Hello!
I was recently made aware of the existence of these wonderful, spectacular, amazing classes on YouTube and have been trying my best to (slowly) get through them. They are engrossing!
Forgive me if this was covered in later classes but in I believe E09 and then followed up in query in E10, it was discussed that Gandalf (1) did not suspect the Nazgul would be among the "servants of the Enemy" seeking the Ring and (2) rightly estimated they had plenty of time before the Shire could be found and Frodo identified and tracked down.
I was surprised first and foremost that Gandalf of all people, having met and questioned Gollum and determined that he had been captured and questioned by Sauron himself, with Sauron certainly being able to discern that Gollum had possessed his One Ring, didn't think that Sauron would send the Nine out to look for it. Why not? I mean, there's a period of time perhaps that Gandalf did know that Gollum had been tortured in Mordor and revealed Shire & Baggins, but did not yet know it was the One Ring. But after Gandalf determines that it IS the One, certainly after confirming with Frodo and the fire writing, why wouldn't Gandalf then immediately realize the peril and suspect that Sauron might send, or in fact would even be *likely* to send, his most powerful servants to look for the thing in the world that he desires above all else?
It's not like the Nazgul are known to be dormant at this time. The White Council suspected that the Necromancer might be a Nazgul.
In my opinion, it's not even out of the question that Sauron himself might go looking for it. It's that important to him, isn't it?
Then in the followup in E10 the distance is discussed, and something else caught my attention in that the land all about was sparsely populated and so the Enemy wouldn't be able to find and question much of anyone on the location of the Shire. But, on the other hand, wouldn't that mean the Enemy would be able to pass more quickly through those lands, because there are no settlements to stop in? Would they not have perhaps fanned out, and at least one ridden up the Greenway fairly quickly and gotten to Bree, where they certainly know of the Shire, and where hobbits actually live (who are like in stature to Gollum)?
Didn't hobbits have forces sent to the Battle of Fornost, so that the Witch King and other Nazgul might at least suspect that region to contain little people like to Gollum?
Sorry if any of this gets covered later. I'm just dying to know and it's been bugging me.
I was recently made aware of the existence of these wonderful, spectacular, amazing classes on YouTube and have been trying my best to (slowly) get through them. They are engrossing!
Forgive me if this was covered in later classes but in I believe E09 and then followed up in query in E10, it was discussed that Gandalf (1) did not suspect the Nazgul would be among the "servants of the Enemy" seeking the Ring and (2) rightly estimated they had plenty of time before the Shire could be found and Frodo identified and tracked down.
I was surprised first and foremost that Gandalf of all people, having met and questioned Gollum and determined that he had been captured and questioned by Sauron himself, with Sauron certainly being able to discern that Gollum had possessed his One Ring, didn't think that Sauron would send the Nine out to look for it. Why not? I mean, there's a period of time perhaps that Gandalf did know that Gollum had been tortured in Mordor and revealed Shire & Baggins, but did not yet know it was the One Ring. But after Gandalf determines that it IS the One, certainly after confirming with Frodo and the fire writing, why wouldn't Gandalf then immediately realize the peril and suspect that Sauron might send, or in fact would even be *likely* to send, his most powerful servants to look for the thing in the world that he desires above all else?
It's not like the Nazgul are known to be dormant at this time. The White Council suspected that the Necromancer might be a Nazgul.
In my opinion, it's not even out of the question that Sauron himself might go looking for it. It's that important to him, isn't it?
Then in the followup in E10 the distance is discussed, and something else caught my attention in that the land all about was sparsely populated and so the Enemy wouldn't be able to find and question much of anyone on the location of the Shire. But, on the other hand, wouldn't that mean the Enemy would be able to pass more quickly through those lands, because there are no settlements to stop in? Would they not have perhaps fanned out, and at least one ridden up the Greenway fairly quickly and gotten to Bree, where they certainly know of the Shire, and where hobbits actually live (who are like in stature to Gollum)?
Didn't hobbits have forces sent to the Battle of Fornost, so that the Witch King and other Nazgul might at least suspect that region to contain little people like to Gollum?
Sorry if any of this gets covered later. I'm just dying to know and it's been bugging me.