...round and round again... From the LOTR Prologue, p. 13 & 14 (in the Omnibus), Note on the Shire Records:
Quote:
At the end of the Third Age the part played by the Hobbits in the great events that led to the incusion of the Shire in the Reunited Kingdom awakened among them a more widespread interest in their own history; and many of their traditions, up to that time still mainly oral, were collected and written down. The greater families were also concerned with events in the Kingdom at lasrge, and many of their members studied its ancient histories and legends. By the end of the First Century of the Fourth Age there were already to be found in the Shire several libraries that contained many historical books and records.
The largest of these collections were probably at Undertowers, at Great Smials, and at Brandy Hall. ... The most important copy (of the Red Book) was kept at Great Smials... the Thain's Book was thus the first copy made of the Red Book and contained mych that was later omitted or lost... In Minas Tirith it recieved much annotation...
...
Since Meriadoc and Peregrin became the heads of their great families, and a the same time kept up their connexions with Rohan and Gondor, the libraries at Bucklebury and Tuckborough contained much that did not appear in the Red Book.
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So... if we take Mithadan's approach, then not only do Sam and Elanor have to be instructed that Frodo & Bilbo's visit not be recorded; but also, all of the Tooks that might write something down, and also, all of the Brandybucks, that might someday write something down.
That's a lot of potential historians that have to be quieted down.
Numenor was easy-- a big wave took care of most of the problem, and the surviving ship was under Mithadan's oath.
Beleriand-- all the eyewitnesses there drowned too.
This is different.
[ March 14, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]