"Strider" - Eric's Thoughts

I thought to myself before reading: a chapter called Strider is probably going to be about Strider. Unremarkably, this proved to be accurate. This chapter is about Strider trying to tempt the hobbits to trust him, especially suspicious Sam.

First off, I’d like to go back to Gandalf’s blunder that my compatriots were so quick to defend. They argued that Gandalf provided a letter to Butterbur, and so that showed that the old wizard didn’t make any blunder of the sort.

Wrong.

As Gandalf himself recognizes in a P.S.S., there is a distinct possibility that because Butterbur is an absent-minded fool (though he means well), there is a chance the letter won’t reach Frodo. If I remember right, the reason Gandalf left was to inform Saruman about the ring. Gandalf is already suspicious at this point that Frodo may be hunted.

So essentially Gandalf’s choices include: (1) personally informing Frodo before leaving, which would only delay him (at maximum) a few days by using the main road on horseback (no Old Forest roundabouts); (2) go straight to Saruman and tell him about the ring and trust that a letter sent by an absent-minded innkeeper reaches him -- AND also fail to inform Strider to help the hobbits.

Gandalf chose the second option. For a lesser god, he seems remarkably absent of insight, or maybe lesser gods aren’t the brightest people. With stakes being high enough with the Ring (Sauron's agents getting it = game over), you would think . . . Ah, well, what do I know? Of course, compared to Pippin, he’s a genius, so I guess it’s all relative.

Sam is beginning to come into character again, and I particularly liked it when he told Strider to shove it, and advised Frodo not to trust him. That was a nice touch. Of course, this runs inconsistent with some of his earlier characterizations, but it seems like the hobbits are finally beginning to materialize in and be more consistent with character. (Though I will point out a single hobbit has yet to be described. Butterbur did indirectly describe Frodo as fat and having red cheeks, so maybe that finally counts?)

Okay, now that I’ve rambled for a few paragraphs, let’s go back to what this chapter is really about: Strider. He’s trying to convince the hobbits to trust him, and he tells Frodo that “I really just wanted you guys to trust me on my own merits. You see, if I had mentioned Gandalf, that would be like cheating. I just wanted you to think I’m nice by my own personality without resorting to the ‘G’ word.”

That seemed a little weird. It almost felt like Strider just wanted to be loved, which is not something I would think of a hardened ranger, whose peoples’ mottos are: we’re weird and dangerous, get over it. Indeed, why not just mention Gandalf? Strider mentions that the hobbits might not have believed him anyway, but certainly mentioning that Gandalf sent him wouldn’t have hurt. Strider’s response that he wanted the hobbits to believe him on his own merits just doesn’t make any sense.

The confrontation between Butterbur and Strider was one of the best in the scene, when Butterbur calls Strider a weirdo and creepy, and Strider just name-calls Butterbur back. Strider doesn't mess around. He tells Butterbur: Hey, guess where the riders are from, innkeeper? Mordor. That sound familiar? Now shut up, you fat fool. A great line.

But don’t forget about Merry. Meanwhile Merry has been sauntering about looking for the Black Riders. Unfortunately, he finds the Riders, and they knock him out with a drug called the Black Breath (which is probably similar to the droopy eyelids I was experiencing while reading The Old Forest, The House of Tom Bombadil, and Fog on the Barrow Downs).

And good old Nob saves the day—Merry falls quickly to the Black Breath, but Nob shows up and yells at the Black Riders. So naturally the Black Riders must flee from this fearsome hobbit (we can assume Nob looks fearsome because he’s never been described), instead of “Black Breathing” him too.