I should thank
The Might for providing this quote, in another context, in this thread:
http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthr...493#post504493
Quote:
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For the Elves of the High Kindred had not yet forsaken Middle-earth, and they dwelt still at that time at the Grey Havens away to the west, and in other places within reach of the Shire. Three Elf-towers of immemorial age were still to be seen on the Tower Hills beyond the western marches. They shone far off in the moonlight. The tallest was furthest away, standing alone upon a green mound. The Hobbits of the Westfarthing said that one could see the Sea from the lop of that tower; but no Hobbit had ever been known to climb it. Indeed, FEW HOBBITS [my caps] had ever seen or sailed upon the Sea, and fewer still had ever returned to report it. Most Hobbits regarded even rivers and small boats with deep misgivings, and not many of them could swim. And as the days of the Shire lengthened they spoke less and less with the Elves, and grew afraid of them, and distrustful of those that had dealings with them; and the Sea became a word of fear among them, and a token of death, and they turned their faces away from the hills in the west.
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But the same quote (see my highlights) is certainly just as applicable to this discussion. A few questions, in light of our recent speculation, come immediately to mind:
It's said that the sea could be seen from the tallest tower's top, yet no Hobbit had ever climbed it. This seems like the same sort've rumour and innuendo as Gandalf has (seemingly) spread though the Shire and filled dear Bilbo's head with in
The Hobbit excerpts quoted above. I am forced to wonder what the old wizard's motivations for such rumour-mongering might have been...
Moving on, it's now re-affirmed that Hobbits (albeit few) have indeed set sail into the Blue! (At Gandalf's prompting?, one must wonder...). Frightenly however,
"fewer still had ever returned to report it." Where are those Hobbits now? Cast overboard by angry elves? Sitting on a beach in Valinor drinking ale from coconuts? In a Maiar prison camp?