July 12, 2002

Re: Now That You Mention It
Matt

In any novel there will be some discrepencies but I will try and explain away some of them.

Glorfindal: The ringwraiths attack was a surprise attack so Glorfindal had no time to get on the horse and help Frodo. He just yelled "fly" and the horse was off. Plus, by doing this Frodo has a chance to show how much resistance he has towards the power of the ring.

Gandalf: Gandalf had no idea Bilbo's ring was the ring of power. Plus, he already had doubts about the loyalty of Saruman. He wanted to be sure about the ring before he did anything about it. It was safe in the shire because Sauron had never thought to look there. Meanwhile, he went searching about for facts about the one ring.

The book explains away Gandalf's absense more clearly.

Frodo is able to live in the shire for many years because Sauron has not yet found about the ring. Plus, Gandalf thought he had gollum under his possession. He had no idea that the elves let him free only to have Sauron capture him.

In the movie Gandalf goes unprovoked to Saruman. In the book Gandalf is persuaded by Radagast.

I am not sure why Saruman let Gandalf keep his staff. Perhaps because he thought Gandalf was no match for him? Besides, the staff was useless in the tower. Gandalf needed the eagle to save him.