When Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli finally find Merry and Pippin again, the setting could hardly be stranger. They have crossed Rohan in desperate pursuit of the captured hobbits. They have fought at Helm’s Deep. Saruman’s army has been shattered. Then they ride to Isengard expecting to confront the stronghold from which that army came—and discover … Read more
Samwise Gamgee seems to possess one of the plainest names in Middle-earth. Beside Frodo Baggins, Peregrin Took, Aragorn, or Galadriel, “Samwise” sounds almost deliberately ordinary. That suits the gardener from Bagshot Row so well that it is easy to assume the name was simply invented to evoke a rustic English hobbit. But the linguistic framework … 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
Among the Valar, few figures make a stronger first impression than Tulkas. He comes into Arda because there is a war. He needs no sword. He needs no horse. He delights in wrestling and contests of strength, and even Melkor—the greatest rebel among the Ainur—learns to fear his arrival. When the Valar finally overthrow Melkor’s … Read more
Open a map of Beleriand beside a map from The Lord of the Rings and a tempting question appears almost immediately: where, exactly, would Gondolin, Doriath, Nargothrond, or Angband fall on the later map? It seems as though there should be a neat answer. The Blue Mountains appear in both geographical traditions. Beleriand lay west … Read more
When Númenor fell, nine ships escaped the ruin. They carried Elendil, his sons Isildur and Anárion, their families and followers, the Seven Seeing-stones, precious heirlooms, stores of goods, and one living scion of the White Tree. It is tempting to picture those vessels as a carefully designed survival fleet in which every treasure, crop seed, … Read more
When Smaug descends upon Lake-town, the people of Esgaroth face a terrifying contradiction. Their town was built upon water partly because water made it defensible. Yet when the dragon finally attacks, that same design leaves thousands of frightened movements compressed onto wooden platforms surrounded by a cold, dark lake. The destruction of Esgaroth in “Fire … Read more
When Glaurung first crawled from Angband, he changed the wars of Beleriand. He was enormous, armored, cunning, and devastating—but he did not fly. For most of the First Age, the dragons known to the enemies of Morgoth were creatures of the earth. Then, at almost the last possible moment, something unprecedented came out of Angband. … Read more
The Black Speech sounds like the perfect language for an empire obsessed with control. Sauron devised it during the Dark Years and intended it to be the common speech of his servants. Yet when we actually see Mordor functioning during the War of the Ring, its military system does not behave like a supernatural communications … Read more
Sam Gamgee is sitting awake in Mordor while Frodo sleeps. They are hungry, desperately short of water, surrounded by enemies, and still separated from Mount Doom by country that seems almost impossible to cross. Sam has no military plan that can change those facts. He cannot summon help. He cannot even promise Frodo that they … Read more