# How was Gandalf being delayed a good thing?



## BalrogRingDestroyer (Jun 15, 2018)

Gandalf: I was delayed and that nearly proved our ruin. But I don't know, it may have been better so.


How was Saruman delaying him a GOOD thing? What could have gone wrong had Gandalf actually been with them the whole time? The only thing I can think of is that the Nazgul may have had an easier time sensing Gandalf since he was a Mair than they did sensing the others. The reason they kept coming near Frodo was because he had the Ring and it was even stated by Strider that the Ring draws the Nine. Otherwise, I'm not sure how the Nazgul expected to find Frodo anyway. How could they smell him, as they had never probably smelt a Hobbit before (save perhaps Gollum), let alone Frodo Baggins. More to the point, for all they knew, Bilbo Baggins had the Ring. (I'm not sure if Gollum gave a full name or not. In the movie he says "Baggins! Shire!" but I thought Bilbo gave his full name in the book.)


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Jun 15, 2018)

As it stands, the interpretation would seem to be that Gandalf's absence meant that Frodo was forced to, at least at times, make decisions on his own, and begin growing into maturity, without Gandalf's guidance. It certainly fits the traditional structure in which the wise father-figure withdraws, to see what his "son" will do.

The "real" reason is that it is a vestigial remnant of a previous version of the story, in which the intention was to go _west, _toward the Havens. IIRC, Gandalf's failure to appear caused Frodo to decide to make for Rivendell instead. See HOLOTR for this.

The rather odd statement at the fords: "But Frodo was not Bombadil" is another such vestige, BTW.

The Black Rider had been in Hobbiton, and spoken with the Gaffer, at least, and possibly others, so he would know what hobbits smelled like. But he may have simply been smelling for anyone on the little-used track. He did know from his conversation with the Gaffer that "Baggins" was going to Buckland.

This Rider was Khamul the Shadow of the East, of whom a note to "The Hunt for the Ring" in UT says:

_. . .he was the most ready of all the Nazgul, after the Black Captain himself, to perceive the presence of the Ring, but also the one whose power was most confused and diminished by daylight._

That would help to explain the "smelling".

As I recall, Gollum only ever used "Baggins"; and UT states that the only two pieces of information Sauron had to go on were "Shire" and "Baggins". See UT for the differing versions of the story.

I would also recommend a careful reread of LOTR itself.

Addendum:

Looking through HOLOTR, I appear to have misremebered: Frodo was going east from the beginning. The knots are difficult to untangle, so I won't even try to do so here, except to say that Tolkien was struggling to find a motive for Frodo's departure on his adventure. In the early stages, it is attributed only to a feeling of unease. At one point, he (and Gandalf) decided it would be best to return the Ring to Bilbo.

In searching for a reason for Gandalf's failure to turn up, therefore causing Frodo to go off without his guidance, Tolkien at one point had him being chased along the East Road, going around the Shire, eventually to be besieged by some of the Riders in the White Tower. This idea was later discarded, the only echo remaining of it being Frodo's dream at Crickhollow. Gandalf _would _be trapped at a tower of course, but this was a later development, and Frodo would dream about that, too, giving us _two _"tower dreams".

In any event, getting back to the original question, Gandalf's statement you cited is followed by his explanation, also dropped from the published text, but which I quote here:

_'Knowing the peril I should not have dared to take such risks, and we might either have been trapped in the Shire, or if I had tried some long way round we might have been hunted down in some wild place far from all help. As it is we have escaped the pursuit -- for the moment.
_
The Treason of Isengard, p. 82.

So you could say there was, at this point, still a vestige of the original idea -- probably why it was dropped.

Although even here, a remnant survived: the phrase about being "hunted down in some wild place far from all help"; with slightly altered wording, it would return in Strider's speech to Frodo at the Pony.


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