The Conspiracy to Conceal Bilbo's Whereabouts

[Doc Singles]

There are many characters that know Bilbo is alive and safe in the House of Elrond; none of them share this information with Frodo who loves and misses his uncle dearly.

Conspirators
Gildor (presumably)
Gandalf
Aragorn
Glorfindel
And after the hobbits arrive in Imladris:
Gloin
Sam
Pippin
Mary

Why does nobody inform Bilbo that his beloved uncle who has been gone from him for 17 years is alive and well? I believe that had Aragorn told Bilbo that his uncle awaits him in Rivendell, it would have given him some spiritual buoyancy to carry him through his ordeal. Why does Aragorn not use this powerful weapon against despair?

 

[Anthony Lawther]

Before arriving in Rivendell:
Gildor: Elves routinely spend extended periods of time apart, and being immortal probably don't give too much thought to things like "Are they still alive?" during periods of relative peace like we see at the beginning of the story.

Gandalf: It seems likely that he wanted Frodo to stay in the Shire for as long as possible, being far from Dol Goldur which was the primary location of concern through the preceding decades. Knowing Bilbo was alive and well in Rivendell may have inspired Frodo to go traipsing across to Rivendell giving rise to the opportunity to lose the ring of power (noting that while Gandalf didn't know it was the one ring, he claims that it being a ring of power was obvious from the start). A ring of power on the loose doesn't sound like a recipe for continued peace, and losing it relatively close to the Necromancer (known to be Sauron for the last 77 years or so) would have been a bad idea no matter which it ring it was.

Aragorn: As Bilbo is around 128 years old at this point (almost as old as the Old Took), it's conceivable that before meeting the hobbits in Bree, Aragorn had not seen Bilbo in a long enough time that he didn't want to make a presumptuous statement about his state of health. It is noted that Bilbo had started to age again in the absence of the ring, and seemingly at an accelerated rate seeing the apparent decline in his health over the last few years of his life before taking the ship into the West. He goes from looking little older than 50 to looking over 100 in the space of roughly 20 years.

From the Last Bridge through to Rivendell I'd suggest the primary thoughts were evading the Nine and getting to Rivendell, so failing to mention Bilbo's residence in Rivendell is probably understandable.
Once they arrived in Rivendell it seems likely that the others would have had enough time to get over the novelty of Bilbo's residence there that it wouldn't feel like news by the time Frodo woke up. Alternatively, they may have been respecting Bilbo's right to experience Frodo's untainted reaction to the reunion.

Regarding the potential for spiritual buoyancy on the road, I can imagine that it could have had a significant effect in the opposite sense if the revelation was given on the road, and then on arrival in Rivendell finding that Bilbo's death had been anywhere from months to days (or even hours) earlier. It might have been enough to push him over the edge to "servant of the enemy" and inside the boundaries of Rivendell at that. I'm not convinced that such consequences were really considered by Aragorn and Glorfindel, more likely they were focussed on safely navigating the Trollshaws. (Having been there after them, I can relate ;-)

 

[JJ48]

I'm not convinced that such consequences were really considered by Aragorn and Glorfindel, more likely they were focussed on safely navigating the Trollshaws. (Having been there after them, I can relate ;-)

If only Cheapskate Strider was willing to shell out for a few Mithril Coins, they could have fast-travelled to Rivendell and avoided the whole mess.

 

[Stori3D Past]

The reverse could also be asked. Bilbo had been living safe & secure in Rivendell for 17 years, yet had never -- not once -- sent a message to Frodo saying that he was alive and OK. Was he forbidden? (Fear of Ring-lust, fear of sending Frodo off before he was ready to leave, etc.) Forbidding the free will of a good person seems too much like the evil of domination to allow that idea. So we're left then to consider that Bilbo ... what? What would be a legitimate motivation? It all seems very odd behavior, particularly as Bilbo was seemingly so incredibly happy to see Frodo again.

(Caveat: I'm playing catchup with the podcasts and am only up to Ep 45 now; apologies if this was already long-discussed.)

 

[amysrevenge]

I think you've hit part of it in your parenthetical. Bilbo needs a cold-turkey cutoff from the Ring. He can't go about writing letters to Frodo, or popping by the Shire for a visit, or any such thing. He needs to detach himself from that part of the world and dive into his Translations from the Elvish. He knows it in his heart, and so does Gandalf, and I'd imagine even Elrond would be able to perceive it even if he doesn't know the why of it. I'm sure that they never sat down and had a chat "OK, all of you, nobody ask me about Frodo or Bag End or magic Rings, let's all just talk about other things." They just talked about other things.

 

[Stori3D Past]

I wonder, then, which of the Wise concluded that it would be safe for Bilbo to see Frodo again privately when the party got to Rivendell. Because that was --><-- this close to being a disaster! And from the text, it seems it was only when Bilbo saw the Ring again in person that he actually concluded for himself that it was a menace; the text evidence suggests that he never fully believed it up to that point. I can only hope that it was hard for Bilbo to keep such a secret from his heir & favorite nephew for 17 years.

 

[JJ48]

The reverse could also be asked. Bilbo had been living safe & secure in Rivendell for 17 years, yet had never -- not once -- sent a message to Frodo saying that he was alive and OK. Was he forbidden? (Fear of Ring-lust, fear of sending Frodo off before he was ready to leave, etc.) Forbidding the free will of a good person seems too much like the evil of domination to allow that idea. So we're left then to consider that Bilbo ... what? What would be a legitimate motivation? It all seems very odd behavior, particularly as Bilbo was seemingly so incredibly happy to see Frodo again.

(Caveat: I'm playing catchup with the podcasts and am only up to Ep 45 now; apologies if this was already long-discussed.)

I think it's more likely just a different culture. Nowadays, we take for granted just how easy it is to contact people. There's no post between Rivendell and the Shire, and it would take weeks for people to travel between the two. Of course, it has been more than a few weeks, but the point is that in a time when travel and communication is so difficult and time-consuming, it's simply not expected that people are going to write back and forth just to chat.

As for why no one told Frodo about Bilbo before they actually met again, I think there's a few things to keep in mind:
1. Frodo is still recovering from a pretty serious affliction and his friends probably have other concerns that they want to talk to him about or feel he needs to know that take priority
2. Frodo's friends have been seeing a good deal of Bilbo themselves, and may just not be thinking about the fact that Frodo still doesn't know he's there
3. Bilbo is a grown hobbit who has been keeping an eye on the situation, and is also fond of jokes. If he chooses his own time and place to reveal himself to Frodo, that's his business and his friends likely respect that.