Dwarfed by the still-formidable figure of their new party leader the three friends - nervously it seemed - slowly descended the staircase at Stormont. Momentarily, it was suggestive of an alternative ending to Lord of the Rings. One where the little hobbit and two of his companions, bewitched and beguiled by the promise of power and influence, finally succumb to the temptation of the ring and give themselves up to its all-powerful lord and master, writes David Adams.
According to the rumour mill, Jeffrey Donaldson (the Frodo of the piece) had been promised a place at the negotiating table in the forthcoming review of the agreement; the possibility of running alongside Ian Paisley in the next European elections; and maybe even a ministerial position in any future executive.
A shift in allegiance would also place him on the winning side within unionism. How could anyone be expected to resist all of that?
Thankfully for those of us who like a happy ending, the original Frodo Baggins and his fellow ring-bearers didn't yield quite so readily to temptation.
It remains to be seen whether the 15,612 people who voted for Donaldson and Nora Beare as Ulster Unionist candidates in the Lagan Valley constituency, but now find less than two months later that they have elected two Democratic Unionist MLAs instead, are as easily swayed as their political representatives. (Likewise, the 4,938 Ulster Unionist electors who voted for Arlene Foster in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.)
Because there remains a strong suspicion that this defection was planned before the assembly elections and that a situation was deliberately engineered in order to try to make it more palatable to the unionist electorate.
By phoning a live radio talkshow to directly contradict David Trimble during the election campaign, releasing a separate manifesto and declaring he was determined to work closely with the DUP at Stormont, Jeffrey Donaldson all but guaranteed a post-election showdown with his former colleagues in the UUP. And, infuriated as they undoubtedly were by his behaviour, it was equally certain that at any such meeting he would, not unreasonably, finally be told in no uncertain terms that in future either he toe the party line or face expulsion.
And so it proved, allowing Jeffrey to walk away from the UUP claiming that he had been victimised and had no alternative but jump before he was pushed.
Wafer-thin it may be, but Jeffrey does at least have the "no alternative" explanation to use as a counterweight against accusations of betrayal and something to try to sell to the electorate between now and the next election.
His two colleagues seemed far less sure of the grounds for their defection. When interviewed on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, Arlene Foster claimed the Ulster Unionist Party was no longer the "broad church" party it had once been. It had, she claimed, become increasingly intolerant of differing views and dissenting voices among its members.That may justify her deciding to leave a political party, but stretches credulity somewhat when also proffered as a reason for joining the much narrower and even less tolerant Democratic Unionist Party.
Then in complete contradiction of her first statement, and indeed confirming the controlling nature of her new party, she went on to express delight that DUP members are forbidden from speaking to the media without prior clearance from party headquarters.
The distinct impression was given that loyalty to Jeffrey more than anything else - and by extension, opposition to David Trimble - was the determining factor in his colleagues' decision to defect to the DUP.
They can't all have been promised ministerial office or even positions on any DUP negotiating team at the expense of longer-serving and, at the very least, equally capable party colleagues.
Even the DUP couldn't go that far without running the risk of a revolt within its ranks.
On second thoughts, and returning briefly to the Lord of the Rings analogy, it seems more likely that Frodo alone had been promised power and influence beyond his ability to resist, and that the ever-loyal Merry and Pippin have gone along merely to make up the numbers.
And the numbers are certainly impressive.
The DUP now has an unassailable 33 seats at Stormont to the UUP's 24 and, with their Westminster representation increased to six, they now have one more MP than the Ulster Unionists. For added measure, in Donaldson they have captured an extremely hard-working constituency representative and one of the biggest vote-winners within unionism.
Whatever their reasons for defecting, Jeffrey Donaldson, Nora Beare and Arlene Foster have dealt a severe blow to their former party colleagues and disappointed scores of voters. Frodo and his friends would never have contemplated such a thing.