EDIT: Fair warning to any and all, I'm not going to worry about spoilers here. If you've seen the movie, you're good.
Gandalf: "The ring is dangerous, you need to leave the Shire."
Movie Frodo: "OK, let's get going!"
Book Frodo: <putters around for 5 1/2 months>
Seriously. Gandalf arrives in the Shire to tell Frodo about the Ring in early April. Frodo heads out in mid-September. I get that a quiet, low-key, believable departure won't set rumors flying like a Bilbo-style disappearance, but even 10 year old me thought Frodo was being a little ridiculous. But on the other hand, as far as character work goes, it's great. Gandalf shows up to warn of danger, and while Frodo absolutely believes it, it's also abstract. It's hard to be scared of this little trinket he's been carrying in his pocket for 17 years, and the Shire is lovely and it's home, and he's looking at leaving it for danger and uncertain exile. Of course he drags his hairy Hobbit-feet.
So Frodo makes arrangements to sell Bag-End to the Sackville-Bagginses (aside: for years my father has referred to his brother's family as the Sackville-OfThePalaces. Uncle Louie always found that pretty funny, thankfully) and move to Buckland. But naturally Gandalf is a busy wizard, and can't spend all his time sitting around the Shire while Frodo is all emo. So he's off to do wizard things, but promises Frodo that he'll be back in time to escort him to Rivendell. I'm sure that'll work out perfectly. [Spoiler alert: it doesn’t].
Anyway. Hobbit Day Frodo and Bilbo's birthday rolls around, Merry, Pippin, and Fatty Bolger (Hi, Fatty! You're an awesome minor character!) + Random Hobbit-Friend #4 help him pack up the place, and then after giving Gandalf all day to show up, Frodo, Pippin, and Sam start walking to Buckland (Merry and Fatty having gone ahead with the furniture). The walk is very Hobbitish, with frequent stops for meals. Also, you know, Black Riders. So heads-up about that. After a few near-misses, one of them had nearly found the Hobbits when a party of Elves that happens to be passing scares him off. The Elves offer the Hobbits shelter for the night, and Frodo stays up late talking with their leader.
This chapter does a number of things. We get our first real introduction to Merry and Pippin, for one. We get our first glimpses of the Nazgûl, and Tolkien does a great job giving them a vague sense of menace that ratchets steadily higher with each encounter. For guys only glimpsed and not yet explained, they are pretty scary.
A point about worldbuilding. Lots of people have taken up the hobby since Tolkien first wrote the Fall of Gondolin, but none of them manage to be quite like what Tolkien himself does. And I don't think anyone ever can be. Cause here's the thing: when Sanderson, or Jordan, or Martin, or Erikson, or Hobb, or any of them worldbuild, it's to provide background to their story. In other words, the worldbuilding serves the narrative. It's unavoidable. Unless you're an Oxford don for whom writing epic fantasy is a side gig, that is. Middle-earth had been around for decades before LotR, and that sense that as readers we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg is something I have never encountered anywhere else. I mention this here (though I'm sure I'll revisit it again) because of this:
'I am Gildor,' answered their leader, the Elf who had first hailed him. 'Gildor Inglorion of the House of Finrod. We are Exiles, and most of our kindred have long ago departed and we too are now only tarrying here a while, ere we return over the Great Sea.'
Tolkien doesn't feel the need to explain this. If you really want to understand just how much history and myth is packed into this, the only real way to do that is to read The Silmarillion. That'll teach you all about the Noldor, their willing departure into Exile, Finrod Felegund, and the rest. The point is that there's a ton of history that doesn't have a damn thing to do with the story, and it's great.
Gildor is happy to give food and shelter, but reluctant to give advice. It boils down to "Gandalf knows what he's doing, so trust his advice." He refuses to talk about the Black Riders, though he clearly knows what they are. He tells Frodo that "avoid them, they're dangerous" is sufficient knowledge, and he's kind of right, but also kind of infuriating.
Lastly, Sam! I love you Sam. For moments like this one:
'Sam!' he called. 'Sam! Time!'
'Coming, sir!' came the answer from far within, followed soon by Sam himself, wiping his mouth. He had been saying farewell to the beer-barrel in the cellar.
Or this one:
[Sam] had put on his head a tall shapeless felt bag, which he called a hat.
And in general Sam has always been wild about the Elves, always loving hearing stories about them and learning whatever he can. And here he is, just starting off on an adventure, farther from home than he's ever been, and he gets to meet a bunch of them and spend the night with them. It's adorable.
Here’s the link to the One Mike to Read Them All index. Next week: A Short Cut to Mushrooms
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