LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 05 - A Conspiracy Unmasked

[Estelyn Telcontar]

This is another fairly brief, transitional chapter. Though it takes place in a safe haven, all involved know that it is only temporarily so.

This is the place to gather information about the history of the Brandybucks and Buckland - an unusual branch of the Hobbits, we are told. First of all, they liked water and some could swim; secondly, they kept their doors locked at night, since the border area was more susceptible to strange 'visitors'. The Reader's Companion gives an interesting bit of information about the founder of the family. His name, Gorhendad, is Welsh for 'great-grandfather'.

After getting to know the happy-go-lucky Pippin on the way to Crickhollow, this chapter aquaints us with Merry and his ability to organize things, to grasp connections and act on short notice. Introducing them seperately this way helps to distinguish them; I found it hard to figure out which was which at first in the movie.

Merry tells his companions (and us readers) that Farmer Maggot knows more than he shows; if he really went into the Old Forest, he was more adventurous than we would expect! We do know (from the Tom Bombadil poems) that he kept in contact with Bombadil - I wonder, which of them kept the other in touch with the wide world?!

We have a brief foreshadowing of things to come here in the account of Fatty Bolger's plans to stay in the cottage and play Frodo to keep up pretences.

The chapter closes with Frodo's dream - an interesting subject for thought and discussion.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Merry tells his companions (and us readers) that Farmer Maggot knows more than he shows; if he really went into the Old Forest, he was more adventurous than we would expect! We do know (from the Tom Bombadil poems) that he kept in contact with Bombadil - I wonder, which of them kept the other in touch with the wide world?!

Both, I believe, each in his own way. What I thought when reading this was that Farmer Maggot is a prototype of a Hobbit who looks far beyond his own Hobbit-hole and fields. I remembered Gandalf's words in the Quest for Erebor, when he explains why he chose Bilbo and started to think about hobbits in the first place:

Originally Posted by UT

They had begun to forget: forget their own beginnings and legends, forget what little they had known about the greatness of the world. It was not yet gone, but it was getting buried: the memory of the high and the perilous. But you cannot teach that sort of thing to a whole people quickly. There was not time. And anyway you must begin at some point, with some one person. I dare say he was "chosen" and I was only chosen to choose him; but I picked out Bilbo.

With all respect to old Mr. Baggins, I believe Farmer Maggot was a case of a Hobbit who did not forget yet. Not that he would know the tale of Gil-Galad or things like that, but as I said, he "saw further and deeper" (to borrow words that don't belong here at all ) that most of the hobbits.

Originally Posted by Esty

We have a brief foreshadowing of things to come here in the account of Fatty Bolger's plans to stay in the cottage and play Frodo to keep up pretences.

This time I caught myself being afraid for Fatty. Completely forgetting all I know about the future (but at the same time having in mind all I know about the Nazgul!), I was immersed in the story and thought "oh my, what if the Riders indeed come, you shouldn't joke about things like that, Pippin - what a horror!" Isn't this also saying something about the spell of Tolkien's work, being capable of taking the reader in even for second, third... (in my case about sixtieth ) time?

Nevertheless, you may notice that during most of the discussion, Fatty remains quiet. He asks about the mushrooms in the beginning and then, as all the conspiracy is being revealed, he is completely silent. One even wonders if he had his part in the conspiracy at all. And then, only at the very end of the chapter, Tolkien "remembers" there is some Fatty sitting silent at the table - or this is the impression it makes - and suddenly floods us with information about him. Not bad for remembering him, but when one already knows him and reads the previous text, he must get the feeling that he's gone invisible for the conversation.

Originally Posted by Esty

The chapter closes with Frodo's dream - an interesting subject for thought and discussion.

Definitely. I caught myself thinking "and what the heck is that"? I am pretty sure, when I read it for the first time, that I thought "bah, some silly dream, give us more Black Riders or Elves". Soon, we are going to have one more dream - in Bombadil's house, and this time indeed visionary. But this sequence of Frodo's dreams begs for a question - why did it happen? And a question about this dream in particular - why do you think it ended the way it ended? I mean, yes (with little foreshadowing), Merry was banging on the door and awakened Frodo. That can even appear in the dream as the thunder, and the light in the sky may be connected with it (as, even though Merry had light with him, he was outside the door, so his light has no connection with the light in Frodo's dream). But still, I always had the feeling that there was also inner reason, inside the dream, why Frodo couldn't reach the tower - it made the impression that some Power stopped Frodo. "You cannot pass!" "Not this time! You cannot see the Sea yet!" Thunder. Clash. Something like that.
As for the "setting" of the dream, this also raises one question. Are we talking the White Towers here; resp. one of them, or something else? The thing is, the tower stood there "all alone", while there were three towers on Emyn Beraid. But maybe this is simply the dream logic - in any case, the appearance of the tower is quite explainable by Frodo's subconscious - earlier, we were told that the Hobbits knew about the Towers, and sometimes in fair weather they could see them, and said that one can look at the Sea from there.

I also consider important that we learn something more about Frodo this way - that he often dreamt about the sea, resp. its sound. This puts him in the line of "many Children of Ilúvatar who hearken still to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen" (Ainulindalë). Yet, Frodo never heard the sound itself. Now that is strange. How comes? Did his knowledge of this sound depend only on the visions (erm... hearions? ) in his dreams, or did he, for example, earlier meet an Elf who told him about the sound and with the Elven gift, when he spoke, Frodo indeed heard the sound?

[Rumil]

Hi all,

(slowly catching up with Esty!)

This chapter highlights Merry as the leader of the Hobbits. OK, Frodo is technically leader of the gang, but from here till Bree, Merry is the effective boss. Now this is not to be wondered at because he is on 'home territory', however, there is more than this involved. Merry is the heir to Buckland, if the hobbits were more feudal he could be styled Prince Meriadoc, heir apparent to the throne of Buckland! In other words he is second-in-command of the whole province.

Naturally he shows his leadership and has 'made all the arrangements' in Crickhollow etc. But what does 'The Master of the Hall' think of his son and heir disappearing off into the Blue with the second 'Mad Baggins'? Was he even told?

Secondly the hobbits seem quite casual in the face of the 'Nazgul timebomb'. The Nazgul know their location, and could be just around the corner.

The gate-guards would not let them through by night, though they might break through

Indeed they decide to have a good bath and a slap up meal instead of hightailing it ASAP. As Legolas said later, this is enough to prove they are hobbits!

On Fatty Bolger, well I wouldn't fancy staying in Crickhollow one little bit with the Nazgul creeping up my garden path thank you very much! I wonder if Fatty decided to stay at home partly because he was afraid of slowing the rest down, being likely quite unfit.

As a final note, I find myself yping Crickhowell for Crickhollow all the time!

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Rumil, you bring up an excellent point that I've never heard mentioned before - what did Merry and Pippin's families think of their sudden disappearance? As the situation was, the two couldn't have explained anything to them, so it must have seemed that they had fallen prey to the Black Riders or some other danger. I wonder how much - if anything - Fatty gave away after he alarmed Buckland.

[Rumil]

Hi Esty,

yes this did make me wonder, after all Merry and Pippin were the firstborn sons and heirs of the two most powerful families in the Shire. Did they prepare the ground with their parents at an earlier stage of the 'conspiracy', or did they simply disappear?

I guess Merry must have had some talk with his father in arranging the house at Crickhollow for Frodo, which was probably Rory's property, I wonder if Pippin simply legged it!

[Estelyn Telcontar]

That raises all kinds of questions - to what lengths would the parents of Merry and Pippin have gone to find out what happened to their sons? I can't imagine them being so complacent, not even as Hobbits, that they would leave a stone unturned to find their offspring - in this case, even more importantly, the heirs. I know from personal experience that any danger to one's children turns parents into lions! Do you suppose that they waited a few days, as the irresponsible tweens often went off without bothering to notify them (I know what that feels like too! You learn to accept the axiom that no news is good news.) and by the time they got really concerned, Sharkey's men had taken over and they didn't have the opportunity to leave the Shire to search for them elsewhere?

Hmmm, this gives me some interesting ideas for my fan fiction...

[Rumil]

Hi Esty,

Took-Brandybuck missing persons search mission, I like it! I guess that Buckland would have been in much turmoil after the Nazgul riding down the gates and Fatty Bolger and his 'Fear, Fire, Foes!'. I wonder if Merry and Pippin were assumed missing in the confusion for a while?

I'd like to think that Merry at least left a letter for his family even if he didn't discuss the details with his father, who seems an unusually perpicacious sort of hobbit.

As for Pippin, I could well imagine,

"Gone off adventuring, back next year with luck, all the best, Pip"

Followed by extreme ructions at the Took household!

I'd think that when all the fuss regarding the Nazgul had died down (and Fatty had been restored to normal by a feast or two) that he would have informed the families what was going on in general terms at least. After all Maggot guessed shrewdly that the black riders were coming to find Mr Bilbo's treasure. Therefore the Shire in general would probably know that Frodo was being chased by the black riders, had left the Shire and was accompanied by Sam, Merry and Pippin. Eventually news would have filtered back from Bree that Merry and Pippin had been there at least and that the Black Riders had attacked. Then they were last seen setting off east with one of those unsavory Ranger types!

I wonder what the Gaffer and Rosie Cotton would have made of all that?

Your point about the Ruffians makes me try and remember when exactly they took over the Shire, can't figure it out at the mo, any idea?

[Selmo]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Rumil I wonder how much - if anything - Fatty gave away after he alarmed Buckland.

There would be no point in Fatty Bolger keeping any secrets once the four companions had left The Shire. Word of the Black Riders asking about Baggins and of the raid on Crickhollow would spread rapidly. It would generally be assumed that Frodo had gone into hiding to avoid the Riders.

The events in Bree were extraordinary enough for messages to be sent to the Master and the Thain so in just a few days after Frodo leaving, the whole Shire would know that he and his friends had escaped the Riders and gone eastward with a Ranger.

In Rivendell, Elrond wanted to send Pippin back home to warn the Hobbits of the threat from Mordor, in a sack if necessary. When that proved to be un-necessary, he could have sent messages to The Shire instead. Some of Cirdan's people were at The Council and would have passed through, or close to, The Shire on their way home.

The families of Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin might have had news of them for the first three months of their adventures, whether Fatty kept secrets or not.
.

[Selmo]

Elrond wanted to sent Pippin, the youngest of the four Hobbits, home to The Shire but then relented and allowed him to become one of the Nine Walkers.

Was he aware that, in Hobbit society, Pippin was not of an age (under 33) when he could make major decisions for himself?
I wonder how Elrond would feel if he later learned that he had sent a child into situations that meant almost certain death.
.

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by Selmo

Elrond wanted to sent Pippin, the youngest of the four Hobbits, home to The Shire but then relented and allowed him to become one of the Nine Walkers.

Was he aware that, in Hobbit society, Pippin was not of an age (under 33) when he could make major decisions for himself?
I wonder how Elrond would feel if he later learned that he had sent a child into situations that meant almost certain death.
.

Good question. Elrond truly was against Pippin's going though, maybe he instinctivily knew that Pippin was youngest?

[Formendacil]

You know, I was kind of surprised, reading this thread again, that the big thing that occurred to me during this readthrough has apparently not occurred to anyone else--so, it's possible, maybe I'm just seeing something weird where nothing is weird.

The thing that's bothering me is the timeline of the titular Conspiracy. Merry says a few things about it:

Originally Posted by A Conspiracy Unmasked

I thought you would go after him sooner or later; indeed I expected you to go sooner, and lately we have been very anxious. We have been terrified that you might give us the slip, and go off suddenly, all on your own like he did. Ever since this spring we have kept our eyes open, and done a good deal of planning on our own account.

Originally Posted by A Conspiracy Unmasked

I kept my knowledge to myself, till this Spring when things got serious. Then we formed our conspiracy;

So, timeline-wise, the Conspiracy seems to have been formed that Spring "when things got serious." Surely this refers to Frodo's decision to leave the Shire, prompted by Gandalf. In other words, surely this refers to the events of "The Shadow of the Past."

And that's how I've already read this (not necessarily having thought it through with great scrutiny before): Frodo decides to leave the Shire, his friends notice, piece things together, and make plans to ensure he doesn't go alone. And Sam's their chief investigator.

Except that the very event that changes Frodo includes Sam getting caught--which is when I've always assumed he dried up.

So either Merry is misrepresenting when the Conspiracy was formed or Sam was not its chief investigator.

It's not cut-and-dried impossible for everything Merry says to be true, but it does seem to me that the statements he makes must be viewed, to quote another fandom, "from a certain point of view."

Originally Posted by Rumil

Naturally he shows his leadership and has 'made all the arrangements' in Crickhollow etc. But what does 'The Master of the Hall' think of his son and heir disappearing off into the Blue with the second 'Mad Baggins'? Was he even told?

This comment of Rumil's sparked some discussion, and something similar occurred to me--albeit from the other way around. Instead of wondering about Merry and Pippin's parents' reactions to the disappearance of their sons, I wondered about what preparations, if any, they made for their disappearance.

After all, going to Buckland was Frodo's way of slipping away from the Shire unnoticed, and certainly none of the Gamgees were at all likely to go looking for news from Buckland for a while (especially given that most or all of them probably aren't lettered). Pippin can be lumped into this category too probably:

"Hey Thain-Dad, I'm going to spend some months with Merry in Buckland. I'll go out there with Cousin Frodo when he moves."

"Are they going to feed you?"

"Yeah."

"Then it's fine with me."

After all, it's clearly not Pippin's first time in the Marish and Buckland--he knows the locals, knows the local places, and acts almost as guide till they meet Merry.

However, Rumil focused on Merry for a reason: he's hardly gone across country; he's barely gone into the neighbourhood--and everything we know about Brandy Hall being a "warren" suggests that the Brandybucks are all over knowing each other's whereabouts.

As the one with the plan--witness not only the Conspiracy, having everything ready to leave in an hour, but the homely preparedness of Crickhollow to receive guests--it seems unlikely that Merry would not have had some kind of preparation here... but what was it?