Gave it some more thought.
Now for TH, it's
Gandalf's fault entirely. Even harangues those sensible
Dwarves to do something they clearly see as daft.
But in LoTR? Not Gandalf's fault alone.
Item: at the
Council of Elrond, there are plenty of other people who should be sensible, besides the council chairman,
Glorfindel,
Aragorn ...
What do they do? Add
three more Hobbits to the Fellowship. Though then again,
Elrond had doubts about
Merry and especially
Pippin, so it's mostly Gandalf's fault again. Nine
Nazgûl, pitted against them one who can deal with some of them, two doubtfuls in Aragorn and
Legolas, one highly unlikely in
Gimli - and to fill up to nine, four Hobbits?!?
Item:
the eight remaining of the Fellowship show up in
Lórien, having just lost their by far most powerful member. So what to
Galadriel and
Celeborn do? Give them some marginally useful stuff (ok, the margins often just making a difference) … and send them onwards again!
Item:
Faramir finds two Hobbits, who want to continue on their quest accompanied by a murderous cannibal degenerate near-wraith of their kind … and he sends them onwards, too.
Plenty of people with some serious optimism overload! 🧐😉