Frodo’s other friend

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

The evolution of the primary Hobbit characters (Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry, and to some extent Fatty) in LotR is astoundingly complex, and is traced by Christopher Tolkien in all its Byzantine detail in volumes VI and VII of HoMe. The invention, deletion, combination, renaming, and shifting of roles of the Hobbit characters in the early drafts really is quite amazing to a reader familiar only with the final version of the book, and it is an interesting window into Tolkien's sometimes strange writing habits.

Until reading those parts of HOME myself, I had wondered about (and considered beginning a thread here to discuss) the apparent risk involved with the four hobbits leaving in the Shire at least one other who knew all about the Ring, who had it, and where they were going. I was pleasantly surprised to find that in early drafts the Ringwraiths had indeed captured the "Fatty" prototype and spirited him away.

I would think that might have been a factor in the planning conducted by Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin: having Fatty stay behind with all his knowledge was enough, and there was no need to further involve any other of Frodo's friends any more than necessary.