The scouts return and a meeting is called at which point you know that Frodo's companions will be selected!

The first few are predictable enough:

Aragorn - well who else? He's got to go and defeat the armys of darkness and claim his crown. No problem with this one!

Boromir - no worries! He's goin that was anyway and he seems to have accepted Aragorn and could therefore be of help in selling the idea of the King's return to his less then sane father.

Legolas - O Yes! A peerless (well almost) archer, and most probably one of the toughest around anyhow (being so old)!

Gimli - Continuing the 'every race is represented' vein, this is certainly a very good choice. A compact killing machine, but balanced with just the right amount of wisdom.

But now there's a bit of a problem. We you see we already have all the free peoples represented, elves, men, dwarves and hobbits, so who do we choose next?

There is no more men around the house so can't be any of them! There's only one more dwarf, Gloin, and he's a bit old. But look on the bright side - there's a load of tuffty elves. OK, you joke to yourself, maybe they couldn't storm the Dark Tower - but then nobody is asking them to, they just have to help Frodo along to get the the cracks of doom where he can get rid of the ring!

Well we could send Erestor, or Galdor, or even Glorfindel (the toughest combatant in Middle Earth, on the good guys side anyhow). You wait in anticipation for Elronds decision and the look of shock is obvious when Elrond finally chooses...........MERRY and PIPPIN!

WHAaAaAaT?!?!?!?!?

You ( at least I do) shake you head in disbelief, fearing Elrond sanity and run through the reasons for this strange decision. Taking the most obvious choice first you try to understand why Glorfindel was not chosen.

Could it be that Glorfindel is needed to protect Rivendell? You'd have to ask yourself - whats more important: 1) The distruction of the Ring and therefore Saurons as well, or 2) The preservation of one building, which will be stomped on should Sauron win anyway! So that's no argument for him to stay.

The two hobbits could not have been chosen because it was know they would awaken the Ents from their slumber, cause they were told NOT to enter Fangorn. They were chosen as friends for Frodo!?! Good god! As Gandalf said 'This is not a hobbit walking part'. In this mission lies the fate of Middle Earth!

And another thing - OK the hobbits go along - but why limit the company to 9. Why not have 10 and throw Glorfindel in for good measure! What's one more gonna do to change how secretly the company can move around! Besides the logic behind just 9 is as flawed as you can get! What was it?

'The nine walkers are to be set against the nine riders, who are evil'

Eh! What? If the nine riders met the nine walkers, then there would be only three good guys who would have a chance of walking away - Gandalf, Aragorn and maybe Legolas. Boromir and Gimli may prove hard to beat, but the four hobbits would get panned, which would free up their four Nazgul to pound the rest of the group!

Throw in Glorfindel and you al least give the group more of a fighting chance, with only one extra!

Can anyone explain this?

Padster

PS I really do believe LOR is the best thing ever! And I only write these messages so that we can have a good chat about it!