I thought the same thing. Then I had to go back and read the books all over again (yay!)
But really, seventeen years passed between the birthday party and the beginning of the Fellowship (if you mean the council of Elrond). So Frodo was really fifty (he waited for his fifteenth birthday, remember?), Merry was 36, Sam 35/38, and Pippin 28. Sam's age looks weird because in the family tree it shows Sam being born in 1380, and in the tale of years it says he's born in 1383 S.R., and I have yet to find out how old he really is. Or is this just my copy?
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