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.
Bill Ferny’s consolation prize:
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.
Selling a pony at a premium:
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.
It seems probable that Sam wrote this passage due to the tone and his care for Bill the Pony.
The digressive nature of this passage also points to Sam, as we are told that he was unwilling to change anything written by Bilbo, and by extension, Frodo.
He might, however, add things that were missed or unknown by Frodo when he wrote the original. Findegil may have regularized this digression into the body of the text later.
Note: This sort of digressive passage usually appears as marginalia in primary documents. One example is “Caedmon’s Hymn” in the writings of the Venerable Bede. Bede wrote the poem out in Latin, despite describing it as originally in Anglo-Saxon. Only later, a scribe wrote out the Anglo-Saxon original in the margins of a Bede manuscript, and so we have it.
How do they know that the ponies came under the care of Tom Bombadil? The ponies aren’t mentioned when the hobbits return to Bree, so they may have come to Butterbur after this.
However, Sam may have interacted with Tom Bombadil later and found this story out and lived in the Shire for much longer than Frodo.
Gandalf also may have told them about the ponies having spoken with Tom Bombadil or heard this from people in Bree about Tom.
Tom knows about what goes on in Bree and about Butterbur, so he may have heard this from Gildor or even Gandalf, who told him about the ponies and inspired him to send them to Bree.
A question of coinage:
What is the source of the coins that Frodo carries? Are they Shire-minted or leftovers from Arnor? Currency is usually associated with a governmental entity, or a monarch themselves.
The coins might also be a dwarvish currency, but its clear that there is a money equivalency between the Shire and Bree. The Shire itself is very clearly a moneyed culture.
Dwarves are not completely strange in the Shire, but they are a novelty and not regulars.
Since the Shire has a postal service, having a mint is not a stretch to believe.
Note: Tolkien has been criticized for not explaining economics in Middle-earth, but most communities are self-sufficient, and trade is less common.
The greater and lesser Delvings in the Shire may explain the money culture, as there may be mining for precious metals and not just digging for housing.
The source of Bilbo’s money in The Hobbit is deliberately vague, as the genre of the story is a fairy-tale and doesn’t require extensive explanation.
The hobbits of the Shire seem to have access to large amounts of metal on their own without trade, and they do quarry stone in Scary, up in the Northfarthing.
A spy among the refugees:
With the seriousness of horse-thieving as a crime, and questions of indemnity, it’s understandable that tempers are hot over this incident.
Butterbur seems to lay the suspicion immediately on Bill Ferny, by associating him with the squint-eyed Southerner, and implying that whatever one did, so did the other.
Tolkien seems to hint, based on his description, that the squint-eyed man is a half-orc, or at least something other than a normal human.
Note: There are many different types of hybrids mentioned in the book, and Merry will say that the squint-eyed man was not quite as goblinish as some of the ones they say in Isengard.
At this point we don’t know if he is working on his own or serving the Black Riders.
Note: We will find out later in Unfinished Tales that this man was in service to Saruman, but after encountering the Nazgûl, was turned to their service instead, and send him to Bree. They also learn much of their information about the Shire and Bree from the squint-eyed Southerner. Wandering around looking for people to ask about the Shire would be a low-yield strategy, so it is only due to this chance meeting that they are able to find the Shire as quickly as they did.
Note: It’s important to remember that anything in Unfinished Tales was written after the publication of The Lord of the Rings and trying to answer questions that remained unaddressed in the main text. He is not showing things that were in his mind during the writing.
Note: We know that Saruman is investigating the Shire at this time, and we know that Bill Ferny will join up with him and go into the Shire later. Saruman has direct communication with the Shire, specifically with Lotho Sackville-Baggins. In Unfinished Tales, we learn that Saruman had gone himself to the Shire at least once. He has been interested in the Shire because of Gandalf’s involvement and wanting to know his reasons for doing so. This is driven by envy and ignorance. Gandalf is driven by admiration and friendship, beginning in the Long Winter, when the Shire-hobbits were in great need. These are qualities foreign to Saruman, though Saruman feels vindicated in his suspicions by finding out that the Ring is hidden in the Shire. Saruman’s desire to ruin the Shire is driven by spite and contempt.
An exciting day and night in Bree:
The narrator makes it clear that this is the most memorable 24 hours in living memory in Bree.
Frodo might have good reasons to harbor bad thoughts about Bree and The Prancing Pony, but he speaks kindly to Butterbur and is generous in doing so.
Frodo can see Butterbur’s intentions were in the right place, despite the results.
Frodo would have sympathy for ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances and doing the best they can. They also have their mutual friendship to bond them.
He may also be thinking along similar lines as he did in Bag End, thinking about the safety of Bree and drawing the danger away from them on himself.
Butterbur’s desire to make things right financially is a credit to him in Frodo’s eyes. He doesn’t hold the forgotten letter against him. This says a great deal about Frodo’s character.
The Black Riders had already been seen in Bree before this, so Nob’s story would have added to the uproar and would have gone far and wide in all four towns by now.
Note: The pairing of Nob and Bob as unit, combined with their rhyming names, seem to point to Bob being a hobbit. The hobbit authors don’t distinguish between them, which they would if he were a human, because that distinction seems to matter to both the hobbits and Bree-folk.
The idea that Strider had joined the Shire-hobbits is held as the crowning news, on top of all the other amazing things than have been happening. This says something about his reputation.
The fact that the Shire-hobbits are continuing east after leaving Bree is one last wonder.
