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Food and Alliance

We observed that meals, frequently accompanied by music, often appear immediately before the characters embark on a shared task or set out to complete the next leg of their journey. Most meals are shared between the members of the Fellowship and their allies, and there is a clear pattern to the actions allies take together, which is repeated with every new bond formed. The members of the Fellowship start out in danger or facing a problem; they escape the danger or solve the problem, usually through the help of their ally; they eat together; they embark on a task, either jointly or on a quest entrusted to the Fellowship by their new ally. We see this pattern first with Bilbo, who adopts the orphaned Frodo as his heir, hosts a gigantic birthday feast for the two of them, and leaves Frodo with the responsibility of taking care of the Ring, although it is not yet clear to either of them what exactly that will entail. Though these events are not necessarily close to one another chronologically, they are related in immediate succession, thereby setting a precedent for the formation of new ties that is followed for the remainder of the trilogy.

By the end of The Fellowship of the Ring’s Book I, the Fellowship members (not formally the Fellowship until the end of Book I) have formed no fewer than seven new alliances, all marked by the same pattern of danger, shared food, and new purpose: Bilbo, Fatty Bolger, Gildor, Farmer Maggot, Tom Bombadil, Barliman Butterbur (they also add Aragorn to their company here), and Elrond. They vary in the dangers from which they help the Fellowship get away (although most of this group is focused on helping deter the Black Riders) and in the importance of the quest with which they leave the Fellowship, but all share meals between the two.

There are some indications that divergence of allies may be visible through a mixing in the kind of food people are eating. When the Fellowship finds a new ally they are generally hosted by that ally and given food. When they leave that ally later on, they generally are given some form of food or supplies to take with them on their journey as a sign of good faith. The most obvious example of this is the lembas bread of the Elves. We see the Fellowship eating lembas bread as they move away from the Elves, but it is now always in conjunction with other food or water that has been found somewhere else. For example, when the Fellowship leaves Galadriel, their next meal includes both Elvish food and food items that the Fellowship members themselves found. In this sense, mapping the presence of mixed origins of food allows us to map the Fellowship’s separations from its hosts, while the appearance of meals where only food of a certain race is eaten indicates that the members have found a new ally.

Music

Tolkien is famous for his use of songs, but we wanted to explore their relationship to alliance. There are, of course, songs that are not sung by allies at all; for example, the songs of the Orcs who capture Merry and Pippin. These are significant despite the fact that they do not follow the usual pattern. There are some initial indications that the presence of songs may function as an indicator of the location of the singer. Often, songs are inspired based upon something that the singer notices about their location or their company, and thus can indirectly demonstrate a sort of map in and of themselves through their presence and their subject matter.

Exceptions

We have found one clear exception to the rule of meals to mark the formation of an alliance, and one potential exception. Aragorn calls upon the Dead Men of Dunharrow to fulfill their oath and to fight for him — but, logically, Dead Men cannot partake in a meal of alliance. If anything, this exception heightens the importance of food between allies as food is shared between new allies unless those allies are dead and literally cannot partake of any food or drink themselves. The other exception is less cut and dried; when Merry and Pippin are hosted in Fangorn Forest by Treebeard, he gives them water (which, as a tree being, he considers to be a meal) to rejuvenate them, but the hobbits feel it is not properly breakfast unless someone is munching on something — which indicates the nature of hobbits if nothing else.

Additionally, not all meals designate the forming of a friendship. Over the course of the series, we have identified at least three occasions on which members of the Fellowship eat with or are provided food by people who are not their allies. In The Two Towers, Merry and Pippin are fed by the Isengard orcs who capture them. In The Return of the King, Pippin and Gandalf eat with Faramir, who is an ally — but his father Denethor, who is not an ally, is also present; later on, Frodo and Sam share food with Gollum while he travels as their guide, then find after he betrays them that they are unwillingly sharing their water with him - he drinks it while they are sleeping nearby, though he cannot eat their food. These instances do not follow the usual pattern, but they too have symbolic meaning; none of these characters rescue the Fellowship from danger, nor do they set the protagonists on any further quests. The orcs are enemies, but they have been ordered to do their best to keep Merry and Pippin alive, at least for the time being. Denethor is not an ally, but neither is he wholly evil, and he does if nothing else provide the manpower by which Minas Tirith is held until help arrives. Gollum vacillates from ally to enemy repeatedly in a fluctuation representative of the struggle between the Ring’s influence and his own personality over whether good or evil will rule him. By the time he is stealing water from Frodo and Sam, the Ring has more or less won out; he is unable to eat the healthy, wholesome bread given by the Elves, and the water he steals is dirty and originated in Mordor.

Key

fbFrodo Baggins
sgSamwise Gamgee
ptPeregrin Took
mbMeriadoc Brandybuck
gwGandalf
aAragorn
ggGimli
lLegolas
bBoromir
bbBilbo Baggins
gcGaladriel/Celeborn
tbTom Bombadil
hobHob Hayward

Book I: The Fellowship of the Ring

Hosted and Non-Hosted Meals

Host Fellowship Members Location Food Items Food Type
bb fb gw hobbiton
fb unknown
fb unknown
fb pt sg unknown
gildor pt sg fb greenwood bread, fruits, fragrant draught elvish elvish elvish
fb sg pt unknown fruit, drink, bread elvish elvish elvish
maggot pt fb sg unknown beer hobbit
maggot fb pt sg MaggotsFarm beer, mushrooms and bacon hobbit hobbit
mb pt fb mb sg FrodosHouse
tb fb sg pt mb TomBombadilsHouse yellow cream, honeycomb, white bread, butter, milk, cheese, green herbs, ripe berries other other other other other other other other
tb fb sg pt mb TomBombadilsHouse
fb sg pt mb unknown
butterbur fb pt sg mb PrancingPony beer, hot soup, cold meats, blackberry tart, new loaves, slabs of butter, half a ripe cheese human human human human human human human
fb PrancingPony ale human
a fb sg pt mb unknown
unknown liquor, stale bread, dried fruit elvish human human
elrond fb pt mb gw sg a rivendell
elrond fb rivendell drinking-cup, bread elvish elvish
fb gg b gw l mb pt sg a eregion supper-breakfast elvish
gw fb a b gg l mb pt sg caradhras miruvor elvish
a l gg b fb sg mb pt gw mistymountains miruvor elvish
gw a l b gg fb mb pt sg mistymountains
fb a l b gg mb pt sg gw moria miruvor elvish
haldir fb mb pt sg lothlorien
gc a b fb sg mb pt l gg lothlorien
gc fb a sg mb pt b l gg lothlorien lembas elvish
gcgc fb sg mb pt a l gg b lothlorien mead elvish
a b fb sg mb pt l gg anduin lembas elvish
fb sg mb pt a l b gg argonath

Characters Present

Hosts

Foods Eaten

Book II: The Two Towers

Hosted and Non-Hosted Meals

Host Fellowship Members Location Food Items Food Type
gg a l unknown waybread elvish
mb pt unknown orc-liquor orc
pt mb unknown draught, raw dried flesh, grey bread orc orc orc
mb pt edgeOfFangorn lembas elvish
mb pt fangorn water other
treebeard pt mb fangorn draught ent
treebeard mb pt fangorn two full bowls from a stone jar, elf-cake ent elvish
theoden a l gw gg goldenHall
mb pt a gg l isengard toast, wine, beer, salted pork, bacon, butter, honey human human human human human human human
fb sg unknown lembas, water elvish other
sg fb unknown
sg fb unknown coney, herbs, stew, broth, waybread hobbit hobbit hobbit hobbit elvish
faramir fb sg hennethAnnun pale yellow wine, bread, butter, salted meats, dried fruits, red cheese human human human human human human
fb hennethAnnun fish other
faramir fb sg hennethAnnun water other
fb sg ithilien dried fruits, salted meat, bread human human human
fb sg ruinedCity water, bread, dried fruit other human human
fb sg cirithUngol wafers, water elvish other

Characters Present

Hosts

Foods Eaten

Book III: The Return of the King

Hosted and Non-Hosted Meals

Host Fellowship Members Location Food Items Food Type
beregond pt minasTirith bread, butter, cheese, apples, ale human human human human human
pt minasTirith
theoden mb l gg rohan
a l gg rohan
eowyn l gg a rohan
eowyn a gg l rohan
theoden mb rohan
mb rohan
gw pt minasTirith loaf, butter, milk human human human
denethor pt gw minasTirith white bread, wine human human
fb sg mordor waybread, what Captain Faramir gave us, last drop elvish human other
fb sg mordor lembas elvish
sg fb mordor water other
fb sg mordor dried fruit, cured meat, water human human other
fb sg mordor water, waybread other elvish
sg fb mordor water, waybread other elvish
fb sg mordor lembas elvish
fb sg mordor
fb sg gw a gg l pt mb ithilien
a gg minastirith
eowyneomer pt sg fb l gg a mb rohan
a fb sg mb pt l gg rohan stirrup-cup human
treebeard mb pt fangorn draught ent
fb sg mb pt rivendell
butterbur gw fb sg pt mb bree beer human
hob mb pt fb sg brandywine
shirriffs mb pt sg fb frogmorton
fb mb pt sg hobbiton
sg bag end

Characters Present

Hosts

Foods Eaten