Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Characters: Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took (Merry/Pippin implied)
Rating: G / General Audiences
Length: 3,273 words
Author Links:
james /
james / gila's cave /
zortified (Personal/fandom journal) /
gilascave (Fanfic journal)
Theme: Minor characters
Summary: Pippin leaves Minas Tirith on his last journey. What he finds isn't precisely what he expected. Spoilers for all three books, plus a few appendices.
Reccer's Notes: James Walkswithwind is one of the best fan fiction writers--across all fandoms. In my opinion, this is her best work. Beautiful rendering of the changes that occurred to the hobbits in general, and Pippin in particular, across their journey. Although Post-Quest stories are common (and many of the best fics in this fandom take place in this era), James finds an original way to depict the internal struggle. The story is brief, because not a single word is wasted. I love how the story unravels around you, i.e. the reader doesn't quite know what is going on at first, but James builds it with such care that you understand everything at the moment the author wishes. Then, when you re-read it (as I've done several times), you see how the parts which were unclear at first make perfect sense now. This is one of the few stories which made me cry, and it takes quite a lot to make me weep (let me put it this way: I didn't cry at Return of the King). Certainly, "Paths for the Dead" is one of the Top Ten pieces of Lord of the Rings FPF that I've ever read. When you are done reading it, you may want to try James's other LOTR stories, esp. those that focus on Pippin, such as "Each Journey Begins," "Memory," and "Of All the Inquisitive Tooks." [all gen, rated G, available at her personal website]
Story Links:
Paths for the Dead at Archive of Our Own
Paths for the Dead at gila's cave
Characters: Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took (Merry/Pippin implied)
Rating: G / General Audiences
Length: 3,273 words
Author Links:
Theme: Minor characters
Summary: Pippin leaves Minas Tirith on his last journey. What he finds isn't precisely what he expected. Spoilers for all three books, plus a few appendices.
Reccer's Notes: James Walkswithwind is one of the best fan fiction writers--across all fandoms. In my opinion, this is her best work. Beautiful rendering of the changes that occurred to the hobbits in general, and Pippin in particular, across their journey. Although Post-Quest stories are common (and many of the best fics in this fandom take place in this era), James finds an original way to depict the internal struggle. The story is brief, because not a single word is wasted. I love how the story unravels around you, i.e. the reader doesn't quite know what is going on at first, but James builds it with such care that you understand everything at the moment the author wishes. Then, when you re-read it (as I've done several times), you see how the parts which were unclear at first make perfect sense now. This is one of the few stories which made me cry, and it takes quite a lot to make me weep (let me put it this way: I didn't cry at Return of the King). Certainly, "Paths for the Dead" is one of the Top Ten pieces of Lord of the Rings FPF that I've ever read. When you are done reading it, you may want to try James's other LOTR stories, esp. those that focus on Pippin, such as "Each Journey Begins," "Memory," and "Of All the Inquisitive Tooks." [all gen, rated G, available at her personal website]
Story Links:
Paths for the Dead at Archive of Our Own
Paths for the Dead at gila's cave