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Old 09-15-2020, 02:35 PM   #16
William Cloud Hicklin
Loremaster of Annúminas
 
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Join Date: Oct 2006
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William Cloud Hicklin is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.William Cloud Hicklin is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.William Cloud Hicklin is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
The two Wraiths who were in Bree the night the hobbits were there knew very little. According to the Hunt For the Ring, Khamul and four others had entered the Shire and, after Frodo escaped across Bucklebury Ferry the night of the 25th, they re-assembled at the Bridge. One was left there to watch it while Khamul and one companion entered Buckland to search it out (they would raid Crickhollow later); the other two were sent to report to the Witch-King, who had stationed himself on the Greenway south of Bree. He in turn sent three to ride cross-country to Weathertop and then scour the Road back westwards as far as Bree. It seems that their presence there was, besides taking a left turn, a stop to interview their spy the cross-eyed Southerner, who reported the odd happenings at the Pony. One immediately rode south to report; the other two attempted to capture Merry, and then orchestrated the Pony burglary. So it was Chance that they arrived on the same night as the Ringbearer; and even greater Chance that they missed him ... furthermore, their report the next night to the W-K confuses him, since the Ring is reported to be both in Buckland and in Bree!

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As for trusting local yokels to bring them the Ring; they were I surmise fairly secure in the knowledge that the hapless Ferny (or whomever) wouldn't know what it was, and wouldn't be exposed to it long enough for it to gain much if any hold; and moreover the stooges were under a 'shadow of fear' that made disobedience unlikely in the extreme. And if it happened anyway, well, dealing with a simpleminded and easily terrified-to-paralysis Man, alone and at night, wasn't a very great matter.
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.

Last edited by William Cloud Hicklin; 09-15-2020 at 04:24 PM.
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