Boromir's search for Imladris

[Rumil]

Hi all,

this raises a question! Legate and Mith I think your ideas that Boromir stuck to the roads is very sensible. But if so this surely means that Boromir went through Bree. Was he there before or after Frodo &co. ? (I'm almost tempted to ask whether he'd joined the party of Southerners that were at the Prancing Pony, but I think JRRT would have mentioned him if so). However, he seems surprised to meet Halflings, so maybe he didn't go to Bree?

[The Mouth of Sauron]

Now that I think of it, didn't Valandil, Isildur's 4th son, stay in Rivendell with his mother during the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age ?

And after Sauron's fall surely Isildur made it clear in Gondor that he was returning to Imladris - why else would he travel north up the Anduin valley ? - and records would surely have accordingly been kept in Gondor of Isildur's intention and Rivendell's location ?

[Rumil]

You're quite right Mouth,

but Gandalf commented that few in Gondor had the skill to read Isildur's records any more, and maybe the exact location of Rivendell had been deliberately left vague - it was supposed to be a hidden fastness after all.

More recently (only 1500 or so years ago!) Gondorian troops had been allied with Elrond in the defeat of the Witchking, but 1500 years is a long time, and 3000 even more so.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Rumil

Legate and Mith I think your ideas that Boromir stuck to the roads is very sensible. But if so this surely means that Boromir went through Bree. Was he there before or after Frodo &co. ? (I'm almost tempted to ask whether he'd joined the party of Southerners that were at the Prancing Pony, but I think JRRT would have mentioned him if so). However, he seems surprised to meet Halflings, so maybe he didn't go to Bree?

I would think Boromir's reaction to Frodo at the Council alone would speak against his having gone to Bree, but another point against it for me would be this: who in Bree would have known where to find Imladris?

First of all, I doubt any Bree-landers, even if they'd heard of Rivendell, would have had a clue what Boromir meant by Imladris, which was how Boromir would have referred to it. Of Men, only the Dúnedain (Northern and Southern) seem to have used Sindarin for place names.
If Boromir had asked someone, Butturbur, perhaps, of Elrond, I can almost hear him say "Who"? Never heard 'o him, Sir! Oh! One o' them Elves? I heard they lived away to the West by the Sea. and there's supposed t' be some more close to the Mountains to the East, but that's all I know."
The only ones there who could reasonably have known the way were the Dúnedain themselves, if one happened to be in Bree at that moment. And would they have talked to Boromir? Maybe, but I think it's questionable, unless he had some way of proving his identity.

At any rate, I think it's far more likely that after losing his horse crossing the Greyflood at Tharbad, Boromir simply continued north along the line of the Greyflood, and then the Mitheithel to the Last Bridge.

[Erendis]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

The only ones there who could reasonably have known the way were the Dúnedain themselves, if one happened to be in Bree at that moment.

Why necessarily meeting them in Bree?

Supposing he continued by following Mitheitheil's stream to the Last Bridge,that brings him rather close to Weathertop.Since it was a Ranger's point of frequent visit
and after the encounter with the Nazgul and news of the flashes coming out from its top,they must have been at least curious about the area.So,it seems quite possible there were some around when Boromir showed up.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Erendis

Supposing he continued by following Mitheitheil's stream to the Last Bridge,that brings him rather close to Weathertop.

But what would have induced him to go west to Weathertop?

I'm going on the assumption that Boromir at least knew the general area in which Imladris was located; in a valley near the Ford of Bruinen, close to the Mountains. If that was the case, his traveling to Weathertop, which would have been at least an extra day or two's journey out of his way west, would have been unlikely.

[Erendis]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

But what would have induced him to go west to Weathertop?
.

Nothing.It is a total waste of time.
I mean he might have been spotted by some Rangers being around the area.