstanding cast. I love what every single actor brings to the table, but I think for me personally, the standouts are Michael Hordern as Gandalf and Ian Holm as Frodo.
I already knew Michael Hordern from the animated Wind In the Willows series that I watched as a kid, where he played Badger- an authority figure who can sometimes be stern and grumpy, but has a heart of gold and takes on a sort of fatherly role towards his younger friends. Doesn't that sound just like Gandalf? I knew that I was going to love Hordern's performance in this series when I heard how he played the confrontation scene when Bilbo is about to leave the Shire for good, and wants to hold onto the Ring. In the movie, Ian McKellan deliver the line "I am not trying to rob you! I'm trying to help you" in a fairly stern way, which is a completely valid take and makes sense. But Michael Hordern delivers it in a more gentle, patient way, the way one might talk to a friend who is acting strangely, and you're trying to talk them down. Really, the warmth that he brings to that character in general gives me such a good feeling. And it's not like he never sounds stern and authoritative- he definitely brings that to the character too, but it's the balance he strikes between the kindly parental figure and the badass servant of a higher power that makes me admire his performance.
Then there's Ian Holm. Oh my GOD, he is amazing in this role. I feel like I should say, I like Elijah Wood's portrayal of Frodo in the movies, in a poor little meow meow kind of way. I think that he did a great job with the role as it was written. But Frodo in the radio drama is written much more closely to how he is in the book, and Ian Holm absolutely embodies that character. The first thing that really stood out to me was the subtle contrast between his performance pre-17-year-timeskip and post-17-year-timeskip. As soon as I first heard Holm's performance in the beginning where Frodo and Bilbo are going over responses to their party invitations, I instantly clued in to how youthful and vibrant Frodo sounded. After the timeskip, I'm not even sure how to describe it because it's not like he changed his performance THAT much, but I could instantly HEAR that time had passed just from listening to the way Holm delivered his lines. That's masterful. As is his delivery of every line, honestly... But I want to particularly single out two scenes- the moment where Sam rescues Frodo from the orcs in Mordor, and at the very end when Frodo says goodbye to his friends before sailing away to Valinor. Regarding the former scene- I was so impressed with the way that Ian Holm performed that scene that my jaw dropped. In the book, it's easy to read Frodo's lines upon first greeting Sam and then telling him what happened to him as being delivered calmly, because there aren't really any tone indicators. Ian Holm, however, delivered them in a sort of rambling, gibbering way, and sounded exactly like someone who had been going insane from being tortured and is now so relieved to be rescued that everything is just pouring out of him in one big run-on explanation. And as for the latter scene... Again, it would have been so easy to play that as a calm, peaceful moment, when Frodo tells Sam that he has to leave Middle-earth and Sam has to stay, because he'll go on to do many great things in the Shire. For the most part, it is a calm, peaceful moment, just like how it is in the movie. But then... Towards the end of Frodo's speech, he starts to choke up, and then he cries out, "Oh, Sam!" and Sam responds "Mr. Frodo, me dear!" and it is so obvious from the way that the actors play that moment that their characters are supposed to be embracing and MY. HEART. Oh my GOD. I mean, leaving aside the utter sweetness of their relationship, I love how Ian Holm's performance made it absolutely clear that this is a difficult moment for Frodo, too. He wishes he could stay with his best friends and enjoy their lives together... But he can't fully enjoy his own life if he stays, and so he has to leave. I just appreciate SO MUCH what his performance brought to that moment.
The only performance I didn't really care for is Aragorn's- I feel like his voice wasn't right for the role, but then again, I can't really imagine what I think he SHOULD sound like. Just not like that. I also had some trouble getting into Bill Nighy's performance as Sam, but towards the end I was fully sold, especially when I heard his rendition of the song that he sings when he's looking for Frodo in Mordor. That has become my favorite scene in the whole story, and both the melody and the singing were outstanding. (Side note- did anyone notice that this song scans perfectly to the song "On Raglan Road" by The Dubliners? The melody of which was originally used as an old Irish folk song called "The Dawning of the Day..." I wonder if Tolkien knew that song and wrote his lyrics to fit that melody?) I also really liked Pippin- his actor sounded just as youthful and carefree as I imagined his character to be when reading the book.
One final note- I just have to say, I think it's hilarious that out of all the kisses given between characters in the book, the only one that the radio drama went out of its way to keep (as in, it was audible- I guess you can imagine the other kisses occurred, but you couldn't hear them) was the one that Aragorn gives Merry when Merry is recovering after stabbing the Witch King. Like... It just seems hilariously random to me, that THAT is the only moment where the director of this series was like "we NEED the audience to know that Aragorn kissed Merry! It's vital to this scene!"
https://archiveofourown.org/works/64047877
Title: "The Finest One"
Word Count: 2,478
Relationships: Nothing romantic... it focuses on Frodo & Bilbo
Rating: Idk man. T, I guess, but only because I don't like rating my fics any lower than that because it feels like I'm saying they were written for children.
Warnings: None.
Description: Before Frodo leaves Rivendell following the quest to destroy the Ring, he feels the need to fill Bilbo on a gap in his story.
I wrote this because I NEEDED more Frodo/Bilbo bonding than we got in the book, and I also needed Frodo to know how highly Bilbo thought of him. I also couldn't help but wonder what Bilbo would have thought if Frodo had confessed to him about claiming the Ring at Mount Doom... so this story spun out of that. I'm pretty satisfied with it!
The next one is a bit less comforting, though...
https://archiveofourown.org/works/63953590
Title: "Work to Do"
Word Count: 4,678
Relationships: Whatever the fuck Sam & Frodo have got going on (nothing is in here that wouldn't be shown in canon, though)
Rating: T
Warnings: Self-harm is a prominent theme. It's probably not the kind of self-harm you're thinking of, but it is definitely self-harm, so PLEASE be mindful of that before you decide to read this.
Description: Sam talks down to himself. This has an effect.
This is... sort of vent-writing, I guess, or whatever it's called when you deal with something by projecting it onto a character. I feel sort of bad that I did this to Sam, and I also feel terrified to have shared it. But I think it needed to be shared.
...Anyway! I might as well use this as a segue into another thing I want to talk about- The Lord of the Rings radio drama that the BBC broadcast in the 80's! I listened to it once last month, I think shortly after reading the books, but I didn't post about it because I didn't want it to seem like this book was taking over my life. Well... a month has passed, and while I can't say the book has taken over my life, I will say I'm still eager to get my hands on every adaptation of the story that I can find, so I'm listening to the radio drama again and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I really enjoy the movies, but I think I might like the radio drama more because it's much closer to the books and has an absolutely outstanding cast. I love what every single actor brings to the table, but I think for me personally, the standouts are Michael Hordern as Gandalf and Ian Holm as Frodo.
I already knew Michael Hordern from the animated Wind In the Willows series that I watched as a kid, where he played Badger- an authority figure who can sometimes be stern and grumpy, but has a heart of gold and takes on a sort of fatherly role towards his younger friends. Doesn't that sound just like Gandalf? I knew that I was going to love Hordern's performance in this series when I heard how he played the confrontation scene when Bilbo is about to leave the Shire for good, and wants to hold onto the Ring. In the movie, Ian McKellan deliver the line "I am not trying to rob you! I'm trying to help you" in a fairly stern way, which is a completely valid take and makes sense. But Michael Hordern delivers it in a more gentle, patient way, the way one might talk to a friend who is acting strangely, and you're trying to talk them down. Really, the warmth that he brings to that character in general gives me such a good feeling. And it's not like he never sounds stern and authoritative- he definitely brings that to the character too, but it's the balance he strikes between the kindly parental figure and the badass servant of a higher power that makes me admire his performance.
Then there's Ian Holm. Oh my GOD, he is amazing in this role. I feel like I should say, I like Elijah Wood's portrayal of Frodo in the movies, in a poor little meow meow kind of way. I think that he did a great job with the role as it was written. But Frodo in the radio drama is written much more closely to how he is in the book, and Ian Holm absolutely embodies that character. The first thing that really stood out to me was the subtle contrast between his performance pre-17-year-timeskip and post-17-year-timeskip. As soon as I first heard Holm's performance in the beginning where Frodo and Bilbo are going over responses to their party invitations, I instantly clued in to how youthful and vibrant Frodo sounded. After the timeskip, I'm not even sure how to describe it because it's not like he changed his performance THAT much, but I could instantly HEAR that time had passed just from listening to the way Holm delivered his lines. That's masterful. As is his delivery of every line, honestly... But I want to particularly single out two scenes- the moment where Sam rescues Frodo from the orcs in Mordor, and at the very end when Frodo says goodbye to his friends before sailing away to Valinor. Regarding the former scene- I was so impressed with the way that Ian Holm performed that scene that my jaw dropped. In the book, it's easy to read Frodo's lines upon first greeting Sam and then telling him what happened to him as being delivered calmly, because there aren't really any tone indicators. Ian Holm, however, delivered them in a sort of rambling, gibbering way, and sounded exactly like someone who had been going insane from being tortured and is now so relieved to be rescued that everything is just pouring out of him in one big run-on explanation. And as for the latter scene... Again, it would have been so easy to play that as a calm, peaceful moment, when Frodo tells Sam that he has to leave Middle-earth and Sam has to stay, because he'll go on to do many great things in the Shire. For the most part, it is a calm, peaceful moment, just like how it is in the movie. But then... Towards the end of Frodo's speech, he starts to choke up, and then he cries out, "Oh, Sam!" and Sam responds "Mr. Frodo, me dear!" and it is so obvious from the way that the actors play that moment that their characters are supposed to be embracing and MY. HEART. Oh my GOD. I mean, leaving aside the utter sweetness of their relationship, I love how Ian Holm's performance made it absolutely clear that this is a difficult moment for Frodo, too. He wishes he could stay with his best friends and enjoy their lives together... But he can't fully enjoy his own life if he stays, and so he has to leave. I just appreciate SO MUCH what his performance brought to that moment.
The only performance I didn't really care for is Aragorn's- I feel like his voice wasn't right for the role, but then again, I can't really imagine what I think he SHOULD sound like. Just not like that. I also had some trouble getting into Bill Nighy's performance as Sam, but towards the end I was fully sold, especially when I heard his rendition of the song that he sings when he's looking for Frodo in Mordor. That has become my favorite scene in the whole story, and both the melody and the singing were outstanding. (Side note- did anyone notice that this song scans perfectly to the song "On Raglan Road" by The Dubliners? The melody of which was originally used as an old Irish folk song called "The Dawning of the Day..." I wonder if Tolkien knew that song and wrote his lyrics to fit that melody?) I also really liked Pippin- his actor sounded just as youthful and carefree as I imagined his character to be when reading the book.
One final note- I just have to say, I think it's hilarious that out of all the kisses given between characters in the book, the only one that the radio drama went out of its way to keep (as in, it was audible- I guess you can imagine the other kisses occurred, but you couldn't hear them) was the one that Aragorn gives Merry when Merry is recovering after stabbing the Witch King. Like... It just seems hilariously random to me, that THAT is the only moment where the director of this series was like "we NEED the audience to know that Aragorn kissed Merry! It's vital to this scene!"
