Leaving Bree
We remarked on A Book at Breakfast how analogous Fellowship is to The Hobbit: Gandalf comes to the Shire, sends a middle aged hobbit off on an adventure, they stop at Rivendell for counsel, before continuing across the Misty Mountains and ending up underground with goblins. Gandalf leaves the company just before they enter an Elvish woodland realm, from which they eventually depart by sailing down a river... at which point they diverge slightly.
The only thing that doesn't follow chronologically is Tom Bombadil - although he is hugely analogous to Beorn. They're both more connected to nature that to the "human" elements of the story, and let the company stay at their house, despite not being invested in their cause. They also send the company on their way with ponies! And, like the ponies returning to Beorn on the outskirts of Mirkwood, I like the detail at the beginning of A Knife in the Dark that Merry's horses have returned to Tom Bombadil!
The only thing that doesn't follow chronologically is Tom Bombadil - although he is hugely analogous to Beorn. They're both more connected to nature that to the "human" elements of the story, and let the company stay at their house, despite not being invested in their cause. They also send the company on their way with ponies! And, like the ponies returning to Beorn on the outskirts of Mirkwood, I like the detail at the beginning of A Knife in the Dark that Merry's horses have returned to Tom Bombadil!
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