LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 04 – A Short Cut to Mushrooms

[The Saucepan Man]

I haven't finished reading the chapter yet ( ), but I thought that I'd jump in here because the description of the Black Rider's wail stood out for me as well.

What is the Wraith lonely for?

It seems to me that this perfectly portrays the Ringwraiths' existence, in contrast to that of the Hobbits. A Wraith's existence is lonely. Although there are nine of them, there is no comradeship between them. They are bound together only by the Nine Rings and by the One. Which contrasts nicely with the bonds of friendship between the Hobbits which we have already seen and which we will see yet more of as the book develops. It also sets them up as the counterpoint to the Nine Walkers who, although brought together by the Ring (ie the need to destroy it), develop bonds of fellowship.

Yes, it's a lonely life being a Wraith. As Fordim says, one almost feels sorry for them. Indeed, one can feel sympathy for what they once were (although we do not, of course, learn of that for a while).

[Iarwain]

In response to Fordim Hedgethistle (I think I spelled that correctly), by the time the book was over, Lobelia had become one of my favourite non-fellowship hobbits. I always find it tremendously sad when she dies.

But, about those mushrooms...

I like davem's comments on the Shire. I think it's a very romantic idea (in a sense of the word). On the other hand, I disagree with those who say that the earlier drafts are bad. From what I read, they seem quite amusing, and perhaps they would have served well as a last glimpse of the Hobbit-centric view of Middle-Earth. This is not to say that I like the drafts more than the actual, though...

Hm... I seem to be "at a loss for words" this morning.


Good-day to all ,
Iarwain

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

One little mistake and you end up a bad guy, wearing black for an age and then some!

Sorry Iarwain, but going back for a moment.....

Yes, I agree that the Ringwraiths are lonely creatures, as appear most of the evil folk that populate this story. It is the timing of the wail that seems odd though. But it does fit in well, contrasting the comradeship of the hobbits, with the colorless, hollowed-out existence of the Nazgûl. But I could more easily see them expressing frustration in their chase, rather than loneliness at precisely that point in time. I suppose it serves to heighten the reader’s curiosity about them, or maybe the hobbits’ curiosity? It does make them seem more 3-dimensional, and not just flat 'bad guys'.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I was cruising through the Downs when I ran across this post by Mirkgirl from a couple of years ago. It's a long (and wonderful) post but I would like to quote a bit of it here:

Merry and the Nazgul are deeply bounded throughout the book - first he is mistaken for one, which represents them as poles. Then he has a close encounter with a Nazgul in Bree. Also he's the first one to notice the Nazgul from Weathertop, but that's not so important.

Now this quote covers parts of the book other than this chapter so I don't want to go far with this point -- what is more, I don't need to as Mirkgirl has already done such a tremendous job in her original post. But I did want to address a point that's had me thinking for a long time -- it always seemed a bit odd to me that Merry was not present for the first stage of the journey; this seemed to reduce his importance to it somehow, but now I'm beginning to wonder if I've had it all wrong. We've been talking so far about how the journey in these early chapters is a process of growth (or maturation, as in the case of Pippin) for the hobbits (and let me applaud davem for his brilliant post about waking up) -- is it not possible that Merry's absence from this stage of the journey is an indication that he is already as 'grown up' as he will become? That he is already mature in ways that the other hobbits aren't? It seems that given his association with the Nazgul make here so early, that he is already in some way ready for the task he will undertake in the death of the Witch-King.

All of which leads me to this thought: Pippin is to Sam as Merry is to Frodo. The first pair are relatively naive and innocent and will come to have their horizons broadened and their understanding expanded, but they will remain the essentially simple folk they were at the beginning (Pippin intellectually, Sam morally). The second pair are already what they need to be to accomplish their quests (that is, they are already fully associated with the darkness they must overcome - Frodo the Ring, and Merry the Nazgul).

This is a fresh new thought so I'm not really sure where I might be headed with it. Which is why I float it. . .

One More Thing: Merry's late-coming to the quest is also, I suspect, a forerunner to how things will work at the end of the book as the Fellowship slowly dissolves. In the beginning, they come together not all at once, but bit by bit; the mirror image of how it ends.

[Boromir88]

Fordhim,

Possibly, I'm sure there are many hobbits, if we had the chance to know better, I would like better. From what I do know is Hobbits from Hobbiton don't like Hobbits from Buckland and vice versa. Hobbits do seem to be a relatively peaceful, simple people, but anyone they don't understand or doesn't do anything "normal" to hobbits is thought of as unhobbit-like and queer.

[Gorwingel]

Well I know that I haven't been completely into these discussions, but I will offer my input on this chapter

One thing I noticed while reading it last night is there is a lot of mentions of food and drink. And it's not just the normal food and drink, but it is food and drink that stands out apart from other mentions of food in the book (quite like Lembas). Like for example there is most notably the elven bread (which in the beginning Frodo has to devote his complete attention to it to enjoy), the Golden Perch brew ("Short cuts make delays, but inns make longer ones", very good quote), The elven drink ("...pale golden in colour: it had the scent of a honey made of many flowers..."), and of course the Mushrooms in the basket at the end from Farmer Maggot, which end the problems Frodo had with Maggot once and for all.

And then another part that stood out to me is the entire part (which is also mentioned above), where Maggot tells Frodo that he should have never associated himself with the "Hobbiton folk". Basically telling him that him moving there is the source of all of his problems. And even though he is partly right, this stood out because to me it's a very hobbitish response. He is not looking that his problems could have came from the world around them, he is saying that the problems came from the hobbits that he didn't know very much, again reinforcing the fact that the hobbits tend to mistrust strangers.

And this question may seem competely random, but why does Tolkien use the word "waggon" instead of "wagon"? I just kind of find it interesting, because this is the first and only place I have ever seen the word "waggon".

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

According to my second favourite book (The Oxford English Dictionary) "waggon" is simply a variant spelling of "wagon." It is a bit more archaic, but there were plenty of cited uses of the form from the 1800s and even one from 1939.

I rather suspect that Tolkien spelled it that way not because it was old and archaic the way that "thees" and "thous" are (that is, nobody uses them anymore), but because it was how the word was spelled in his own childhood in the part of the world he grew up in.

I've got nothing to back this up other than my conviction that the Shire is Sarehole.

[Guinevere]

I think that this is an interesting insight into Sam's true character - the whole conversation is, really. Like Frodo, this is a side of Sam's personality that we have not really seen. He shows great perception of the Elves, and we see that he is a 'deeper' character than we had been led to believe.

I agree very much with Firefoot. For me this part about Sam was what impressed me most in this chapter! It was never my impression that he was just a simpleton - he is just not used to put into words what's going on in his mind. And also Frodo understands now that there is more to Sam than he had thought.
Sam's encounter and conversation with the Elves was a revelation for him. He feels different and even has a kind of foreboding. He knows that they are going a long road into darkness and when Frodo warns him that they might not come back from it, this doesn't deter him - quite the contrary, he is set on never leaving his beloved master.

I don't rightly know what I want; but I have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the Shire. I must see it through, sir, if you understand me.

Very much later, on the pass of Cirith Ungol, when he believes Frodo is dead,and trying to make up his mind, he will remember these very words .

[Bêthberry]

About Gorwingel's question of "waggon":

I rather suspect that Tolkien spelled it that way not because it was old and archaic the way that "thees" and "thous" are (that is, nobody uses them anymore), but because it was how the word was spelled in his own childhood in the part of the world he grew up in.

I think you could well be right about that Fordim. Particularly since the various county dialects of England have maintained their own unique spellings and pronunciations which have not made it into the canonical OED, which we all know is famous for its omissions of non-canonical works and writers.

For intance, 'kine' as the plural of cow, from Old English no less, was still widely used in Yorkshire at least up until the 1850's. (I can name an 1848 novel it was used in.)

I think Eric Partridge has a dictionary of dialect words, doesn't he? Or is it just Shakespeare's Bawdy and Slang and Unconventional English? I'm sure there must be sources for dialects from Birmingham and the Welsh borders.