At the end of the Third Age, an Elven ship could leave the Grey Havens, sail west, and reach a destination that no ordinary mortal vessel could find by following the same compass direction. That strange fact is one of the clearest consequences of the Changing of the World. Before the downfall of Númenor, Aman … Read more
When Merry and Pippin enter Fangorn, Middle-earth is already running out of time. Saruman has armed Isengard. Rohan is under attack. Orcs have been cutting trees on the borders of Fangorn, and the two hobbits themselves have only just escaped a company carrying them toward the wizard’s stronghold. Yet when Treebeard finally gathers the Ents … Read more
At the end of the Fellowship’s long story, one image seems almost too perfect: Legolas builds a grey ship in Ithilien, sails down the Anduin, and takes Gimli with him across the Sea. The Elf and the Dwarf who began their journey divided by ancient suspicion leave Middle-earth together. Yet the Appendices of The Lord … Read more
The decisive weapon at the Battle of Bywater is not a sword, a bow, or even the famous horn Merry brought home from Rohan. It is a country road. When more than a hundred ruffians march toward Bywater to crush the Shire’s rebellion, they have an obvious advantage over hobbits in a direct fight. They … Read more
When the One Ring falls into the fire, it is tempting to imagine Middle-earth resetting itself. Sauron is overthrown. Barad-dûr collapses. Aragorn becomes king. The White Tree flowers again. The great enemy who shaped so much of the Third Age is gone. Yet the ending of The Lord of the Rings is striking precisely because … Read more
At the doors of Meduseld, the fate of Rohan turns on something surprisingly small: a walking staff. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli have climbed the hill of Edoras seeking an audience with Théoden. Before them stands Háma, the Doorward of the King. His instruction is clear. The strangers may enter the Golden Hall, but they … Read more
Lembas looks, at first, like the answer to one of warfare’s oldest problems. An army must eat. Every soldier who marches needs food, and every wagon carrying food requires animals, drivers, roads, time, and still more provisions. Yet in The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship leaves Lothlórien carrying small packages of Elven waybread so … Read more
When Bilbo Baggins entered the trolls’ cave, he was looking at something much stranger than a pile of stolen treasure. The cave contained food, clothing, gold, weapons, and the accumulated possessions of victims unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of William, Bert, and Tom. Yet among that ordinary plunder were objects that did not … Read more
The Iron Crown of Morgoth looks, at first, like the perfect symbol of absolute victory. After destroying the Two Trees and fleeing from Valinor, Morgoth returned to Angband with the three Silmarils. There he forged a great crown of iron, proclaimed himself King of the World, and set the stolen jewels into it. The greatest … Read more
The Shire was never supposed to need a prison. That is what makes the Lockholes at Michel Delving so unsettling. They were not Barad-dûr. They had no vast dungeons, no armies stationed beneath black towers, no supernatural terror hanging over their doors. By the standards of Middle-earth, they were almost absurdly small. Yet when Frodo, … Read more