Episode 227 Summary

[Tony Meade]

SESSION 227

The blessing of Elves and Men and all Free Folk:

• Elrond takes it upon himself to bestow a blessing of all Free Folk. Even though he is in a unique position to represent Elves and Men as one of the Half-Elven, he expands this inclusively to all.
• He is acting as an anti-Sauron, sending forth the Nine Walkers, as Sauron did the Nine Riders.
• The emphasis is on freedom, which in contrast to the idea of binding their wills to any oaths.
• In a sense, he is doing the opposite of the Ring spell, unbinding them in the light of the stars.
• The invocation of the stars sounds like a traditional Elvish benediction, as Frodo quoted in Quenya when meeting Gildor’s folk, but this also suitable to the occasion of leaving at nightfall.
• There is an irony in their quest from the beginning, in that they are going out to defeat the Shadow, but concealing themselves with darkness and shadows, though turned toward light.
• Even though they are traveling in the dark, the emphasis now is the light of the stars upon them.
• Note: Within the original Silmarillion mythology, the stars are the most ancient lights in Creation. Also, in ancient times the stars were considered to be fixed, and therefore more dependable, while the sun, moon, and planets were all “wandering stars”, and so more mutable. For the Elves, the stars are a sign of Hope, specifically estel, even Eärendil, which is not fixed, and this is why Sam clings to the stars as a sign in his songs, such as at the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
• The hobbits, especially Frodo, might focus only on the darkness, so Elrond wants to show them that the stars are lights in the darkness when all other lights go out, and to take hope in that.
• Note: While the brand of pipe-weed called Southern Star may simply be due to its production in the Southfarthing of the Shire, there may also be a particular star that inspired the name. It’s also possible that there is a memory of the pipe-weed originating in Gondor, the south-kingdom, and its association with Númenor, all of which have heavy associations with star-based imagery.

Bilbo, stuttering with the cold:

• Bilbo catching on the word “good” ends up wishing them a doubly-good luck, unintentionally.
• While this is a perfectly naturalistic, hobbitish expression, Bilbo has always been associated with “luck”. This is like a last vestige of his previous journey that he can bestow upon Frodo as a gift.
• This is consistent with the pattern of Bilbo encouraging Frodo to keep his spirits up in the face of the power of the Ring, so while homey and simple, it also expresses hope for their success.
• Bilbo is doing this in a way that displaces the emotion of the farewell, avoiding embarrassment.
• Frodo has been expecting this to be a journey from which he will not return ever since Bag End, but while before he was expecting permanent exile, he is now expecting this to be to his death.
• Bilbo diffuses this dread through hobbitry, giving Frodo both homework and a hasty return time.
• This joke trivializes the quest into a quick trip there and back again, like Frodo has gone on before, rather than being a probable suicide mission in an attempt to save the world from evil.
• This is in contrast to the high speech and aphorisms of Elrond, Gimli, and Boromir from earlier.
• It’s important to remember that when a blessing is bestowed by someone like Elrond, there is power in those words. Rather than being merely a saying, those words manifest a real effect.
• Bilbo’s words are more suited to the hobbit audience, and all of them would have heard about Bilbo’s “luck” from his tales, especially Sam, so this notion of conveying luck is not lost on them.
• While the focus of Bilbo’s address is to Frodo, the end of it expands to the Company at large.

Fading silently into the dusk:

• This marks the moment when they finally depart Rivendell, and its importance is noted by all.
• The reference to them fading into the dusk probably is to the members of Elrond’s household, though both groups are turning away and fading into the dusk from each other in this moment.
• There is an emphasis on the fact that there is no song or music, given that it is dusk in Rivendell, which since The Hobbit, has been associated with the time for singing, and therefore unusual.
• Note: Readers who come to the singing scene in The Hobbit after having read The Lord of the Rings first often find the singing to be ridiculous and inconsistent with Middle-earth Elves, but it’s clear that Tolkien is thinking of the description of Rivendell in The Hobbit throughout both.
• The use of “fading” is associated with the Elves themselves, and their own fate in Middle-earth.
• This farewell is not just for the departure of the Company, but of the Elves themselves to come.
• Whether Sauron wins or loses, Elves will fade into memory as the end of this age approaches.
• They are not only removed from sight, but their voices and laughter and song are also stilled.
• Note: While this is foreshadowing, these images also act as reminder of the overall themes and tone of the book at large. The Lord of the Rings is not a fairy tale like The Hobbit, and their victories are gained with great loss. One of those losses is the time of the Elves, which is explicitly expressed by Galadriel’s speech to Frodo about their inevitable fading, one way or another. Tolkien’s later writings show that he saw this as not only the physical departure of the Elves, but also as the beginning of the dusk of Arda itself, as the Elves lose their physical bodies. The Lord of the Rings acknowledges that even in happy endings, no one lives happily ever after.
• The ambiguous nature of the last sentence in Rivendell acts as a transition to the next stage for the Company’s journey, in which lies both the doom and the hope of the Elves in the Third Age.

Up the long steep paths out of Rivendell:

• The phrase “cloven vale” gives the impression that the valley was cut with a blade intentionally.
• The wind “hissing through the heather” is both alliterative and onomatopoetic with the “h” sounds, and is connected to the “high moor”, which evokes the scene as they leave the valley.
• They are now exposed to the elements, which shows that they have crossed a border out of the protection of Rivendell. This is both literal, with the weather, and also in terms of the quest.
• Using the word “twinkling” makes it reminiscent of a star, just as Elrond had conjured earlier.
• Being in the Last Homely House, they have been living among the Eldar, or “people of the stars”.
• The Eldar are, to mortals like the hobbits, like the stars; fixed, unchanging, virtuous, and beautiful. Also, like stars, they are a means by which one can navigate the world without maps.
• Note: While in the modern world, we accept that stars burn and eventually burn out, in the context of Middle-earth, they would think of them more as shining and eternal lights in the sky. This also acts as an inversion of the vision that Sam will have in Mordor, where he looks up and sees a single star in the sky, since here they are looking down into the earth to see the light.
• There is an ambiguity in “far”, which usually refers to space, but also is applied to time, as night.
• They are leaving their very last connections with home, such as Bilbo and his stories of Rivendell.
• While the true border of the lands under the authority of Elrond is at the Fords of Bruinen, this whole experience is one of transition, even including a mention of the bridge from The Hobbit.

END OF SESSION