The Two Towers // Book 3, Chapter 9 // Flotsam and Jetsam

Bet y'all thought I fell off the face of the earth, eh? Nope, spring has just sprung here and birds are calling and the sun is shining and there's soooo much to do out of doors (and indoors, I'm finally tackling my laundry pile today). Anyhow! So yes, little old me is still here and popping up in your feed like an inquisitive rabbit.

I don't know if you've all taken a break too or raced ahead and already finished the entire trilogy, but no worries either way. 

So! Let's concentrate on our chapter for a minute. Speaking of which, first things first, I've always dearly loved this chapter, including its very title -- 'Flotsam & Jetsam'. And how perfectly delicious is it that this meeting of friends is taking place on March the 5th in Shire-reckoning and here we all are to join right in on our March 5th? I'm beyond delighted. xD

There are a number of lines I find particularly delightful and funny, such as when the hobbits are recounting their meeting with Gandalf and how he starts right in without small talk, calling Pippin a "tom-fool of a Took" before going straight to the point with Treebeard, telling him he has 10,000 orcs to manage.

And do you remember how in Bree (at the time) it all felt strange and none too safe, and now it's positively cozy to look back on that episode -- after all the perils and cold and great matters that have happened since?

Lastly, I'm seriously considering 'Wellinghall' as a proper name for our domicile. It's very British (which we like), but I think it could also passably fit with the wild western-y flair running round here (or at least fairly passably... maybe?). I like the Biblical connotations too + the strength of our well is actually one of the most notable features about our 10 acres. Hmmm.... have to keep pondering it, but I definitely like it as a name.

 

Quotes:

• "Now let us take our ease here for a little!' said Aragorn. 'We will sit on the edge of ruin and talk, as Gandalf says, while he is busy elsewhere.' ...'Look!' said Pippin. 'Strider the Ranger has come back!' 'He has never been away,' said Aragorn. 'I am Strider and Dunadan too, and I belong both to Gondor and the North."
• "One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters."
• "It is difficult with these evil folk to know when they are in league, and when they are cheating one another."
• "Wherever I have been, I am back," he answered in the genuine Gandalf manner."
  
• "You said much less than you might, and no more than you should."
  

 

For thought:

• Merry says: "I don't know what Saruman thought was happening; but anyway he did not know how to deal with it. His wizardry may have been falling off lately, of course; but anyway I think he has not much grit, not much plain courage alone in a tight place without a lot of slaves and machines and things, if you know what I mean. Very different from old Gandalf." I don't want to push this too far/being respectful of Tolkien's insistence that his story is not a political allegory + his direct experience was more in WWI. Still, his life experience couldn't help but come into play a little bit and he did live through WWII. Do you think he might have had Hitler in mind at least a little when he wrote that?

  And I'm trying not to delve into anything that will come up more in the next chapter, so I'll stick with this final thought: does Grima Wormtongue remind anyone else of Gollum? We haven't spent much time with the latter yet (so please disregard this question if it's your first time through the story), but for some reason I've always thought of them as being very similar and I'm trying to figure out why. Maybe it's just the cringing sneakiness?