Welcome back to my series of posts looking at how J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings is different from its film adaptations. In the film, Frodo and Sam leave Hobbiton the morning after they find out about the One Ring.
The movie therefore tells us about as much about Frodo’s cover story as it does Merry’s conspiracy. Remember those singing elves Frodo and Sam see in the Extended Edition of the film? Did you know that they actually met and talked with them in the book?
It’s time for any moviegoers reading this to learn what really happened when Frodo and Sam left for Rivendell.
Moving Back Home
First, a bit of backstory. Frodo lived in Buckland for most of his early childhood, in the ancestral home of the Brandybuck family. His closest friends were Merry Brandybuck and Peregrin Took. When Frodo was twelve, however, his parents drowned in a boating accident, after which he continued to live in Buckland till Bilbo adopted him.
When Gandalf returned and determined once-and-for-all that Bilbo’s ring was indeed the One Ring, he told Frodo that leaving too quickly might arouse suspicion. Frodo therefore waited till the day after his own fiftieth birthday to leave, preparing for the journey under the pretence that he was merely moving back to Buckland.
Farewell to Bag End
Gandalf told Frodo he’d return by the time they were ready to leave, but he never showed up. After selling Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses and buying a house in Buckland, Frodo hosted a small farewell party with a few close friends. Merry left for Buckland on one of the carts bearing Frodo’s furniture.
Late that night, Frodo overheard a stranger asking questions of Sam’s father Hamfast Gamgee—questions concerning Frodo.
Black Riders
Unlike in the movie (where Frodo and Sam appear to bump into Merry and Pippin by chance), Frodo began his journey in the book with both Sam and Pippin travelling with him. After a little more than a day of travelling, they encountered a Nazgûl on the road. As they were hiding, Frodo felt tempted to put the Ring on.
When the Black Rider moved on, Frodo and Sam realized that it must have been the stranger who’d asked the Gaffer about Frodo several nights ago. In case there were more riders on the road, Frodo decided they should travel off-road. While making their way through a forest, they once again hide from a wraith.
Gildor of the House of Finrod
This time something scared the Nazgûl off: a company of high elves passing through the Shire. The three hobbits travelled with the elves, making camp with them that night. The elves’ leader Gildor gave Frodo a good deal of solid advice, but the elves were gone when the hobbits awoke the following morning.
‘I cannot imagine what information could be more terrifying than your hints and warnings,’ exclaimed Frodo. ‘I knew that danger lay ahead, of course; but I did not expect to meet it in our own Shire. Can’t a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace?’
‘But it is not your own Shire,” said Gildor. “Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.’
Gildor Inglorion, The Lord of the Rings (Book Ⅰ, Chapter Ⅲ)
Farmer Maggot’s Mushrooms
After evading another Nazgûl and hearing their shrieks, the three hobbits came upon a turnip-field. Pippin realized it was old Farmer Maggot’s land. Frodo was terrified of Farmer Maggot because he used to steal mushrooms, and Maggot once beat him for it. Pippin suggested they walk along the road to avoid trespassing.
All the same, Farmer Maggot’s hounds noticed them. They began growling at Frodo and Sam, but Farmer Maggot recognized Pippin and calmed his hounds down. It turns out Farmer Maggot is quite nice when you’re not stealing from him. Also, he was recently questioned about Frodo by a Black Rider.
Farmer Maggot brings Frodo, Sam, and Pippin to his house, where they receive beer and a dinner of mushrooms. He even agreed to escort them to where they’d planned to meet up with Merry, which goes mostly according to plan.
As Meriadoc ferried them across the Brandywine, the four hobbits saw the shape of a Nazgûl watching them from the western pier.
This is just one of many places where the film had to cut things down. This isn’t usually a flaw of the movie, per se. It’s just something that comes with the time constraints of the medium of film—one of many reasons you should read the book if you haven’t already.
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