January 16, 2002

The Grey Havens
Colles A.

I am a bit of a new Tolkien fan. Last year I have read the book for the first time (in Dutch). After seeing the movie (twice) I decided to read the book again in English this time. Reading your comments I agree the friendship between Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pepin is a bit underestimated in the movie even as the courage of Frodo. Especially Pepin looks a bit foolish but this might change in the second and the third part. I think in the movie they wanted to stress the power of the Ring on Frodo's mind and maybe started the decay a bit to soon. One of my favourite chapters in the book is 'A conspiracy unmasked' because here you really see how much they care about each other. Reading the book I've got the impression Frodo is much wiser when he finally destroys the Ring compaired with the beginning of the adventure.

Something remains unclear to me: the Grey Havens. Where do the ships go to? Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf and Galadriel go first, after some time followed by Sam and later also by Legolas and Gimly. But why not Merry, Pepin and Aragorn? Frodo, Bilbo and Sam all carried the Ring for some time, so this could be a reason. But what about Gandalf, Legolas, Gimly and Galadriel? Is there someone who can help me understand this? Thank you!