An Underappreciated Passage in LOTR

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SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,612
7,602
NE Wisconsin
"Good!" said Merry. “Then I would like supper first, and after that a pipe.” At that his face clouded. “No, not a pipe. I don’t think I’ll smoke again.”

“Why not?” said Pippin.

“Well,” answered Merry slowly. “[Theoden] is dead. It has brought it all back to me. He said he was sorry he had never had a chance of talking herb-lore with me. Almost the last thing he ever said. I shan’t ever be able to smoke again without thinking of him, and that day, Pippin, when he rode up to Isengard and was so polite.”

“Smoke, then, and think of him!” said Aragorn. “For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning. Though your service to him was brief, it should be a memory glad and honourable to the end of your days.”

Merry smiled. “Well then,” he said, “if Strider will provide what is needed, I will smoke and think..."
 

DesertDan

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 27, 2022
828
3,863
Tucson, AZ
A great passage indeed!

The Hobbit begins and ends with pipe smoking. In fact, the last three words in the book are "the tobacco jar"

"'You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!' 'Thank goodness!' said Bilbo laughing and handed him the tobacco-jar."
 
Oct 26, 2024
24
50
Are those quotes from the book or from PJ’s trilogy as I don’t quite remember hearing that conversation in the movie?

Also, they mention smoking “pipe weed” not tobacco but I’ve always assumed they used that term as to not utter the word tobacco. Either way Tolkien was a pipe smoker indeed and I’m glad PJ included pipe smoking in the trilogy.

IMG_1003.jpeg
 

SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,612
7,602
NE Wisconsin
Are those quotes from the book or from PJ’s trilogy as I don’t quite remember hearing that conversation in the movie?

Also, they mention smoking “pipe weed” not tobacco but I’ve always assumed they used that term as to not utter the word tobacco. Either way Tolkien was a pipe smoker indeed and I’m glad PJ included pipe smoking in the trilogy.

View attachment 345139

I'm not sure whether Jackson included these lines in his films.

Tolkien had absolutely no qualms about using the word "tobacco." Nobody did in the 50s. "Pipe-weed" was just the hobbitish appellation for what Tolkien states in the prologue is "a variety probably of Nicotiana."
 

Hillcrest

Lifer
Dec 3, 2021
3,691
18,862
Connecticut, USA
Are those quotes from the book or from PJ’s trilogy as I don’t quite remember hearing that conversation in the movie?

Also, they mention smoking “pipe weed” not tobacco but I’ve always assumed they used that term as to not utter the word tobacco. Either way Tolkien was a pipe smoker indeed and I’m glad PJ included pipe smoking in the trilogy.

View attachment 345139
The books ... I don't believe that one is in the movie.
 

AreBee

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 12, 2024
698
3,844
Farmington, Connecticut USA
My daughter was home from college for the weekend so we decided to dial up a movie and she suggested Fellowship of the Ring. This was the first time watching it since I began smoking pipes this year.

As far as memorable scenes, I had always remembered Aragorn's face lighting up in the Prancing Pony, but completely glazed over all the other pipe shots. There so many instances and several scenes with multiple pipe smokers. Going to reread the Hobbit and the trilogy after I finish my current book.