Lord of The Rings - Read, Walk & Watch Part 2

As I re-trace Frodo and Sam's journey from the Shire to Mordor, I'm revisiting the book and the movie. Join me as I discuss the story in detail. In this instalment, we travel from Buckleberry Ferry to Rivendell. We'll meet Tom Bombadil, Strider, and either Glorfindel or Arwen, depending on what medium you're enjoying the story through.

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars

And I am a nerd.

 

This is episode 27 of the podcast.

Today, I’m doing part 2 of my Lord of The Rings Read, Walk, and Watch Series.

 

I’ve been using the Walk To Mordor App, and a fitbit, to retrace the steps of Frodo and Sam on their epic journey from Hobbiton to Mordor.

As I walk the story, I’m also revisiting both the book and the movie and discussing the story.

 

We pick up this second installment at Buckleberry Ferry.

So let’s talk about Lord of The Rings.

So Frodo and his companions cross on the Buckleberry Ferry and make their way to Frodo’s new home at Crickhollow - the next milestone on my walk.

 

Its strikes me that Hobbits take such joy in simple pleasures. Frodo sings his favourite bath song. Favourite, implying there is more than one song 1 specifically dedicated to baths.

 

Frodo learns that Merry and Pippin know a good deal more about his current situation than they’re supposed to. It seems Sam has been feeding them information. Frodo is conflicted about this. He’s a little hurt and almost feels betrayed, but he’s also amused.

Sam reminds him that Gandalf told him to take a companion he could trust with him on his adventure.

“But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,” Frodo says.

 

And Merry says

“It all depends on what you want. You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin  - to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends , Frodo. Anyway, there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the ring. We are horribly afraid - but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.”

 

One of the strongest themes that comes through this story, to me, is that of friendship.

If there’s one thing that Hobbits are good at, it’s friendship. Sam, Merry and Pippin demonstrate true dedication to their friend.  Sam especially. I think that’s one of the things we all love so much about this story. Because we all want a friend as true as Sam. and perhaps we all aspire to be a friend like Sam.

 

In any case, it gives Frodo great joy to know his friends will not let him embark on this journey alone. And it gives me great joy to read about it.

 

So they finally leave the borders of shire. They’re really out of their element now.

The hobbits have a real fear of the forest.

I may not fully appreciate this fear of the woods. European woods are very different to the Australian bush. As I understand it, they’re more closed in, dark, and claustrophobic. A far cry from the wide open spaces Australia is known for.

And this is where we get our first hint at the idea of sentient trees. These plants are not mindless. They have thoughts. Wills.

 

And this brings me to my next milestone. Old Man Willow.

Old Man Willow is pretty darn creepy. This ancient tree with a mind of its own, and seemingly malicious intent entices them to sleep, and then traps Merry and Pippin, and tries to drown Frodo.

 

Enter Tom Bombadil.

Now, Tom Bombadil has always come off as a little bit silly to me.

The hobbit’s propensity to sing doesn’t bother me in the same way as Tom’s.

Why is that? Is it the nonsense words? Or does it just seem out of place?

 

When they ask Tom who he is, his first reply is “I am.” I can’t help but see this as a biblical allusion. In the bible, when asked the same question by Moses, God identifies himself as “I am” In English, we translate this as yahweh.

Is Tom claiming to be God here?

Tom says he is the master of wood, water and hill.

And now I can’t help but liken him to Adam. Not me, Adam & Eve. Adam was tasked with tending the garden. Caring for the earth.

I’m not saying there’s any direct allegory here. Tolkien has been quoted saying he didn’t like direct allegory. But there’s got to be some of his Christian influence coming out in Tom Bombadil.

 

The more I read of this, the more convinced I become that, yes, the nonsense words really do annoy me. All this “Derry Dol Dillo.” It bugs the snot out of me.

 

The next day, in Tom’s house which is my next walking milestone, he tells the hobbits stories of wonder. But we don’t hear those stories. So we’re kind of left in the dark about what’s so great about this odd fellow.

We learn the trees, like Old Man Willow, have grown old and hateful because of the destruction wreaked by people. (and by people I suppose I mean all humanoid sentient beings, such as humans, elves, dwarfs, hobbits.)

 

Tom indicates that he was first. Older than everything. This seems to confirm that he is this world’s Adam.

It actually reminds me of Lorien in Babylon 5 - the first sentient being to arise in the universe.

(and of course, the name Lorien is likely a Lord of The Rings reference)

Lorien was a fascinating wondrous character. I was entranced by him.

Tom Bombadil could have evoked similar wondrous feelings in me, but he just ruins it with his silly name and all the rhymes and prancing about. That kills the wonder, in my opinion.

 

But one of the most fascinating things about him is that he seems to be immune to the ring’s powers. Which raises the question, why doesn’t HE take it to mount doom? 

We’ll address this question a little later.

 

So, they leave Tom’s house and get caught in a fog.

Again, fog and mist are much more intimidating in the UK than here. We get a little bit of fog, and it means you have to turn your headlights on. Big deal.

And my hometown sits in a valley, so we can get some decent fog sometimes. But it has very rarely been bad enough to cause me any anxiety. To make it impossible to see where you’re driving, or even walking.

I’ve heard that in Wales, fog can be terrifying and quite dangerous, because you really can get lost and not be able to see your hand in front of your face.

So I have to read this passage with that knowledge in mind.

 

At my next walking milestone, the hobbits are captured by Baron Wright. This whole passage feels pretty weak. We don’t even really see the character. It’s just. Oh, Frodo bumps into someone. Now he’s in a cell.

And then they’re immediately rescued by Tom, who they summon with a song. He appears instantly. It seems old Tom can teleport.

Tom sings, and the door opens. And just one more biblical reference for you, this reminds me of Peter’s escape from jail in the books of Acts.

 

This whole sequence feels completely pointless to me. Just Filler.

 

But we learn that Tom’s powers are limited to the region where he lives, where he is master. So that explains why he can’t take the ring to Mount Doom.

 

I remember reading all of this for the first time, after I had already seem the movie. And thinking to myself, I can see why they left all this out. It really doesn’t add anything to the story.

 

And then, they arrive in Bree, my next milestone. It’s dark, cold, and wet. The comfort of the inn seems very inviting.

 

They use some great camera tricks in the movie here to make the hobbits look smaller. It’s very basic stuff, using odd angles to shoot, but it’s surprisingly effective.

 

Their joy at arriving at the inn is tempered by the fact that Gandalf isn’t here.

 

Pippin’s reaction when he learns that beer comes in pints is priceless. A nice example of character-based humour. But Pippin still doesn’t understand the gravity of their situation. He forgets to keep the name baggins secret.

 

We get our first mention of Rangers, as they are so called by the people of Bree. they are thought to have strange powers of sight and hearing. It’s said they can understand animals. They wander about and are rarely seem.

 

One thing I love in the book is the mystery about what happened to Gandlaf. He was supposed to meet them in Hobbiton but he never showed. And all this time, they’ve still had no word from him. As Frodo’s anxiety buits, we can’t help but wonder, what has become of him? Will we ever see him again? If we don’t, what is Frodo to do?

 

And again, Tokien has this ability to make a hot meal and a comfortable bed feel like the most desirable things in the world. Things we take for granted in the modern world, but in a world like middle earth, and indeed in most of human history, these things were treasured, dreamed of by those who suffered the hardships of travel. We just don’t appreciate that in today’s world.

 

Once, they’ve been shown their room, and given a meal, the hobbits are invited to join ‘the company’. The movie presents a pub setting that’s quite familiar to us. Individual tables. People sitting in their own groups, talking with those they know. Maybe a few sitting at the bar getting to know each other. But that’s not what Tolkien describes in the book. All those who are staying at the inn that night are gathered together in a room, all talking and getting to know each other. It’s quite an alien concept to me. But it makes sense. There’s no TV. No phones to look at. What did people do of an evening? They met other people and talked with them.

 

I like the tension of trying whether or not to trust Strider. They don’t know if he secretly means them harm. He claims to know Gandalf, but ultimately, he’s a stranger. 

 

But they get a letter from Gandalf. They at least know he was here. This letter, plus the revelation of Strider’s true name, Aragon, seems to put to rest any distrust of Strider. And, they’re pretty much at a loss by themselves right now, without Gandalf to lead them. So it seems like Strider or no one.

 

But they still don’t know where Gandalf is, or what he’s up to.

 

The way they shot the sleeping scene is clever. We get shots of Frodo and Sam sleeping, cut with the Riders in the room the hobbits were supposed to occupy. And then we see the pillows.

 

So they set off toward Rivendell.

And we learn that the ring wraiths were once the kings of men, who were given the 9 rings. But those rings are ruled by the one ring, so they were corrupted by it.

 

And that’s when we get the famous second breakfast scene, which is just delightful. It’s funny, but also revealing of character. I know this scene has spawned a billion memes on the internet, but let’s just appreciate  the scene in it’s original form.  It’s great.

 

We pass through my next two walking milestones, midgewater marshes west, and midgewater marshes east. There’s not a lot to talk about here. Plenty of complaining about bugs. I don’t blame them. I’d probably be complaining about the bugs as well.

 

Souron orders Saruman to build him an army. This is where we see them clearing the forest and constructing a factory deep in the earth, while Gandalf is trapped on top of the tower.

 

The factory senes are great. We get to appreciate the visuals as the camera swooops around, being the eyes of the butterfly. They’re making weapons, but they’re also making soldiers. The scene where the Uruk Hai is born out of the mud looks amazing. Very creepy, and very alien.

 

As they walk toward weathertop, Frodo tightens his belt. He notes there is less of him.

Welll, it’s working for Frodo. Will it work for me?

It hasn’t yet. But we’re not at Weathertop. This milestone represents 386.23 Kilometres. That’s a lot of walking. The difference is, Frodo has done it over the course of a couple of days I’ve been doing this for months. I’ve definitely been going out to walk a lot less during the COVID-19 lockdown. We ARE allowed to leave the house to exercise, but honestly, I’ve just been really busy. I need to step this up a bit and try to get in more steps per day.

 

Strider tells them the story of Beren and Lúthien. And it’s very briefly mentioned in the movie. They were, of course, a human and an elf that fell in love. It’s quite fitting that Strider tells this story, given his relationship with Arwen, as we’ll see later. As I understand it, the story of Beren and Luthien is told in more detail in The Silmarillion, which I should read some time. But there’s some cool tidbits I hadn’t noticed before, here. Strider talks of The Great Enemy, of whom Souron was but a servant. Now That’s interesting. And we learn they stole a jewel from the the enemy’s crown - a silmaril. So that’s where the Silmarillion gets its name. A Silmaril is a type of jewel. All very interesting, the stuff Tolkien just drops in here casually.

 

The same carelessness from Pippin and the others, that we saw in the pub , also leads the nazgul to the fortress where they sleep. Their fry-up does sound good, but they’re trying to go under the radar.

 

So Frodo gets stabbed.

 

The flight to Rivendell after the stabbing is much more dramatic in the movie. It heightens the severity of Frodo’s condition. In the book, he’s awake and chatting with the others. I just don’t get the same sense of how much danger he really is in.

 

So we pass through the Trollshaws and encounter Mr. Bilbo’s Trolls. These are my next two milestones. Finding the stone remains of Bilbo’s trolls is a nice little nod to the previous book.  It does make sense they’d stumble upon them, because they’re following the same path to Rivendell that the party did back in The Hobbit. And this scene briefly appears in the extended cut of the movie.

 

Then they meet Glorfindel at 632 km. And he helps them get Frodo to Rivendell quicker, so he can receive medical attention from the elves.

Of course, in the movie, it’s Arwen.

I can see why they did that. First of all, it saved them casting another character for a relatively minor role, but it also allowed them to introduce Arwen’s character a little earlier and establish her relationship with Aragorn.

 

They reach the Ford of Bruinen, my next milestone, with the ring wraiths hot on their tail.

Glorfindel / Arwen uses magic to call the rushing water to sweep the wraiths away.

I love how this is visualised in the movie, galloping horses makde out of water. It looks great, and adds to the magical aspect of it.

 

And so that brings us to Rivendell. 737 km into my walk. That’s quite a distance.

This is also the end of book 1. No, not the physical book, Fellow of The Ring. This is Tolkien’s original division of the story into six books. The publisher, of course, chose to publish the story in three volumns, each containing two books.

 

So next time, we’ll see the formation of the fellowship, and we’ll truly set out, on our journey to Mordor.

I’d better get out there and do some more walking.