[KayQy]

Well, looks like much of what I was going to say has been covered--Frodo not dropping into the illness so quickly, the agonizing lack of subtlety, Merry and Pip's falling in with them. I so wanted a conspiracy unmasked. Not hard to slip it in: Frodo tries to give some vague explanation for the black riders, Merry breaks in, "it's about old Bilbo's ring, isn't it?" Frodo gapes, "wha--how --?" "The party was hardly the first time I saw him vanish into thin air..."<P>My big change: more Lothlorien. it was barely even Lorien, more like Lo. We are getting hasty, aren't we. In particular the farewell scene with the giving of the gifts should not have been sacrificed. how are they planning to fit Sam's dirt in later on? Flashback? Second gifts? If they leave it out someone will die slowly and painfully (probably me). I would also have more of the sunshine that Sam noticed, and toned down Galadriel's mental voice.<P>Wizards' duel: like your rewrite, maril. It addresses most of the problems I had with that scene, except one. How does Gandalf get his staff back? Fly-by snatch out of the windows of Orthanc? make another? does he keep extras at Rivendell just in case?