It’s the world’s worst whitewater rafting trip in the second half of Chapter 9 of The Hobbit! Bilbo reveals his plan for escaping the Elvenking’s halls. His friends are, quite understandably, less than enthusiastic, but with both time and ideas running out, it’s into the barrels they go! As they float away to freedom (or death), we learn more about Elvish wine, Dwarvish claustrophobia, and Hobbits’ legendary fear of water. Also, an excuse to talk about Eärendil (as if Shawn needed one), and historic moments from the War of the Ring remembered in a special Tolkien history segment.
Help send the Pony to Mythmoot! Buy a PPP T-shirt today to help send The Prancing Pony Podcast to Virginia for Mythmoot V in June. All proceeds will be used to help cover travel costs for Shawn and Alan to attend MMV and host a live episode broadcast. Available here until March 31, 2018! Thank you!
For an image of J.R.R. Tolkien’s illustration Bilbo comes to the huts of the Raft-elves, see this website for a major exhibition of Tolkien’s work opening at the Bodleian Libraries later in 2018: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/news/2017/mar-17
For Tolkien’s annotated map of Middle-earth, and the Pauline Baynes map featuring Dorwinion, see this 2016 article in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.
Recommended Reading:
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit (Mariner Books, paperback) pp. 167-173, “Barrels Out of Bond”
Tolkien, J. R. R. and Douglas A. Anderson, ed. The Annotated Hobbit (HarperCollins, hardcover)
Rateliff, John D. The History of the Hobbit (HarperCollins, one-volume hardcover)
Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Mariner Books, paperback)
