02-10-2009, 12:10 AM | #1 | |||||
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Why did the Nazgûl drop Merry in Bree?
Prodded by a post in the thread “Emblem of Minas Morgul”, I want to frame and pose a question that has long troubled me.
It certainly appears that at least one, if not both, of the men trying to kidnap Merry in the east end of Bree was a Ringwraith. The scene first appears, as far as I know, in Return of the Shadow, and begins with Merry bursting into the sitting-room at the Prancing Pony with Trotter (later Strider) and Bingo (later Frodo) discussing Barnabas Butterbur (later Barliman, and at this point a hobbit) and Gandalf’s letter to Bingo (Frodo), which Butterbur has just delivered. Merry enters and declares that he has seen a Black Rider in Bree. He followed the Rider and his horse to the east end of the village, “heard him speaking, or whispering, to someone on the other side” of a dark hedge. Then Merry “came over all queer and trembling suddenly, and bolted back.” (All from the chapter, “Trotter and the Journey to Weathertop”) Merry has not fainted. There is no Nob, there is not yet a gatekeeper or a West Gate. It seems that the Ringwraith was speaking to Bill Ferny, but perhaps there was another Rider on the other side of the hedge. Later in the chapter “To Weathertop and Rivendell” (still in Return of the Shadow), CJR Tolkien notes that Quote:
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In Reader’s Companion, “A Knife in the Dark”, notes for p 177 (I:189), Hammond and Scull cite Tolkien’s notes on the event for the finalized form of the book: Quote:
Now, in the text as it stands, in Fellowship of the Ring, near the end of the chapter “Strider”, Merry bursts into the room “followed by Nob.” He was standing “just outside the light of the lamp”, presumably the lamp in front of the Inn, when he saw the Ringwraith across the road in the shadows. “There was no horse.” Merry followed to the east end of town to the last house on the road, Bill Ferny’s. He continued on. Then Quote:
And kudos to the Dúnedain who waylaid the messenger sent to the Witch-king. They could not stand all Nine at Sarn Ford, but they seemed to have redeemed themselves in preventing the messenger from arriving in a timely fashion, which might have proven fatal. I apologize for the length of this starter. But I want to establish two things:
-|-Added (much) later. No other changes to this post except this addition. Since starting this thread, I have discovered that “Marquette MSS 4/2/36” stands for “Marquette manuscripts series 4, box 2, folder 36”. Last edited by Alcuin : 02-10-2009 at 07:10 PM. Reason: explaining the abbreviation “Marquette MSS 4/2/36” |
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02-10-2009, 12:45 AM | #2 |
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From what I recall, Ringwraiths don't see very well.
Is it possible that they thought Merry was just some ole Bree-hobbit?
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02-10-2009, 02:03 AM | #3 |
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Theirs agenda was to keep them going in the designated direction, otherwise they wouldn't play "hide-and-seek" in the woods with unarmed hobbits.
So, as it have been done before, they just scared them not to get too cozy in Bree and hit the road sooner.
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02-10-2009, 04:43 AM | #4 |
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02-10-2009, 09:10 AM | #5 |
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Merry got caught by the east gate of Bree, far-far from the Prancing Pony. He was not the only hobbit in Bree, not even one of the four hobbits in Bree - there were lots and lots of them, hundreds or more, all alike. Merry was caught far from the Inn, he had no Ring - why would the nazgul deem keeping and questioning him important? There was nothing to link Merry to the Ringbearer.
Moreover, at the moment, the nazgul were trying very hard not to cause any commotion, because at the very same time, Bill and the Southerner were telling them something very important: the story about a hobbit disappearing into thin air in the common room of the Pony. taken from here |
02-10-2009, 09:43 AM | #6 | |
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I agree with Gordis. And I disagree that both premises in the OP are certain:
Quote:
And for 2, the quote you produce from Tolkien's notes is compelling. I had long thought the Inn was attacked by Nazgul until reading a discussion on another board that seemed to prove otherwise. I don't remember the reasoning or evidence but I remember being convinced that the Nazgul planned and sponsored the attack but were more likely waiting outside when the bolsters were ruined by men in their service. Now I'm just confused. I guess if you change the "definitely" to "probably" then I'm right there with you.
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02-10-2009, 02:31 PM | #7 |
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Just to be clear, the Marquette manuscripts are important because they are the documents Tolkien was using to track the Nazgûl and their movements as he was completing The Lord of the Rings. I have read the referenced post, and while it is a point that anyone can debate as long as they like, I think that the evidence is clear: the characters who trashed the hobbits’ room at the Prancing Pony were the two Nazgûl. That is explicitly what is in Tolkien’s notes (the source for the essay “Hunt for the Ring”), and there is no evidence to the contrary. “The Inn attacked by two Riders in early hours before dawn.” They went to the Inn to get the Ring, they searched the room when they didn’t find anybody there, and then they trashed it out of frustration.
“[The other two] foiled in their attempt to capture Merry” is just as explicit. The two men lifting Merry are Nazgûl. Look, these are the notes on the Ringwraiths’ movements that Tolkien used to write the final text. That’s why they’re important. That’s why they’re cited extensively in Reader’s Companion. So, why did the Nazgûl drop Merry? To flush the hobbits out of town? Maybe, but that doesn’t seem a very good method: they might decide that with ruffians – or Ringwraiths – about, it’s safer in town than on the Road, so that doesn’t seem like a very good plan. Because there are lots of hobbits in Bree, and this one might just be one of the hundreds that lived there? Come on, the Ringwraith saw him walk out of the Inn, knows he followed him down the street, and then Merry says he “seemed to be drawn” – he was “lured” to continue to investigate, in some way felt compelled to approach the Nazgûl at the hedge. (Was the mumbling a spell of some sort?) They meant to grab him. Why did they let him go? |
02-10-2009, 03:21 PM | #8 | |||||
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All things nazgul are most attractive. |
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02-10-2009, 03:49 PM | #9 | ||
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Quote:
Dropping Merry because they didn’t know who he was, or had some doubt that he might be one of the four hobbits they were hunting, is just very unsatisfying. It’s weak. I must also point out that, in the earlier versions of the story, Merry was not picked up by the Nazgûl: he bolted back before they got him. Maybe this part of the story is a little rough. (It is a story, after all, and there are a few rough edges.) Quote:
-|- I still don’t understand why the Nazgûl dropped Merry. And I don’t like the reasoning that he just might have been a local, and uninvolved. (Of course, Prof. Tolkien failed to consult me concerning my likes and dislikes when he was writing…) Last edited by Alcuin : 02-10-2009 at 03:58 PM. |
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02-10-2009, 06:44 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
BTW, many Tolkien scholars and readers doubt that the Ringwraiths were the ones who messed up the bolsters. It is my feeling that Ferny et al. were responsible.
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02-10-2009, 07:02 PM | #11 | ||
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Quote:
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Besides, if Sauron wouldn’t send any of his other servants to hunt for the One Ring, why would the Nazgûl trust Bill Ferny, who according to Aragorn “would sell anything to anybody”? Or were they naïve? |
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02-10-2009, 07:15 PM | #12 | |
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As Alcuin writes it's not at all a satisfying explanation.
Quote:
Whether Merry had chosen to follow the Nazgûl for a few yards or across to the end of the town matters not: if one of the Nazgûl worked out that Merry had seen him from across the road by the Inn he must also have worked out that there was a fair chance that Merry was one of the four hobbits. Instead of pursuing that possible lead the Nazgûl instead most likely knock him unconscious. Yet again the Nazgûl seem to prove that they shy away from acting in a calculated and inquisitive manner whenever they get the chance.
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02-11-2009, 03:54 AM | #13 | |
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Just let us look at the happenings in Bree closer and calculate the time.
The 3 hobbits went to the common room; there they were telling stories, singing songs, disappearing into thin air and meeting Strider. Meanwhile Merry sat for an hour indoors alone, then went for a stroll through Bree [I guess it took him another hour, maybe more]. This time he saw nothing out of the ordinary, so after a time he turned back towards the Inn. Bill Ferny, the Southerner and Harry the Gatekeeper, as well as lots of other displeased customers all left the Inn right after the Ring-incident. Merry did'n see a crowd of people coming out of the Inn, so they must have left it before he returned, while he was still strolling through Bree. Bill Ferny likely went directly home to his house by the East gate. I don't think he would risk to be seen talking with some bogeymen in the street near the Inn. Sometime later, a Ringwraith approached the Inn to investigate and was spotted by Merry who was now looking at the stars by the entrance. The other two nazgul likely remained beyond the gates with the horses. The other three hobbits were already closeted in their room with Strider and later Butterbur (remember how long this conversation was!). Now what followed had not taken much time. Merry followed the wraith to Ferny's house, and saw him talking with someone: Quote:
Then Merry began to tremble all over. He turned back, and was just going to bolt home, when the nazgul came behind him and he swooned. Now what would you expect the nazgul to do? He had just learned the very news he was hunting for: the exact whereabouts of the One Ring. He had to alert his two colleagues immediately and send one of them to warn the Captain. He had to plan with the others what to do the coming night about the Ring in the Inn. He had no time for waiting for the hobbit to come to an to question him. There was no time and NO NEED to question the captured hobbit, even if he were one of the four (which the nazgul couldn't know). The nazgul had already learnt all he wanted to know and now was the time to act - and to act fast. I guess the nazgul only checked that the swooned hobbit had no Ring and then, together with Ferny, they were about to carry Merry into Bill's house, not to leave him lying on the road for all to see. Another possibility was to throw him in a ditch, but I believe the note in RC quoted by Alcuin "failed to capture Merry" indicates the nazgul ordered Ferny to bind Merry and keep him as a prisoner - for later questioning if the need arises. But for now Merry was practically useless, so when Nob arrived, they simply left Merry and retreated. It was no good to provoke trouble in Bree right before they were going to pay the Inn a quiet visit. Doesn't it make sense? Last edited by Gordis : 02-11-2009 at 03:56 AM. |
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02-11-2009, 05:24 AM | #14 |
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I think it is a good explanation, Gordis. One problem may be that Ferny could have been expected to notice that Merry was an outsider in Bree, maybe even specifically a Shire Hobbit (if there was a difference in dress between Shire and Bree-land Hobbits). This could probably be explained away by the darkness, though.
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02-11-2009, 05:52 AM | #15 | |
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A few quibbles.
Harry Goatleaf the Gatekeeper is now removed from the Prancing Pony in the editions of LotR printed after 2004. His presence in the Inn was a carry-over from earlier versions of the story. See Reader’s Companion 160 (I: 172) for a full explanation. Bill Ferny and his squint-eyed companion (the Isengard spy) probably went straight home and told the Nazgûl immediately about the three hobbits in the commons room. Ferny was probably the spy’s local contact, and a spy himself; as such, the Nazgûl would have paid him a friendly visit along with their new buddy the Isengard spy, and Ferny, always ready to adapt and adjust, made new friends. I expect the messenger Nazgûl set out along the Greenway immediately, but he is waylaid by Dúnedain along the road and does not reach the boss until the next day, after Strider has already led the hobbits out of town. Ferny and the Isengard spy had not, of course, seen Merry, but Harry the Gatekeeper knew that four had entered town, and could have given at least a rough description of him. Bree is not a big place: Ferny would have recognized every hobbit in the community, and most in the surrounding communities, if not by name, by face. Merry was obviously an outsider to him. Merry was identifiable as a stranger, and thus a person of interest. Whomever the Ringwraith was talking to on the other side of the hedge might be inconsequential. It could be another Nazgûl casting a “come hither” spell, compelling Merry to approach them. They didn’t hit him over the head, by the way: he fainted from fear projected by the Nazgul, which Aragorn identified as Black Breath. Perhaps the mumbling was a “project Black Breath” spell. Or maybe it was Bill Ferny saying, that guy’s not from Bree. The text of the working notes says that there were two Ringwraiths in Bree. It says so twice. It says Frick and Frack
The Nazgûl hadn’t “just learned” about Merry and his friends, but it was certainly recent, and I agree they had found out about Frodo’s unfortunate “accident” only an hour or so before Merry reached the hedge. (The text indicates that Frodo and Aragorn separately believed something had helpde bring on the “accident”.) I think there is very little room to doubt that the third Nazgûl was already riding to Andrath to report to the Witch-king that the Ringbearer had been located. I do think it is possible – unlikely, but possible – that the two Nazgûl still in Bree fouled the job by assigning Ferny and the Isengard spy the job of getting Merry into the house, but I really don’t think so: I think they did it themselves, and either inexplicably muffed it or stopped for some other reason. Quote:
That has to be it. They did recognize Merry as the fourth Shire-hobbit, and that has to be Ferny’s work. Whether Ferny and the spy, or Ferny and a Ringwraith, or IMO more likely the two Ringwraiths together were hauling him off, once Nob appeared, that game was up. Nob was shouting at them, and if they’d tried to silence him, that could have created a ruckus, and a disturbance that might allow the Ringbearer to escape again was not what they wanted. The Nazgûl could communicate over long distances with one another with their keening, and the Shire team, lead by Khamûl, and the East Road team were sending reports back to Andrath. The Shire team did not know that the Ringbearer had been found, of course: they didn’t have cell phones. But the East Road team may well have known by now that their bird had flown three times already: at Bag End, in Woody End, and at the Brandywine. Khamûl and his team were to break into Crickhollow and root him out if he was still there; the East Road team found him, but if they already knew he’d slipped the Shire bunch two or three times, they were probably careful to try to keep him from suspecting the Inn might be attacked. Once Merry escaped, he was sure to tell Frodo what had happened, and he was almost sure to recognize a Black Rider, even if he didn’t know its true nature. That rips a hole in the theory that they didn’t want to tip off the hobbits in the Inn; but it also means the whole town wouldn’t be up in arms because they suspected invaders were inside the gates. That would have led to confusion, and the Ringbearer could escape more easily during any town-wide confusion. Nob musty have been too far away for them to kill, capture, or cow him to keep him quiet. Before they could get to him, he’d have raised enough alarm and created enough disorder that the Ringbearer could get away without being noticed. Their whole problem had been finding the Ringbearer to capture him, and now that they had found him, they needed to keep him found long enough to capture him. Leaving Merry was preferable to having a mess, with the added benefit that the four of them were almost certainly going to hole up in the hobbit guest-rooms overnight, which Ferny could identify for them. And that is why they were so frustrated that they tore the place apart: their beautiful plan didn’t work, and the <Black Speech expletive deleted> Ringbearer eluded them yet again! Of course, they didn’t suspect that lousy Ranger of anything… after all, he was “just a Ranger.” Thanks, Gordis. That has bothered me for years. BTW, this fits hand-in-glove with Strider’s leading them out by the main road the next morning, and of course, why they spooked the horses. Just as Aragorn said, the Ringbearer could no longer slip away quietly, nor could they go very fast. In fact, it probably helped the next stage of Frodo’s flight, because lots of ponies are easier to find than just one dispirited old animal that Ferny probably described to them as a useless beast anyway. (Note: this was cross-posted with CAB’s post.) Last edited by Alcuin : 02-11-2009 at 05:58 AM. |
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02-11-2009, 10:11 AM | #16 |
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How about this? They're in the process of picking Merry up to carry him off, after already determining he didn't have The Ring. Then they sense/see/hear Nob coming along. I think the perfectly natural reaction for anyone, Nazgul or not, would be, "Oh crap. Another one! Forget it. Just leave him. Neither of these little guys have The Ring anyway." Then back to their actual mission.
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02-11-2009, 11:31 AM | #17 |
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I can agree that once Nob came running the Nazgûl had but no choice and leave Merry without further action.
Yet as some here have suggested, that the Nazgûl did not need to do anything with Merry because they already knew what they wanted and were in fact waiting to strike at night. But that logic falls short. After one of the Nazgûl has heard the news from the whereabouts of the ring-bearer they had every right to believe that they were only hours away from getting hold of the ring. All they had to do was wait until the middle of night and then strike. But it did not turn out that way because Merry alerted the rest. That changed everything. The Nazgûl were poor in judgement then to believe that they could just leave Merry lying there. By doing so they forfit whatever prior knowledge and plans they had because in all likelihood the ring-bearer won't be where they've been told he is. If the Nazgûl had been clever they would have knocked Merry unconscious (as they did) and immediately grab him with them. They need not even interrogate him, they need not even kill him. All that was then required would be to make sure Merry did not make it to the Inn before their attack. The Nazgûl should have immediately changed their plan and made the attack right away or at least within a reasonable timespan of before Frodo & co start looking for Merry. When letting Merry go, indeed, they knew that the ring was not present on him. But they should also had calculated that it was more than likely that Merry would alert the ring-bearer before that time. Because they did not do this their plan fell apart. Which to me concludes that they took a risk and got it wrong, yet again.
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02-11-2009, 12:36 PM | #18 |
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Why should the Nazgul suspect that one random hobbit out of hundreds that lived in and around the town would specifically go and warn the Ringbearer upon waking up from some mysterious blackout? Sure, Merry did warn them, but how and why would the Nazgul know or even suspect that he would?
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02-11-2009, 01:11 PM | #19 |
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I agree, it would be a high hill to climb to ask the Nazgûl to kidnap and/or interrogate just any hobbit wandering about Bree and who sees the Nazgûl conspirate with a local.
But that is not the case with Merry. He specifically stated that he was standing just outside the Inn, beneath a light, and saw, across the street a form blacker than shadow itself, which immediately fled when he looked towards it (thus we can infer that that form, the Nazgûl, spotted him). He then proceeded to follow the Nazgûl all the way until he was eventually knocked unconscious. It appears obvious that the at least one of the Nazgûl then knew that a hobbit had from the entrance of the Inn followed themm, and thus Merry becomes an automatic suspect. He isn't then just another local from anywhere in Bree, he's a hobbit first seen outside of the Inn, the very same place the Baggins with the Ring is. Now there is obviously the possibility that Merry was just another local hobbit that had taken a pint at the Inn. But is that a chance the Nazgûl want to take? Seems so. Perhaps one can think of it two ways: a) The Nazgûl panicked when seeing Merry spying on them and knocked him unconscious to get rid of his prying eyes. b) or the Nazgûl gambled: "Alright the hobbit came (most likely) from the Inn (since he was standing outside), but let's take a chance. We know where the Baggins is and if we're lucky he won't know the other hobbit we just knocked over.." *Shrill, cold laughter*
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02-11-2009, 02:59 PM | #20 | |||||||||||
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I believe the three nazgul remained outside of Bree, not at Bill's. It would be much safer and less conspicuous. Then I don't believe that Bill had a stable large enough to stable three big black horses - and all that without neighbors noticing a thing. Note Bill's buddy the Southerner stayed at the Inn, his horse in the Pony's stable. At nightfall, one nazgul slipped into Bree, using Harry Goatleaf's gate, and went to investigate. He saw the Inn was getting empty (no noise anymore from the common room) and continued through Bree to Ferny's house. Only then did he learn the news, and Merry witnessed it. The third nazgul yet had to be found and dispatched to Andrath. Also I don't believe Merry overheard two nazgul talking between themselves. It just doesn't ring true. The nazgul either would have used Osanwe(most likely), or they would have spoken in the Black Tongue between themselves. Yet Merry didn't describe the sounds they produced as repulsive or incomprehensible, he was simply said to be too far away to make out the words. I am pretty sure one of the guys by the hedge was a mortal, most likely Bill. Quote:
Merry spent about 2 hours before following the nazgul; I believe the 3 hobbits also spent about 2 hours in the common room. Ferny barely had time to return home when the nazgul paid him a visit. Quote:
2. All the hobbits would look much the same to a Man. Remember: Quote:
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Merry spent about 2 hours before following the nazgul. Your interpretation means that the 3 hobbits (Frodo, Pippin, Sam) spent less than an hour in the common room. Yet the account of their doings in the common room is long: introductions, questions, Frodo's tale about a book he was planning to write, the info the other hobbits provided for that book, Frodo listening to talk of Men and Dwarves and grim predictions of the Southerner, Pippin's tales about the Shire, Frodo's acquaintance with Strider, Frodo's song and disappearance... All this should have taken more than an hour. Quote:
Anyway, the Shire hobbits would be unlikely to go to bed and sleep peacefully in their rooms before Merry is found. It was exactly what the nazgul wished to avoid. As it was, Merry told some vague tale, after which the hobbits went to bed, bolting the door, and but for Strider they would have slept in the rooms assigned to them. Quote:
Last edited by Gordis : 02-11-2009 at 03:06 PM. |
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