Article: 272997 of rec.arts.books.tolkien Path: news.uchicago.edu!not-for-mail Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: How much did the conspiracy know about the Ring References: <3C3CD05E.265BE28F@mail.dk> X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test70 (17 January 1999) From: <<>> (Steuard Jensen) Lines: 37 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.135.12.7 X-Trace: news.uchicago.edu 1010640551 128.135.12.7 (Wed, 09 Jan 2002 23:29:11 CST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 23:29:11 CST Organization: The University of Chicago X-SessionID: HE9%7-8612-y4-2247@news.uchicago.edu X-Hash-Info: post-filter,v:1.4 X-Hash: ae7a008d e2778120 01b5242e 0b2b950a 0f6eff91 Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 05:29:11 GMT Xref: news.uchicago.edu rec.arts.books.tolkien:272997 Quoth Troels Forchhammer <<>> in article <3C3CD05E.265BE28F@mail.dk>: > It has been nagging me for a while and I would like to ask if anyone > could give me some further insight to this. That nagged at me for quite some time, too, but I eventually made peace with the topic, though I'm still not perfectly happy with it. :) Read on... > In FotR, "A conspiracy unmasked", Merry says: > "... We know the Ring is no laughing-matter; but we are going to do > our best to help you against the Enemy." ... > Sam probably heard this on the day, when Gandalf found out (in "the > Shadow of the Past") and he were their "chief investigator", but > Merry also discloses that after Sam had been caught ".., he seemed > to regard himself on parole, and dried up." The way I've ended up reconciling these apparently contradictory points goes something like this: Sam "dried up" in that he refused to do any more "spying" for the conspiracy or to pass along new information. However, he clearly at least told Merry and the others that he _had_ been caught, and it seems likely to me that he may have passed along at least the very basics of what he'd heard, out of concern for Frodo. He may also have been willing to confirm or deny other information that Merry and Pippin gathered or guessed in the months leading up to Frodo's departure, even if he didn't volunteer information himself. It wouldn't take more than a sentence or two by Sam, telling the other conspirators that he and Frodo were leaving the Shire because the Enemy might be coming for the Ring, to make the essence of the situation clear. After that, Sam's very silence could do a lot to emphasize the gravity of the situation. I don't think a lot more than that on Sam's part would really be necessary to explain Merry's comments at Crickhollow. Steuard Jensen