LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 10 - Strider

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by The Perky Ent

Several things in the letter entrigued me. First off, how Gandalf knew Frodo used It. If it's explained in the book, I apologize for my ignorance, but does Gandalf have the ability to sense it, in one way or another?

Honestly, Perky, I think that Tolkien's use of the word "again" is an error. (Gasp! Did I say that? Horrors!)

Look at the date of the letter-- Midyear's day, which is the summer solstice, June 18-ish (THANK YOU! that goes into Equinii and solsticsess) and compare it to Frodo's departure from Bag End in late September. Frodo had *not* used the Ring by the writing of this letter-- Frodo's first use of the Ring was in Tom Bombadil's house.

I don't know why Tolkien (via Gandalf) wrote 'again'.

I suppose one could hedge that Gandalf was warning Frodo 'again', but the sentence structure & punctuation isn't convincing, is it?