"A Conspiracy Unmasked" - Eric's Thoughts

Well, unfortunately it looks like Tolkien won’t be hearing high praises from me in every chapter. In great contrast to the high praises I gave to the last chapter, this chapter struck me as weak for a couple of reasons.

First, smack in the middle of when the hobbits are crossing the Brandywine, Tolkien interjects a random history of the Brandybucks and Brandyland. What the heck?? This prose would have been much better suited for an appendix, or how about just cutting it entirely? Totally random, and totally unnecessary.

Then, the hobbits arrive at the very house Frodo purchased. I repeat—Frodo goes into the house where every Hobbit knew Frodo was supposed to go. And not only does he go inside, but he takes a bath, eats supper, and listens as Merry unfolds a conspiracy to help him leave the Shire.

All of this happens under the circumstances that a mysterious black rider had been seen on the other side of the river, watching him. Merry informs Frodo that its possible the horse might try to swim the river, and that it’s a mere 10 miles around to where the black rider might cross, if the black rider is disinclined to wade into the water.

Frodo also recognizes the possibility that there might even be more than two black riders, which means there might have been a black rider watching his house.

The hobbits don’t strike me as particularly dumb, so we can rule out that possibility. In fact, Merry in discovering the ring by deduction and Sherlock-Holmes sleuthing shows that they are inquisitive, nosy, and smart. Even Sam reveals that he was just putting on airs to spy on Frodo.

So how do we reconcile this with the fact that the hobbits are having a second dinner and bathing while being pursued by agents from Mordor? We know Frodo isn’t entirely ignorant of the danger—Gildor warned him.

Now, I wasn’t particularly bored or thought the prose itself was bad, but these macro concerns kept repeating in my head, making the read less enjoyable. Why is Frodo taking a bath? How can he be so relaxed when he knows he’s being pursued? Why would he be staying in such an obvious place? Yet Frodo decides to leave the next morning?

To me the whole chapter seemed to be a gaping plot hole, and one that wasn’t hard to fix. All you had to have Merry say is that he once saw a horse and rider drown in river that tried to cross—because the river has nasty undercurrents. That rules out that possibility. And second, you make it even longer to the crossing point—20 miles. Okay, 40 miles of buffer. Now spending the night makes sense.

But what if there’s a third rider? How about you have Frodo stay at Merry’s for the night? Since there wasn’t much description, that wouldn’t even require much from an editing standpoint. Okay, now that you’ve ruled out all three possibilities, then you can have the bath scene, and have them discuss the conspiracy.

Easy fixes. And Tolkien’s editor should have pointed them out. Oh well.