Alan Sisto

In sea, on the other hand, the black riders arrived at the gate of Isengard while Gandalf was still a prisoner in the tower.

In this account, Sodom, in fear and despair and perceiving the full horror of service to Mordor, resolved suddenly to yield to Gandalf and to beg for his pardon and help.

Temporizing at the gate, he admitted that he had Gandalf within and said that he would go and try to discover what he knew.

If that were unavailing, he would deliver Gandalf up to them.

Then Soderman hastened to the summit of Orthanc and found Gandalf gone.

Away south against the setting moon, he saw a great eagle flying towards Edoras.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Bad news, buddy.

Bad news.

That's right.

And here, Tolkien starts by saying, look, we cannot know with any surety what actually happened to him in the halls of Moria.

Now, this isn't just because Gollum hasn't done a proper debrief.

It's simply because he is always an unreliable source.

Right.

I mean, having lived under the roots of the Misty Mountains for, oh, half a millennium, he is, as the text says, peculiarly fitted to survive.

Certainly better than I could say for either of us.

What, three days tops?

Okay, but how does that square with what we experience when the company gets in there?

I mean, it feels like the numbers are a little greater there.