21. B1:C9 - At The Sign of the Prancing Pony - [LoTR Read Along]

The Nicks discuss going to the bar alone; being a stranger in a new land; Bree, the Bree-folk, and their sayings; the types people that travel through Bree and the Prancing Pony, and more!

Maps

Map of Middle-earth 

LoTRproject.com interactive map - Caution: spoilers for new readers!

 

Notes for this episode:

What Happened Last Time?

The hobbits get a restful night's sleep and leave the HOTB early in the morning making way through the Barrow Downs and up back to the main road to continue on to the village of Bree. BUT ITS NOT THAT EASY. After an unplanned inside-of-the-eyelids study leaning up against a standing stone session Frodo wakes up, it's dark out and FOG IS EVERYWHERE!!!  He tried to find the hobbits, gets caught by a wight, wakes up in a barrow, spots the others looking rightly terrible and, losing all hope, calls for Tom to come help using that little song.  Tom saves the day by gets them out of their predicament and walks them back up to the main road.

Where Are We in the Narrative?

Our heroes are finally arriving at what we can likely call our first major checkpoint of the adventure, Bree. After shortcuts through forests and fields, disastrous dealing with menacing trees, and barrow wights, and the luck of finding a friend in Farmer Maggot and Tom Bombadil to aid them on their road: Leaving the Shire has not been as easy as they, nor Gandalf would have predicted, and going back into civilization is both a relief and a threat. Many eyes and ears prying, who knows who is friend, and who is foe?

 

The Story in this Chapter:

• The Breeland
• Rangers
• The Big Folk and the Little Folk
• • The Bree Folk
  • “Outsiders” to the Shire Folk
  • • Many outsiders?
• Dyke and Gate and the two main roads
• • “Strange as news from Bree”
• The Northern Lands are desolate - What was up there? What is there now?  ANGMAR!  The old capital of Arnor, Annuminas, was northwest as well, on the shores of Lake Evendim.
• Gatekeeper (Harry)
• • Suspicious of the Hobbits, and suspicious to the Hobbits
• Dark Figure over the gate
• • Strider?
  • Black Rider?
  • Gollum?
• Sam quails at the size of men
• Prancing Pony First Impressions
• Barliman Butterbur - thoughts?
• • short for a man - he’s a bit taller than hobbits and a bit shorter than most men
  • Seems to be a master of his trade. Can talk, knows when to be quiet and unassuming, friendly and inviting
  • His talk "doesn’t have no point" - he catches the Hobbits up on the basic particulars of what is happening in the inn tonight.
• Bree Sayings
• • Strange as news from Bree (East Farthing)
  • It never rains, but it pours
  • There’s no accounting for East and West (the Rangers and Shire Folk) - The Bree version of “Strange as news from Bree”
• Frodo, Sam, Pippin to the common room
• Merry to hang back and maybe go for a walk outside
• Bree Hobbits and names
• Frodo using geography and history which are not used in Bree much, difference in language, or maybe difference in class/education
• • Mr. Brandybuck, Mr. Took, Sam Gamgee, Mr. Underhill
• The Southerner
• • Solo?
  • Part of the company come up the Greenway?
• Strider
• • Note the way he is described - physically
  • Tolkien gives as little as possible to describe
• Even stranger travelers in Bree
• Frodo’s foolish action
• • The Ring - A call from outside?
  • A jump over the moon - a slip - and the Ring’s opportunity to reveal itself
• A song!
• • Tolkien’s purpose in writing the types of things he did, was to give England a kind of mythology, of which it was robbed by the arrival of invaders who brought their own.
  • In a little way, this is the same thing - giving us a long version of Hey Diddle Diddle
• Is Frodo a traveling magician?!
• Swarthy Breelander (Bill Ferny), Squint-eyed Southerner, and Harry the gatekeeper leave together
• • Harry and Bill both gatekeepers? (totally speculation)
• Trying to describe the scene to Barliman
• Strider uses Frodo’s proper surname and says that he put his foot in it or rather his finger
• Clearing the house
• Private meetings

Other comments or observations:

• Who climbs over the wall?

Notable Difference(s) from Films:

We are back in line with the films!  Sort of.  The feel of Bree is remarkably different, especially TPP.

Locations/Distance Traveled/Distance apart:

• East of the HoTB - up into the Barrow-downs, then northward toward the main road leading into the village of Bree.

New Characters:

• Everyone our hobbits encounter!
• Barliman
• Strider
• Harry at the Gate/Southerner/Breelander 

What to Watch for in the Next Chapter:

• We learn more about Strider and our journey really begins.

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