''Three cheers for Captain Frodo, Lord of the Ring''

Originally Posted by Rumil

Here they are deciding the fate of the free world and Pippin is making light-hearted, if not downright silly, jokes.

Did Gandalf not make light-hearted comments of the gentle treatment given by Sauron to prisoners in the Dark Tower in The White Rider?

To me Gandalf did not want anyone to celebrate anything until the Ring was destroyed and Mordor overthrown permanently. He may have feared Sauron at all times, but in the comfort of Rivendell, where elves freely be merry and sing songs (sometimes overly merry ones), why did Gandalf overreact?

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Mansun

Did Gandalf not make light-hearted comments of the gentle treatment given by Sauron to prisoners in the Dark Tower in The White Rider?

Do you mean this?

But let us not darken our hearts by imagining the trial of their gentle loyalty in the Dark Tower.

I don't think that's terribly light-hearted, Mansun.

Originally Posted by Nerwen

Do you mean this?



I don't think that's terribly light-hearted, Mansun.

All posters think, and the thoughts behind their thinking differ according to their own interpretation of the problem. It was slightly hypocritical of Gandalf, to my mind, since his intitial logic suggested no humour whatsoever is allowed linking with that of the Dark Tower.

[Nerwen]

Mansun, exactly what about it is light-hearted? It strikes me as being rather grim.

Btw– I'm not so sure that all posters think...

Pippin: Gandalf has been saying many cheerful things like that.

In Gandalf's world, humour is strictly forbidden, it seems. What a miserable fellow he was.

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Mansun

In Gandalf's world, humour is strictly forbidden, it seems.

I think that we could cut Gandalf a bit of slack here. He has seen and done things that Pippin wouldn't even dare do. It was Gandalf who came up with the master plan to defeat Sauron, so let's not be to hasty to accuse Gandalf of being "Mr. serious!"

Originally Posted by Groin Redbeard

I think that we could cut Gandalf a bit of slack here. He has seen and done things that Pippin wouldn't even dare do. It was Gandalf who came up with the master plan to defeat Sauron, so let's not be to hasty to accuse Gandalf of being "Mr. serious!"

What is the use of filling young Hobbits with dread all the time, even when no imminent danger exists, such as in Rivendell? Frodo had nearly become undead, and was for the first time conscious and talking merrily to the other Hobbits. Some humour would have cheered him up, I would have thought. Gandalf was not the lord of Rivendell, after all! Elrond was the master here. Would he have objected like this?