The Horn of Buckland

[The Mouth of Sauron]

In the chapter in ROTK, "The Scouring of the Shire", when the 4 Travellers decided to raise the Shire, as Sam was riding to the Cottons, Merry blew 2 horns : (a) the Rohan horn that Eomer and Eowyn gave him, and (b) the Horn of Buckland.

How did Merry come by the Horn of Buckland ? There was no mention of him taking it with him when the hobbits left to go through the Old Forest at the start of the Quest - and no record of them detouring to Buckland when they arrived back in the Shire after the Ring had been destroyed.

A continuity error from JRRT ?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

This is one of those passages that requires precise reading:

(Merry) "I am going to blow the horn of Rohan..."
...a sudden clear horn-call...
Then he heard Merry change the note, and up went the Horn-cry of Buckland...

Merry knew the notes that made up the special signal for the Horn-call of Buckland, and that would have been familiar to many Hobbits. He did not change the horn, he changed the notes that he played. A typical hunting horn cannot play all notes of the scale like a modern concert horn can, but it still has enough notes, which can be varied in length and in the order in which they're played, to make different calls.

Imagine a modern military bugle - the same instrument can play reveille, retreat, or taps.

Interestingly, the horn is the one instrument played by humans in Tolkien's works which has more than an entertaining or signalling function - it seems to move the hearts of people in an almost supernatural way. We never read of trumpet signals having a similar effect.

[JeffF.]

The horn was given to Merry by Eowyn (See Many Partings RotK), it was made by the Dwarves and was part of the hoard of Scatha the Worm. Eorl the young brought it with him when the Rohirrim emigrated from the Vales of Anduin.

[The Mouth of Sauron]

Sorry, but I don't buy that.

I think 2 distinct horns were required to provide 2 distinct "calls to arms". And JRRT messed up by asking us to believe that Merry carried the Horn of Buckland around throughout the whole adventure.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

Sorry, but I don't buy that.

I think 2 distinct horns were required to provide 2 distinct "calls to arms". And JRRT messed up by asking us to believe that Merry carried the Horn of Buckland around throughout the whole adventure.

Why must that be the case? As Esty said, military buglers are required to know many different calls, the meanings of which are readily distinguishable by the trained ear.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Mouth, what you say about different horns being needed for different calls to arms has no basis in either musical or military history. Would a horn player in battle have carried two different horns to play, one for attack and another for retreat? That would have been illogical and impractical.

The passage I quoted earlier is very clear - he blew on the horn of Rohan, then changed the note, not the instrument. Read the words that are written there - no other proof is needed.

[Rumil]

Hi all,

I think Esty is quite right, and indeed we know the Horn-call of Buckland

AWAKE! FEAR! FIRE! FOES! AWAKE!
FEAR! FIRE! FOES!
AWAKE! AWAKE!

As blown in response to Fatty Bolger's waning of Nazgul invasion. It can't be specific to a particular horn as-

Far away answering horns were heard. The alarm was spreading

Which makes sense as otherwise only the owner of one horn could blow the alarm, which is silly!

So to me the tune went something like 'Bwa, wa, wa, wa, Bwa, wa, wa, wa, Bwa, Bwa' (you can tell I'm not a musician huh? ). Sounds a little reminiscent of a British fox-hunting call to me, anyone??

[Selmo]

Originally Posted by The Mouth of Sauron

I think 2 distinct horns were required to provide 2 distinct "calls to arms".

I can play a modern military-style bugle and I'm familiar with more than a couple of dozen different signal calls.
A bugle can produce five notes and most signal calls and marching tunes use only four. It's amazing what you can do with just four notes; listen to some modern pop songs.

The Horn of Rohan, if my memory serve me right, was described as small, perhaps something like a modern fox-hunting horn. It would have produced only three notes but that's enough for many different signals. When I play my version of the Buckland alarm call, I use only two notes.

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