We first encounter a Black Rider on the evening of September 23rd as dark is descending on the Shire. Frodo walks a short way down the Hill Road prior to his departure for Rivendell, hoping the long expected Gandalf will appear out the gloom. With nothing seen he turns to go back to Bag End when he overhears one side of a conversation between Hamfast Gamgee (The Gaffer) and a stranger. Hamfast tells the stranger that Mr. Baggins (meaning Frodo Baggins not Bilbo, who was the “Baggins” being sought) had sold up and departed (supposedly) for Buckland earlier that morning. The Black Rider then leaves and “Footsteps went away down the hill”. One curious point here is that Frodo hears footsteps and not the clip clop of horse hooves. If the rider had been with his horse then presumably hoof steps would have been heard as well. It was a still night. Therefore it would seem the rider must have left his horse elsewhere down the hill. Where?
It would appear that the Black Rider did not know of, or where precisely, Bag End was. However he was certainly in the right location. Presumably he knew enough to know that “Baggins” was at least in Hobbiton, and on the Hill, if not the location of Bag End itself. At this point the obvious thing would be for the rider to pursue Frodo on the East Road towards the Brandywine bridge given the Gaffer had provided this information. We know that at this point there were at least three other riders in the Shire. It is reported that Khumul had travelled through the central Shire with one other who he sent to Whitfurrows to station between the East Rd and the Stock Rd. So why did Khumul not immediately pursue Frodo along the East Rd towards Buckland?
We know that Frodo on leaving Bag End does not take the main road but rather the more circuitous route through the hill country and Woodhall to Buckland as this is his favourite part of the Shire. To do this, and to avoid the “eyes prying and ears pricking” of the village he cuts across country to pick up the road to Stock and then travelled east towards Stock. It would appear that the black rider (Khumul) did the same. There is no road that connects the East road with the Stock Road from the west. It would be possible to take the East Road to Waymeet and then to Tookbank but there is no road linking Tookbank with Tuckburrow. Even if there was a link it is still a much longer way to reach the Stock road. Alternatively to travel to Stock via the East Rd and the Marish, ride west to a point beyond which Frodo gains the Stock Rd so as to be able to “come from behind” is also very long and would not fit the timeline.
The question is why, or how, would Khumul, having been told Baggins had left for Buckland that morning, know to follow Frodo south across country to the Stock Rd? We know that Khumul, after the witch King, was the most sensitive to the presence of the ring. We can only presume that this sense enabled him to determine the ring was close by and be able to follow it. This then poses the question why did he not sense it when Frodo was nearby when he was talking with the Gaffer?
The next encounter with a Black Rider is on the road to Stock. This is around mid to late afternoon the next day, September 24th. After a late start (10am) in the morning, a subsequent rest and lunch, the hobbits resume walking to Stock/Woodhall when Sam hears a pony or horse coming from behind, i.e. from the direction of Tuckburrow. After hurriedly finding cover in a patch of grass under a tree Frodo observes a Black Rider approach the same point where Frodo had left the road to hide. The rider stops at this point, apparently “sniffing for an elusive scent” and looked “side to side”. After a while it stepped forward and broke into a quick trot. Frodo moves back to the road and observes what he thinks is the rider leaving the road into the trees on the right. This last point is interesting and we are never informed of its relevance. As the next encounter is later that evening the presumption can be made that the rider hid, or sheltered from the sun, between the afternoon and evening encounters in the trees but this is not actually stated.
Why did the Black Rider move on at this point with the ring only mere metres away? We are told that Khumul was the most affected, and most likely to stray, in sunlight. Can this be the reason as to his not risking a confrontation in the daylight?
The third encounter is later that evening. After the earlier encounter Frodo had decided to leave the road but follow it at a “stone’s throw to the left”. After the sun had gone down and evening was approaching they regained the road at the point where it branches with the main road going to Stock and a lane to Woodhall. Frodo takes the lane to Woodhall. Following another meal and with dusk falling they continued on their way to Woodhall. After some time Frodo once more hears the sound of hooves from behind. Again they decide to hide off to the side of the road. Frodo creeps back a little to observe the road. He sees the black shape of a horse being lead by a smaller black shadow. This shadow then bends to the ground and starts to crawl towards Frodo. It seems that the Black Rider is aware of the ring, and the ring bearer, and has no compunction this time to leave the road in pursuit. Frodo is saved by Elves who coming down the lane cause the Black Rider to retreat, mount his horse and disappear into the darkness on the other side of the road.
As the Black Rider had once again come from behind the presumption is that Frodo had been able to pass the rider sometime between the afternoon and the evening encounters. We know that the rider had left the road to the right following the earlier encounter and that Frodo had moved a stone’s throw to the left until reaching the branch in the road. This presumably meant Frodo was able to avoid being observed by the rider waiting in the trees and get ahead. Presumably the rider waited in the trees until night fall when he his power would increase.
On September 25th after spending the night with the elves in a glade above Woodhall Frodo then decides to cut across country on a direct route to the Buckleberry ferry. This is to avoid returning via the Woodhall lane to the Stock road as this would not only be considerably longer but also avoid being visible on the road where he would be looked for. After leaving the glade at the bottom and descending the bank into the woods below Frodo is soon hindered by the close brush and a steeply sided stream. Looking back up the bank the hobbits see a Black Rider and they quickly decide they cannot go back and continue downwards to the flat land below. From this sighting it can be assumed that the Black Rider is the same as encountered the previous day. Also it would appear that he must have followed Frodo and the elves to where they spent the night and remained in the vicinity. But where did the rider stay that night?
Once gaining the flat land and correcting their course to the Buckleberry ferry the Hobbits find themselves on Farmer Maggot’s land. They are informed by Maggot that he had “just heard the name Baggins before you turned up”. Also that the Black Rider had said ‘ “I come from yonder”, pointing back west over my fields’. This is the same direction that Frodo had travelled although their course was more from the south, but nonetheless ending up in Maggot’s fields. It seems strange that given the short time between the Black Rider and Frodo arriving at Maggot’s farm and from roughly the same direction the Hobbits and the Black Rider had not seen each other.
The next encounter is later that evening when after disembarking on the Buckleberry side of the Brandywine Sam looks back and sees a black shadow under the lights of the ferry landing from where they had come. The causes Frodo to ask about horses being able to cross the Brandywine.
The last encounter with the Black Riders in the Shire is during the night of 29/30 September at Crickhollow. Fatty Bolger had been keeping up the pretence that Frodo was still in residence. “A feeling of fear had been growing on him all day” and after peering out the door saw shadows approach under the trees and the gate seemingly open and close on its own. The inference here is that the Black Riders had been observing Crickhollow all that day. Later in the night three Black Riders approach the house, one to the front door and the other two to each corner. After forcing the door open “in the name of Mordor” they realise the house is empty. At the same time Fatty Bolger had raised the alarm, a horn blew out and was answered by others throughout Buckland. The Riders then depart for the the North Gate and leave the Shire.
There is a gap of four days between the ferry landing sighting on 25 September and the attack on Crickhollow on September 30. This a long time for three or four Black Riders to loiter in the Shire unnoticed. To travel from the ferry landing to the Brandywine bridge and thence to Crickhollow would require less than a day so could have been achieved on September 26. The riders must have known Baggins was in Buckland from having been told this as well as observing the Hobbits on the Buckland side of the Brandywine. They may have expected Frodo to take to the East Rd and lain in wait but to do so for three days without result seems an excessive amount of time.
Indeed to sum up the endeavours of the Black Riders during the five days they are in the Shire they demonstrate considerable incompetence and seem dogged by extraordinary bad luck. But then as Gildor Inglorion says “”In this meeting there may be more than chance”. And so chance may have protected Frodo as he set out from the Shire but there are many unanswered questions. There again it is only a story and the storyteller cannot be expected to cover every contingency.
It would appear that the Black Rider did not know of, or where precisely, Bag End was. However he was certainly in the right location. Presumably he knew enough to know that “Baggins” was at least in Hobbiton, and on the Hill, if not the location of Bag End itself. At this point the obvious thing would be for the rider to pursue Frodo on the East Road towards the Brandywine bridge given the Gaffer had provided this information. We know that at this point there were at least three other riders in the Shire. It is reported that Khumul had travelled through the central Shire with one other who he sent to Whitfurrows to station between the East Rd and the Stock Rd. So why did Khumul not immediately pursue Frodo along the East Rd towards Buckland?
We know that Frodo on leaving Bag End does not take the main road but rather the more circuitous route through the hill country and Woodhall to Buckland as this is his favourite part of the Shire. To do this, and to avoid the “eyes prying and ears pricking” of the village he cuts across country to pick up the road to Stock and then travelled east towards Stock. It would appear that the black rider (Khumul) did the same. There is no road that connects the East road with the Stock Road from the west. It would be possible to take the East Road to Waymeet and then to Tookbank but there is no road linking Tookbank with Tuckburrow. Even if there was a link it is still a much longer way to reach the Stock road. Alternatively to travel to Stock via the East Rd and the Marish, ride west to a point beyond which Frodo gains the Stock Rd so as to be able to “come from behind” is also very long and would not fit the timeline.
The question is why, or how, would Khumul, having been told Baggins had left for Buckland that morning, know to follow Frodo south across country to the Stock Rd? We know that Khumul, after the witch King, was the most sensitive to the presence of the ring. We can only presume that this sense enabled him to determine the ring was close by and be able to follow it. This then poses the question why did he not sense it when Frodo was nearby when he was talking with the Gaffer?
The next encounter with a Black Rider is on the road to Stock. This is around mid to late afternoon the next day, September 24th. After a late start (10am) in the morning, a subsequent rest and lunch, the hobbits resume walking to Stock/Woodhall when Sam hears a pony or horse coming from behind, i.e. from the direction of Tuckburrow. After hurriedly finding cover in a patch of grass under a tree Frodo observes a Black Rider approach the same point where Frodo had left the road to hide. The rider stops at this point, apparently “sniffing for an elusive scent” and looked “side to side”. After a while it stepped forward and broke into a quick trot. Frodo moves back to the road and observes what he thinks is the rider leaving the road into the trees on the right. This last point is interesting and we are never informed of its relevance. As the next encounter is later that evening the presumption can be made that the rider hid, or sheltered from the sun, between the afternoon and evening encounters in the trees but this is not actually stated.
Why did the Black Rider move on at this point with the ring only mere metres away? We are told that Khumul was the most affected, and most likely to stray, in sunlight. Can this be the reason as to his not risking a confrontation in the daylight?
The third encounter is later that evening. After the earlier encounter Frodo had decided to leave the road but follow it at a “stone’s throw to the left”. After the sun had gone down and evening was approaching they regained the road at the point where it branches with the main road going to Stock and a lane to Woodhall. Frodo takes the lane to Woodhall. Following another meal and with dusk falling they continued on their way to Woodhall. After some time Frodo once more hears the sound of hooves from behind. Again they decide to hide off to the side of the road. Frodo creeps back a little to observe the road. He sees the black shape of a horse being lead by a smaller black shadow. This shadow then bends to the ground and starts to crawl towards Frodo. It seems that the Black Rider is aware of the ring, and the ring bearer, and has no compunction this time to leave the road in pursuit. Frodo is saved by Elves who coming down the lane cause the Black Rider to retreat, mount his horse and disappear into the darkness on the other side of the road.
As the Black Rider had once again come from behind the presumption is that Frodo had been able to pass the rider sometime between the afternoon and the evening encounters. We know that the rider had left the road to the right following the earlier encounter and that Frodo had moved a stone’s throw to the left until reaching the branch in the road. This presumably meant Frodo was able to avoid being observed by the rider waiting in the trees and get ahead. Presumably the rider waited in the trees until night fall when he his power would increase.
On September 25th after spending the night with the elves in a glade above Woodhall Frodo then decides to cut across country on a direct route to the Buckleberry ferry. This is to avoid returning via the Woodhall lane to the Stock road as this would not only be considerably longer but also avoid being visible on the road where he would be looked for. After leaving the glade at the bottom and descending the bank into the woods below Frodo is soon hindered by the close brush and a steeply sided stream. Looking back up the bank the hobbits see a Black Rider and they quickly decide they cannot go back and continue downwards to the flat land below. From this sighting it can be assumed that the Black Rider is the same as encountered the previous day. Also it would appear that he must have followed Frodo and the elves to where they spent the night and remained in the vicinity. But where did the rider stay that night?
Once gaining the flat land and correcting their course to the Buckleberry ferry the Hobbits find themselves on Farmer Maggot’s land. They are informed by Maggot that he had “just heard the name Baggins before you turned up”. Also that the Black Rider had said ‘ “I come from yonder”, pointing back west over my fields’. This is the same direction that Frodo had travelled although their course was more from the south, but nonetheless ending up in Maggot’s fields. It seems strange that given the short time between the Black Rider and Frodo arriving at Maggot’s farm and from roughly the same direction the Hobbits and the Black Rider had not seen each other.
The next encounter is later that evening when after disembarking on the Buckleberry side of the Brandywine Sam looks back and sees a black shadow under the lights of the ferry landing from where they had come. The causes Frodo to ask about horses being able to cross the Brandywine.
The last encounter with the Black Riders in the Shire is during the night of 29/30 September at Crickhollow. Fatty Bolger had been keeping up the pretence that Frodo was still in residence. “A feeling of fear had been growing on him all day” and after peering out the door saw shadows approach under the trees and the gate seemingly open and close on its own. The inference here is that the Black Riders had been observing Crickhollow all that day. Later in the night three Black Riders approach the house, one to the front door and the other two to each corner. After forcing the door open “in the name of Mordor” they realise the house is empty. At the same time Fatty Bolger had raised the alarm, a horn blew out and was answered by others throughout Buckland. The Riders then depart for the the North Gate and leave the Shire.
There is a gap of four days between the ferry landing sighting on 25 September and the attack on Crickhollow on September 30. This a long time for three or four Black Riders to loiter in the Shire unnoticed. To travel from the ferry landing to the Brandywine bridge and thence to Crickhollow would require less than a day so could have been achieved on September 26. The riders must have known Baggins was in Buckland from having been told this as well as observing the Hobbits on the Buckland side of the Brandywine. They may have expected Frodo to take to the East Rd and lain in wait but to do so for three days without result seems an excessive amount of time.
Indeed to sum up the endeavours of the Black Riders during the five days they are in the Shire they demonstrate considerable incompetence and seem dogged by extraordinary bad luck. But then as Gildor Inglorion says “”In this meeting there may be more than chance”. And so chance may have protected Frodo as he set out from the Shire but there are many unanswered questions. There again it is only a story and the storyteller cannot be expected to cover every contingency.
