Tolkienblogging: Special guest stars

Wednesday, Dec. 3

read: the remainder of Three Is Company; A Short Cut to Mushrooms; A Conspiracy Unmasked

First, hello to all you Eve Tushnet fans, and thanks for dropping by! Hope you enjoyed this series’ first installment. New Comics Day almost got in the way of today’s, but I made sure to make up for the lost reading time!

Looking over what I read today, it’s more than a little astonishing to me to see how much even the names of chapters have seeped into my subconscious. Obviously I am far from the only person in the world who got disproportionately excited when, in the film version of The Fellowship of the Ring, Sam asked “A short cut to what?” and Pippin replied, “Mushrooms!” And I don’t even like mushrooms myself (except the special kind I ate that one time, but that’s a whole other fantasy world).

* “Three Is Company”–ah, those fabulously eerie first two appearances of the Black Riders. Adding to the ominous overtones of the “Shadow of the Past” chapter, these are our first signs that Tolkien knows a thing or two about horror. The snuffling is a particularly wrong touch. Also worth noting in this chapter is the meeting with Gildor the Elf. Most people focus on the ellision of Tom Bombadil in the films, leaving this magical/majestic meeting forgotten even by die-hards in many cases. Our first glimpse of the Fair Folk, it is in many ways also the first thing that indicates we’re in loftier territory than the humorous whimsicality of The Hobbit.

* “A Shortcut to Mushrooms”–Another unjustly forgotten cameo, this time around by the wiser-than-he-looks Farmer Maggott and his three angry dogs. I tend to enjoy seeing hobbits act smarter or braver than the stereotype. (Well, surely there’s a stereotype within Middle-Earth, right?) Maggott’s description of his exchange with the Black Rider is quietly alarming, as is his dog’s reaction to the visitor. And is that a monumental horror-image I spy, with the Black Rider standing up on the ridge?

* “A Conspiracy Unmasked”–Fatty Bolger puts in his appearance here, and I remember really getting a kick out of the idea that there were more than just the four central hobbits who knew enough about the Ring to help out. I used to imagine Fatty becoming something of a hero around the Shire in his own right for his role in helping Frodo get out of town. That’s what friends named Fatty are for, I suppose. Speaking of friends, this chapter contains one of my favorite passages in the whole book, one I used to toast my housemates of three years upon graduation from college:

‘But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,’ said Frodo.

Sam looked at him unhappily. ‘It all depends on what you want,’ put in Merry. ‘You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin–to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours–closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo.’

Of course, friends aren’t above giving friends a hard time when they’re acting dopey, and Pippin’s imitation of Frodo’s tendency to wax poetic over everything on Middle-Earth–‘We have constantly heard you muttering: “Shall I ever look down into that valley again, I wonder”, and things like that’–is both funny and familiar.

Tomorrow: Dropping the Bomb!