11-07-2001, 11:25 AM | #1 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: European Union
Posts: 463
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Unreliable postman
After meeting Radagast and rushing to Isengard, Gandalf trusted Barliman Butterbur with a letter as the (almost sole) prevention to protect Frodo from the Black Riders.
Now, knowing this guy (Barly) from the scenes in LotR, my rate of confidence would not be that high. And he never got around to mail the letter! (Which might have gone lost anyway...) How can we explain this situation? |
11-07-2001, 04:30 PM | #2 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Indiana
Posts: 156
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Let's see....
'You're right, master," he said, 'and I beg your pardon. And I'm mortal afraid of what Gandalf will say, if harm comes by it. But I didn't keep it back a-purpose. I put it by safe. Then I couldn't find nobody willing to go to the Shirt next day, nor the day after, and none of my own folk were to spare; and then one think after another drove it out of my mind. I'm a busy man. I'll do what I can to set matters right, and if there's any help I can give, you've only to name it.' I'd say the poor man explains it himself rather well.... |
11-07-2001, 05:31 PM | #3 | |
Elven Warrior
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11-07-2001, 05:36 PM | #4 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Indiana
Posts: 156
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That's a good question. I can't look that part up now because my brother has my copy of the Fellowship and he's home now. He wasn't before, so it was easy to snatch the book for my quote before...I can't help you, but I'm interested now.
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11-07-2001, 11:18 PM | #5 |
t2t relic
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Bay Area, California
Posts: 531
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mailmen..
hundreds of years ago, in south america, they used to have runners and the likes relay messages across mountains by running.. Iirc, they uh, made some kind of marijuana tea, or made of the same plant.. the idea was to speed up the runners heart rate so he breathes more air and can run faster and longer at higher elevations.
And the point of this is, perhaps butterbur forgot to drink his tea and lost the letter.
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11-11-2001, 12:47 PM | #6 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Spokane, WA
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If you mean "why the heck did Gandalf - known as a wise person and a good judge of character - entrust Barliman Butterbur with a task so important?", I would say - he didnt have a choice. As far as he knew, he could not go back to the Shire himself and still gain the aid of Saruman in time, so sending a message was the only option. He had to choose someone a) He knew b) Knew the Shire fairly well (leaving out Radagast) and c) was important enough that he might have a shot at getting the job done.
And anyway, Gandalf was never portrayed as perfect in his judgement. He had a lot on his mind. |
11-12-2001, 04:59 AM | #7 | |
Elven Warrior
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One can notice that there is indeed a great difference in Gandalfs appearance and behaviour before Moria and after. The New and Improved Gandalf makes no mistakes I can think of; he is in a new league. |
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11-13-2001, 03:18 PM | #8 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Spokane, WA
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I cant think of any either, offhand. Maybe he should have been more wary of Denethor, and foreseen what the Steward might be capable of; but I dont know if that can properly be labeled a mistake. He almost makes a mistake in Book 3: he was thinking about looking in the Palantir himself, which he claims would have been a disaster, though for what reason Ive never been clear. I guess it was at the least a bit of a flub to let Pippin look in the Palantir in the first place, but Pippin was pretty quick to get to the Seeing Stone, and Gandalf hadnt had a moment to think about what the thing actually was.
In his 'grey' persona, he makes a ton of errors. In fact, his errors set the whole plot in motion. Some of it is second guessing and hindsight of course, but still he really should have done something with/about the Ring a little earlier. |
11-13-2001, 04:59 PM | #9 | |
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