LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 03 - Three Is Company

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Child, posting while you're on vacation -- now that's a dedicated Downer.

But anyways. . .

Reading over the posts I've thought of something about the Black Riders that I've not before. Like Frodo and the landscape through which he moves, they start out as relatively familiar things that only become more terrible and 'exotic' as the story goes on. Well, maybe "familiar" is the wrong word, but at their introduction they are simply riders dressed in black: compare that to what they will 'become' by the end of the book! So Frodo's growth into heroism, and his journey from the familiar and everyday, is matched by a 'developing growth' of the evil forces that pursue him the most relentlessly. . .

I think what the Riders here do for me is to highlight the banality of evil. Evil, real evil, never announces itself as such with anything as showy or as obvious as a Big Red Eye scanning the landscape. Here we have the chief instruments of the Enemy roaming around the Shire, being told to move along by the Gaffer no less! How utterly normal and boring -- imagine how much more 'exciting' a band of maruauding orcs or trolls would be. Now I do realise that there are strategic reasons for using the Riders here rather than more monstrous servants, but the point is that the first bad guys we see are just a bunch of guys on horses.

The really evil things that have happened in human history were like this. Nobody has ever had their village invaded by orcs (well, in this Seventh Age of the world at least ) but, tragically, a lot of people have been roused by an ominous knocking on their door in the middle of the night, only to be swept away by the men in dark clothes who have been sent to claim them. Too many people are chased through dark alleys by shadowy figures. This chapter doesn't just begin the move from the Shire (the world of everyday good) to Elves/King Elessar (the highest and noblest Good), but from the Black Riders (the world of everyday danger and 'bad men') to Mordor/Sauron (Evil).

Put another way, it is possible, I think, to see the Black Riders as Frodo's 'companions' on this journey as well. Just as he leaves the Shire as Frodo, and comes back as Frodo the Nine-Fingered, so too do his hunters leave the Shire as Black Riders and conclude their journeys as Nazgul.

EDIT -- Cross posting with Mirkgirl. I just wanted to add:

The meeting with the elves has one more effect, which I believe, wasn't mentioned yet. Sam no longer needs to go to Rivendell in order to see the elves. From now on, if he decides to come with Frodo, it'll be for Frodo's sake only and not because of the elves. I believe this is rather well done of Tolkien, to clear any suspicions the readers might have about Sams motives. (:

Never saw that before! Great point!

[mark12_30]

Frodo following Bilbo in so many ways, large, small, emotional, physical, and destiny: thanks everyone for pointing all these out. Very thought-provoking.

A few notes:

...he was very reluctant to start, now that it had come to the point. Bag End seemed a more desirable residence than it had for years...

Torn Frodo again, of course. How I can relate to this...

He had indeed privately made up his mind to leave on his fiftieth birthday: Bilbo’s one hundred and twenty-eighth. ... But he did not tell all his thoughts to Gandalf. What the wizard guessed was always difficult to tell.

Private Frodo, the mystery. Why hide from Gandalf?

He spoke lightly; but his heart was moved suddenly with a desire to see the house of Elrond Halfelven, and breathe the air of that deep valley where many of the Fair Folk still dwelt in peace.

Breathe the air -- I can relate to that!
'His heart was moved suddenly'-- part of Frodo's particular appeal. I love this about him; I love his reaction to elves, to Goldberry, to beauty of any sort. He feels deeply.

Frodo Baggins was going back to Buckland.

An eastward step...what looks backward is really forward; what looks like regression is progress; what lookS like a return to comfortable, familiar surrounding is actually a springboard into the uncomfortable, perilous wilderness.

Frodo's party: the four young hobbits:

....but the food was good, and there was good wine: ....
When they had sung many songs, and talked of many things they had done together, they toasted Bilbo’s birthday, and they drank his health and Frodo’s together according to Frodo’s custom. Then they went out for a sniff of air, and glimpse of the stars, and then they went to bed.

I love this party. As an introvert, this is the one (not Bilbo's 111th) that I would want to be invited to... It reminds me of one of my favorite Rivendell quotes:

"They spoke no more of the small news of the Shire far away: nor of the dark shadows and perils that encompassed them, but of the fair things they had seen in the world together: of the elves, of the stars, of trees, and the gentle fall of the bright year inthe woods."

That sentence breaks my heart. How rarely we do that.

For Frodo was going on foot. His plan – for pleasure and a last look at the Shire as much as any other reason – was to walk from Hobbiton to Bucklebury Ferry, taking it fairly easy.
‘I shall get myself a bit into training, too,’ he said, looking at himself in a dusty mirror in the half-empty hall. He had not done any strenuous walking for a long time, and the reflection looked rather flabby, he thought.

The next time he looks into a mirror is at Rivendell?

'A last look at the Shire'-- how would I feel taking a last look at my childhood home before leaving it (forever) for great peril?

Lobelia coming early to review her inventory-- how to ruin someone's last day in
Their home!

'Frodo did not offer her any tea.'

chortle...

He took his own tea with Pippin and Sam Gamgee in the kitchen. It had been officially announced that Sam was coming to Buckland ‘to do for Mr. Frodo and look after his bit of garden’...

Ah. More than a gardener! Here it's made clear. I never caught any indication (before this) that Sam would be doing more than gardening; and then in ROTK to be startled by that quote 'morning, mr frodo! Breakfast is ready!' and sam pulling the curtains back...

They left the washing up for Lobelia.

chortle...

Th

e sun went down. Bag End seemed sad and gloomy and dishevelled. Frodo wandered round the familiar rooms, and saw the light of the sunset fade on the walls, and shadows creep out of the corners. It grew slowly dark indoors.

Whoa! Shadows creeping out of the corners... dark indoors...

He went out and walked down to the gate at the bottom of the path, and then on a short way down the Hill Road.... ‘It’s going to be a fine night,’ he said aloud. ... He turned to go back, and then stopped, for he heard voices, just round the corner by the end of Bagshot Row....Footsteps went away down the Hill. Frodo wondered vaguely why the fact that they did not come on up the Hill seemed a great relief.

Heretofore, I had the mental geography of this 'eavesdropping' quite wrong. Turns out it was an Incredibly close call! Frodo and the Black Rider are standing on the same road, with just a curve between them. Chilling. And a good thing that Frodo decided: 'We are not going through the village tonight. Too many ears pricking and eyes prying.’

Since they were all hobbits, and were trying to be silent, they made no noise that even hobbits would hear. Even the wild things in the fields and woods hardly noticed their passing.

I have always wished that I could do that!

[Silmiel of Imladris]

In reference to Davem's post I am so glad that Tolkien chose the name Frodo instead of Bingo. But on to more serious matters...

I have always liked this chapter because it is the when the characters and the reader first meet the Elves. Before this point we know of them but are unsure of what they truly are all about. It really shows that elves are real secret keepers and like the Oracle (I think) in the Matrix said that she only tells people what they need to know at the time. Elves could tell you a lot for in my opinion it would be like the walls of your house talking because they have been there for so long and seen so much. Yet, Elves know better for there are somethings that others need not know or never will be ready to know. For example, I don't feel the human race will ever be ready to know the meaning of life. Gildor obiviously thought that the Hobbits did not need to know what the black riders were only that they needed to run from them.

Well thats all for me for now. I will not get into symbolism until later chapters and then you will really see me ramble.

[Fingolfin II]

When the light of the last farm was far behind, peeping among the trees, Frodo turned and waved a hand in farewell.
“I wonder if I shall ever look down into that valley again,” he said quietly.

mark12_30, I agree with you that this chapter is one of the first instances of the 'torn' Frodo and is foreshadowing for the 'torn in two' Sam at the end of the story. It is also with this quote that we can see the beginning of the conspiracy that is to be unearthed next chapter, with his friends overhearing him.

Something I'd like to point out is the character development of Pippin. In this chapter, we can see that he is very close to Frodo and is a lively, merry young fellow. While he is friends with Sam, his treatment of him in this chapter is as almost as if he was only a servant of Frodo, and not a friend-

'Sam! Get breakfast ready for half-past nine! Have you got the bath-water hot?'
Sam jumped up, looking rather bleary. 'No, sir, I haven't, sir!' he said.

This is interesting, because as we all know, Pippin comes to like and respect Sam as a friend as the book eventuates and this is an example of the emotional transition of Frodo and his company from ordinary hobbits to a tight-knit group of friends who have shared many dangerous, yet fulfilling, experiences.

Also, the meeting with Gildor Inglorion, of the House of Finrod, is very interesting too, since if he is of the House of Finrod, he is most likely very old and has lived for several hundred years. How then does he not know much about the Nazgul? My answer is that he doesn't know much about the Ring and the whole history of Sauron and the Rings of Power, so therefore he only knows what he has heard and experienced- that the Nazgul are deadly. That's just my interpretation.

'These are High Elves! The spoke the name of Elbereth!' said Frodo in amazement. 'Few of the fairest folk are ever seen in the Shire. Not many now remain in Middle-Earth, east of the Great Sea. This is indeed a strange chance!'

Frodo's understanding of the Elves' song and his knowledge of Elven-lore (which grows as the story unfolds) is superior to his friends' and shows that he already from the outset he is not an 'ordinary' hobbit. Most hobbits prefer to keep away from other 'strange' folk, yet he knows some of their ways and language as did Bilbo. This is quite remarkable, considering the close, 'fenced-in' community the hobbits of the Shire live in. It also helps in the setting-up of the story, now that we know Frodo knows things others do not and that he has to go on in the story; but for all his knowledge, he learns much more about himself, his friends and the wider world.

Reading over the posts I've thought of something about the Black Riders that I've not before. Like Frodo and the landscape through which he moves, they start out as relatively familiar things that only become more terrible and 'exotic' as the story goes on. Well, maybe "familiar" is the wrong word, but at their introduction they are simply riders dressed in black: compare that to what they will 'become' by the end of the book! So Frodo's growth into heroism, and his journey from the familiar and everyday, is matched by a 'developing growth' of the evil forces that pursue him the most relentlessly. . .

That's very interesting, Fordim and something I hadn't thought of before. This is foreshadowed in Gildor's speech to Frodo-

'But my heart forebodes that, ere all is ended, you, Frodo son of Drogo, will know more of these fell things than Gildor Inglorion.'

However, I believe that you are on the right track when you say that as the burden grows, and the 'task' becomes more fully known, so do the obstacles in that aim. In this case, these 'obstacles' are the Nazgul, who grow in danger and are seemingly more frightening than what they are made out to be in this chapter, as does Frodo grow wearier, yet wiser, as the story eventuates.

Silmiel of Imladris said:

Elves could tell you a lot for in my opinion it would be like the walls of your house talking because they have been there for so long and seen so much. Yet, Elves know better for there are somethings that others need not know or never will be ready to know.

Quite true. In your mention of Gildor not telling Frodo more about the Black Riders, I think that was so that Frodo wouldn't be too scared to continue his journey and that Gildor was wise enough to know that he had to go on with it.

One thing I'd like to mention in Gildor's talk to Frodo is how he says:

'But it is not your own Shire,' said Gildor. 'Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.'

To me, this is parallel to Gandalf's 'All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us,' dialogue, in that Frodo is gradually beginning to learn that there is more outside the familiar square of the Shire and that he- as well as other hobbits- have to learn how to deal with the outside world and leave their comfort zone. Also the bit about 'It is not your own Shire' is symbolic of the fact that nothing is permanent, and hobbits are but part of the cycle of life and nature.

This message seems to fit in with us humans as well, as we have to realise that we are only a part of nature and that there were creatures before us and there will be creatures after us- we aren't the 'ultimate' life form on Earth. I'm not sure whether Tolkien was aiming for this sort of message, but with the Professor you can leave nothing to chance!

[HerenIstarion]

Elf-friend issue is raised here for the first time (apart from brief mention in the end of The Hobbit)

Not to retype it all, here is the link:

Concerning Elf-Friends

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Fingolfin II you wrote that in his conversation with Gildor

Frodo is gradually beginning to learn that there is more outside the familiar square of the Shire and that he- as well as other hobbits- have to learn how to deal with the outside world and leave their comfort zone.

The irony of their conversation is precisely that it is taking place inside the Shire. So there is much more inside their familiar world than they are aware of. The "comfort zone" that they live in is explicitly not a geographical one with impermeable fences and borders, but a state of mind. If you are aware of Elves (like Frodo) and/or receptive to meeting them (like Sam) you have a shot at meeting Elves in your own backyard! However, it apparently works the same way with the dark and dangerous things: Black Riders are inside the Shire as well. So while I agree that there is a definite sense of inside and outside, us and them, in the Shire, the line between these realms is clearly drawn only in the minds of the Shire's residents -- well, not Frodo's, and after this meeting not Sam's either: the first step in each of their educations. (For Sam, that there is a whole world of experience beyond his own (Elves)? For Frodo, that this world of experience contains darkness and despair (Black Riders) as well as hope?)

[Guinevere]

The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.'

I agree with Fingolfin II that this "message" fits in with us humans as well - like Estelyn wrote in the other thread:

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

These wisdoms have proverbial quality and an innate worth that makes them timeless and applicable to my life. Again, the genius of Tolkien puts them not into the narration, but into Gandalf's words, showing us his deep wisdom - and Tolkien's as well.

In this chapter, it is Gildor who speaks these wisdoms.
The two well-known proverbs : "Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards...." and "Go not to the Elves for counsel..." relate perhaps only to Middle-earth, but there is more timeless, applicable wisdom spoken by Gildor:

advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.

also:

Courage is found in unlikely places

btw thank you for the link to the "Elf-friend" thread, HI ! Some very enlightening insights there!