Posted: May 11, 2000 at 15:22:17: by David Freitag
This thread got me thinking: Shadowfax made two great runs, the one we're discussing and an earlier one, carrying Gandalf from Rohan to the Shire. Let's compare the two.
According to the Tale of Years, Gandalf took some time taming Shadowfax. His ride began sometime on Sept 23, he crosses the Isen on the 24th, the Greyflood (Tharbad crossing, presumably) on the 27th, Sarn Ford on the 28th, Hobbiton on the 29th (I presume he has to slow down some in the more settled Shire.) Then, on the 30th he rides to Crickhollow and Bree, and ia attacked at Weathertop on Oct. 3. There are no dates after this until he reaches Rivndell on Oct. 18, having parted from Shadowfax earlier, when he entered the Ettenmoors. Of course, from Hobbiton on, he is trying to track Frodo and co., interviewing the Gaffer and Butterbur and dealing with the Nazgul. The great ride is the run from Rohan (a big place, we don't know where he tamed Shadowfax, nor what time of day the ride began) to Hobbiton. I can get firmer figures by looking at the 5 day 550 mile run from the Isen to Hobbiton, 110 miles/day. (These are crow-flight distances, not accounting for the nortwards curve of the Greenway between Tharbad and Sarn Ford, among other things.) The longest stretch is the 300 miles from the Isen to the Greyflood, which Shadowfax ran in 3 days.
By comparison, Shadowfax carries Gandalf and Pippin from the Isen to Minas Tirith, 425 miles from March 5 (late night) to the 9th (morning), say 3.5 day, over 120 miles a day. Pippin's additional weight didn't slow him down at all. Some horse!
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