I agree that when you read a book such as LotR, you have an innate sense that everything will turn out for the good in the end.
But you don't know how it is going to happen (well, the first time that you read it, anyway [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]), and you don't know (although you might guess) what will befall the characters along the way.
So, I find the references to Merry's scar and Pippin's remebrance of the horns of the Rohirrim curious. The reader is led to believe later in the book that Merry might not survive the battle with the Witch-King and that Pippin is crushed by a troll. With Pippin, this seems to me to be an intentional cliff hanger, since Book V ends with:
Quote:
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"... This is my tale, and it is ended now. Goodbye!" And his thought fled far away and his eyes saw no more.
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Surely, we are meant to think that this might possibly be the end of Pippin, and we do not find out that it is not until a fair few chapters later.
So, it seems to me curious that JRRT included "spoilers" indicating that Merry, and especially Pippin, survive the tale. Quite possibly they were meant as deliberate "clues" to reassure the sharp-eyed, since they are very subtle (and had certainly eluded me until I read this thread [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] ).
[ February 17, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]