Quote:
|
'The fellowship ... left on December 25th, which then had no sgniificance, since the Yule, or its equivalent, was then the last day of the year & the first of the next year. But December 25th (setting out) & March 25th (accomplishment of the quest) were intentionally chosen by me'
|
Well, kinda sorta. The setting out on Dec 25th was a happy accident of the calendar, driven by narrative requirements counting backwards (for a long time Gandalf fell on Friday January 13th, although that became untenable), and then the conversion to the Shire-Reckoning (which happened well after the narrative had been completed; in the writing Tolkien used the Gregorian calendar).
However, it's clear from his time-schemes that Tolkien built Aragorn's march to the Morannon and Frodo's across Gorgoroth to culminate on March 25th, and that's a date he took pains to preserve even when he had to shift the Pelennor back by a day and rewrite ALL of the many plot-threads leading up to that momentous day (Pippin at MT, Faramir, Merry and the Rohirrim, the Grey Company, Frodo at Cirith Ungol).