Who capitalized T in Tale?

Victor

New Member
I know episode 174 was a few weeks ago but I'm a few weeks behind. Apologies for the late comment. I was wondering about the discussion of Gandalf summing up the Tale. Gandalf says, "Well, the Tale is now told, from first to last." During the discussion much was made of the capitalization of Tale. It seems like the capitalization was attributed to Gandalf tying his narrative to the great tales. But wasn't that a decision of the writer or an editor? Isn't it more likely that Gandalf just said "tale" and that it was Frodo, or maybe Sam, who elevated it to "Tale" and so tied it to Sam's later talk of the great tales. I could see either hobbit doing it as a nod to the other. Just a thought.
 
Possiby Findegil, King's Scribe? Seems like thesort of thing that might be done to highlight the importance of the narrative to later, less personally involved, parties.
 
I like to think that this is Frodo, expressing in punctuation the emphasis that Gandalf himself placed on the word Tale. In my imaginings Gandalf is already having Bilbo draw up "The Tale of the Trials and Travels of Gandalf the Grey" in verse for the next feast day.
 
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