Merry and Pippin didn’t become Frodo’s friends after the Fellowship was formed, they were his friends long before that. One of Tolkien’s most wonderful statements of friendship involves the element of trust. From “A Conspiracy Unmasked”:
Quote:
|
You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin – to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours – closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo… We are horribly afraid – but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.
|
__________________
'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
.'