Chapter 9: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
Well, we’ve finally reached the first of a collection of moments I knew would occur on this journey -- the first time I reached a detail in the text that I had remembered “wrong” since I had so completely internalized the events in Jackson’s films that I’d simply forgotten the original text. I had completely lost the plot detail of Merry Brandybuck deciding not to accompany the others into the Prancing Pony common room, but instead choosing to take a little stroll and get some air. It’s not yet consequential, really: mayhem ensues in the common room that probably would have without him (though we can maybe posit that, unlike Sam, Merry would have had both the awareness and the pull with Pippin to notice where the conversation was heading about Bilbo’s party and steer away from it). We’ll have to wait until Chapter 10 to see what, if anything, happens to him in the streets of Bree. But still, I would have sworn to you that all four of the hobbits dine together that night -- we’ll see how often this keeps happening.
Anyway, here we are now, at last in Bree where, as far as the film adaptations have been concerned, the adventure really begins -- plenty of readers feel this way also. One of the things that struck me in this chapter is how positively Bree is depicted: events, of course, will soon make our memories of Bree closely associated with trouble and danger, etc. So it’s interesting to me that Tolkien talks at such length about how wonderfully diverse Bree is, and how relatively harmonious it is. Bree-land sounds like a bit of an oasis here in the middle of a very wild (and troubled) world. Tolkien’s details about the town of Bree itself are descriptive in almost cinematic ways -- it’s easy to envision Bree, and artists have done some fine work with it. That work tends to be shadowy and rainy and forbidding, but in keeping with this chapter’s sunnier outlook, I’ve selected a piece by Ralph Damiani, who has done some epic depictions of events in The Silmarillion in particular, and whose take on Bree is just gorgeous: http://tolkiengateway.net/w/images/b/be/Ralph_Damiani_-_Across_Middle-earth_-_Bree.png
We don’t know Barliman Butterbur too well yet, so I can’t linger on him much: so far he is a little overwhelmed and a little scatterbrained but very friendly, and honestly that’s about the score when it comes to old Barliman, but of course there’s a little more to that story. I’m struck, again, by the common-room, which really is the most lively and multicultural space we will see other than the Last Homely House, as The Hobbit’s narrator calls it, in Rivendell. Rivendell is a special place, of course, but I think readers have tended to overlook how special Bree is. Yes, there are some surlier and more dangerous elements here, but the text never suggests to me, at least, that it’s the diversity of this space that created the danger. To the contrary, it feels very homey and pleasant to me, with Pippin trading stories and songs with some traveling dwarves, and even though we don’t know the ranger in the corner yet, he adds a little to the exotic but cheerful flavor of the space -- Frodo mistrusts him a little, of course, but rather than it coming out as apprehension, it just emerges as frustration or annoyance. I get the sense that, cozy as the Shire is, it really would be much more interesting and fun to spend time at the Prancing Pony, chatting with passers-by. The one missing element, of course, is that of the Elves, who are nowhere to be seen -- I wonder if an elf has ever stayed at the Pony, traveling between Rivendell and the Havens (or anywhere else), or if this is just a space for Men, Hobbits, and Dwarves to interact. I think probably not -- and I think that’s probably the Elves’ great character flaw on display, honestly.
Frodo really is an exasperating fool here -- lovably exasperating, of course -- since whatever credit we can give him for recognizing Pippin’s misstep and trying to head it off at the pass is diminished initially by him needing this Ranger to point it out to him, and then totally undermined by his fumbling the song and dance and managing to slip on the Ring in a comically bizarre turn of luck (most likely, as the Ranger suggests, the Ring’s mischief is to blame, but Frodo did most of the work for the Ring unasked). He’s so flustered that he can’t even be bothered to notice the Ranger’s calling him “Mr. Baggins” which ought to be setting off every alarm bell in his head at once. He gets bailed out here by our memory that it’s Pippin who screws things up at the Prancing Pony, aided by film-makers who have helped shift blame (Bakshi does this a little bit, but Jackson basically turns Frodo into a helpless object set upon by a nearly sentient and mobile Ring in flight). Frodo’s foolishness is then made totally complete in the chapter’s final lines, when he decides to become suspicious now, at long last….and turns that suspicion on this ranger fellow and on poor old Barliman Butterbur, the only two people in this Inn who we will come to know for a fact are on his side. Whenever readers want to criticize the LOTR for having overly simplistic characters -- and generally Frodo is high on their list of complaints as a perfect angel who is impossible to identify with -- I wonder how they could have gotten far into the book at all. By now Frodo’s stumbles have been about as frequent as his successes, and it’s clear that, while he’s a fellow of good intentions and fine moral character in general, he’s also a little hasty for a hobbit, and someone whose pride is well-developed enough to be injured by a fall or two. I like the complexity here, again, because I feel like this whole stretch of Fellowship is preparing Frodo’s character to learn the things he needs to learn, and it’s nice to me that the last slip-up prior to Strider’s entry at the beginning of Chapter 10 is nearly 100% Frodo’s fault, since it will ensure that he is in the right frame of mind to listen to some counsel.
It’s a relatively quick chapter, and there’s not a ton more to pull out of it, so I’ll leave it here -- tomorrow we’ll have some fun, though, when we finally can put a name to that dark, handsome face, and meet Strider in Chapter 10.