The scene in Lord of the Rings where, after the Orc attack, Aragorn and company decide to rescue Merry and Pippin, leaving Frodo and Sam to their own devices, has never made sense to me. Two of these hobbits hold the Fate of the World™ on their finger, while two are just these guys, and Our Heroes go after the wrong ones. Tolkien doesn’t show us how that decision was really made, which I think went something like this:
“We need to protect Frodo and Sam, even if it means following them all the way to Mordor.”
“Mordor? In February? No one goes to Mordor in February. There’s the bugs.”
“Yes, the bugs.”
“And the orcs.”
“I’m not afraid of the orcs.”
“Well, the bugs, then.”
“There are the bugs.”
“Minas Tirith, then.”
“Shouldn’t we at least try to find Frodo? He does have the thingy, you know.”
“The thingy?”
“You know, the thingy.”
“Oh, the thingy. Of course he does. He’s the thingy-bearer.”
“We were supposed to help protect the thingy.”
“But if we go after him, we’ll just bring attention to the thingy.”
“Bring attention?”
“Exactly. It’s a brilliant bit of misdirection. We’ll fool him”
“Fool whom?”
“You know very well whom. Him. He has eyes everywhere.”
“I thought just the one.”
“Well, eye everywhere. But if we go after Pippin and Merry, he’ll think they’re the important ones.”
“Then he’ll kill them!”
“It’s a chance we’ll have to take.”
Awesome. Thanks Mike.
Eh. It made sense to me. Frodo and Sam were at least free, and Frodo had made his own choice that he didn’t want anyone else coming with him. Merry and Pippin had been captured and were going to end up tortured and killed if someone didn’t rescue them, so they were the priority. (And Saruman already believed Merry and Pippin had the Ring.) The decision-making process is laid out pretty clearly:
“Our choice then,” said Gimli, “is either to take the remaining boat and follow Frodo, or else to follow the Orcs on foot. There is little hope either way. We have already lost precious hours.”
“Let me think!” said Aragorn. “And now may I make a right choice, and change the evil fate of this unhappy day!” He stood silent a moment. “I will follow the Orcs,” he said at last. “I would have guided Frodo to Mordor and gone with him to the end; but if I seek him now in the wilderness, I must abandon the captives to torment and death. My heart speaks clearly at last: the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer. The Company has played its part. Yet we that remain cannot forsake our companions while we have strength left.”
“the fate of the Bearer is in my hands no longer”
Into thine hands I commend my spirit (psalm 31) is the providential echo of those words. Tolkien’s subtle and Catholic notions of providence under gird much of the movement of the Ring. It is the key thing I think Jackson never quite grasps.
Oh yeah, and Tolkien’s well know fear of bugs.
“I thought just the one.” may be the best thing I have read in my life
Wait! I just noticed something! Does this mean you’re going to be a regular contributor hereabouts? If so, can you see the happy dance I’m doing through your computer?
Yes, JB has abandoned any standards for this place.
Three cheers for the abandonment of standards!
By default… the two best words in the English language.
Wait – is this a joke, or is this the case?
I consider my taste to be exquisite, for the record.
This all raises the essential Charlie Tuna question:
Does JB have the good taste to taste good when properly roasted?
Abandoned standards suggest both.
That there are no standards left? I think the post speaks for itself.
The only standard I plan to live up to is the American one.
Err that wasn’t Tolkein, that was Jackson.
In the books there was no choice made to rescue Merry and Pippin over Frodo and Sam; far from it. Aragorn and co were desperately seeking Frodo and Sam. A dying Boromir told Aragorn that Frodo was with him before they were attacked by orcs. After that Legolas’ tracking skills told them that orcs set out from their ambush site to Isengard with some hobbits in tow. Frodo and Sam, meanwhile, had slipped away by river. Aragorn and co were franticly pursuing the orcs because they mistakenly thought that one of the hobbits in the orcs possession was Frodo. It wasn’t until much later that they realized that they were chasing the wrong hobbit footprints.
North’s version matches my recollection, too, but I haven’t read the books in a couple of years (note to self – time to re-read LoTR).
But, Jackson’s film version has a very important justification to it – Aragorn’s recognition that Boromir fell to the Ring’s temptation and that it was only a matter of time before the other members of the Fellowship also fall prey to it.
He chooses to allow Frodo and Sam to carry on, figuring the risk to be greater if they stay together than if the two hobbits continue on their own than when the he or another member of the group attempt to claim the Ring themselves.
Plinko’s recollection of the movie matches my own. Frodo felt the temptation of the ring was too great and tried to go it alone. He only took Sam because he couldn’t really stop him from tagging along.
Aragorn consciously chooses Pippin and Merry over Frodo and Sam. See Katharine’s comment at 2:30 pm.
In the first chapter of The Two Towers, Aragorn figured out (on the basis of one of the boats being missing) that Frodo and Sam weren’t captured by the Orcs. He decided to go after Merry and Pippin because 1) Frodo had chosen of his own accord to leave the rest of the Fellowship and 2) Merry and Pippin were going to be tortured and killed if they weren’t rescued.
YOu may be right, I haven’t read the LOTR in a long time.
I always read that as Aragorn realizing that if the rest of the fellowship would be slowly corrupted with lust for the one ring, just as Boromir had been, and trusting that it was safest with Frodo and Sam alone.
“Mordor? In February? No one goes to Mordor in February. There’s the bugs.”
I see now how Mordor is the grand model for all software development. They’re not bugs, they’re features.
This was so fun; great job, Mike. Not enough well-written dialogue in the world.
I am going to edit that first paragraph to include only words that I have a real working understanding of…
“The scene in Lord of the Rings where, after the
Orcattack,Aragornand company decide to rescueMerryandPippin, leaving Frodo andSamto their own devices, has never made sense to me. Two of thesehobbitshold theFate of the World™on their finger, while two are just these guys, andOur Heroesgo after the wrong ones.”Was anyone else horribly distracted by Sam being Rudy? Sam became so annoying at times I would yell…”damn it Rudy..ummm Sam stop it”.
Yeah, they were a strange dysfunctional couple. Sam with his desperate need for attention and approval, and Frodo unable to really notice him, unable to focus on anything other than his own severe drug problem (at least I assume that’s what that glassy eyed stare was all about).
As Aragorn reflected:
Frodo went to Mordor. Said he was going alone, but took Sam with him. Why?
My God, is everyone in this movie gay but me?
Not so sure about me either.
Still not King, goddammit.
(If you’ve never read the Very Secret Diaries , you’ve missed out on something Middle-Earth awesome.)
This is much funnier if you play D&D, but it’s plenty funny even without that hook.
Cleaning up the keyboard now, thanks, Mike!