LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 05 - A Conspiracy Unmasked

[Formendacil]

You know, I was kind of surprised, reading this thread again, that the big thing that occurred to me during this readthrough has apparently not occurred to anyone else--so, it's possible, maybe I'm just seeing something weird where nothing is weird.

The thing that's bothering me is the timeline of the titular Conspiracy. Merry says a few things about it:

Originally Posted by A Conspiracy Unmasked

I thought you would go after him sooner or later; indeed I expected you to go sooner, and lately we have been very anxious. We have been terrified that you might give us the slip, and go off suddenly, all on your own like he did. Ever since this spring we have kept our eyes open, and done a good deal of planning on our own account.

Originally Posted by A Conspiracy Unmasked

I kept my knowledge to myself, till this Spring when things got serious. Then we formed our conspiracy;

So, timeline-wise, the Conspiracy seems to have been formed that Spring "when things got serious." Surely this refers to Frodo's decision to leave the Shire, prompted by Gandalf. In other words, surely this refers to the events of "The Shadow of the Past."

And that's how I've already read this (not necessarily having thought it through with great scrutiny before): Frodo decides to leave the Shire, his friends notice, piece things together, and make plans to ensure he doesn't go alone. And Sam's their chief investigator.

Except that the very event that changes Frodo includes Sam getting caught--which is when I've always assumed he dried up.

So either Merry is misrepresenting when the Conspiracy was formed or Sam was not its chief investigator.

It's not cut-and-dried impossible for everything Merry says to be true, but it does seem to me that the statements he makes must be viewed, to quote another fandom, "from a certain point of view."

Originally Posted by Rumil

Naturally he shows his leadership and has 'made all the arrangements' in Crickhollow etc. But what does 'The Master of the Hall' think of his son and heir disappearing off into the Blue with the second 'Mad Baggins'? Was he even told?

This comment of Rumil's sparked some discussion, and something similar occurred to me--albeit from the other way around. Instead of wondering about Merry and Pippin's parents' reactions to the disappearance of their sons, I wondered about what preparations, if any, they made for their disappearance.

After all, going to Buckland was Frodo's way of slipping away from the Shire unnoticed, and certainly none of the Gamgees were at all likely to go looking for news from Buckland for a while (especially given that most or all of them probably aren't lettered). Pippin can be lumped into this category too probably:

"Hey Thain-Dad, I'm going to spend some months with Merry in Buckland. I'll go out there with Cousin Frodo when he moves."

"Are they going to feed you?"

"Yeah."

"Then it's fine with me."

After all, it's clearly not Pippin's first time in the Marish and Buckland--he knows the locals, knows the local places, and acts almost as guide till they meet Merry.

However, Rumil focused on Merry for a reason: he's hardly gone across country; he's barely gone into the neighbourhood--and everything we know about Brandy Hall being a "warren" suggests that the Brandybucks are all over knowing each other's whereabouts.

As the one with the plan--witness not only the Conspiracy, having everything ready to leave in an hour, but the homely preparedness of Crickhollow to receive guests--it seems unlikely that Merry would not have had some kind of preparation here... but what was it?