The Road Goes Ever On

Book 2 Chapter I: Many Meetings

2009-11-17T14:09:00.007-07:00

[The Last Homely House East of the Sea] was, as Bilbo has long ago reported, 'a perfect house, whether you like food or sleep, or story-telling or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all'. Merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness.

~ Book 2 Chapter I: Many Meetings

After the Nazgûl's attack and Frodo's collapse, the unconscious hobbit was carried from the Ford of Bruinen by Elves out of Rivendell. Fearful that Frodo would succumb to his wound, they returned with haste to Imladris [1], arriving late in the evening on 21 October.

Frodo at last awoke on the morning of 24 October to find himself comfortably quartered in the Last Homely House East of the Sea [2], the abode of Elrond Half-elven. Elrond had tended Frodo's wound, removing the splinter of the Nazgûl-blade that had been working its way towards Frodo's heart. The Ring had been hung about his neck on a new chain, "strong but light". To Frodo's delight, Gandalf was at his bedside and recounted the tale of the attack at the ford and the flood commanded by Elrond that had driven off the Ringwraiths.

That evening, Frodo was visited by Sam, who was much relieved to see his master's health improving. Sam had been sent to fetch Frodo to that evening's feast. While waiting for his master to recover, Sam had been enchanted by the wonders of the Last Homely House, saying,

It's a big house, this, and very peculiar. Always a bit more to discover, and no knowing what you'll find round a corner. And Elves, sir! Elves here, and Elves there! ... And the music and the singing...

Frodo's room was apparently on an upper story of the house, for Sam led him "along several passages and down many steps" to a garden above the Bruinen. Here Gandalf, Merry, and Pippin awaited them, and they all went together to the feast in the hall of Elrond. Many elves and other guests were there, and Elrond, Gandalf, Aragorn, and Glorfindel were "revealed as lords of dignity and power". Also present was Arwen, daughter of Elrond, "her whom few mortals had yet seen". Frodo found himself seated next to the dwarf Glóin, who had been one of Bilbo's companions on the Quest of Erebor.

After the feast, the party moved out of the hall, across a wide passage, and into a further hall. This was the fabled Hall of Fire. Frodo saw that "[i]n it were no tables, but a bright fire was burning in a great hearth between the carven pillars upon either side" [3]. Gandalf told Frodo that

...except on high days it usually stands empty and quiet, and people come here who wish for peace, and thought. There is always a fire here, all the year round, but there is little other light.

Sweet music was performed by the elvish minstrels, and the hall filled. Frodo was delighted to find Bilbo among the guests, and they sat and spoke together. At length, they left the Hall of Fire and returned to Bilbo's room, which "opened on to the gardens and looked south across the ravine of the Bruinen". There they spoke some more, until Sam arrived to send his master to bed, so to have his strength for the next day's Council. It was then that the fate of the Ring was to be decided.

Notes

The Sindarin name of Rivendell, a refuge founded by Elrond in the Second Age. The vale was a deep gorge carved out of the high moors at the feet of the Misty Mountains by the Bruinen. Gandalf stated that here there was power to resist Mordor, for a time. Bilbo described Rivendell as a place where the passage of time was stilled, "a remarkable place altogether".
So-called because it was the last established refuge in Eriador before one crossed the Misty Mountains and came into the wilderland of Rhovanion.
It seems as though, in the context of LOTRO, that Elrond's feasting hall and the Hall of Fire have been combined. The Hall of Fire in-game combines the description of the latter with elements of the former, such as the long tables and "woven cloths upon the wall".

Cast of Characters: The Folk of the Westfarthing

2009-11-08T16:39:00.004-07:00

The Westfarthing was the westernmost division of the Shire, and contained a number of its important settlements, including Michel Delving, Tuckborough, and Hobbiton. A number of important characters were residents of the Westfarthing, including the Took clan and the Cotton family.

Tolman Cotton, Sr

‘So it’s begun at last! I’ve been itching for trouble all this year, but folks wouldn’t help. And I’ve had the wife and Rosie to think of. These ruffians don’t stick at nothing. But come on now, lads! Bywater is up! We must be in it!’

~ Farmer Cotton, Book VI Chapter 8: The Scouring of the Shire

Tolman Cotton, or Tom, was a respected farmer living on the South Lane, near Bywater, in the late days of the Third Age. With his wife Lily, he had four sons, Tolman, Jr, Wilcome (“Jolly”), Bowman (“Nick”), and Carl (“Nibbs”), and one daughter, Rose. The Cotton children were friendly with the Gamgees of Hobbiton, and Farmer Cotton had always liked Samwise Gamgee, hoping that he and Rosie might one day wed.

Tolman looked after Sam’s father, the Gaffer Gamgee, when he was made homeless by Sharkey’s men after the War of the Ring. He had been anxious to stand against these foreigners but had refrained from taking action because he had his wife and daughter to look after. When Samwise Gamgee and his friends returned from abroad, however, he played a role in raising the local resistance that led to the scouring of the ruffians from the Shire. In fact, the Cotton residence was used as the base of operations for the resistance. Farmer Cotton himself fought in the Battle of Bywater, slaying a number of Sharkey’s men. The fame and fortune of the Cotton family saw a considerable rise in subsequent years.

After the Battle of Bywater and Scouring of the Shire, Farmer Cotton saw the wedding of his daughter to Sam Gamgee, and lived into the nineteenth year of the Fourth Age.

Rose Cotton

‘If you’ve been looking after Mr. Frodo all this while, what d’you want to leave him for, as soon as things look dangerous?’

~ Rosie Cotton to Sam, prior to the Battle of Bywater, Book VI Chapter 8: The Scouring of the Shire

Rose Cotton, known as Rosie, was the only daughter of Tolman Cotton, Sr and his wife Lily. As children, she and her four brothers often swam in the Bywater Pool with the children of the Gamgees of Hobbiton.

Rosie remained fond of Sam as the two grew to adulthood, and Rosie didn’t like it when Sam moved to Crickhollow in Buckland to mind for his master, Frodo Baggins. Rosie patiently awaited Sam’s return through his long absence as things took a turn for the worse in the Shire with the enforcement of Sharkey’s rule. Rosie was greatly relieved when Sam returned on 2 November, 3019. As Rosie and her mother tended Sam and Frodo that evening, Frodo told an account of Sam’s adventures and deeds during their absence, and Rosie listened with shining eyes, though it seemed she little understood the significance of Sam’s doings: ‘Well, you’ve wasted a year, so why wait longer?’ she asked him when the question of their marriage came up [1].

After the scouring of Sharkey’s ruffians from the Shire, Rosie and Sam were married. They went to live with Frodo, and their first daughter, Elanor, was born on the first day of the Fourth Age of the world. When Frodo sailed into the West early in the Fourth Age, Sam became the master of Bag End. Rosie and Sam had twelve more children, for a total of thirteen (beating the previous record, held by the wife of the Old Took, by one).

In the twenty-first year of the Fourth Age, after giving birth to her last child, Rosie traveled with her husband to Gondor, where she met King Elessar, and stayed in his household for more than a year. After their return to the Shire, Rosie and Sam lived happily for many years, until she died peacefully at the age of 98.

Ted Sandyman

‘Don’t ’ee like it, Sam?’ he sneered. ‘But you always was soft. I thought you’d gone off in one o’ them ships you used to prattle about, sailing, sailing. What d’you want to come back for? We’ve work to do in the Shire now.’

~ Ted Sandyman, Book VI Chapter 8: The Scouring of the Shire

The son of the old miller of Hobbiton, Ted Sandyman was a hobbit of somewhat surly and mistrustful disposition. His father was disliked by the Gaffer Gamgee (and probably, we can assume, Ted was as well).

The younger Sandyman operated the Old Mill, situated on the north bank of the Water near the Bywater Bridge, which he inherited from his father. When affairs in the Shire were taken over by agents of Sharkey, Sandyman supported the changes, and as it turned out had already sold the Old Mill to Lotho Sackville-Baggins. It was then torn down and replaced with the New Mill, “in all its frowning and dirty ugliness: a great brick building straddling the stream, which it fouled with a steaming and stinking overflow.” Sandyman was pleased with the New Mill, bigger as it was than the old one, and full of “wheels and outlandish contraptions.” Ted was set to work there cleaning wheels for Sharkey’s men, whereas his father had been the Miller and his own master.

During the Scouring of the Shire, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and their party encountered Sandyman as they passed the millyard en route to Bag End. Sandyman was “grimy-faced and black-handed”, and sneered and spat at Sam. When Merry revealed that their party was headed for Bag End to depose Sharkey, Sandyman attempted to raise the alarm by blowing a horn. The ultimate fate of Ted Sandyman is unknown.

Peregrin Took

‘We hobbits ought to stick together, and we will. I shall go, unless they chain me up. There must be someone with intelligence in the party.’

~ Pippin insists upon joining the company of the Ring, Book II Chapter 3: The Ring Goes South

Peregrin Took, known as Pippin, was the son of the Thain of the Shire, Paladin II, and the great-great grandson of the Old Took. Pippin’s father, despite holding the title of Thain, continued to farm the land of Whitwell, near Tuckborough in the Green Hills [2].

Pippin was one of the conspirators (along with Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Fredegar Bolger) who discovered that Frodo Baggins was making preparations to leave the Shire in order to avoid some danger associated with the magical ring in his possession. Pippin’s adventurous, Tookish nature, as well as his loyalty to Merry (his first cousin) led to his accompanying Frodo and the other conspirators (save Fatty Bolger) out of the Shire and to Rivendell. Nonetheless, Pippin was the first to regret leaving the Shire, and the first to long for the comforts of home: of the four hobbits he was the youngest, being only in his tweens.

In Rivendell, Pippin was chosen to fill the final place among the eight companions selected to accompany Frodo on his urgent mission, against the wishes of Elrond, who rather would have seen Pippin return to the Shire as a messenger. But Pippin insisted upon joining the company, saying that only his being chained up or sent home tied in a sack would prevent him from following them. It was Gandalf who spoke for Pippin, saying that it may be best to trust to friendship rather than to great wisdom. Elrond capitulated, and so Pippin joined the company as its youngest member.

During the journey of the fellowship, Pippin’s youthful exuberance and thoughtlessness got him into trouble with Gandalf on several occasions, once with asking foolish questions while Gandalf struggled to open the Doors of Durin, and later, within Moria, when Pippin’s curiosity caused him to impulsively drop a stone down the well in the chamber of the crossroads. For this offense, Gandalf admonished Pippin, saying “Fool of a Took! ...throw yourself in next time, and then you will be no further nuisance.” Unfortunately, Pippin’s rash action may have been what alerted the goblins of Moria to their presence, leading to the battle in the Chamber of Mazarbul, the company’s flight to the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, and Gandalf’s confrontation with the balrog known as Durin’s Bane.

Later, Pippin was present when Isengard was attacked and captured by the Ents; and when the palantír of Isengard came into the hands of Gandalf the White, Pippin was again overcome with curiosity, peering into its depths. Sauron’s gaze was drawn through the palantír to Pippin, and the Dark Lord assumed that Pippin therefore was the Ringbearer. To protect him, Gandalf took Pippin to Minas Tirith, where he would be safe should the agents of Mordor seek for him.

In Minas Tirith, Pippin recounted the tale of Boromir’s death to Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, and swore to serve the Steward as a Guard of the Citadel. During the siege of Minas Tirith, Pippin was able to alert Gandalf in time to save the life of Faramir when Denethor would have burned him alive. Then, after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Pippin rescued a wounded Merry and brought him to the Houses of Healing. Pippin rode with the Captains of the West to the Black Gates and fought in the Battle of the Morannon, where he single-handedly slew a Mordor-troll.

Following the hobbits’ return home, Pippin raised the forces of Tookland in preparation for the Scouring of the Shire. Following the Battle of Bywater, Pippin was a hero, called “lordly” [3] by the Shirefolk, and lived for a time with Merry at Crickhollow. Pippin later married Diamond of Long Cleeve, and they had a son, Faramir. At the age of 44, Pippin succeeded his father as the Thain of the Shire, and was made a counsellor of the North Kingdom by King Elessar. Pippin compiled a great library at the Great Smials, filling it with information about the history of Númenor and the heirs of Elendil. With Merry’s help, Pippin compiled the information contained within the library into the volume known as The Tale of Years, or The Chronology of the Westlands [4].

After serving as Thain for fifty years, Pippin left his estate to his son and traveled with Merry to Gondor. Three years later, at the age of 94, Pippin died and was interred in Rath Dínen. Later, following the death of King Elessar, Pippin was laid in eternal repose alongside the king.

Notes

Far from exposing hobbit-ignorance, the true revelation of Rosie’s comment is to demonstrate the degree of success achieved by Sam and the other members of the fellowship in their quest: the Shire had remained more or less free of harm during the War of the Ring, so much so that the Shirefolk had no knowledge of the larger events happening elsewhere in Middle-earth. In spite of the ruin Sharkey and his men had brought to the hobbits of the Shire, their innocence had been preserved.
It is uncertain whether Pippin lived in Whitwell or at Great Smials during his youth.
Not only in demeanour and raiment, but in stature. Drinking the Ent-draught had caused Pippin and Merry to grow to be at least 4’5” tall—taller than the Bullroarer himself.
Published as Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings.

Interlude: The Journey

2009-09-16T18:43:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone,

I'm sure you're all familiar with the most excellent LOTRO podcast, LOTROCast. I was recently invited by Moormur, the host of LOTROCast, to appear on the show.

If you head over to LOTROCast, you can hear my conversation with Moormur in Episode 012: The Journey, which was released today. We talk about TRGEO, the world of Middle-earth as represented in Lord of the Rings Online as opposed to the Middle-earth of the book, and the journeys of our characters to level 60 (and beyond!). I understand this is the longest episode of LOTROCast yet and there is a ton of other wonderful content as well, including conversations with co-host Alberos, guest Paperbard, and all their regular news and features. So head on over and check it out!

Many thanks to Moormur for having me on the show, and, as always, thanks to all of you for reading!

Ivy

Book I Chapter 12: Flight to the Ford

2009-09-06T14:42:00.016-06:00

No one lives in this land. Men once dwelt here, ages ago; but none remain now. They became an evil people, as legends tell, for they fell under the shadow of Angmar. But all were destroyed in the war that brought the North Kingdom to its end. But that is now so long ago that the hills have forgotten them, though a shadow still lies on the land.

~ Aragorn, Book I Chapter 12: Flight to the Ford

After fleeing Weathertop, Aragorn led the hobbits south across the Great East-West Road and into the Lone-lands. They traveled east, towards the distant Misty Mountains, for five days. The pain of Frodo's wound increased, but they did not sense the presence of the Black Riders. At the end of the fifth day, the ground began to rise as they turned to the north-east, and on the sixth day, they reached the top of the rise. They could see the Road sweeping around the feet of the hills, and to their right, "another river in a stony valley half-veiled in mist". [1]

Early in the morning of the seventh day after their flight from Weathertop, that of October 12th, Aragorn and Sam descended to the Road and cautiously followed it eastward. After a mile or two, they saw ahead of them, at the bottom of a short, steep slope, the Last Bridge. [2]

To their relief, the bridge was not held against them, but Aragorn found in the mud of the bridge a beryl -- an elf-stone. [3] Taking the beryl as a sign of hope, they crossed the Last Bridge and passed into the Trollshaws. A mile or so beyond the bridge, they left the Road and entered a narrow ravine "that led away northwards into the steep lands on the left of the Road". The land here was a "sombre country of dark trees winding among the feet of sullen hills".

This new country seemed threatening and unfriendly to the hobbits. As they journeyed north, the terrain steadily rose into a jumble of ridges and valleys. On the heights, they could see "ancient walls of stone, and the ruins of towers: they had an ominous look". [4] Two days into the Trollshaws, the weather turned wet; their journey was cold and cheerless. On the night of October 16th, they camped on a "stony shelf with a rock-wall behind them, in which there was a shallow cave", and Frodo dreamed uneasily of a fading Shire.

The following morning the rain stopped. Aragorn scaled the cliff behind the stone shelf to get a view of their surroundings. He determined they had come too far north, and would need to find some way to turn southwards again. [5] After spending the day scrambling over rocky ground, they found a valley running southeast, the direction in which they wished to travel, only to find it blocked at the end by a high ridge. It was the end of the day, and, faced with choice of turning back or scaling the ridge, they chose to make the difficult climb. [6] At the top, they found themselves on a saddle between two high points. The land fell away steeply to the southwest. Upon this saddle they made their camp.

The morning dawned bright and fair. Aragorn and Merry surveyed the land from the height to the east of the pass. They discerned that they were now headed in the correct path, and determined that they must again make for the Road. After eating, they climbed down the southern side of the ridge; this was easier than climbing the opposite side had been. At the bottom, Pippin spotted a faint, overgrown path, seemingly made by strong arms and heavy feet. They followed it down a slope and left around the shoulder of a hill. Here the path ran under a cliff face overhung with trees. The cliff-face was set with "a door hanging crookedly ajar on one great hinge". Aragorn, Sam, and Merry managed to push open the door, revealing a shallow cave littered with old bones, empty jars, and broken pots: a troll-hole. [7]

Continuing on the path past the troll-hole, they plunged down a thickly wooded slope. Merry and Pippin, traveling ahead of the others, were terrified when they saw through the trees ahead a clearing, seemingly inhabited by trolls! Aragorn, however, was unconcerned, and indeed the inhabitants of the glade turned out to be the petrified remains of three trolls who had been exposed to the rays of the sun long ago. [8]

They continued to follow the path, and finally came out onto a high bank overlooking the Road. It was early evening, and the Road was quiet. They climbed down to the Road and followed it eastward as quickly as they could, but it was not long before they heard the sound of hoofs behind them. They scrambled up off the road into a patch of thick-growing hazels from which they could observe the road to see who approached.

At last the rider came into view and they saw that they needn't have been worried: the rider was the elf Glorfindel, of the house of Elrond, who had been sent to seek for Frodo. Glorfindel led them on into the night, and at dawn, they halted to rest.They slept until mid-morning, when Glorfindel awakened them and they again took to the Road. They moved with great haste, covering nearly twenty miles before nightfall, and finally camping where the Road turned right and, running downhill, made straight for the Ford of the Bruinen. The hobbits could perceive no sign of pursuit, but Glorfindel was anxious.

When they awoke, Glorfindel urged them on, for pursuit was swift behind them. That afternoon, they plunged into a "deep cutting with steep moist walls of red stone". The Road ran out from this natural tunnel into the open; beyond that was a long flat mile leading to the shores of the Bruinen. [9] Across the Bruinen lay the safety of Rivendell.

As the company surveyed the land leading to the river, five Black Riders emerged from the deep cutting they had just left. Frodo, mounted on Glorfindel's white steed, Asfaloth, sped forward toward the Ford. The five Black Riders leaped down the hills in pursuit. As the Riders passed, the rest of the company, instructed by Glorfindel, hastily kindled a fire in a small hollow beside the Road.

The four other Riders emerged from the trees north of the Road; two rode toward Frodo, and the other two to the Ford to cut off his escape, but Asfaloth proved swifter and Frodo reached the Ford, crossing to the eastern shore of the Bruinen, where the bank rose steeply toward the mountains. Weary and afraid, Frodo turned to look west, back across the river.

The Nine Riders gathered on the western bank, and prepared to ford the river, but Frodo stood in his saddle and defied them. Three of the Riders rode out into the Bruinen, but at that moment the river was raised into a "plumed cavalry of waves". The other six Riders, who had remained on the western shore, were now driven into the river by Glorfindel, Aragorn, and the other hobbits, each wielding a flaming brand taken from the fire they had kindled. The raging torrent of the river swept the Riders away, and their terrible cries were drowned. Safe at last, Frodo collapsed.

Notes

The River Hoarwell -- Mitheithel in the tongue of Elves -- draining from the Ettenmoors. In the distance, the Loudwater, or Bruinen, could also be seen. The two rivers converged to the south of the Trollshaws, becoming the Greyflood (Gwathló to the Elves).
A stone bridge of three arches over the River Hoarwell, probably constructed by the Men of Arnor or the Men of Rhudaur.
An emerald. The Last Bridge was not held against the Ring-bearer because of the heroism of Glorfindel, an elf of Rivendell, who had been dispatched to seek for Frodo. Glorfindel arrived at the Last Bridge to find three Nazgûl there, but was able to drive them off, leaving a beryl on the bridge as a sign to Aragorn.
The ruins of Rhudaur, one of the three successor kingdoms that rose from the breakup of Arnor.
Indeed, the Trollshaws are a confusing region to navigate. This explorer had a difficult time tracing the path that Aragorn led the hobbits upon; many of the locations mentioned in this installment are best guesses or deliberate approximations!
This saddle is difficult to identify and certainly impossible to reach. It should lay to the northwest of the narrow valley leading to the Glade of the Stone-trolls. There are undoubtedly some heights in the area that are suitable candidates, but this explorer is not skilled enough a climber to reach them! The hobbits were lucky indeed to have such a guide as Aragorn.
It was in this cave that the elf-blades Glamdring, Orcrist, and Sting were discovered and claimed by Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo, respectively.
The trolls Bert, Tom, and Bill: the very three villains that Bilbo and Thorin's company encountered on the Quest of Erebor. Bilbo's cunning and Gandalf's fortuitous arrival led to the trolls' current state. Aragorn knew the story well, of course, and pointed out a bird's nest behind the ear of one of the trolls to reassure the hobbits of their harmlessness.
The Bruinen, or the Loudwater, flowed from the Misty Mountains, through Rivendell, and eventually joined the Greyflood. The Bruinen was crossable only at its ford near Rivendell, and the Ford was known as the Edge of the Wild. Elrond of Rivendell had some control over the waters of the river, and it was his influence (with Gandalf's assistance) that caused the river to flood, washing away the Ringwraiths.

Cast of Characters: Folk of Bagshot Row

2009-08-15T16:04:00.006-06:00

Bagshot Row was the lane on the Hill below Bag End. In contrast to that storied and wealthy cul-de-sac, Bagshot Row [1] was the residence of several families of working-class hobbits. There were three residences on Bagshot Row, one of which was the home of a certain Daddy Twofoot. Number 3 was the residence of the Gamgees, a family who had long been associated with their aristocratic neighbours, the Bagginses.

Daddy Twofoot

Daddy Twofoot was the Gamgees' neighbour [2]. He was present at the Ivy Bush [3] the week before Bilbo's special party and involved in the conversation about 'Mad Baggins' with the Gaffer Gamgee, Ted Sandyman, and Old Noakes of Bywater. It was obvious that Twofoot thought that Bucklanders (and by extension, Frodo) were particularly queer, living near the "dark bad" Old Forest as they did.

Beyond that, little is known of Daddy Twofoot. He was surely a solid, working-class hobbit, like his neighbours the Gamgees, and was likely comparable in age to the Gaffer.

Hamfast Gamgee

Elves and Dragons! I says to him. Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you. Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you, I says to him. And I might say it to others...

~ Hamfast Gamgee, recounting his advice to Sam, Book I Chapter 1: A Long-expected Party

Hamfast Gamgee, commonly known as the Gaffer, resided at #3 Bagshot Row with his son Samwise. Aging, and somewhat hard of sight and hearing, the Gaffer was a respected gardener -- particularly in regard to his expertise in growing root vegetables, especially potatoes. As a lad, Hamfast had apprenticed to his uncle, the gardener Holman Greenhand, who gave him his first job tending the garden at Bag End during Bilbo Baggins's extended absence. When Bilbo returned from his adventures, Hamfast continued to serve him in that capacity. At the time of Bilbo's party, the Gaffer had retired and Sam took over gardening for Bilbo. Although many folk in Hobbiton though Bilbo quite mad, the Gaffer had a high opinion of him, considering him generous with money and a "very nice well-spoken gentlehobbit".

The Gaffer seemed to be, like many of the folk in Hobbiton, suspicious of Bucklanders. He was also very leery of boats, commenting that "fool[ing] about with [them] on that big river" wasn't natural.

On the night that his son Sam departed the Shire to mind for his master Frodo, the Gaffer was approached by a Black Rider inquiring after Frodo's whereabouts. The plucky gardener was put out by the stranger and answered him sharply, turning him away to Bucklebury.

After the War of the Ring, the Gaffer's home at Bagshot Row was torn up by Sharkey's men, and the Gaffer was forced to move into a tarshack near Bywater. He was cared for and given food by the Cotton family. Upon Sam's return to the Shire, the Gaffer seemed to scarcely believe Frodo's news that his son was now one of the most famous people in all the lands. Furthermore, he disapproved of Sam's wearing of ironmongery, and wondered what had come of his waistcoat. The Gaffer was later restored to his home, renamed #3 New Row.

Samwise Gamgee

'Come, Mr. Frodo!' [Sam] cried. 'I can't carry [the Ring] for you, but I can carry you and it as well. So up you get! Come on, Mr. Frodo dear!'

~ Book VI Chapter 3: Mount Doom

Sam Gamgee lived at #3 Bagshot Row with his father the Gaffer, to whom he apprenticed as a gardener. Sam was a simple, plain-spoken, and rustic hobbit, but he had certain qualities that set him apart and above his friends and relatives. He held Elves in awe and wonder, had a gift for poetry, and longed to see the wonders of the wide world.

When the Gaffer retired, Sam took over gardening at Bag End and came into the service of Bilbo, who told him stories of the past ages of the world and even taught him his letters (much to the chagrin of the Gaffer). When Bilbo left the Shire, Sam continued serving Bilbo's heir, Frodo. As "punishment" for eavesdropping on his master and Gandalf, Sam was sent along to mind for Frodo when he fled the Shire, and thus became involved in the quest to destroy the Ring.

In Rivendell, Sam was the first named to join the fellowship of Frodo's companions [4]. He stayed with Frodo when the fellowship was broken, travelling with his master all the way to the very Crack of Doom. It was Sam who drove off the great spider, Shelob, and he himself even became a Ring-bearer when, for a short time, he held it while Frodo was imprisoned within the tower of Cirith Ungol. Sam was one of the few Ring-bearers to relinquish the Ring voluntarily, something that his master Frodo eventually proved unable to do. Ultimately, Sam physically carried his master (and the Ring) up the slopes of Mount Doom [5].

After the destruction of the Ring, the hobbits returned to the Shire, only to find that it had been ruined by ruffians under the command of Sharkey. Sam was instrumental in organising the resistance that ultimately led to the Scouring of the Shire.

With peace restored, Sam married Rosie Cotton, and he and his new wife lived for a time at Bag End with Frodo. When Frodo sailed into the West from the Grey Havens, Sam became the master of Bag End and continued to write the Red Book of Westmarch. He was elected the Mayor of Michel Delving for seven consecutive terms, and finally, a the age of 103, he entrusted the Red Book to his daughter Elanor (the eldest of his thirteen children) and sailed into the West to be reunited at last with Frodo.

Notes

Bagshot Row was so named because when Bag End was excavated, the detritus was thrown down the slope of the Hill, creating a zone of loose earth into which the residences of the row were dug.
In the context of LOTRO, #3 is the last residence on Bagshot Row; therefore Daddy Twofoot must have lived at #2.
A regular at the Ivy Bush, in LOTRO Daddy Twofoot can be found standing outside that proud establishment.
As Frodo's constant protector, Sam bestows quests of interest for wandering guardians.
Sam was cited by Tolkien as being the "chief hero" of The Lord of the Rings. The quest to destroy the Ring is only successful because of Sam, who rescues Frodo from countless disasters. The relationship of Sam and Frodo as portrayed in the book may seem archaic to some modern readers, emphasizing the class differences between the rustic, working-class Sam and the gentrified Frodo. Sam was, ultimately, Frodo's servant, but it the bond of love and true friendship that formed between them is shown time and time again in the text. In The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, the author states "My Sam Gamgee is indeed a reflexion of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognized as so far superior to myself".

Book I Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark (Part 2)

2009-07-26T12:45:00.020-06:00

They stood for a while silent on the hilltop, near its southward edge. In that lonely place Frodo for the first time fully realized his homelessness and danger. He wished bitterly that his fortune had left him in the quiet and beloved Shire.

~ Book I Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark

After leaving behind the difficult terrain and hateful insects of the Midgewater Marshes, Strider and the hobbits headed eastward toward the line of the Weather Hills [1]; Strider knew of a path that ran south along the hills and would lead them to Weathertop from the north. There, they hoped to rendezvous with Gandalf. As they travelled, "the land became drier and more barren; but mists and vapours lay behind them on the marshes".

At the end of their day's march, they came upon an alder-lined stream which flowed down from the Weather Hills and into the Midgewater Marshes; here they made camp.

The following morning, that of October 5th, Stider led the hobbits on soon after sunrise, again heading for the hills. By nightfall, they had reached the feet of the westward slopes and camped. In the morning, they found a path running along the line of the hills; this was the first clear path they had seen since their journey through the Chetwood. Following the path south, they found that it "ran cunningly, taking a line that seemed chosen so as to keep as much hidden as possible from the view, both of the hilltops above and the flats to the west." The path was "hugged by steep banks" and was lined with large boulders and hewn stones.

The south-marching ridge of the Weather Hills was undulating, and some of the peaks rose to a height of a thousand feet. Along the crest of the ridge were the ruins of walls and dikes, and in the clefts stood ruins of old works of stone. [2]

At mid-day, the travellers drew near the southern end of the path and saw before them "a grey-green bank, leading up like a bridge onto the northward slope of [Weathertop]".

Nearby, on the western side of the hill, they discovered a bowl-shaped dell with grassy sides. Here there was a spring of clear water flowing from the hillside, and Sam and Pippin (who had been left here while the others ascended Weathertop) found traces of a recent camp as well as footprints. Behind some fallen rocks near the hill, Sam came upon a cache of stacked firewood. [3]

Meanwhile, Strider, Frodo, and Merry had climbed to the summit of the hill. It was a difficult climb, taking half an hour, and the last stretch was steep and rocky. On the top was "a wide ring of ancient stonework, now crumbling or covered with age-long grass".

In the center a cairn of fire-blackened stones had been piled upon the scorched turf. A white stone among the fire-blackened ones caught Strider's eye; he found it marked on its underside with runes standing for G3. [4]

They took this as a sign of Gandalf's passage, and stood taking in the view of the surrounding lands for some time.

It was then that Frodo saw movement on the Road far beneath the southward slope of the hill: Black Riders. They hastened down the hill to the sheltered dell and rejoined Sam and Pippin. As there was nowhere else offering better protection they could reach before nightfall, Strider determined that they must make camp. They lit their fire in the lowest corner of the dell so that the light would be shielded from the Road.

Some time after moonrise, the Black Riders struck. Five of them attacked the campsite in the dell, and such was the terror they inspired that Frodo was compelled to put on the Ring -- but he found it offered no protection from the Ringwraiths. Frodo was wounded by the knife of one of the wraiths [5] but at length Strider, wielding two flaming brands, was able to drive the creatures off.

Though Frodo's wound was grievous, they had no choice but to flee Weathertop. They headed south, crossed the Road cautiously, and plunged into the thicketed land on the far side, which

sloped southwards, but it was wild and pathless: bushes and stunted trees grew in dense patches with wide barren spaces in between. The grass was scanty, coarse, and grey; and the leaves in the thickets were faded and falling. It was a cheerless land...

They had entered the Lonelands, and now they raced against the Black Riders to reach the safety of Rivendell. The flight to the Ford of Bruinen had begun.

Notes

Via the Midgewater Pass.
The fortifications had been built in the early days of Arnor, the north kingdom of the Númenoreans. Atop Weathertop had been built a great watchtower called Amon Sûl, and one of the seven Palantíri had been kept there of old. The defenses and path along the Weather Hills had been built to support Amon Sûl, but they were all destroyed in 1409 TA when the Witch-king invaded Arnor.
Left there by Rangers.
The runes were the certh "G" and three parallel vertical lines indicating "3". For some reason, in LOTRO a tengwa is shown on the rock: the character ungwë (denoting "GW") is used, rather than than the certh. Why ungwë was used rather than anga ("G"), this explorer is uncertain -- never mind why a tengwa was used rather than the stated certh. Presumably, Gandalf would have used the certh because of its angular shape: easier to scratch into the rock. In any event, Strider correctly interpreted this graven message to indicate that the wizard had been there on October 3rd, three days prior. Indeed, Gandalf had been awaiting Strider and the hobbits at Weathertop, but was attacked by several Black Riders. The ensuing battle resulted in the scorch-marks at the summit of the hill (and the light of which the hobbits had seen from afar while in the Midgewater Marshes), but Gandalf was forced to flee.
None other than the Witch-king of Angmar himself.

Book I Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark (Part 1)

2009-07-12T12:35:00.004-06:00

'How far is Rivendell?' asked Merry...

'I don't know if the Road has ever been measured in miles beyond the Forsaken Inn, a day's journey east of Bree,' answered Strider. 'Some say it is so far, and some say otherwise. It is a strange road, and folk are glad to reach their journey's end, whether the time is long or short.'

~ Book I Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark

The morning after the Black Riders' simultaneous attack on the house at Crickhollow and The Prancing Pony, Strider awoke the hobbits and showed them the destruction the Riders had wreaked on the hobbits' rooms. Unfortunately, the Riders had also opened the inn's stable-doors, releasing all the beasts in it, including Merry's ponies, ruining all chances of an early departure. In the end, the hobbits were able to purchase a "bony, underfed, and dispirited" pony from Bill Ferny.

By ten o'clock, the hobbits and Strider were ready to depart. Bree was buzzing with excitement: "Frodo's vanishing trick; the appearance of the black horsemen; the robbing of the stables; and not least the news that Strider the Ranger had joined the mysterious hobbits, made such a tale as would last for many uneventful years." A large crowd had gathered in the Road by The Prancing Pony to see the travellers off, and therefore Strider decided to leave Bree by the main road.

As they neared the South-gate, they had words with Bill Ferny, who was standing in the yard of his "dark ill-kept house behind a thick hedge: the last house in the village."

The crowd following the travellers finally dispersed when the reached the South-gate. Strider led the hobbits through. Stretching ahead was the long Road to Rivendell.

They followed the Road for some distance, until Strider announced that they had reached the place where they would "leave the open and take to cover". A narrow track ran north from the Road, into a wooded valley, and it was down this track that Strider confidently led the hobbits. They had entered the Chetwood, and the hobbits found the journey quite enjoyable, for "the woods and the valley were still leafy and full of colour, and seemed peaceful and wholesome". There were many crossing paths, and Strider took a winding course to confuse any pursuers.

On the third day out from Bree, October 2nd, the travellers came out of the Chetwood. Before them stretched the Midgewater Marshes. Strider's description of them had not been encouraging, and indeed "[t]he ground now became damp, and in places boggy and here and there they came upon pools, and wide stretches of reeds and rushes".

The passage through the Marshes was slow and dangerous. There was no permanent trail, and Strider had to lead the hobbits with great care. The terrain of the Marshes was treacherous, but even worse was the animal life: the hobbits were tormented by flies and clouds of midges, and also "abominable creatures haunting the reeds and tussocks that from the sound of them were evil relatives of the cricket". Sam named them Neekerbreekers because of their distinctive and unceasing squeaking.

On the night of October 3rd, while camped in the Marshes, the travellers saw strange lights in the sky, but Strider could not fathom their portent [1]. On the morning of the following day, the ground began to rise and become drier, and they left the Midgewater Marshes behind them. Before them rose the Weather Hills. The highest of them was "at the right of the line [of hills] and a little separated from the others". Strider explained that this hill, with its "conical top, slightly flattened at the summit," was Weathertop, their destination [2]. It was there the travellers hoped to rendezvous with Gandalf.

Notes

The lights were caused in Gandalf's battle with the Black Riders at the summit of Weathertop.
Via the Midgewater Pass.

Cast of Characters: Masters of Bag End

2009-06-25T17:27:00.006-06:00

Bag End was one of the premiere residences--if not the premiere residence--of Hobbiton. Therefore, the master of Bag End was undoubtedly a hobbit of great influence. Bag End changed ownership several times during the final years of the Third Age.

Bilbo Baggins

It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to.

~ Bilbo Baggins, as quoted by Frodo, Book I Chapter 3: Three is Company

Bilbo Baggins is introduced in Book I Chapter 1: A Long-expected Party as the master of Bag End. The bearer of the One Ring, he had remained nearly ageless since he acquired it, though he did not know its true identity as the Ruling Ring. The Ring had come into Bilbo's possession while he was participating in the Quest of Erebor in the position of the company's burglar. While lost in the caverns of Goblin-town, below the Misty Mountains, Bilbo had stumbled across the cavern of the creature Gollum, where he "won" the Ring in a contest of riddles (or so he contended [1]).

Some sixty years after the successful completion of the Quest of Erebor, Bilbo had returned to the Shire where he lived comfortably in Bag End, keeping the Ring a secret (or so he thought [2]), but his disappearance and return (bearing chests of gold and "jools", as local rumor had it) earned him a queer reputation in Hobbiton, and the nickname Mad Baggins. During these years he remained a bachelor, but adopted his cousin, Frodo, as his ward and heir.

Feeling the effects of possessing the Ring for an extended period, which he described as akin to being "stretched... like butter over too much bread", Bilbo decided to leave Bag End permanently and (reluctantly, at Gandalf's insistence) leave the Ring to Frodo. Bilbo planned his departure for the evening of September 22nd, T.A. 3001: his one hundred and eleventh birthday. The shocking manner of his disappearance and his disquieting words to Gandalf set in motion the events that would lead to Frodo's flight from the Shire seventeen years later, and rule the fate of all who dwelled in Middle-earth.

Bilbo was later found to have retired to Rivendell, where he lived as a guest in the Last Homely House, composing poetry and putting the final touches to an account of his adventures on the Quest of Erebor, entitled There and Back Again, a Hobbit’s Holiday [3]. He also began the process of setting down the exploits of Frodo during his quest to destroy the Ring, and translated The Silmarillion under the title Translations from the Elvish.

Bilbo was shown to possess a somewhat acerbic wit [4] and a covetous side that became more prominent as he fell under the power of the Ring. Nonetheless, he was the first of only several Ring-bearers to willingly give up the Ring. To his family and friends, Bilbo was kind-hearted and generous [5]; he had a passion for maps, riddles [6], Elvish lore, and poetry.

In Rivendell, freed of the influence of the Ring, Bilbo's age began to catch up with him. As Bilbo had written in the final line of his book, he “lived happily ever after until the end of his days.” At the age of 131, he was granted passage on a ship bound for Valinor, and sailed from the Grey Havens, leaving Middle-earth forever.

Frodo Baggins

I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so... when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.

~ Frodo Baggins, Book VI Chapter 9: The Grey Havens

Frodo Baggins is introduced in Book I Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party as the heir of Bilbo Baggins. As a child, Frodo’s parents were killed in a boating accident and he was raised by his mother’s relatives in Brandy Hall in Buckland. Frodo was Bilbo’s first and second cousin, once removed, and sometime after returning to the Shire after his mysterious disappearance, Bilbo adopted Frodo as his heir and brought him to live at Bag End.

Frodo and Bilbo shared the birth date of September 22nd, and when Bilbo turned 111, Frodo came of age at age 33. Bilbo had planned a party of “special magnificence” to honour the occasion, and after the scandalous events of that evening, Frodo learned that Bilbo had departed and bequeathed to him all his possessions, including the Ring. Frodo was now the master of Bag End.

Frodo lived in peace for seventeen years until the fateful day in the spring of T.A. 3018 when Gandalf returned to the Shire with news of the Ring’s true history. Realizing the threat the Ring’s presence posed to the Shire, Frodo resolved to set out for Rivendell [7], and from there his adventurers unfolded.

Frodo was described by Gandalf as "taller than some and fairer than most, [with] a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye." At the age 50, due to the influence of the Ring, Frodo still appeared to be a “robust and energetic hobbit just out of his tweens”. [8]

After the destruction of the Ring, Frodo returned to live in the Shire for a time, but could find no peace. He was haunted by the physical and psychological wounds he had sustained during the War of the Ring, wounds which would never heal. He briefly held office as the deputy mayor of the Shire, but mostly concentrated on editing and completing the account of the part he and his kinsmen played in the War of the Ring which Bilbo had begun and which Frodo entitled The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings and the Return of the King.

In T.A. 3021, Frodo was granted leave to take ship to Valinor in honour of his great service to the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. He left his estate to Samwise Gamgee, as well as the Red Book of Westmarch for completion, and then sailed from the Grey Havens.

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins

An unpopular and shrewish hobbit upon her introduction in Book I Chapter 1: A Long-expected Party, Lobelia was the wife of Bilbo and Frodo’s cousin Otho Sackville-Baggins. She was considered by both Bilbo and Frodo to be a nasty relation to be avoided at all costs, because of both her grasping and argumentative personality and her ambition to take ownership of Bag End.

When Bilbo disappeared from the Shire on the Quest of Erebor, he was widely believed to be dead, and the Sackville-Bagginses were granted the title to his luxurious smial. They organized an auction to liquidate the contents of their new home, but their satisfaction was short-lived: Bilbo returned from his queer adventure and ownership of Bag End was returned to him (he did have to repurchase most of his other things, however).

Lobelia coveted Bag End for seventy-seven more years, until the news came in T.A. 3018 that Frodo—who had inherited the smial after Bilbo’s departure—was planning to retire to Buckland. Otho had died several years before, and Frodo sold Bag End to Lobelia at a rate below fair market value, and she and her son Lotho moved in triumphantly [9].

In the final stages of the War of the Ring, the Shire fell under the control of the villainous Sharkey, and Lobelia was one of the hobbits who dared to oppose his ruffians: she physically attacked their leader with her umbrella. For the first time, she was seen in a sympathetic light by other hobbits. For her defiance, Lobelia was imprisoned within the Lockholes. After the removal of Sharkey’s regime, Lobelia was released, at which time she returned ownership of Bag End to Frodo. She was devastated by her son’s murder and, greatly weakened by her imprisonment, moved in with her relations in Hardbottle. She lived to be 102 years old, and upon her death dedicated her remaining estate to establish a fund to assist the hobbits left homeless by Sharkey’s regime. These final acts of kindness permanently ended the long feud between the Bagginses and the Sackville-Bagginses.

Lotho Sackville-Baggins

The son of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins and her husband Otho, Lotho was as unpopular as his mother [10], but unlike Lobelia did not achieve redemption during the Scouring of the Shire. He was a sandy-haired hobbit with a poor complexion, and for this reason was given the nickname Pimple.

Lotho had inherited a number of pipeweed farms upon his father’s death, and grew wealthy selling the tobacco they produced to men from the south. He used his increasing wealth to buy up property around the Shire. As Lotho’s influence over the Shire grew, ruffians dispatched by his southern client Sharkey arrived to help Lotho suppress the Shirefolk. Lotho had the mayor of Michel Delving deposed and imprisoned within the Lockholes, and proclaimed himself Chief Shirriff.

Lotho enacted a regime of industrialization, closed all the inns, and prohibited the smoking of leaf and the drinking of beer to all but his ruffians. He imposed an ever-lengthening list of Rules, and continued to control life in the Shire until Sharkey arrived and personally assumed power. For his efforts, Lotho was imprisoned within Bag End until he was finally murdered (and possibly eaten) by Sharkey’s lackey, a Man known simply as Worm.

Notes

The account of Bilbo’s acquisition of the Ring in his book There and Back Again, later compiled in the Red Book of Westmarch, had gone through several revisions. The older drafts contained Bilbo’s somewhat skewed explanation of the events of the riddle-contest, but later drafts (perhaps edited by Frodo) contain a more accurate account. See “On the Finding of the Ring” in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings.
The “conspirators” unmasked during Frodo’s later flight from the Shire had become aware of the Ring’s power of invisibility, and of Bilbo’s occasional use of that power.
Travellers to Rivendell undoubtedly will have encountered Bilbo within the Hall of Fire and had the opportunity to assist him in checking facts for certain passages in his book.
As illustrated by the notes Bilbo had written to accompany his parting “gifts” to his various relations upon his departure from the Shire.
In addition to Frodo’s inheritance, Bilbo also bequeathed to him before his departure from Rivendell the elf-dagger Sting and a shirt of mithril mail.
Indeed, in the context of LOTRO, Bilbo is depicted as being in the midst of a riddling contest with Lindir of Rivendell, leading to a series of quests that travellers may assist with. Travelling burglars will also have good cause to visit Bilbo and learn from his experience.
In LOTRO, Frodo is first encountered after recovering from his wounds in the house of Elrond. He bestows several quests, including one in the prologue to Volume II Book 1, and one that involves enlisting a traveller to bring a gift to his dear cousin Bilbo.
As in many other adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, the portrayal of Frodo in LOTRO is that of a somewhat cherubic youth—not necessarily a youthful-looking 50-year-old.
Travellers to Hobbiton will encounter Lobelia upon the porch of Bag End, surrounded by several crates of her possessions being moved into the smial. She is planning a birthday party for herself to rival Bilbo’s of seventeen years ago, and sends those willing to endure her sharp tongue on a quest to obtain fireworks.
In the context of LOTRO, Lotho can be found speaking with his mother upon the porch of Bag End.

Interlude: New Site Feature

2009-06-16T11:30:00.004-06:00

I'm back from my (all too short!) vacation and I thought I'd share some info about a new regular feature that I'm going to be adding to TRGEO and future plans.

First, a bit of background on my thought process. Since starting the blog in late March, I've been covering one chapter of The Lord of the Rings more or less weekly, bringing us up to Book I Chapter 10: Strider. As one site visitor commented, the current state of LOTRO has enough geographical area to take us up to Book II Chapter 8: Farewell to Lórien. Therefore, if I continue at the same pace I've taken so far, I'd run out of material to cover in only ten weeks! This is assuming that an expansion to the game will not be forthcoming within the next ten weeks -- which I think is a pretty safe bet. (I will leave discussion of whether we will be seeing the next expansion this year at all to the other fine blogs listed in the sidebar to the right.)

I've decided that to keep up a steady stream of posts on TRGEO (and hopefully maintain a steady readership!) that I need to both somewhat slow the pace of and somewhat expand the nature of my content. To that end, I've conceived a new regular feature that you'll start seeing very soon: "Cast of Characters". The Lord of the Rings has a host of characters, major and minor, and many of these appear in LOTRO as well. In keeping with the stated aim of TRGEO, I will be examining related groups of characters in more or less chronological order as they are introduced in the book along with screenshots and discussion of Turbine's interpretation. In gathering shots to use in this feature I have again been impressed by the work of Turbine's graphic artists in creating unique and realistic-looking characters with personality.

Secondary to this, I will be slowing the pace of entries (unfortunately) to once every two weeks, and I will also be breaking larger chapters with many screenshots (anywhere from ten to seventeen or more) into chunks that make sense geographically. For example, you may see the next chapter, Book I Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark, in three parts -- the first covering the departure from Bree and the journey through the Bree-land, the second covering the western Lonelands, and the third covering the eastern Lonelands (for example). I hope that in the future (once the next LOTRO expansion hits) that I will be able to resume weekly entries for a time.

In the meantime, I will again be travelling this weekend, but will update early next week upon my return with the first installment of Cast of Characters: Masters of Bag End.

Thanks for your patience, and as always, thanks for reading!

- Ivy

Interlude: A Holiday

2009-06-04T10:16:00.005-06:00

I feel I need a holiday, a very long holiday...

~ Bilbo to Gandalf, Book I Chapter 1: A Long-expected Party

Unlike Bilbo, my summer holiday this year will not be very long, nor do I plan on never returning!

I am beginning vacation tomorrow and will be returning around June 15th, which means that there won't be a new TRGEO update until about June 20th. Apologies! However, I will be returning with a new "feature", as it were, for the blog that I hope everyone will enjoy, and I will explain that when I'm back as well.

As always, thanks for reading!

- Ivy

Book I Chapter 10: Strider

2009-05-30T15:21:00.008-06:00

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadow shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
~ Gandalf's verse describing Aragorn, Book I Chapter 10: Strider

Upon entering The Prancing Pony, the hobbits nearly ran into the house's worthy (if forgetful) landlord, Barliman Butterbur. The innkeeper was "bustling out of one door and in through another". [1]

Butterbur, being very busy with his patrons -- including a party from south down the Greenway [2] and a company of dwarves travelling west -- led the hobbits "a short way down a passage" to a "nice little parlour". It was a

small and cosy room. There was a bit of bright fire burning on the hearth, and in front of it were some low and comfortable chairs.

While waiting for their supper to be brought in, Butterbur's hobbit servant, Nob, showed the companions to their bedrooms to wash up. These accommodations were in fact prepared especially for hobbit guests, being on the ground floor near the back of the building, and with low, round windows facing north (and presumably with hobbit-scaled furniture). [3]

Having washed up, the hobbits returned to the parlour and were served their supper. Frodo, Sam, and Pippin then decided to join the company in the common-room, while Merry instead went outside for some fresh air.

The large common-room was dimly-lit by a "blazing log-fire" and "three lamps hanging from the beams". There were benches, upon which sat the large, mixed company made up of "men of Bree, a collection of local hobbtits (sitting chattering together), a few... dwarves, and other vague figures difficult to make out away in the shadows and corners."

The locals were rather interested by the appearance of the Shire-hobbits, but Frodo, giving the alias of Mr. Underhill, proved not very communicative and was shortly left to listen quietly to the conversation. It was then that he noticed a weatherbeaten stranger paying close attention to the hobbit-talk. Butterbur identified him as Strider, a Ranger. [4]

An impromptu song landed Frodo in jeopardy and risked revealing the Ring, but the hobbits were able to defuse the situation before returning to the parlour, only to find Strider there. The hobbits were trying to ascertain whether Strider was to be trusted when a letter to Frodo from Gandalf -- delivered via Butterbur -- revealed the Ranger's identity as Aragorn son of Arathorn, a friend of the wizard's.

At length, Aragorn was accepted as trustworthy, and Merry returned from a terrifying encounter with Black Riders. Alterted to the presence of the Riders, the hobbits did not retire to their quarters, but instead spent the night in the parlour with Aragorn. That night, the Black Riders attacked both the house at Crickhollow and the hobbits' rooms at The Prancing Pony, but in both instances were foiled.

Notes

Presumably out of the kitchen and into the common-room. Indeed, this is where frequent visitors to the inn are accustomed to seeing Butterbur! In LOTRO, the "door" to the common-room is rather the space created by the entry vestibule before the inkeeper's station.
Well-travelled explorers will know that the lands south down the Greenway are held by servants of Saruman. Undoubtedly these southerners, or at least several of their number, were spies of the Enemy.
The Pony's hobbit-room in LOTRO has four small beds, similar to the room as depicted in other adaptations, including the 1978 and 2001 screen adaptations. However, in the text, Nob shows the hobbits to their rooms, implying that there were at least two bedchambers and possibly as many as four, one for each hobbit.
Earlier that day (September 29th) Aragorn had set out from The Pony to look for Frodo and his companions, but before leaving, had enlisted the aid of another traveller to assist Constable Underhill in the village of Combe in uncovering the plans of the local Blackwold brigands (LOTRO Volume I Book 1 epic storyline).

Interlude: New Travelling Companions

2009-05-28T10:54:00.006-06:00

In the last couple of days, it seems I've had an increase in traffic to the site. This is entirely due to the generous mention of The Road Goes Ever On on the esteemed and thought-provoking blog The LOTRO Chronicles by Kairos and a very kindly-worded shout-out on the official LOTRO discussion forums by Raegn, the author of the excellent Epic Book. I would also be very remiss not to mention Jaxom, author of the wonderful The Middle-earth Adventurer, who was my first supporter. If you are unfamiliar with these blogs, or with any of the fantastic LOTRO-related blogs listed to the right, I highly recommend them all.

I hadn't intended to make posts not related to the chapters of The Lord of the Rings in this blog, but I did want to take the opportunity to thank my fellow bloggers for their support and to welcome all the newcomers to TRGEO. I hope you will all continue to enjoy the entries here. In the future, any non LotR entries will be designated by "Interlude" in the title, but I don't foresee making too many of these kinds of entries.

While I have the floor, I would also like to point out that the screenshots are linked to larger versions over in the album where they're stored. There are also additional comments that I didn't think fit into the entries or the notes to the entries.

Thanks and welcome to all, and please keep visiting!

- Ivy

P.S. I have since found out that Turbine has been so kind as to feature TRGEO on their Facebook Page and on their Twitter feed. Thanks very much guys!

Book I Chapter 9: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony

2009-05-23T13:30:00.007-06:00

There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill
~ Frodo's song, Book I Chapter 9: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony

On the evening of September 29th, the hobbits came to Bree [1], the chief village of the region known as the Bree-land. The western and southern portions of the village were protected by a semicircular dike topped with a thick hedge on the inner rim. The Road crossed the dike over a causeway providing access to the West-gate, which the hobbits found to be shut when they approached.

The gatekeeper, Harry Goatleaf, hailed them from over the gate, but the hobbits deflected his probing questions with somewhat evasive responses. Nonetheless, Harry admitted them to the village and directed them on to The Prancing Pony.

Bree was built on the slopes of the Bree-hill, and it was this hill which interrupted the dike surrounding the village, providing the inhabitants with fully-encircling protection. The village was comprised of "some hundred stone houses of the Big Folk, mostly above the Road, nestling on the hillside with windows looking west."

The hobbits thought the houses looked "large and strange". Perhaps more comforting were the homes of the local hobbits, built on the higher slopes of the hill, above the houses of the Men. The Road from the West-gate climbed a gentle grade towards the hill, and then swept right to skirt its more steeply rising slope.

At this bend in the Road stood The Prancing Pony inn [2], with its back to the hill. The Pony had "three stories and many windows" and Sam did not like the look of it, though it seemed "a pleasant house to familiar eyes." The inn

had a front on the Road, and two wings running back on land partly cut out of the lower slopes of the hill, so that at the rear the second-floor windows were level with the ground. There was a wide arch leading to a courtyard between the two wings... Above the arch there was a lamp, and beneath it swung a large signboard: a fat white pony reared up on its hind legs.

The north wing of the inn was so built to provide a more comfortable experience to visiting hobbits, with "round windows and all as they like it." There was a side-door here was well.

The south wing probably contained additional guest rooms as well as the inn's stable. The hobbits left their ponies in the yard between the two wings and then ascended a "a few broad steps" to reach the inn's front door. A sign hung above the door with white lettering reading: THE PRANCING PONY by BARLIMAN BUTTERBUR.

In spite of Sam's misgivings, Frodo insisted they lodge at the inn. After all, Tom Bombadil had recommended it. They hesitated on the door-step for a moment, then went inside.

Notes

The Men of Bree claimed descent from "the first Men that ever wandered into the West of the middle-world." At this time in the Third Age, no other Men "had settled dwellings so far west..." and indeed there was no other community in the world where Men and Hobbits lived together.
The Prancing Pony had been built "long ago when traffic on the roads was greater." It was notable as a "resort of Rangers and other wanderers, and for such travellers... as still journeyed on the East Road to and from the Mountains."

Book I Chapter 8: Fog on the Barrow-downs

2009-05-17T14:08:00.021-06:00

Eastward the Barrow-downs rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into a guess: it was no more than a guess of blue and a remote white glimmer blending with the hem of the sky...

~ Book I Chapter 8: Fog on the Barrow-downs

On the clear morning of September 28th, the hobbits ate one last meal at the house of Tom Bombadil and then set out. Tom had advised them to head north, skirting the ridges of the Barrow-downs until they struck the Great East-West Road. They led their ponies up a path leading from behind Tom's house along the base of the sheltering ridge. Upon reaching the crest of the last steep slope, they encountered Goldberry, who bade them look about. Looking to the west, over the Old Forest, they observed the land rising in "wooded ridges, green, yellow, and russet under the sun..." [1]

Bidding farewell to Goldberry, the hobbits descended the east slope of the ridge and followed a winding way along the floor of the hollow. They were now within the Barrow-downs [2], terrain with "no tree nor any visible water: it was a country of grass and short springy turf, silent except for the whisper of the air over the edges of the land, and the high lonely cries of strange birds." The day was growing very warm, and the hobbits felt "a shadow now lay on the edge of sight, a dark haze above which the upper sky was like a blue cap..."

At mid-day, they reached "a hill whose top was wide and flattened, like a shallow saucer with a green mounded rim..." In the centre of the hollow

there stood a single stone, standing tall under the sun above... It was shapeless and yet significant: like a landmark, or a guarding finger, or more like a warning. [3]

Peering north across the Downs, the hobbits found themselves looking down a long valley leading to "an opening between two steep shoulders."[4] Merry rightly guessed that beyond this opening lay the end of Downs, and the road. Greatly cheered, the hobbits ate their lunch with their backs against the cool surface of the stone spire. Unfortunately, their full bellies, the warmth of the sun, and lying a little too long resulted in a sleep they hadn't intended to take. They awoke at dusk to find a mist had risen and the sun had grown cold. Alarmed, the hobbits led their ponies out of the hollow and down its north slope, heading toward the pass leading out of the Barrow-downs, which could no longer be seen in the thick fog.

With the reduced visibility, Frodo somehow became separated from the others and apparently wandered astray from his northward course. He found himself standing not before the gap leading out of the downs, but rather before two huge, leaning standing stones. [5] Hearing the distressed cries of the other hobbits, he followed their voices and found himself going steeply uphill. As he climbed, night fell.

Finally, the mist dispersed, revealing the starry sky. He was now facing southward and standing upon a hill top. Frodo saw that "[t]o his right there loomed against the westward stars a dark black shape. A great barrow stood there." [6]

Instead of his friends, Frodo encountered a Barrow-wight, and was overcome by fear and seized. He came to his senses inside a barrow. Sam, Merry and Pippin lay nearby, surrounded by treasures of gold. They were in "a kind of passage which behind them turned a corner." A severed arm groped its way towards the hobbits, "walking on its fingers." [7]

Fortunately, Frodo was able to recall the the rhyme that Tom Bombadil had taught them, and by reciting it was able to summon their saviour once again:

suddenly light streamed in, real light, the plain light of day. A low door-like opening appeared at the end of the chamber beyond Frodo's feet; and there was Tom's head... framed against the light of the sun rising red behind him. [8]

They had spent the night within the barrow, and it was morning, sometime between nine and ten, when they safely emerged. The hobbits were reunited with their ponies, who in the previous night's confusion had fled only to be rounded up by Tom's pony, Fatty Lumpkin. From the treasures of the barrow, Tom selected daggers for each of the hobbits [9], and then accompanied them northward. At dusk, they finally reached the Great East-West Road. The road itself lay beyond a deep dike with a steep wall on the further side [10]. They climbed down and out of the dike, and passed through a gap in the crumbled wall.

Tom bade them follow the road east to the village of Bree under Bree-hill, and directed them to the Inn of the Prancing Pony. Mounting their ponies, they rode into the gathering darkness.

Notes

The weather was not so cooperative for this explorer!

In Sindarin, Tyrn Gorthad. The Downs had been a burial place of Men since time immemorial, and also came to house the tombs of the princes of Cardolan. It had become haunted when, in centuries past, the Witch-king of Angmar sent evil spirits to animate the bodies of the dead.

The Dead Spire.

North Barrows Pass will be well-known to all visitors to the Downs.

This explorer could not locate any standing stones matching this description. Then again, when Tom Bombadil led the hobbits out of the Barrow-downs after their escape from the Barrow-wights, Frodo looked for the stones but did not see them either.

The interpretation in the context of LOTRO seems to take some liberties here from a general interpretation of the text. In the text (and according to Karen Wynn Fonstad's interpretation in her excellent book, The Atlas of Middle-earth, which I use as a guide to much of my commentary), Frodo seems to have veered to the east before reaching the two standing stones, and then veered southward as he climbed to the hill-top. This would place the "great barrow" he saw north of the position of the hollow where they had fallen asleep. The epic storyline of LOTRO (the Volume I Book 1 cinematic) strongly implies that the barrow the hobbits were imprisoned within was Othrongroth, also described (tellingly) as the Great Barrow, south of the hollow. A broader interpretation of the text can support this, if the distances covered by Frodo are assumed to be longer.

Crawling arms will be well-known indeed to explorers of the Great Barrow.

This description is very similar to the events taking place at the end of the LOTRO epic story in Volume I Book 1 Chapter 11: Othrongroth, and further reinforces that in the context of LOTRO, the hobbits are assumed to have been imprisoned within the Great Barrow.

Tom said that these were "forged many long years ago by Men of Westernesse", who were foes of Carn Dûm. In the context of LOTRO, the Westernesse damage type is particularly effective against the Dead and the Unseen, making Merry's later use of his dagger particularly relevant.

The wall and Great East-West Road had previously formed the border between the kingdoms of Cardolan (south of the road) and Arthedain (north of the road).

Book I Chapter 7: In the House of Tom Bombadil

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Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless--before the Dark Lord came from Outside.
~ Tom Bombadil on his identity, Book I Chapter 7: "In the House of Tom Bombadil"

Shaken by their encounter with Old Man Willow and perplexed by the mysterious stranger who had rescued them, the hobbits allowed Tom Bombadil to lead them east along the Withywindle. Through the evening and the increasingly misty twilight they followed the difficult path, until the ground began to slope gently upward. The water of the Withywindle

began to murmur. In the darkness they caught the white glimmer of foam, where the river flowed over a short fall. Then suddenly the trees came to an end and the mists were left behind. They stepped out from the Forest, and found a wide sweep of grass welling up before them. The river, now small and swift, was leaping merrily down to meet them, glinting here and there in the light of the stars, which were already shining in the sky.
The grass under their feet was smooth and short, as if it had been mown or shaven... The path was now plain before them, well tended and bordered with stone. It wound up on to the top of a grassy knoll...; and there, still high above them on a further slope, they saw the twinkling lights of a house.

They had reached the house of Tom Bombadil and his lady Goldberry. After introductions and a "long and merry meal", Tom sang of Goldberry, and then saw the hobbits to their beds. The hobbits were disturbed by disquieting dreams, all except for Sam.

The hobbits spent the entirety of the following day, September 27th, at Tom's house, for it was raining. The house was situated against a ridge at the top of the slope the hobbits had walked up the previous night. To the south, the Withywindle descended in its short falls and flowed west into the Old Forest. Behind the house was a stable where Tom's pony, Fatty Lumpkin, was housed.

After waking, Frodo peered out the east-facing window of their room and found himself looking upon a kitchen-garden, but "his view was screened by a tall line of beans on poles." Their room also had a west-facing window, out of which Pippin glanced. The room the hobbits had been put up in was a penthouse built onto the north end of the house. [1]

The main room of the house was long and low, "filled with the light of lamps swinging from the beams of the roof; and on the table of dark polished wood stood many candles, tall and yellow, burning brightly." This was, of course, the table where they had taken their supper the previous evening. Facing the outer door was Goldberry's chair, surrounded at its feet with "wide vessels of green and brown earthenware" containing floating white water-lilies. The room was also furnished with several "low rush-seated chairs" and a wide hearth with a chimney-shelf set at either end with candles.

It was in these comfortable, if rustic, surroundings that the hobbits spent the rainy day, listening to Tom's remarkable stories and songs. He spoke of the Old Forest, and Old Man Willow, and the Great Barrows, and "kings of little kingdoms". [2] After another supper, they spoke finally of the Ring. Finally, Tom advised the hobbits to set out north from his house the next morning, skirting the Barrow-downs and aiming for the great East-West Road, warning them not to meddle with Wights, or to pry into their houses.

Notes

It was reached from the main room of the house by a short passage with a sharp turn, but this explorer was not granted access when she visited.
Arthedain and Cardolan.

Book I Chapter 6: The Old Forest

2009-05-03T15:23:00.015-06:00

O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
Despair not! For though dark they stand,
all woods there be must end at last,
and see the open sun go past:
the setting sun, the rising sun,
the day's end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail...

~ Frodo's song, Book I Chapter 6: The Old Forest

Shortly after six o'clock on the morning of September 26th, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin set out from the house at Crickhollow, accompanied by Fatty to see them off. It was very foggy. The hobbits slipped "through a spinney behind the house, and then cut across several fields" to the nearby stable where they mounted their ponies.

After riding for an hour, they came to the Hedge [1], and turning left followed its line until they reached a hollow. Here,

[a] cutting had been made, at some distance from the Hedge, and went sloping gently down into the ground. It had walls of brick at the sides, which rose steadily, until suddently they arched over and formed a tunnel that dived deep under the Hedge and came out in the hollow on the other side.

Bidding farewell to Fatty, the hobbits descended through the Hedge tunnel, finding it dark, damp and barred at the end by a gate of iron bars. Merry unlocked the gate, and they passed through into the Old Forest. [2]

On the opposite side of the hollow was a path leading up into the forest; following this path they could see ahead "only tree-trunks of innumerable sizes and shapes: straight or bent, twisted, leaning, squat or slender, smooth or gnarled and branched; and all the stems were green or grey with moss and slimy, shaggy growths." The path was difficult to follow -- in fact, Merry thought that it had actually changed position since he had last been there -- but by mid-morning they came out into an open space and found that the mist had cleared as the morning had progressed. They had reached the Bonfire Glade. [3]

The leaves were all thicker and greener about the edges of the glade, enclosing it within an almost solid wall. No tree grew there, only rough grass and many tall plants... A dreary place...

A path was visible on the far side of glade, climbing gently, and the hobbits rode up it. It was at this point that the hostile, oppressive nature of the forest began to exert itself. Frodo was considering turning back when "before them, but some distance off, [he saw] a green hill-top, treeless, rising like a bald head out of the encircling wood." They followed the path to the foot of the hill, where it

left the trees and faded into the turf. The wood stood all around the hill like thick hair that ended sharply in a circle round a shaven crown.

The hobbits reached the crown of Bald Hill at about eleven o'clock. The day was growing warm and the mist had cleared, but there was still a haze in the air. After eating lunch, the hobbits set out again, following a path north from the hill with the intention of leaving the forest and striking the great East-West Road, but they soon found that the path was veering to their right. They decided to leave the path and hold a northward course. This proved to be a mistake: the terrain became confused and tangled, with deep folds in the ground. No matter how they proceeded, they found themselves being "forced to the right and downwards."

Having lost all sense of direction, by afternoon the hobbits found themselves on the banks of the River Withywindle. [4] Turning left, they followed a path along the river, hoping that they would be led to the eastern edge of the forest. After traveling some distance, they began to feel very hot and drowsy. Above them loomed

a huge willow-tree, old and hoary. Enormous it looked, its sprawling branches going up like reaching arms with many long-fingered hands, its knotted and twisted trunk gaping in wide fissures that creaked faintly as the boughs moved.

The malevolent spirit of the forest had lured them into the clutches of Old Man Willow [5]. They soon found themselves in a dire situation, but fortunately the enigmatic Tom Bombadil arrived in time to rescue them from the unfriendly tree, first chastising it and then breaking off a branch with which he smote it.

Relieved and bewildered, the hobbits allowed their saviour to lead them along the riverbank as the shadows of evening deepened behind them.

Notes

Also known as the High Hay, this was a quickset grown by the Bucklanders to serve as a defense against the dangers of the Old Forest.

The Old Forest was a remnant of the ancient forests that had covered much of Eriador before the Second Age. The hobbits of Buckland believed that the forest was queer and the trees possessed a hostile awareness.

The Bonfire Glade had been created when, long ago, the unfriendly trees of the forest had attacked the Hedge, planting themselves next to it and leaning over it. In response, the hobbits of Buckland had come and felled hundreds of the trees, then created a bonfire further within the forest. This had caused the trees to abandon their attack, but they subsequently became more hostile to the Bucklanders.

The Withywindle was a tributary of the Brandywine River rising in the Barrow-downs, and was the source of the malice of the Old Forest.

A malevolent tree-spirit, or possibly an Ent that had become tree-like, or a Huorn.

Book I Chapter 5: A Conspiracy Unmasked

2009-04-25T17:08:00.006-06:00

Farewell we call to hearth and hall!
Though wind may blow and rain may fall,
We must away ere break of day
Far over wood and mountain tall.

To Rivendell where Elves yet dwell
In glades beneath the misty fell,
Through moor and waste we ride in haste,
And whither then we cannot tell.

With foes ahead, behind us dread,
Beneath the sky shall be our bed,
Until at last our toil be passed,
Our journey done, our errand sped.

We must away! We must away!
We ride before the break of day!

~ Merry and Pippin's song, Book I Chapter 5: A Conspiracy Unmasked
After being being dropped off by Farmer Maggot and meeting Merry, the hobbits boarded the ferry and crossed the slow, broad Brandywine in the dense foggy night. As they approached the Buckland shore, they could see that

the bank was steep, and up it a winding path climbed from the further landing. Lamps were twinkling there. Behind loomed up the Buck Hill...

The hobbits had left the Shire. [1] Upon reaching the ferry-landing and disembarking, the hobbits were frightened to see the figure of a Black Rider behind on the far dock. Fortunately, the only other place for a horse to cross the river was the Brandywine Bridge, ten miles north.

Merry rode forth on his pony to make ready Frodo's house at Crickhollow, while Frodo, Sam, and Pippin continued on foot. The passed Buck Hill on their left [2] , and from it,

through stray shrouds of mist, shone many round windows, yellow and red. They were the windows of Brandy Hall, the ancient home of Brandybucks. [3]

Upon striking the main road south from Newbury, they turned left and followed it north until they came to a lane on their right; this lane led them to a "narrow gate in a thick hedge": the entrance to Frodo's new house in Crickhollow. [4] The house

stood back from the lane in the middle of a wide circle of lawn surrounded by a belt of low trees inside the outer hedge. [...I]t stood in an out-of-the-way corner of the country, and there were no other dwellings close by. You could get in and out without being noticed. [...] It was an old-fashioned countrified house, as much like a hobbit-hole as possible: it was long and low, with no upper story; and it had a roof of turf, round windows, and a large round door. [5]

Merry and Fatty had furnished the house to recall Bag End, and had done an admirable job. After baths and another supper, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Fatty revealed their conspiracy -- their knowledge of the Ring and Frodo's purpose in leaving the Shire. It was agreed that Merry and Pippin would accompany Frodo and Sam on the remainder of their journey (but not Fatty, who "had no desire to leave the Shire, nor to see what lay outside it"). The hobbits decided to leave before dawn the next day. Frodo's dreams were dark that night.

Notes

Buckland was more a colony of the Shire-folk and was not officially considered a part of the Shire until early in the Fourth Age, when it was incorporated fully by the rule of King Elessar and renamed the Eastmarch.

Meaning that in the context of LotRO, they took the longer (and perhaps more inconspicuous) route to Crickhollow.

Brandy Hall was also, of course, the childhood home of Frodo, and presumably still the residence of Merry.

Crickhollow was a small town in the country beyond Bucklebury. Frodo's new house in had in fact been built by the Brandybucks as a guest house or for the use of "family members that wished to escape from the crowded life of Brandy Hall for a time."

When this explorer visited the house at Crickhollow, that door was shattered, a condition imposed upon it by one of the Black Riders, who had arrived after Frodo had already escaped with the Ring. Visitors to the house at Crickhollow will also note a discarded hobbit-cloak on the door-step; this was dropped by one of the Riders as they fled the house upon hearing the Horn-call of Buckland.

Book I Chapter 4: A Shortcut to Mushrooms

2009-04-18T15:20:00.021-06:00

I know we are going to take a very long road, into darkness; but I know I can't turn back. It isn't to see Elves now, nor dragons, nor mountains, that I want [...] but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire.

~ Samwise Gamgee, Book I Chapter 4: A Shortcut to Mushrooms

On the morning of September 25, Frodo, Sam, and Pippin scrambled down from the heights of the Woody End into a tangled, thicket-filled valley cut by the Stock-brook. [1] They followed the course of the small river, staying on the north bank as it was too wide to cross, until it brought them out into the wide flat-lands of the Marish under overcast skies threatening rain. Here they found that the Stock-brook became wider and shallower, and they were able to wade across to a "wide space, rush-grown and treeless on the further side."

Frodo's plan had been to make straight toward the Bucklebury Ferry over the fields of the Marish, but as they traveled through the rainy morning, they inadvertently had begun to veer south. By the afternoon, the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared, and the hobbits found that indeed they had gone somewhat astray; in the distance "they could now glimpse the low hill of Bucklebury across the [Brandywine] River, but it was now to their left."

Correcting their course, they made for the river, and crossing a turnip field, came to a gate and a lane. Pippin recognized that they had wandered onto old Farmer Maggot's land, Bamfurlong. Although Frodo was reluctant to see Maggot (he had been caught stealing mushrooms as a youth), Pippin insisted that if Frodo was going to be living in Buckland he ought to make it up with the farmer.

They reached Maggot's farmhouse shortly before sundown. From the lane, they saw

the thatched roofs of a large house and farm buildings peeping out among the trees ahead. The Maggots, [...] and most of the inhabitants of the Marish, were house-dwellers; and his farm was stoutly built of brick and had a high wall all round it. [2]

After a satisfying supper with the farmer and his family, the three travelers accepted Maggot's offer to drive them to the ferry landing. By the time they reached the entrance to the ferry, marked by two tall white posts, the night had grown very foggy, and thus when a mounted figure loomed out of the mist ahead of them they feared the worst; but it turned out to be only Merry, who had come across the river on the ferry to look for Frodo.

Bidding farewell to Farmer Maggot, the hobbits boarded the ferry and pushed out into the Brandywine, heading for what they hoped was the safety of the far shore.

Notes

The traveler to the Marish who visits the Stock-brook will indeed note this steep, deep-cut valley. At its head is a waterfall, beyond which is the spring at Wellbridge where the three hobbits camped.

Farmer Maggot was known for his mushrooms, and the wet, marshy terrain of the Marish seems an ideal place for growing these hobbit-loved delicacies. Indeed, at Bamfurlong the traveler will find three mushroom-growing enclosures. Behind them is a small pond, mentioned by Merry at the Bucklebury Ferry when he asked if Farmer Maggot had found his friends in his duck-pond.

Book I Chapter 3: Three is Company

2009-04-10T15:32:00.022-06:00

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.

~ Hobbit walking-song, Book I Chapter 3: Three is Company

After the revelation of the One Ring, Gandalf decided that Frodo must bear it away from the Shire lest the servants of the Enemy discover its location. As punishment for eavesdropping upon his master and the wizard, Sam was to make the journey as well (an arrangement with which all parties were pleased). Gandalf remained in the Shire until late June, then departed to seek information in the south.

Frodo had decided to depart in the aumtumn, after his birthday. To prevent the spread of rumours about his disappearance, Frodo sold Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses and bought a small cottage in Buckland to which he announced he would be retiring, along with Sam to mind for him.

On September 23, 3018 T.A., the day after Frodo's birthday, Frodo, Sam, and Pippin set out from Bag End in the evening. Merry and Fatty had left earlier in the day to drive Frodo's packed possessions to his new house. Frodo was concerned; Gandalf had not returned from abroad as he had promised. Nevertheless, it was imperative that the Ring flee the Shire. As the wizard had recommended the Ring be taken to Rivendell, this was to be their destination.

Leaving Bag End dark and empty, the hobbits walked down the western slopes of the Hill until they came to the Water, crossing it by a "narrow plank-bridge. The stream was there no more than a winding black ribbon, bordered with leaning alder-trees." [1]

From there, they continued south and crossed the East-West Road, coming into "the Tookland and bending south-eastwards they made for the Green Hill Country." As they began to climb the first slopes of the Green Hill Country,

[...] they looked back and saw the lamps in Hobbiton far off twinkling in the gentle valley of the Water. Soon it disappeared in the folds of the darkened land, and was followed by Bywater beside its grey pool.

Continuing on for several hours, the trio reached the narrow road leading from Tuckborough to Woodhall and Stock. At the top of a steep slope, they came to their camping spot. [2] There was a stream "at the foot of the hill" and a "little fall where the water fell a few feet over an outcrop of grey stone." Beyond that, the stream passed "under the road." [3]

On September 24th the hobbits continued along the road. After their frightening brush with one of the Black Riders, the left the road and traveled parallel to it, keeping it on their right. After dusk, they found a large hollow tree, in which they had a light meal before setting out again. [4]

Later that evening, they encountered Gildor Inglorion and his party of elves. The elves led the hobbits into the hills above Woodhall, to a

wide space of grass, grey under the night. On three sides the woods pressed upon it; but eastward the ground fell steeply and the tops of the dark trees, growing at the botton of the slope, were below their feet. Beyond, the low lands lay dim and flat under the stars. Nearer at hand a few lights twinkled in the village of Woodhall.

The hobbits were refreshed with food and drink shared by the elves, and Gildor and Frodo conferred about the nature of Black Riders and Frodo's future course. Frodo was resolved to continue his journey, without Gandalf if need be.

Notes

Although this explorer could not locate a plank-bridge, it seems as if this location, where the Rushock Bog empties into the Water below the west slope of the Hill, is the most likely place for the crossing of the Water. (In addition to the Bywater Bridge, there is a small stone bridge crossing from the north shore of the Water to the south shore, but this is east of Hobbiton, whereas the hobbits made their crossing to the west of the village.)
Wellbridge. Described as being a stand of fir-trees, this was where the somewhat nonplussed fox (who can still be found nearby) came across the sleeping hobbits.
This could indicate either a culvert or a bridge. The interpretation here is of a bridge. This particular spring is the source of the Stock-brook, eventually emptying into the Brandywine River.
This explorer could not locate such a tree; the hobbits evidently chose their hiding place well.

Book I Chapter 2: The Shadow of the Past

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[Frodo] found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the
wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into
his dreams. He began to say to himself: 'Perhaps I shall cross the River myself
one day.'

~ Book I Chapter 2: The Shadow of the Past

Following Bilbo's party and scandalous disappearance, Frodo became the master of Bag End and inherited Bilbo's peculiar ring. Seventeen years passed, and Frodo's reputation for oddity grew. In early April 3018 T.A., this (and queer tales of strange sights at the Bounds of the Shire) was in fact the topic of conversation at the Green Dragon at Bywater. Present was Sam Gamgee, "sitting in one corner near the fire, and opposite him was Ted Sandyman, the miller's son; and there were various other rustic hobbits listening to their talk." Sam recounted his cousin Hal's sighting of a "Tree-man [...] as big as an elm tree, and walking" that had appeared "up away beyond the North Moors not long back." [1]

That same evening, Gandalf reappeared in the Shire after a long absence. He had last been seen by Frodo nine years previously, but now returned to Bag End with news of great import.

Like Hobbiton, Bag End had been mapped and illustrated by Tolkien, giving us firm knowledge of its layout. It was a smial -- a hobbit-hole -- dug into the south bank of the Hill. The main entrance was

a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened onto a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats [...] The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill [...] and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side, and then on the other [...] The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows overlooking [Bilbo's] garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river. [2]

The entry hall was where a flustered Bilbo had first met Thorin and Company, nearly eighty years earlier, and where Bilbo had left his parting "gifts" for his relations when he left Hobbiton permanently.

Going in from the entry hall, one came first to the parlour, on the left. Here, Thorin and his kinsmen had long ago spoken with Bilbo and Gandalf about the Quest of Erebor.

Across the hall from the parlour was a drawing room where Bilbo had been taken to recover from his fit upon hearing of Thorin's plans.

Next to the parlour, with windows opening onto flower gardens, was a dining room where, later, after selling Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses, Frodo, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, Fredegar Bolger, and Folco Boffin would have dinner after packing up Frodo's belongings.

Across from the dining room was the kitchen. Here, prior to leaving Bag End, Frodo, Sam, and Pippin would have a final meal at Bag End, leaving the washing up for the Sackville-Bagginses.

Further within Bag End, and inaccessible after Lobelia took possession due to piled furniture, was the study, where on the morning after Gandalf's reappearance, he and Frodo sat by the open window, with a fire on the hearth. It was here in the light of the spring morning that Gandalf revealed the reason for his unexpected return: he had discovered that Frodo's ring was indeed the One Ring, the weapon of Sauron, Enemy of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.

Notes

More well-traveled folk may recognize this description as fitting Longbough, the Ent who dwells at the Eavespires in northern Evendim.
The Hobbit, chapter 1.

Book I Chapter 1: A Long-expected Party

2009-03-31T10:19:00.016-06:00

The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

~ Bilbo Baggins, Book I Chapter 1: A Long-expected Party

The village of Hobbiton in the Westfarthing of the Shire was buzzing with excitement in September of the year 3001 of the Third Age. Bilbo Baggins was turning one hundred and eleven years old on September 22nd, and was preparing a party of special magnificence.

Hobbiton is little described in The Lord of the Rings, but had been mapped and illustrated by Tolkien, so that its layout is well established. The village lay in the valley of the Water, a tributary of the Brandywine River, and most of its smials and buildings were on the south bank. Two predominant structures were on the north bank: Ted Sandyman's mill to the east of the Hill Lane, and the Grange to the west. The Hill Lane ran north from the Bywater Bridge toward Hobbiton Hill (commonly known as simply the Hill). Upon the Hill were situated Bagshot Row (where #3 was the home of Hamfast Gamgee and his son Samwise) and, on the higher slopes, the much more exclusive residence of Bilbo: Bag End Under Hill.

That month, Hamfast (usually known as the Gaffer) "held forth at the Ivy Bush, a small inn on the Bywater Road", speaking in praise of Bilbo to a rather sceptical crowd including Old Noakes of Bywater, Daddy Two-foot (the Gamgees's next-door neighbour), and Ted Sandyman. Bilbo's peculiarities (as well as those as his adopted heir, Frodo) and the upcoming party were discussed with great interest.

The grand party was to be held at the Party Field, located on the Hill between Bagshot Row and Bag End. A new entrance "was cut into the bank leading to the road, and wide steps aned a large white gate were built there."

Upon the Party Field grew the great Party Tree itself. At the time of Bilbo's party, the tree's boughs were hung with lanterns, and it was enclosed within a grand pavilion and the chief table was set beneath it. The pavilion has of course since been removed, but it seems that the lanterns and other festive decorations have become a fixture!

In the north corner of the Party Field, "an enormous open-air kitchen" had been erected, from which the vast quantities of food for the party guests were served. After the feast, games, gift-giving, and fireworks (the latter supplied by Gandalf the Grey), Bilbo made his farewell speech, then slipped the Ring on his finger and disappeared, much to the lasting scandal of his guests.

Welcome to 'The Road Goes Ever On'!

2009-03-27T13:49:00.025-06:00

It is a fair tale, though it is sad, as are all the tales of
Middle-earth, and yet it may lift up your hearts.
~ Aragorn, Book I Chapter 11: A Knife in the Dark

As a long-time fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, I was intrigued when I learned that a MMOG based on the book was in development. Though I had never experienced one of these massively-multiplayer online games, I quickly took to The Lord of the Rings Online and have been an avid player ever since.

In the year-and-a-half or more that I've been enjoying the game, I've been consistently surprised and delighted by the care and attention to lore that Turbine has lavished on the virtual world our characters travel through, such that reading the book lends increased appreciation of the game, and often vice versa -- not to mention that this world looks stunningly beautiful! I think many LOTRO players will relate when I say that there are many times I have been questing when suddenly I'm compelled to stop just to admire the breathtaking views of this virtual Middle-earth that unfold before my eyes.

In this blog I will be following the action of The Lord of the Rings with commentary, quotations from the text, and in-game screenshots of the locations visited by the book's characters.

In the coming days, I'll begin with shots and discussion of the locations in Book I Chapter 1: A Long Expected Party. I hope that this will be a pleasant journey for all those who undertake to travel it with me, whether familiar with the book, the game, or both.

Shoulder your pack and take up your walking stick -- the road goes ever on!