Lembas

[Aerandir Carnesir]

If one small bite of lembas bread could "fill the stomach of a grown man", than how come Sam and Frodo in the RotK ate so much of their supply in just a few days?

[The Saucepan Man]

They had the stomachs of grown Hobbits. smilies/biggrin.gif

[burrahobbit]

They ate too much and probably didn't take as much as they could have.

[Tar-Palantir]

Well that is a confusion between the movie and the novel. As described by the elves of Lorien:

One will keep a traveller on his feet through a day of long labour...

Not one "bite". Also if I recall they had reached a point where that was their only fare, filling the stomach or no, I imagine it would be less satisfying as time wore on - possibly prompting them to eat larger quantities on their difficult road.

Has anyone actually charted Frodo and Sam's Lembas consumption on the journey? It might be entertaining to see the results, although if someone had that much time on their hands I might question their priorities! smilies/biggrin.gif

[Selmo]

I'm not sure what you call "a few days" but Sam and Frodo carried their share of the Lembas from Lorien for about forty days, though they didn't eat it all the time.

I assume the Fellowship ate little Lembas for the first ten days, from Lorien to Parth Galen. Lembas was intended for emergency use so they must have carried other food as well. When the Fellowship split up, Frodo and Sam would have taken their share of what was left of that food, so to start with, they wouldn't have to rely on lembas alone.
When the hobbits met Faramir they were given more food, which they ate until they reached Cirith Ungol.
They had nothing but lembas for the last twelve days to Mount Doom.

[Naldoriathil]

Well, seing as the journey lasted for a few months at least, a bit of Lembas would not have satisfied them to their journey in Mordor. Also, they would have grown considerably in stature over the course of their journey and if they were to survive, they would have needed to eat a lot more than they previously realised.

[markg]

If i remeber rightly, Lembas actually increases in potency when it becomes the sole source of food, and isn't mixed with other things. So they would actually need less of it (or at least less food in total)as they got nearer to the end of their journey.

[Ten'oio]

mmmmmm...lembas bread.
smilies/tongue.gif

[Roccotari Eldandil]

well, Sam was able to keep going for quite a while on just a little tiny bit of lembas each day. Frodo ended up eating entire wafers of the stuff, but that can be explained by the fact that he's carrying the Ring and it's a very heavy burden. I think that maybe the lembas would have lasted longer if Frodo wasn't such a pig... (not that I blame him though.)

[Gorwingel]

At least Frodo and Sam were rescued by the Eagles and Gandalf on the slopes of Mt. Doom. Because if they had to walk all the way back, they would have never made it, because they were totally out of food.

[Inderjit Sanghera]

Darn those Eagles. smilies/wink.gif

[rutslegolas]

actually a wafer of lembas could keep a grown man going on walks for days and days

but we must also take into consideration that frodo had the burden of the ring so he must have needed a lot of energy to keep going

while sam only bites of lembas frodo ate whole wafers

thast why the lembas got over in a few days

[Finwe]

rutslegolas, try to read the posts above yours before posting. You will find that a couple of people have stated the same thing that you just did. (Just a hint... smilies/wink.gif)

One way that I like to look at it is, initially Frodo was the more "spiritual" Hobbit, whereas Sam was the more "mundane" Hobbit. Frodo was more comfortable among the Elves, more versed in book-lore, and spoke a little Elvish, whereas Sam came across as the "country cousin," so to speak. As the two journeyed on the Quest, their very personalities began to change. Due to the influence of the Ring and the hardships that he had to face, Frodo became, well, more mundane, while Sam became more mature and spiritual. That was why, towards the end, Frodo was scarfing down every bit of food that he could find, while Sam was content with just a little. As Frodo became more mundane and worldly, Sam became more spiritual and detached, creating a sort of balance.

[Kransha]

They were a) filling up for the big journey and b) had the stomachs of hobbits, not full grown men. I think hobbit bellies are a little bigger than any full grown man's.

Plus, the book states nothing about one bite being able to fill people up. It says, and I quote:

One will keep a traveller on his feet through a day of long labour.

[FairLadyGoldberry]

Well, in the book it states

It [the lembas] did not satisfy desire, and at times Sam's mind filled with memories of food...

So maybe the hobbits felt the need to physically eat larger quantities of lembas, like they were used to doing with regular food when they were very hungry. Maybe they ate more then they needed to b/c just eating a small piece did not fill their strong desire for food.