Tolkien Tuesday: Re-Reading "The Lord of the Rings: Three Is Company"
In the third chapter, Frodo and his friends begin their journey in earnest, but it isn't long before the looming threat of Sauron makes itself felt.
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When last we left Frodo, he had just settled on his decision to leave the Shire, after learning from Gandalf about the dangers of the Ring and of the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron. After Gandalf leaves the Shire and tells Frodo he will return before his own departure, Bilbo’s heir begins to make plans to leave his home. After finally selling Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses, he sets out, with Pippin and Sam in tow. Along the way, however, they encounter some unexpected individuals, including a Black Rider and, more fortunately, a number of Elves.
It should come as no surprise that I’ve always loved this chapter. It is in many ways a liminal moment in The Fellowship of the Ring, in that it finds Frodo caught betwixt and between, still well enough within the bounds of the Shire yet far enough away from his home to start to feel the pang of longing. This is even more true of Sam who, of the three of them, has never really ventured beyond the comfortable confines of Hobbiton. It is precisely this liminal state that makes the appearance of the Black Rider so unsettling, because this individual is so sinisterly out-of-place, even in the darker age in which the hobbits and everyone else increasingly finds himself.
I remember reading this chapter as a preteen and being absolutely terrified of the Black Rider. Though I had no idea who this person was or what he was doing, something about the way that Tolkien conveys his appearance–draped in black, appearing on the road far away from hobbit habitation, snuffling and looking for someone–so perfectly distilled the things I found so frightening. Anyone who has been out of doors in the evening knows that encroaching feeling of dread, that fear that someone, or something might be out there looking for you, and you won’t have the weapons or wherewithal to fight them off.
Fortunately for the hobbits, however, there are still forces for good in the world, and their encounter with the Elves is a bit of chance, if chance we call it. We’re left in no doubt that these are creatures of essential goodness and light because, among other things, the Black Rider seems reluctant to face them and because the hobbits feel the dread lift off of their hearts at their arrival. At the same time, however, these Elves are already getting ready to depart from the shores of Middle-earth, and so they have precious little time to spare for the hobbits and their errand. “The Elves have their own labors and their own sorrows,” he says to Bilbo, “and they are little concerned with the ways of hobbits, or of any other creatures upon earth. Our paths cross theirs seldom, by chance or purpose. In this meeting there may be more than chance, but the purpose is not clear to me, and I fear to say too much.”
This exchange reveals a great deal about the Elves and how they look at the world around them. They’re not exactly isolationist–certainly not in the rigorous way that the hobbits are–but they nevertheless hold themselves above the fray. Beautiful and ethereal and good they might be, but it’s hard not to sympathize with Frodo’s frustration, laughingly and lightly though it is delivered. After all, as readers we already know just how grave the threat to Middle-earth is and how important Frodo’s journey has already become but, because he fears revealing too much, he ultimately can’t expect too much from Gildor, as the latter is only too happy to remind him.
That being said, the chapter isn’t entirely doom and gloom. In addition to the Black Riders, we also get another appearance from the Sackville-Bagginses, who manage to be both deeply unpleasant and also truly hilarious. One can’t help but admire the sheer tenacity of someone like Lobelia, who manages to keep her desire to get her clutches on Bag End even though her husband has already died and left her a widow. You’ve also got to hand it to her; it takes quite a lot of gal to come into a house that you don’t even own yet with an inventory in hand to make sure that no one tries to steal anything. As subsequent events will reveal, it’s just this sort of spirit that will allow her to be one of those few who are able to resist the efforts of Saruman and his cronies to dominate the Shire, even though her obstinacy earns her a place in jail.
For me, though, the best part of this chapter has always been the fox. It’s a moment unlike almost any other in the entire novel, for it gives us insight into an animal’s thoughts as he gazes at the hobbits who have unexpectedly wandered into his territory. It’s a short passage, a mere paragraph in length, and yet it has fascinated and frustrated me in equal measure for years. I honestly don’t know exactly what to do with it, for while it certainly has some of the style that characterizes the early chapters of Fellowship–i.e., more like The Hobbit–there’s simply no other time when we get to see the world from an animal's point of view. Just as importantly, I can’t help but wonder just what happened to the fox after this little encounter. I like to think that he went on to have lovely little foxy adventures of his own, and that he managed to avoid the worst that befell the Shire in the days that followed.
Overall, I quite enjoyed my re-read of this chapter. It managed to capture just the right balance of light and darkness, and while there is clearly a lot of menace looming on the horizon, there’s still hope in the world. The Shire might have been traversed by man before the hobbits made it their home–as the Elves remind Frodo and company–but it is still an island in a storm-tossed sea, and so we, like Frodo, can savor our remaining time there.