When Merry offers Saruman a little pipe-weed on the road north, the gesture looks almost absurdly generous. The once-powerful head of the White Council is now a ragged wanderer. Orthanc is behind him. His staff is broken. His armies are gone. Sauron has fallen. Beside him trudges the miserable Gríma. Yet Saruman’s response turns an … Read more
Among the Men gathered at Estolad, Amlach had every reason to look north with suspicion. He was one of the leaders of a very human disagreement among the newly arrived Edain. They had crossed into Beleriand seeking something better than the darkness behind them, only to discover that the West was already divided by an … Read more
When Samwise Gamgee finally reaches the Tower of Cirith Ungol, he expects the worst kind of rescue imaginable. Frodo has been taken alive by Orcs. Sam is alone in Mordor. Between him and his master stands a fortified tower full of armed enemies. Yet when Sam passes the dreadful Watchers and enters the fortress, he … Read more
When Frodo and his companions walk into their bedrooms at the Prancing Pony on the morning after meeting Strider, the evidence looks horrifyingly simple. The windows have been forced open. The beds are in disorder. The bolsters that Nob had arranged beneath the blankets to imitate sleeping hobbits have been slashed and thrown onto the … Read more
Morgoth’s Iron Crown Became His Collar — and the Meaning Is Brutal At the beginning of the wars for the Silmarils, Morgoth sat beneath Thangorodrim wearing an Iron Crown. At the end, that same iron was around his neck. The change occupies only a brief moment in the account of the War of Wrath, yet … Read more
By the time Frodo returns to Bag End, Saruman has already lost almost everything that once made him formidable. Isengard has fallen. Orthanc is no longer the center of a military power. His staff has been broken by Gandalf. His great schemes have failed, Sauron has been overthrown, and even the shabby tyranny Saruman establishes … Read more
When Aragorn examines the Orcs slain around Boromir, one detail changes the meaning of the entire attack. The dead are not all alike. Some appear to have come from the northern mountains. But four larger Orc-soldiers carry equipment Aragorn does not recognize: broad-bladed swords, bows shaped more like those of Men, iron helmets bearing a … Read more
How Morgoth Turned Captured Elves Into Weapons Before the Battle Began Before the Nirnaeth Arnoediad—the Battle of Unnumbered Tears—the armies of the Noldor possessed something they had lacked for years: a genuine chance to strike Morgoth with coordinated strength. Fingon waited in the west. Maedhros and his allies were to advance from the east. Turgon … Read more
Long before Frodo saw Mordor, before the Black Riders crossed the Shire, and before anyone in Bilbo’s adventure understood the importance of the ring beneath the Misty Mountains, there was already a shadow in the south of Mirkwood. Bilbo knew almost nothing about it. To him, the Necromancer was part of the dangerous world beyond … Read more
Húrin Thalion survives something almost no mortal Man could have endured. After the disaster of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, he is captured alive and brought before Morgoth. He refuses to betray the location of Gondolin, defies the Dark Lord to his face, and is condemned to witness the ruin of his family under Morgoth’s curse. Yet … Read more