LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 08 - Fog on the Barrow-Downs

[Mithalwen]

2 suggestions on" why Merry?"

a, Merry in some ways the most academic of the hobbits within his own sphere - I know he is not a elvish scholar as Frodo is under Bilbo's influence - but although at that point he is an insignificant member of the fellowship picked for friendship not strength of knowledge, at Rivendell he studies maps off his own bat, he knows Shire history (he has the history of pipeweed at his fingertips when he meets Theoden", when he returns from his adventure he writes "Scholarly" works rather than "just" recounting events. He is the mastermind of the conspiracy .. . even before the quest starts his horizons are much wider and his mind much more open than the average hobbit's..

b, He is a Bucklander, which in ME terms represents the "Celtic" fringe of the Shire - the Celtic (Wales, Ireland, Scotland & Cornwall) fringe of the British Isles is richer in folklore and legend than it's heart even now... Bucklanders know things that other Shirefolk do not, they are closer to the outside world ... he is very aware of the menace of the Old Forest. Buckland is that much closer to the downs...it is quite possible some garbled version of the history has passed into the folklore of the region SO it is possible that Merry has been more exposed to ancient Legends and is more "tuned in" to them ...