The Red Book of Westmarch seems, at first, like the most Hobbitish historical object imaginable: a collection begun by Bilbo, continued by Frodo, completed in part by Sam, and eventually preserved by their descendants. Yet one of the strangest details in the history of that book is that the version most valuable to later readers … Read more
In the Chamber of Mazarbul, the Fellowship has already discovered exactly what a defended doorway can become. Orcs have attacked through the western door. A great cave-troll has forced its way partly inside. Frodo has been struck by an Orc-chieftain. The Company survives the fight, but remaining in the chamber means allowing the enemy to … Read more
The Moon over Middle-earth is easy to treat as scenery: silver light above Lothlórien, a pale guide over wilderness, or a clock by which travellers judge the passing night. Yet in the older mythology behind that familiar sky, the Moon is not simply a dead object following an automatic path. It is steered. Its guide … Read more
The Fellowship has escaped Moria, Gandalf is gone, Orcs are pursuing them, and the Quest of the Ring is hanging by a thread. Yet at the borders of Lothlórien, the Company nearly fractures over something far smaller than a battle: a blindfold. The Elves of Lórien will permit the Fellowship to continue into their guarded … Read more
When Gimli stood before Galadriel in Lothlórien and was commanded to name the gift he desired, he asked for something astonishingly small: a single strand of her hair. He did not demand it. In fact, he carefully said that he was not truly asking for the gift at all. He had been ordered to name … Read more
When Sam finds Frodo in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, one of the first practical problems is almost absurdly ordinary: Frodo has no clothes. The Orcs have stripped him. His possessions have been searched, divided, fought over, and carried away. The mithril coat that Bilbo gave him is gone. His grey Elven cloak and its … Read more
Death does not mean the same thing for an Elf that it means for a Man. When an Elf is slain in Middle-earth, the body can be destroyed, but the spirit does not escape the world. The Elves are bound to Arda for as long as Arda endures. Their death is therefore a separation: the … Read more
Glaurung’s first appearance is one of the strangest victories of the Noldor. A dragon comes out of Angband, the Elves flee before a creature they have never faced, and then Fingon rides against it with mounted archers and drives it back beneath Thangorodrim. The reason is crucial: Glaurung is not ready. In the later form … Read more
When Sam Gamgee leaves Lothlórien, one of the gifts that delights him most is not a weapon, a jewel, or anything obviously enchanted. It is rope. That is perfectly in character. Sam knows something about rope-making, and the lack of rope has bothered him since the Fellowship left Rivendell. The Galadhrim give the travellers coils … Read more
The Brandywine Bridge looks like an ordinary piece of geography: an old stone crossing carrying the East Road over the river at the edge of the Shire. Yet by the Fourth Age, it has become something much more unusual. It is the place where a king stops. That matters because King Elessar is not prevented … Read more