misha
May 6th, 2009, 01:12 PM
In the chapter "The Taming of Smeagol, it mentions that as Frodo and Sam had began their final descent from the Emyn Muil, 3 days after they left the Fellowship, a violent thunderstorm occurred. The storm passed on southward, and was the same storm that the Riders of Rohan encountered as they were journeying to Isengard (before they changed course and went to Helm's Deep).
3 days after the Fellowship broke up, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were still pursuing the orcs who had captured Merry and Pippin. I don't think they had even met Eomer yet. They still had to travel to Fangorn, lose their horses overnight, meet Gandalf, ride to Edoras (they rode all day, rested briefly overnight, then arrived early the next morning), Gandalf had to heal Theoden, the Riders had to set out, and it took another day of traveling ahead of the gathering storm before it struck as they were defending Helm's Deep.
The Chronology in Appendix A shows that Frodo and Sam met Smeagol on March 29 (I think), and the battle of Helm's Deep occurred a few days later.
**** Only thing I can think of is that maybe Tolkein mixed up the T-storm that occurred when Gandalf healed Theoden at Edoras, and the one that struck at Helm's Deep.
Even then, the "Edoras" storm occurred a few days after Frodo and Sam met Smeagol, and the "Emyn Muil" narration clearly says it struck Rohan while the Riders were en route to Saruman.
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Discuss:
3 days after the Fellowship broke up, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were still pursuing the orcs who had captured Merry and Pippin. I don't think they had even met Eomer yet. They still had to travel to Fangorn, lose their horses overnight, meet Gandalf, ride to Edoras (they rode all day, rested briefly overnight, then arrived early the next morning), Gandalf had to heal Theoden, the Riders had to set out, and it took another day of traveling ahead of the gathering storm before it struck as they were defending Helm's Deep.
The Chronology in Appendix A shows that Frodo and Sam met Smeagol on March 29 (I think), and the battle of Helm's Deep occurred a few days later.
**** Only thing I can think of is that maybe Tolkein mixed up the T-storm that occurred when Gandalf healed Theoden at Edoras, and the one that struck at Helm's Deep.
Even then, the "Edoras" storm occurred a few days after Frodo and Sam met Smeagol, and the "Emyn Muil" narration clearly says it struck Rohan while the Riders were en route to Saruman.
*********
Discuss: