Tolkien Tuesday: Re-Reading "The Lord of the Rings: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony"
As they come to the city of Bree, Frodo and his friends avail themselves of the courtesy of one Barliman Butterbur, and they receive the advice of a menacing stranger.
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Welcome to Tolkien Tuesdays, where I talk about various things that I love about the lore and writings of Tolkien, whether in a chapter reading or a character study or an essay. I hope you enjoy reading these ruminations as much as I enjoy writing them and, if you have a moment, I’d love it if you’d subscribe to this newsletter. It’s free, but there are paid options, as well, if you’re of a mind to support a struggling writer. Either way, thank you for joining me!
I don’t know about anyone else, but I love the chapters that take place in Bree. It’s another little waystation on Frodo’s journey out of his old life and into his new one and, like so many of other spaces we’ve already encountered, it’s also a liminal once. It is situated close enough to the Shire that, at one time, hobbits from the latter came to visit even as it is also at least a marginal part of the great world. It is, in other words, a meeting-place, and it’s remarkable for being a moment when the hobbits encounter Big People whose allegiances aren’t immediately evident.
The chapter opens with both a description of the local geography as well as a little ethnography of the Bree-folk, both human and hobbit. As with the Prologue, there’s something homey and comfy about this discussion, as it immerses us in this little place in the middle of nowhere. I’ve long been of the opinion that Bree is one of the best places that Tolkien created, and it is certainly one of the richest, containing influences of the many people who have passed through its streets. What’s more, it is the type of place which just seems to breathe history for, as the narrator informs us, it was there long before the men of Westernesse arrived (or so the men of Bree claim, anyway). There is, indeed, a solidity to both the town and its people which makes it seem as if there might be some validity to these claims.
Of course, not all of the hobbits are so enamored with this glimpse of the outside world, and Sam can’t help but be more than a little disturbed and frightened by what he sees. This is very understandable, given that of the four hobbits he is the one with the least knowledge of what lies beyond the boundaries of the Shire, and it’s also easy to see why he would gravitate toward the hobbits who make Bree their home. Sam’s skepticism about Bree is a reminder to both Frodo and the reader that there is still much about this new world that they don’t understand, and the specter of the Black Riders is still there, even if they haven’t been seen since before the hobbits came into the care of Tom Bombadil. It’s easy to see why Sam would be so overwhelmed, and it’s yet another indication that his previous understanding of what the outside world was going to be like is very much at odds with reality.
Which brings us, of course, to the best moment in the entire chapter: Frodo’s song. It’s no secret that I have an ambivalent relationship with Tolkien’s poetry. Sometimes, I find it excruciating to read through the longer ones (particularly the one that Bilbo recites in Rivendell), while at others I genuinely enjoy savoring what Tolkien was able to accomplish with verse. There’s no question, though, that this little ditty, an obvious expansion of the nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle” is a work of art in its own right. It’s no secret that this is one of Tolkien’s little imagined backstories to the still-extant nursery rhyme, and it showcases his genius as a reconstructor of language. Even though it has a connection to our own world–like so much else of Middle-earth–it is also quintessentially hobbitish, and one can well believe that it was in fact composed by Bilbo himself who, as we already know, had quite a way with words and verse.
The inn itself is a little island of calm, though there are already indications that the troubles besetting the outside world are starting to make themselves felt here, as well. There’s something more than a little sinister about the man who claims that those coming from the South have as much a right as anyone to have a safe place to live, and it’s easy to sympathize with the Breelanders. Despite all of this, The Prancing Pony is still the kind of place you’d want to visit, thanks in no small part to the genial (if absent-minded) charm of its proprietor, Barliman Butterbur. If ever there was a character with a perfect name, it would be him. (Incidentally, I’ve always found this scene in Jackon’s film to be the most disappointing. It transforms the inn from this comfy little space to yet another filled with menace, and while I get that this works cinematically, I would kill to see Tolkien’s version brought to the screen).
In many ways, though, the most important character in this chapter is the mysterious man known as Strider. If you’ve read Christopher Tolkien’s extensive “History of Middle-earth,” you know that Strider was one of those characters who went through different iterations before it became clear that he was in fact Aragorn, a descendant of kings and someone fated to wear the crown of Gondor himself. Even though we only get glimmers of his character here, it’s still clear–to us and, I think, to Frodo–that this is a man who is unlike so many others of the Big Folk with whom the hobbits have come into contact. It isn’t clear yet where his true loyalties lie but, given that we know that he is one of the Rangers, it seems safe to say that he is going to be a very important part of the hobbits’ journey going forward. And we should all be grateful that Tolkien jettisoned the idea of him being a hobbit with wooden shoes!
All in all, I quite like this chapter. It has so much of what makes The Fellowship of the Ring such a pleasure to read. There’s a bit of whimsy but also a great deal of peril, particularly since the Ring shows one of its periodic moments of potential sentience when it sneaks onto Frodo’s finger and causes no small amount of chaos. As time will soon tell, there is even more uncertainty and danger in store for our intrepid heroes. Join me next week as we find out just what this entails!