The One Ring is almost impossible to destroy. That sounds like its greatest protection. It is not. The deeper protection is that the one place capable of destroying it is also the place where the Ring becomes most dangerous to the person trying to destroy it. That is what makes the Crack of Doom so … Read more
When Frodo and Sam escaped from the Tower of Cirith Ungol, they had already lost almost everything that made ordinary travel possible. Their clothing was damaged, their strength was failing, enemies surrounded them, and Mount Doom still lay far across Mordor. Yet one small piece of equipment had become almost as important as the Ring-bearer’s … Read more
When Meriadoc Brandybuck rides back into the Shire after the War of the Ring, he is not yet the Master of Buckland. His father, Saradoc Brandybuck, still holds that office. Yet Merry returns as something Buckland has probably never seen before: a hobbit who has served a king, ridden with the Rohirrim, fought on the … Read more
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