From time to time I have remarked on passages in which I think Tolkien may be having a bit of fun with his readers. This morning my friend, +Jeremiah Burns, drew another one of these to my attention over on G+. As is often the case, we found ourselves wondering how we had missed this one before. Here is Jerry's post in full:
Haldir: trolling before the Internet was a thing.
'Happy folk are Hobbits to dwell near the shores of the sea!' said Haldir. 'It is long indeed since any of my folk have looked on it, yet still we remember it in song. Tell me of these havens as we walk.'
'I cannot,' said Merry. 'I have never seen them. I have never been out of my own land before. And if I had known what the world outside was like, I don't think I should have had the heart to leave it.'
'Not even to see fair Lothlórien?' said Haldir.[Said with a certain irony, as Merry is currently being led through Lothlórien blindfolded, and has not truly been given a chance to see Lothlórien or form an opinion of its fairness.]
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Haldir, I would add, is one of the Elves who said that Sam breathed so loud they could shoot him in the dark (FR 2.vi.342). So clearly he has a certain wry humor.
Plot-twist:
ReplyDeleteHaldir pretended to blindfold everyone just to be capable of blindfolding Gimli. Frodo couldn't tell the truth and risk another Dwarves-on-Elves war so that's him... nodding to us. =)
It's a bit of fun, of course.