Ponderables
Jul. 23rd, 2004 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabidsamfanIf hobbits don't wear shoes or boots (except in rare instances) then why on earth does Sam sing about big Boots in the Troll Song, and why does he pack woolen hose?
And when Sam puts the Ring on and chases after the Orcs when they take Frodo, when does he take it off again? How many minutes/hours does Sam wear that thing, actually, and where was Gollum all that long time?
Why is it that I've never run across even one fic so far where Frodo starts out on the Quest properly hobbit-shaped, i.e. tubby in the tummy? And what happened to those rosy cheeks that Gandalf told Barliman about? Well, no I actually know the answers, don't I...
And when Sam puts the Ring on and chases after the Orcs when they take Frodo, when does he take it off again? How many minutes/hours does Sam wear that thing, actually, and where was Gollum all that long time?
Why is it that I've never run across even one fic so far where Frodo starts out on the Quest properly hobbit-shaped, i.e. tubby in the tummy? And what happened to those rosy cheeks that Gandalf told Barliman about? Well, no I actually know the answers, don't I...
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Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 02:30 am (UTC)As to your second set of questions, I'm stumped too, but I think that the answer to the third is that entirely too many fen think they couldn't love a fat hobbit, even if it was Frodo, so they refuse to be realistic.
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 02:50 am (UTC)1) It's a useful visual to differentiate him. Contrasts are fun, after all.
2) It lets one use that cute little fanon story about hobbitchildren mistaking him for an elf
3) I've got a bad case of Elijah Wood on the brain.
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 02:55 am (UTC)Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 02:51 am (UTC)Tom could be one of the big people, certainly, but if Sam's making up a song extemporarily you'd think it would be even more likely to be about familiar things, yes? Well, except for the Troll! Although maybe he was thinking of Tom Bombadil...
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 10:56 am (UTC)Something wrong with those eyes? Hm? Hm???
*clenches her fists*
Sorry...
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 11:30 am (UTC)*grin*
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 12:02 pm (UTC)Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 01:44 pm (UTC)No need to apologize! I suspect you're not the only one.
(and besides, if you're all distracted by the pretty blue eyes that means I get Sam all to myself, right?)
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 01:51 pm (UTC)Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 01:52 pm (UTC)*offers to arm-wrestle you over Sam*
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 06:04 am (UTC)Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 11:41 am (UTC)Sam, on the other hand, is described as "sturdy" and "brown" (probably from the sun), and his eyes are definitely brown.
To be honest, I'm not in the least offended by this omission in most fic, I just think it's funny.
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-24 02:30 pm (UTC)Tolkien does not describe his characters physically except for a few symbolic features (e.g. tall and grey-eyed, meaning Numerorian) because he wants us to know them from within.
His one physical description of Frodo is Gandalf's to Barliman Butterbur: "A stout little fellow with red cheeks. That won't help you much, it goes for most hobbits, Barley. But this one is taller than some and fairer than most, and has a cleft in his chin; perky chap with a bright eye." This description rouses Sam's indignation but it isn't for Sam; it is meant to let a big person -- one of us -- recognize a particular hobbit.
On the quest, after months with little to eat, Sam thinks in his Frodo-centered way that Frodo has become too thin for a hobbit. A third party would have said the same of Sam, as both are subsisting on the same spare rations. When they are able to get a good meal on the quest, or even an adequate meal such as Faramir provides and which seems like a feast compared to what they've been living on, both hobbits fall seriously to eating in the manner of all hobbits.
In the later stages of the quest, while Frodo is entirely absorbed in fighting off the attacks of the Ring, Sam has make sure Frodo eats. This isn't anorexia on Frodo's part. He is too absorbed by the Ring and by trying to figure out a course to Mount Doom to think of anything else. On the other hand, Frodo might feel more hunger than he shows because he doesn't want Sam to give him all their small remaining stock of food and starve himself.
There is no record in the post-quest chapters that Frodo was in any way unwilling to eat. These chapters are less intimate and more publicly-focussed than the preceding few, however they do take note of Frodo's regularly-scheduled wounding anniversaries, his fear of being near Weathertop, etc. Since those signs of enduring damage are noted, so ought to be any others.
Back in the Shire, Sam's "vague anxiety" on Frodo's behalf concerns only his withdrawal from the life of the Shire. Nothing is noted about anorexia, nightmares, or any other of the dramatic manifestations so dear to the hearts of fanfic writers. If a hobbit didn't eat, any other hobbit would very likely be seriously alarmed, not vaguely anxious.
Based on what Tolkien wrote, Frodo has, in normal times, as healthy an appetite and rotund a shape as Bilbo before him or any other member of his species.
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-25 03:33 am (UTC)I had a vague notion of a reference in Mordor somewhere, though, of Frodo forgetting to eat. But skimming through just now it strikes me how much Frodo is taking care of Sam -- making sure he eats and drinks before they leave the tower of Cirith Ungol, and taking his hand instead of the other way around when Sam tells him about Shelob and his other adventures.
*happy sigh*
Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-25 11:32 am (UTC)Re: Tom & his boots
Date: 2004-07-26 04:20 pm (UTC)