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I think all the rain made Bree look gloomy and forbidding to go along with The Prancing Pony's more menacing "movie mood"..

I don't remember exactly how Tolkien had the weather for that day, but it sounds right about Jackson setting the mood with the rain.

RE Strider, who is introduced in this chapter, I read in Shippey's book (as I'm sure many did) that Tolkien initially had the hobbits meeting at the Prancing Pony not Strider, but another more worldly and traveled hobbit called "Trotter."

I think "Trotter" was Tolkien's original idea for "Strider" and was probably going to be their guide. I'm sure that Aragorn already existed in the Silmarillion, some of you who are pretty scholarly probably can tell me.

Somehow, the idea of a hobbit named "Trotter" strikes me as extremely funny, especially after years of being used to the heroic Aragorn.

Don't get me wrong for finding this humorous, I am grateful for Tolkien's existence and have cherished LOTR for over 30 years, since the days I considered myself a liberal. Now, as a "conservative," I cherish them even more.

No, Aragorn didn't exist for a while, certainly not in Sil. The Numenoreans existed, in some form, and many of his ancestors were there - but Aragorn doesn't really come into Sil. Actually, there's very little there about the "players" from LotR, because that's already covered in depth. It doesn't even have the word 'hobbit' in it!

It's interesting to see the evolution of the character that would become Aragorn. Even after he'd become human, he bore the name 'Trotter' for a while. Thankfully that was dropped! I could see Merry and Pippin trying not to laugh... ("Trotter? Your name's Trotter? And people say Hobbits have funny names!")