Tolkien Geek Update

Gary brings us up to The Two Towers, Book 3, Chapter 9 - Flotsam and Jetsam. Among other things, he has some fascinating tidbits about how Tolkien began working out the eventual Saruman/Wormtongue climax.

This has always been one of my favorite chapters - after the extreme exertions of the Orc raid, the pursuit of the Three Hunters, the Ent Moot, the awakening of Theoden and the Battle of Helm's Deep in the previous chapters, it serves as a kind of respite - the calm after the storm, so to speak. It's true that the assault of the Ents on Orthanc is described, but the reader is not there in real time. Instead, we are hearing about it after the fact, as the remainder of the Fellowship have breakfast "on the edge of ruin" and then indulge themselves in a little relaxation amid the wreck of Isengard.

In particular, I've always loved Pippin's reaction when Aragorn stretches out, puts his feet up and starts smoking contemplatively. "Look!" he says, "Strider the Ranger has come back!"

"He has never been away," replies Aragorn, "I am Strider and Dunadan, too, and I belong to both Gondor and the North."

Not only does the reappearance of Aragorn's Strider guise give the moment a kind of homey feeling, it also bookends nicely with the first real sign of kingliness that Frodo sees in Aragorn when they are passing through the Argonath toward the end of FOTR. It further re-enforces the theme of reunification of Gondor and Arnor that Aragorn hopes to achieve.

I also can't help noting the additional illustration of the prickly relationship between Pippin and Gandalf. Pippin relates the story of his reaction when he first sees Gandalf, who he had last seen dissappearing into the abyss with the Balrog, riding up to the gates of Isengard on Shadowfax:

"I tried to call out, and couldn't. There was no need. He halted just by us and looked down at us. "Gandalf!" I said at last, but my voice was only a whisper. Did he say "Hullo, Pippin! This is a pleasant surprise!"? No, indeed! He said: "Get up you tom-fool of a Took! Where, in the name of wonder, in all this ruin is Treebeard? I want him. Quick!"'

This is Classic Gandalf. And the way Pippin tells this and the rest of his tale is Pure Took. I always find it difficult to tear myself away from this little reunion and plunge back into the current of events.