Transcript
[0:00] Hello and welcome to the Mythmakers Sidecast, Lord of the Rings and Author's Journey. And today we have read Chapter 10 of Fellowship of the Ring. This is a chapter called Strider. My name is Julia Golding. I am an author. So I'm looking at it from the point of view of trying to imagine what it was like to write this story and also drawing on some of the things I found out about Tolkien over the years. Now, off we go. The first thing about this chapter that you'll notice is the change of pace. If you'll remember, the last chapter began with quite a long disquisition about Brie and all the roads and the history of the place. And so it took a long while to get going as we were ambling into Brie. This one is almost all dialogue. There's very little outside the dialogue. Dialogue itself is a way of increasing pace.
[1:00] This is a very pacey chapter. It feels quite short and it doesn't take that long to read as a result.
[1:08] What happens in this chapter is also quite limited, which adds to the sense of it being pacey. This is the aftermath of the disaster in the in-room when Frodo puts on the ring while singing the song. This is the interviews that he promised to have with Strider and with Butterbur, and also we find out what happened to Mary. So it's a compact little chapter.
[1:35] The first thing to notice here is we get some answers. Very often in Nod of the Rings, we get questions. What should we do about the ring being the biggest of them all?
[1:45] Here, though, there is some answers given, which is very satisfying. I think you do need to answer some of the questions in the mind of your reader and not keep them in suspense for days and days. So this is a chapter that has a lot of answers in it. And one of the first things we get is an answer as to who strider is and we get the detail that we've if you remember i pointed out there was a moment um where a dark shape is seen climbing over the gate in the previous chapter which is a little bit of an oddity because it's not really within the point of view of frodo and of his friends at this stage but here we get the answer as to who it was strider tells us it was he who climbed over the gate we're still in this the negotiating stage as the hobbits try and find out if strider is going to be a friend or a foe and here tolkien is already signaling that he is in friend territory we see signals his you know the basic goodness of Strider by the way he reacts to their suspicion. He is pleased that they're asking questions and they don't just take his word for it. He is described as laughing and he is almost teasing them, which suggests a kind of familiarity with the nature of Hobbitkind.
[3:14] Which is definitely not within the remit of a black rider or anything on the dark side.
[3:20] The other thing that we see here is that Strider possesses practical knowledge. He is making his case for why they should take him with them. So not only does he know the road, but he also is able to give them a guide to who is, what's really happening that's beyond what the Hobbits know. He tells them about Bill Fernie, who he names, like the Southerner who he has paled up with. He has this, he is what you need, the local knowledge that you need in a guide. And so in a way he is replacing our first guide, which was Merry. If you remember, Merry had the knowledge of the old forest and how to get out of the shire.
[4:02] Then we had Tom Bombadil with how to get them back on the road and how to get past Barrow Whites. And so Strider is the next in that line of guides. There are some wonderful seeds that are dropped here that don't come to flower until later and I'm looking at one of Strider's more expanded passages on why they should take him he says you can do what you like about my reward take me as a guide or not but I may say that I know all the lands between the shire and the misty mountains well I have wandered over them for many years. And here we have the bells ringing back to the earlier passages when we hear about the rangers from, amongst others, Tom Bombadil.
[4:49] I'm older than I look. I might prove useful.
[4:54] Understatement of the year. But that I'm older than I look, of course, is a hint there that will be unpacked later when we learn about his Numenorean descent and the fact he's from a much older, much more longer-lived people, a higher lineage than the Hovits have ever met before. And I love this dropping of seeds because what happens here is, I think this is why the book feels fresh and is worth rereading because when you read it again, you're inside those hints which you may not have noticed on the first reading so it feels fresh and surprising on a second read, but this isn't the world of comedy though uh barlow and butterber feels he belongs more in a, The world of the shy, he's very much like that with the slightly silly people.
[5:49] Slightly pompous, slightly comics, all the sort of character types we get from the shy. We get echoes of that in Brie, in the bustling Barleyman Butterbur. Strider is in another world. I would say Barnum and Butterbur is comedy and Strider is epic because having done a bit of teasing and laughing, he morphs into pain. And this makes us take seriously the world we're in. If it was one great, vast comedy, a Terry Pratchett-style spoof, then these moments wouldn't work. But Strider is able to stop and say and hint at the horror that is the Black Riders so that we don't dismiss them as a threat. It's noteworthy here that Sam remains the skeptic. Sam is the slow to take up something new member of the fellowship. His solidness and that resistance is part of his strength, of course. But he is the one who keeps on questioning all the way through pretty much to the end of this chapter, the bona fides of Strider. He comes up for reasons why he might not be who he says he is. But it's also interesting to see Frodo's growth here, because Frodo, he also doesn't trust, but he also goes with his instinct.
[7:19] So he wants more facts. He says, I don't agree to Sam.
[7:25] He doesn't agree that Strider might have done away or want to do away with him in a dark place. He wants more facts. And this prompts Strider to begin to tell his story. We've actually got a rare broken off line here.
[7:43] So we are about to hear Strider's life story, and then Barleyman Butterbur interrupts. Makes you wonder what Strider would have said. How far back would he have gone in his history? It's one of those unanswered questions in Lord of the Rings. What would have been Aragorn's or Strider's self-description at this point? So the next part of this chapter is Barleyman explaining why he didn't send the letter. He comes bustling in, in full Barleyman fashion, and the tone turns comic again. So this particular chapter sort of flips between the comedy and the terror and the scary side of the quest. Never going too far into the darkness. It's saving all that for Weathertop. You don't want to shoot all your arrows at this stage in the story. But you want to remember that the arrows are still there. And the comedy in particular here is getting the hobbits to ask for an unflattering description of themselves.
[8:47] Basically, Frodo puts his foot right in it when he insists on finding out what was said about him and Marleyman Butterbur repeats the words of his friend about a stout little fellow with red cheeks. So all the hobbits start laughing at Frodo, and then you get the detail of that goes for all hobbits. So then everybody is swept up in that particular. I wouldn't say it was an insult. It's more of a gentle teasing. And it takes a while, a delay, until we find out who is the person saying all this. And we're probably beginning to guess at this stage, if we didn't already know, that it's Gandalf.
[9:30] But the delay in Balaam and saying it was Gandalf means in speech he is the same as in his character. He is slow to get to the point. He delays giving the name just as he delayed in sending the letter. So there's a sort of character unity between how he talks and what he does. And then we get one of our big sets of answers in this chapter. We get an answer as to why there was no Gandalf meeting Frodo and friends back in the Shire and it's in the form of a letter.
[10:06] The idea of manuscripts within a story is used on several occasions during Lord of the Rings and this is one of them. You also get it again in Moria with the Book of Mazabu in the sort of broken book they find which gives fragments of the tale of the dwarves. So it's a useful piece of technique as a way of bringing in a voice that isn't present. And in this case, we have got Gandalf's voice. This is helpful because whilst Barliman is aping Gandalf's voice, quite lengthy quotes from Gandalf, which is actually, if you stop and think about it, is not very likely that Barleyman would be able to remember and ventriloquize this length. It doesn't seem part of his skill set, shall we say. But we don't worry about that because it's a literary device. It's a technique which works in this context. You don't get that same problem with a letter because, of course, you hand yourself over entirely to listening to a letter by Gandalf.
[11:22] And you also probably just at this point might want to reflect on the ridiculousness of Gandalf leaving the fate of the world, resting on the shoulders of a man like Balibun, whose mind is like a lumber room. But anyway, fate hangs by a thread on many occasions in Lord of the Rings. It's interesting here, before Frodo actually gets down to read the letter, that we also hear that Barleyman has confronted the Black Riders. And it shows that at this stage in their evolution, the Black Riders are still people who can be seen off by Farmer Maggot, by the old gaffer. They're not pushing their power. Again, this is another good thing. Another good technique for a writer is don't rush your fences.
[12:15] You want to unleash the Black Riders on Weathertop. and again at the Ford and again at the Battle of Pelennor Field. You don't do it in Brie. So they're holding back. They're plotting. They're planning. They're waiting for an opportune moment so someone like Barliman can turn them away. But we are getting the sense of their uncanniness, that everywhere they go, they scare the living daylights out of everybody, including poor old Nob, who had to go and confront them.
[12:45] So before we get to the letter, There's a confrontation between Barliman and Strider, which very much sums up this confrontation really between the comedy world of Brie and the Shire and the epic world that Strider belongs to.
[13:05] And this all sort of sparks off when Barleyman notices that Strider is present and he says, if I was in your plight, I wouldn't take up with a ranger. Now, rangers are actually people of great lineage and worth, but they have been forgotten by men like Barleyman. They don't know what they do. And that point is made on several occasions during Lord of the Rings.
[13:30] And strider of course is a bit miffed to find his people look down on particularly when this is the moment when they're most needed and he slaps back we would call it then who would you take up with our strider a fat innkeeper who only remembers his own name because people shout it at him all day he likes barling but he's angry here um there is a bit of uh insulting language that often happens at this level in between men in in the story you know Gandalf is quite apt to calling people fool of a toque and so on and it reminds me of the way there was no whole bars conversation in the inklings they weren't I suppose soft politically correct people it's not that era so having a little tiff here and a sidebar on some of the language used here again which shows the age in which it was written. Barleyman says no black men would pass his doors. That's absolutely not meant in today's modern understanding of black lives matter, black people. It wasn't a term that was used in that way so often back when this was written.
[14:44] So please don't read it as referring to anything to do with race. This is literally a way of referring to the black riders i'm sure you all know that but it's worth mentioning that um it's a phrase that probably if tolkien was writing today he would rephrase in a different way at the time it didn't ring those bells that it does now have you noticed how we're being delayed again we are not getting to see what's inside that letter by now that letter should be burning in our mind we want to find out what gandalf said and we're being held in suspense it brings us through brings us on in the chapter and we have one final little bit of business a seed to plant which is a reminder that Mary is missing we don't want to forget other members of our fellowship at this point and I think here Barleyman shows his basic sense because he says what we're probably all thinking which is.
[15:41] Well you do want looking after and no mistake your party might be on a holiday it's a sentiment which Strider has been echoing. They need to get serious. They need to realize they're part of epic events and not comic events anymore. So we now have, finally, a chance to turn to the letter. And Frodo breaks the seal. He introduces the voice of Gandalf. And it's a classic piece of Gandalf because notice, just have a look at it, notice how short all the sentences are.
[16:16] Bad news has reached me here. I must go off at once. You had better leave Bag End soon and get out of the shower before the end of July at latest. It's that what that does is it makes us feel the haste as if he's literally standing up to scroll down thoughts after thought here to as he's getting ready to go i've always loved the use of the gandalf rune sign here because he signs his name and adds it then he adds it after each PS and the PPS and the PPPS gets an extra big one to authenticate that it's his PS. I always love seeing that sign being used there when I got this letter when reading it.
[17:06] So it's a letter written in a rush, not just in short sentences, but he keeps adding things as he thinks of them last minute packing as he gets ready to go on his unexpected journey that he's on and then it slows down and what it slows down for is the pause for the verse all that is gold does not glitter not all those who wander are lost the old that is strong does not wither deep roots are not reached by the frost from the ashes a fire shall be woken a light from the shadows shall spring renewed shall be blade that was broken the crownless again shall be king just a little sidebar note here um that latter part of the verse was given as a voiceover to arwin in the peter jackson films when the sword is being reforged i like it here personally um because those words go with strider and what's being set here is the whole.
[18:15] Story we are going we have here the end of the story written at this early point the crown list shall be again again shall be king is of course the coronation um a light from the shadow shall spring that will be the overcoming of sauron so this little verse is a prophecy of the entire plot which is very canny because Because the first time we read this.
[18:38] We are mystified and trying to guess what it all means. But when we come to it again, we have that reassurance, ah, yes, here is the path on which this journey is set.
[18:50] So, again, when we were talking about this chapter giving us answers, it's also giving us huge clues. Massive clues as to where we're going in this story and of course this is Gandalf so from this lofty wonderful um verse we then get his little snappy put down of Butterbur which is a worthy man but his memory is like a lumber room things wanted always buried if he forgets I shall roast him I love the idea of a lumber room like our attic in my house uh I feel my brain is like that very often. So I sympathize with Barlam and Butterbur.
[19:32] After the letter has been read, we get another exchange with the hobbits. Frodo is basically saying, why didn't you tell us earlier who you were? And here we get Strider giving his point of view. And I think it's quite interesting to shift it around. Strider says, I had to test that you were who you said you were, that you weren't agents of the enemy. I'm also hunted.
[19:58] And this hints at a larger, bigger story outside our quest. I like the way that Tolkien is always opening up vistas into the past, into the future in his writing. It gives it that sense of reality because we feel it's a whole network of relationships and information beyond what our characters know. Tolkien referred to these as the vistas that you never reach. The stories you never hear the answer of. And these little touches like that are part of that fabric that he's weaving that make his imagined world seem so complete. Sam, of course, is still skeptical. And this prompts Strider to give his most forthright speech yet, where he comes right out and says he knows about the ring. I don't think before this point he's actually named it. He's referenced it he's never named it so he shows he knows their business and then he ends with a magnificent promise i am aragorn son of arathorn and if by my life or death i can save you i will this in the films sorry to keep referring to them but i know many of you will have watched those and find stray bits popping up in places where they aren't meant to be that's the promise.
[21:23] Strider or Aragorn gives at the end of the Council of Elrond in The Fellowship of the Ring.
[21:29] But he gives it right here at the beginning. He's already committed to the quest that Frodo has right in the inn at Bree. And it also gives us the chance to see his symbols. Because after Frodo comes up with this wonderful bit of wisdom saying that if Aragorn wasn't a friend, he would seem fairer and feel fouler. And for those of you who are deep in your Silmarillion lore, you will know this is exactly how Sauron appeared during the Second Age. He became the beautiful version of himself who fooled the elves and fooled the people of Numenor for a bit. So that's how often how the enemy has functioned by seeming to be fair.
[22:18] So this gives you the impression that when Tolkien is imagining this character, he isn't thinking of somebody with platenite idol looks. He's thinking of someone grizzled, someone who is road tested. He's been on the road an awful lot. So he is someone who bears the weight of years, but also a warrior. So bear that in mind. I think Viggo Mortensen in the film did quite a good job at skirting that line between the sort of person of the road who's got Marlage under his feet and also the king. He only brushes his hair in the third film, so that's a sign.
[22:57] But we do get to see Strider's symbols here. He shows the broken sword, which of course is the sword that struck the ring from Sauron's hand. And it's not actually drawn to attention here, but this is the first time since that moment that the sword has been in the same room as the ring. And we find this pairing is highlighted a bit later on when Boromir comes to the Council of Elrond and talks about the prophecy he heard, seek for the sword that was broken, that one, which brings the two objects together. But here we already have it in his room at 3. So moving on, we get one of those points where Tolkien is signaling that pace is increasing, we know where we're going next. We had that in earlier chapters where we go from here into the old forest and then we go from the old forest onto the downs and so on. We keep getting these almost like finger posts pointing us where we're going. In this case, it's Strider providing the finger post. He talks about making for Weathertop. And here we get the hint that we might be able to meet Gandalf there if they're quick enough.
[24:17] Strider also reveals at this point that he knew that Frodo originally planned to set off in September at the latest. So he's in Bree, keeping a watch for him with increasing anxiety. What I like about this is it means that meeting Strider in the inn isn't chance.
[24:39] It's not a coincidence, it's intended. And that's all too many coincidences in the book mean that we start believing in the world because it seems so full of luck that people would meet at this particular moment in time. You can possibly get away with a couple, but you can't get away with keep on doing that.
[24:58] And here, Strider is showing how the mechanisms under the plot are working. So he had this conversation with Gandalf, but he also mentions that Gildor has spread the news that the hobbits are walking on the road to Rivendell on their own without Gandalf. And this again means that the next meeting with Glorfindel, which comes a chapter or so later, is also not by chance. That the actions of other people are being explained by rational, logical connections, and it helps hold the plot together. It's also, I think, interesting here that we get a perspective on Gandalf, which is one of the first times we hear Gandalf talked about outside the world of the Shire. We get to see his greatness, that he might have more going on than the Shire folk thought.
[25:58] And Aragorn actually makes this explicit. He says that Gandalf is greater than you Shire folk know, but this business of ours will be his greatest task that's really interesting he's saying this business of ours not yours not your quest it's ours and this is this little word is showing that not only is Strider signed up to help them on their way but he also regards it as his business which of course it is because it's part of his role as returning to the kingship undoing the wrong that Isildur did by not destroying the ring when the chance was made. It's also his business, not just the Hobbit's. Okay, so that's Strider joining the company, but then we get another break. So we had the interruption of Butterbur and we get the final interruption here, which is Merry rushing back in with the news that the Black Riders are already in Brie. He says that he couldn't help himself. He had to follow the Black Riders. So we get the sense that they have this power over people when they are on their own. And this foreshadows what Frodo is going to experience. It's not entirely their fault.
[27:18] These powers that they are caught up in are so strong that even the best intentioned hobbit can't always avoid putting on the ring when doing a silly song in the pub or going out of the lit areas into a darker part of town where they're more vulnerable in the case of Merry. And it's notable here that when he is woken or rescued by Nob what he actually says is I thought I had fallen into deep water if you're being really attentive you will remember that this is often Mary's way of having a nightmare because back in Tom Bombadil's house his nightmare.
[27:59] Involved being in deep water even though that was Frodo's experience so there's this little connection there to his nightmare world, which is consistent. So this is one of the occasions where. The forces of evil undo themselves because if they hadn't tried to approach Merry, the hobbits might well have gone to bed in the friendly hobbit bedrooms on the ground floor and they would have been vulnerable. But they're able to prepare for an attack overnight. Even though they don't think it was likely to happen to a lit-in, they take the precautionary route of staying in the same room and they fortify their position in that room, stay together with Strider.
[28:41] Strider actually refers to it as holding the fort. As they close the shutters and build up the fire, there's a little touch here.
[28:52] Frodo looks out the window and looks at the sickle, and there's a footnote that says this is how the plough is referred to by the Shire Folk. And that confirms, if it needs confirming, mean that middle earth is the same world as our earth it's not explicitly stated at any point because obviously the land masses and everything are different but these connections mean we think oh this is our story this is our world our pre-history and that reminds the reader of our connection to these characters here the chapter ends on what is actually a surprisingly peaceful note they're safe there's a relaxation of the tension they've gathered together the forces of darkness are outside but inside the room they're together they have a lit fire and they've got strider as part of the protection so it feels a quite a secure place to rest, but they're just as well they did that because as we all find in the next chapter if they hadn't taken that choice, things might have gone very different and that would have been the end of the story. So come back again to find out what happens in the next chapter as they set out on the road. Thank you very much for listening.
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