LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 08 - Fog on the Barrow-Downs

[Estelyn Telcontar]

This is a chapter of special significance to us on the Barrow-Downs forum! (It is also, incidentally, the fourth chapter in a row that was omitted in the movie version.)

It begins with another of Frodo’s dreams and the hobbits’ farewell to Goldberry. Then the journey begins pleasantly before taking a turn for the worse. As in the Old Forest, they get the feeling of being trapped, helplessly caught by a deadly danger. This time it is Frodo who awakens and must decide to do something. He has to summon up his courage to fend off the immediate threat, then calls Tom for help.

What is significant to you in this chapter – the glimpse of history Tom gives in telling the background of the Barrow-Wights? The first hint at the existence of the Rangers (including their king)? Or the importance of the blades of Westernesse that they take with them? What do you think of Tom’s reason for not accompanying them further?

The chapter ends with a repeated motif – they again approach a safe haven, with a door and a fire.

My favorite lines:

The night was railing against the morning of which it was bereaved, and the cold was cursing the warmth for which it hungered.

Very well-thought and phrased!