Why did the Nazgûl drop Merry in Bree?

[Gordis]

A piece of bad (?) news: in the "Long-expected party" the times are GMT without extra hour:

At other times there were merely lots of people eating and drinking - continuously from elevenses until six-thirty, when the fireworks started.LOTR, Ch.1

Naturally the fireworks started after sunset.

The sunset for September 22 2009 is 5:59PM without BST
The sunset for September 12 2009 is 6:22PM without BST

Now in the draft written around 1938, before the application of BDST, the time of firewoks was 6 PM, later it was corrected to 6.30.
I guess this change was due to the fact that Tolkien had calculated the difference between Shire calendar and normal calendar.

Uh-oh...

[Alcuin]

The calculations in the current rough time-line are for London, England, 84 days after Mid-Year’s Day (solstice). That matches the date in Shire Reckoning, 29 “September” (Halimath), which corresponds to 19 September in the Gregorian Calendar. I used sunset for 1941, but the length of twilight for 2009 because I have not yet found twilight hours for 1941. The error introduced must be small (minutes), but I cannot quantify it right now.

It looks as if Tolkien first set the time for Bilbo’s birthday party using the Gregorian Calendar, and then switched to his own Shire Reckoning.

It also appears that he intended to set all the times in standard time. He moved the time back an hour for the Birthday Party to standard time; it looks as if he just forgot the extra hour from BDST for Bree. If that’s the situation – that he correctly adjusted for British Summer Time by removing the extra hour, but incorrectly adjusted for British Double Summer Time by removing only one hour instead of two – I think this may be a widespread error in Lord of the Rings. At any rate, it has possibilities for further exploration, and for scholars, it has to be a big deal if it’s true.

And since I think this is a uniquely new observation, I believe we can safely say, You read it first here at Entmoot. Congratulations to you, Gordis, and to The Dread Pirate Roberts.

-|-

If Tolkien forgot to remove the second, extra hour from BDST, but BDST ended after the war, I wonder if there are times Tolkien intended to be standard times in, say, The Return of the King that once again do not have the extra hour, since they were written in the late 1940s and early 1950s? Anyone up for starting a thread for Tolkien Time? We might find there is Tolkien Standard Time at the beginning and end of The Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien Daylight Time in the middle with the extra hour from BDST carried over into it.

[Gordis]

Well, Alcuin - I think your scheme is as good as it may be given the evidence we have.

Personally I only disagree on the number of nazgul during Merry's capture: I think there was but one in Bree at the moment. Apart from what I have said earlier, I have found the draft version in HOME 7:

This story now returns to the original version (VI.161-2), according to which the Rider went eastwards through the village and stopped at Bill Ferney's house (whereas in the 'third phase' version, VI.353-4, it went in the other direction to the West-gate); but it differs from FR (p. 185) in that when Merry was about to bolt back to the inn 'another black shape rose up before me - coming down the Road from the other gate - and ... and I fell over.'

So Tolkien did play with the idea of a second nazgul by Ferny's house, but has dropped it.

But anyway, the exact number of the Black riders by Ferny's doesn't affect the timeline at all. Well done, Alcuin!

[Gordis]

OK, I have posted my new thread
The Hunt for the Ring
All welcome!