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PotbellyHairyfoot
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Post Quote of the week - Feb 1st 2004 (3.IX)
on: February 01, 2004 04:37
from TTT chapter IX Flotsam and Jetsam
'All except one thing,' said Aragorn; leaf from the Southfarthing in Isengard. The more I consider it,the more curious I find it. I have never been in Isengard, but I have journeyed in this land, and I know well the empty countries that lie between Rohan and the Shire. Neither goods nor folk have passed that way for many a long year, not openly. Saruman had secret dealimgs with someone from the Shire, I guess...



Why is the leaf found in the storeroom?
Why would Saruman take enough interest in pipe-weed or in the Shire to go to the trouble of obtaining the supply that the hobbits found?
The Shire seems a long way from the areas Saruman has an interest in, yet he apparently has agents there.
Is his interest due to Gandalf's obvious interest in the Shire?
Is he seeking information there or just causing trouble there to get back at Gandalf?

[Edited on 29/3/2004 by Figwit]
Figwit
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Post RE: Quote of the week - Feb 1st 2004 (3.IX)
on: February 02, 2004 12:21
Well, at this point in the book I found it rather silly to ask so many questions about it. Looking back at that paragraph with what I know now, it becomes a very important few lines, though.

On a sidenote, Tolkien does that very often: he will include little things, little lines, that don't make sense or go unnoticed when you read the book the first few times. Like Sam's description of giant trees in 1.II.; or Tom Bombadils story about the Dúnedain. I guess that's a big part of his charm.

As for this one, I guess at the time when I read it I just thought: so, maybe Saruman is a secret addict, what about it? Strider is, Gimli is... And maybe pipeweed doesn't grow there, but I never made much of it.
PotbellyHairyfoot
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Post RE: Quote of the week - Feb 1st 2004 (3.IX)
on: February 06, 2004 08:57
True- but Arragorn did make a bif deal about it. I look at it as a bit of the foreshadowing that Tolkien inserts from time to time in the story.


I also guess that I kept considering Gandalf and Saruman discussing pipeweed- but alas- I forgot that that is not part of this trilogy of novels.
Rosie_Gamgee
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Post RE: Quote of the week - Feb 1st 2004 (3.IX)
on: February 07, 2004 11:31
Actually, if you read the Unfinished Tales, the Professor did write something to the effect of Gandalf and Saruman discussing pipeweed.

It's a bit of writing saying that Gandalf was smoking calmly in the White Council, and Saruman was disdainful, and said something about it being ridiculous. Truth is, he was keeping an eye on Gandalf, and wondered what the big deal was, so he tried some pipeweed and got hooked on it. But he'd made such a show about saying how ridiculous Gandalf was for smoking, so he didn't dare let anyone know, because he thought Gandalf would laugh and such...

And, BTW, Saruman said something in that bit of writing about the leaf affecting Gandalf's wits or something along that line. Personally, I think someone involved in the filming of LotR had read that in the UT, and suggested sticking at least part of it in there. :love: You gotta love Christopher for editing all this and putting it out. I don't know where I'd be without my "History of Middle-Earth" books, the Sil, and the UT.

~Rosie
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