December 20, 2002

Re: 40 Days
Brett C.

Hi Piro Hobbit. I don't actually have my copy of Fellowship on hand to look at the calendar of events, but I think the 40 days you're referring to must relate to Gandlaf's voice-over in the movie when they are travelling from Rivendell. But what he actually says is they must hold their coarse west of the Misty Mountains for 40 days until they reach the Gap of Rohan. In other words, the trip from Rivendell to The Gap would be 40 days. They havbe only gone about halfway when the crebain overfly the camp and Gandalf realises they must find another way over the Mountains [in the movie; in the books both Aragorn and Gandalf always intended to bypass Rohan by travelling over the Mountains and down into Lothlorien]. This means they would have taken about 20 days to reach the West Gate, a shorter amount of time than the trip from the Shire to Rivendell consistent with the shorter distance to be travelled that you mentioned.