Book 2 of Fellowship (each volume of the LotR “trilogy” (it’s really one book, split up for publishing purposes) has two books, in the sense of “the book of Genesis”) opens with a rather uneventful chapter. It’s always been one of my least favorite chapters, and that’s true for this reread as well.
Not that there’s not stuff to like in here. Frodo meeting Glóin is a very nice callback to The Hobbit. The reunion with Bilbo was great - I particularly liked when Frodo (who had been awake for a while) complained that he hadn’t seen Bilbo yet, Bilbo tells him, “that’s because you were unconscious - I’ve seen plenty of you.” I didn’t understand this at all when I first read LotR, but it did indeed take a lot of chutzpah (“cheek” is the word that Aragorn uses) for Bilbo to compose a song about Eärendil in Rivendell - Eärendil being Elrond’s father. We see Arwen, and get our first mention of Lothlórien.
For the most part, this chapter is almost a teaser for the next one. Frodo asks Gandalf what happens now - he says there will be a council soon to decide that. Frodo asks Glóin about Balin, and receives a vague but ominous response and Glóin demures until a more appropriate time. Elladan and Elrohir (Elrond’s sons) have returned from scouting unexpectedly early with “tidings,” but we're not told what - only that Aragorn skipped the feast to hear them ASAP. It's all rather unsatisfying on its own.
In terms of the movie, I want to give kudos once again to Sir Ian Holm. Not for the Scary Bilbo moment that birthed a meme - I always found that a bit silly - but for the moment afterwards, when Bilbo understands just what the Ring has done to him and will do to Frodo, and starts weeping. It's an almost painfully sad moment in this chapter, and Holm did a wonderful job with it.
In the end, not much to say on this chapter, but like with the Old Forest/House of Tom Bombadil posts, I promise I'll make that up to you next time.
Friday is the Mother of All Info Dumps, better known as the Council of Elrond.