The conspiracy just doesn't work!

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

Ahh, but Merry also mentions the Enemy. Where did he learn about HIM? Not even the well-educated Frodo knew about him before his little Talk with Gandalf.

Also, what was the "lot of information" that Sam collected before he was "finally" caught? That's a bit like saying "Vasa did a lot of fighting before it was finally sunk."

But Sam may have done even if he didn’t fully understand the significance. Who knows what stories of the Elves were told him by Bilbo while he was learning his letters. He knew of Gil-galad and presumably had heard more of the “Fall of Gil-Galad” and found it disturbing enough not to want to commit it to memory.

I think Merry as son of the Master probably was quite well educated though not in the was Frodo was like Bilbo. While most hobbit books were genealogical, anything that wasn’t, was most likely at Great Smials or Brandy Hall. We know he bothered to look at maps and so forth and that Bucklanders were less insular than most. That said, this issue has puzzled me before.