This only goes for the movies. In the books they have arranged a house for Frodo on the eastern border of the Shire, where he will go lay low for several months before going to Rivendell. Merry, Pippin and Fatty Bolger have figured out the plan months in advance and made their own plans, in such a way that when the black riders arrive in the region, they leave within 5 minutes and have a route planned out already.
Also, it’s tobacco as clearly mentioned in the books. They are probably quite drunk in this scene though.
Edit: and of course Samwise was also involved in the plans, he was the one who told them. Frodo was being played by all his close friends.
Merry, Pippin and Fatty Bolger have figured out the plan months in advance and made their own plans, in such a way that when the black riders arrive in the region, they leave within 5 minutes and have a route planned out already.
I forgot about that part; thanks for reminding me. I watched the film the previous night, but it’s obviously time for a reread :)
I came here for the book pedantry and you were fast and detailed but super nice about it, so my negative online instincs are only partially satisfied. 7/10.
“gayarsonist” and “gaycaspian”. What are the odds.
Well it is tumblr, so higher than you think
I might have known.
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to got the title. Turns out, not long at all :)
Their local field that is multiple days’ travel away and further than Sam has ever been (and they all know who Farmer Maggot is).
…and my joint
Pipe.
I’m sorry to be that guy, but in the prologue to the book, theres a whole section titled “Concerning Pipe-weed”, where Tolkien talks about how the plant spread around middle-earth, and specifically mentions it’s a type of tobacco.
Isn’t it more fun and whimsical to imagine something else though? That’s the great thing about fiction: it can be whatever you want it to be.
thats why i was sorry ;)
I’m pretty sure it was tabacco.
It explicitly and unambiguously was tobacco, but it’s still funny to think it was weed. Peter Jackson certainly liked to imply it was.
I think there’s an interview with Billy Boyd where he talks about filming this scene in a few different ways, as if they were happy, drunk, or stoned.
Where’s this coming from?
The books, Tolkien’s letters, and a section of the appendices at the end of RoTK all explicitly say it’s tobacco.
Speaking of Hobbits, Tolkien wrote:
they imbibed or inhaled, through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana [tobacco plant].
Tolkien was a big smoker. You rarely see pics of him without a pipe in his mouth.
Plus, given the Hobbit was released in 1937 in England, it’s likely that Tolkien didn’t even know what Cannabis was. He’d certainly be unaware of its future popularity/cultural relevance.
Cannabis had at least some level of presence in Europe for centuries. Robert Hooke, a contemporary of and fierce rival to Isaac Newton experimented with it in 1689. Still though, I have no idea to what extent. You may well be right that Tolkien never heard of it.
