View Single Post
Old 08-16-2004, 11:04 AM   #5
Mithalwen
Pilgrim Soul
 
Mithalwen's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle...
Posts: 9,916
Mithalwen is lost in the dark paths of Moria.Mithalwen is lost in the dark paths of Moria.Mithalwen is lost in the dark paths of Moria.Mithalwen is lost in the dark paths of Moria.
I think maybe the suspicion is overstated ..... the hobbits are given a warm reception at first ... despite their outlandish cover story...... but the Breelanders are naturally nervous of the threat of mass immigration ... and given the identity of this particular Southerner... it is a pity they aren't more suspicious (UT)...

I suppose that the hobbits feel they are relaltively safe and relax their guard.... they are not alone in the wild and they expect to meet Gandalf (perhaps a smaller scale version of the feeling they have initially at Rivendell; that their part is done)..... after the horrors of the Forest and the Downs and (whether you love or hate him) the wierdness of Bombadil .they are in a "gated community".. the Pony is a relatively normal environment. Merry wandering off is perhaps is more plot than character driven since if he had been "minding" the scattier Pippin, the Frodo debacle might have been avoided .... but then Merry is (especially since Frodo is bound to be more cautious because of the ring) the most relaxed about being outside the Shire ... I don't know that he was taking a particular risk going out....although he did following the Nazgul...

I would say that the first sight of strider was one of the occasions when the film really did capture the picture in my mind......
__________________
“But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.”

Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace
Mithalwen is offline   Reply With Quote