Nerd of the Rings

[waider]

My sister and her boyfriend called over on Saturday, and we watched bits of FotR. She's borrowed my LotR boxed set to get the "real" story. During the course of watching, both her and the boyfriend asked me various questions about LotR, FotR, and so forth. And I was able to answer pretty much all of 'em. Correctly. With Proper Names, occasionally.

I hadn't realised I was that much of a Tolkien geek.

Actually, I'm re-reading The Hobbit. I notice when Bilbo meets Gollum, he reveals himself to be Mr. Bilbo Baggins, but never mentions the Shire. So how come Gollum's giveaway in Barad-Dûr is "Baggins! Shire!"?

Comments

[zadcat.livejournal.com]

Tolkien kind of handwaves this, but he does address it. Gandalf is talking to Frodo:

'Baggins would pay for it. That was his chief thought. He hated Bilbo and cursed his name. What is more, he knew where he came from.'
'But how did he find that out?' asked Frodo.
'Well, as for the name, Bilbo very foolishly told Gollum himself; and after that it would not be difficult to discover his country, once Gollum came out.'

Later Frodo asks why Gollum hadn't tracked Bilbo back to the Shire years ago, and Gandalf surmises that instead he went to Mordor.

[waider.livejournal.com]

Aha. See, if I hadn't loaned my books to my sister, I'd have been able to look this up.