LOTR Read-Along: The Fellowship of the Ring: Many Meetings

We're into book two!

Frodo's alive!

And he's finally made it to Rivendell!

Oh look...Gandalf is back. 

After weeks of travel, evading Black Riders, constant temptations from the Ring, almost getting strangled by a tree, meeting a couple of nature spirits, traveling through a psychedelic forest, putting their trust in a complete stranger, hitting it up with several elves, getting stabbed and facing the possibility of becoming a Ringwraith, the hobbits' journey to Rivendell has been completed. All is well, even though Frodo may not be for a while. 

When he wakes up in the house of Lord Elrond, Frodo is greeted by Gandalf. The wizard's only explanation for not meeting Frodo in Bree was that he was held captive. Nothing more is spoken on the subject. Instead Gandalf explains to Frodo more about the Ringwraiths and his journey across the Ford. 

Afterwards begins wonderful descriptions of Rivendell and the elves. Most notably, Lord Elrond and his daughter Lady Arwen. Upon Frodo's arrival with the Ring, a council of men, elves and dwarves have been called to determine the fate of the Ring. While at the meal, Frodo meets Gloin who was a part of Thorin's Company and briefs Frodo on the news of the remaining dwarves (a great homage to The Hobbit). Frodo also finds Bilbo Baggins tucked away in a corner and is overjoyed at being reunited with his old cousin. 

This chapter was great! Lord Elrond has always been my favorite character from The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's description of him is just beautiful. Of course we meet Arwen, who has little role in the story except to just be there as Elrond's daughter. We also get some information on Elrond's twin sons, Elladan and Elrohir, and the sad fate of their mother. 

"But her [Arwen] brothers, Elledan and Elrohir, were out upon errantry: for they rode often far afield with the Rangers of the North, forgetting never their mother's torment in the den of the orcs."

Although the the biography is short, it is most definitely heartbreaking. Celebrian was suffering the same effects of a rape victim and even though she was possibly a powerful elf (given to who her parents were and who she was married too), no one is above suffering. 

Heidi's Questions:

• If you wanted to do some thinking and musing in the house of Elrond, would you prefer to scramble up to the pine woods or stay near the gardens and waterfall under the shaded portico or find a quiet corner in the Hall of Fire?

Rivendell is one of my favorite settings (after Hobbiton) and there's so much beauty and imagination in its description! I would probably find a quiet corner in the Hall of Fire. Curled up with my books or writing with a cup of tea. 

• When Bilbo says, "Don't adventures ever have an end?" in the context (to me) he sounds a bit tired and maybe, just maybe, a tad regretful, but it made me think of what C.S. Lewis wrote in The Last Battle, “...the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. ...now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” Do you think adventures have an end? Or do you think they just keep growing and growing and leading into new ones?

I think adventures have ends, but ends can lead to unexpected beginnings. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, it was the last journey for the Pevensies', but the beginning for Eustace. In reality that whole point of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was preparing Eustace for Aslan's plan 30 years later, but he couldn't get there without his cousins. Unfortunately for Frodo Baggins, he inherited a different adventure and plan for the future.