Tony Meade
Active Member
SESSION 64
Comment on the invisible noses of wraiths:
Comment on the invisible noses of wraiths:
- Note: In earlier drafts, it is explained that when one becomes a wraith, smell becomes enhanced. This initial concept remains though the context changes later.
- Could it be that the Nazgûl are spiritually “smelling” the Ring, as in where it’s been, and where it has been used, and if it is present?
- Note: In other earlier drafts, Sam was able see evil creatures wherever they are with enhanced vision, while in the final version, his hearing is increased while vision is decreased.
- There is no direct evidence that the Ringwraiths are smelling things spiritually, and we will be told by Strider that they can smell the blood of living things, which is physical.
- The Witch-king will detect some other power in the Morgul Vale, but he is not smelling for it, and it is unclear if this other power is the Ring or the Phial of Galadriel.
- The smelling of the Black Riders on the ground does seem like sniffing for physical scents.
- It’s possible that the lack of “spiritual scent” in the house in Crickhollow let the Ringwraiths know that the Ring was not there, but there is no evidence of that.
- Since the Ringbearer is susceptible to the compulsion to reveal the Ring, it’s possible that they used this power at Crickhollow, and getting no response, they determined the Ring was gone.
- The fact that the horses are able to escape the town without an outcry implies that Bill Ferny had help from the gatekeepers, especially Harry.
- Note: In Unfinished Tales, we learn that the Southerner was adept at stealing horses, so retroactively, it seems he was well-suited to be Ferny’s accomplice in this crime.
- Bill Ferny’s play to sell the pony is a very gutsy move to do this after the break-in. He is showing independence of thought and is still acting as a free agent, not just out of fear.
- The hobbits don’t seem to have brought much cash in terms of their own fortunes, at least excepting Sam, but they can’t carry that much with them anyway.
- Ferny may also be building plausible deniability by selling the pony to the hobbits. He would already be under suspicion, so helping the hobbits on their way may remove some of it.
- The three acts of Ferny seem in decreasing likelihood of coming from the Black Riders. The break-in was certainly on their orders, while the horse-theft and selling his own was his idea.
- The gate guard might be more suspect in the horse-theft, as it would happen on his watch.
- Harry’s one defense is that Butterbur and the others were just as lacking in vigilance.
- Strider takes the view that not only would Ferny not take care of an animal, but that he would actively mistreat it, due to his character.
- Ferny’s lack of care for other things extends to his unkempt lawn, which sets him apart in Bree.
- Note: Coming from The Hobbit, where multiple sets of ponies are killed and eaten in the course of the story, it is ironic that in The Lord of the Rings all the ponies survive and thrive instead. The narrator even makes a diversion to tell the tale of the ponies after the hobbits leave.
- By adding in the mention of Rivendell, the pony digression loops back into the main narrative, but also gives an idea of Rivendell by implication.
- Note: We’d already gotten some ideas about Rivendell earlier when Frodo suggests taking Sam, which will fulfill his dreams, and also his own desire to see what Bilbo has seen for himself.
- Bree has been comparatively safe, though they awake to find their rooms raided and themselves about to leave on a dangerous journey even more vulnerable but hope of Rivendell remains.
- There is a wistful quality to the idea that the ponies never made it to Rivendell, that is akin to Sam’s “sailing, sailing” comments about the departure of the Elves.