Greetings, reader.
In these two chapters we come to the end of the first book of the Fellowship of the Ring and prepare to move into the the second; the transition is marked by the arrival at Rivendell and the founding of the Fellowship, separating the journey of the hobbits from the journey of the entire party. The chapter starts with the passing of the Black Riders. As for which Strider had prepared, the beds intended to be occupied by the hobbits are torn to shreds. However, the Black Riders finally move away from the hobbits as they and the ranger journey onward. Aragorn chooses to take them through the Midgewater Marshes, a marshland infested with midges, as indicated by the name, and on to the watchtower of Amon Sûl, better known as Weathertop, the hill upon which it rests. Aragorn relates the tale of Lúthien Tinúviel, an elf maiden, and her mortal love, in which she chooses mortality to be with him. He dies in battle, and she must live on without him; this seems a precursor to the relationship of Aragorn and Arwen that will later appear and the outcome if Aragorn were to die. But as the story ends, the moon rises, signaling the night, and the Black Riders attack, wielding a terrible aura of fear that paralyzes Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Frodo slips on the Ring and sees the terrible, ghostly forms of the wraiths. Their leader, the Witch King of Angmar, steps forward and stabs him through the shoulder with his icy blade -- the knife in the dark. The chapter ends with Strider leaping forth with fire and light, the bane of the wraiths.
When Aragorn discovers the morgul-blade used to stab Frodo, he realizes the dire situation in which the hobbit is. He uses leaves of the athelas plant to stall its corruption, but cannot heal him. They resume their travels, continuing east across the River Hoarwell, or Mitheithel. Aragorn finds a green beryl, an elf stone, and takes it as a sign that the elves have allowed them to pass into their lands. They are eventually approached by the elf Glorfindel, an elf of the House of Elrond. He recognizes Frodo's weakness and illness and seats him upon his own horse to journey on to Rivendell. As they approach the Bruinen Ford over the Loudwater, however, the Black Riders reappear and pursue the mounted hobbit to the river. As Frodo tells them off, their great power shatters his sword and clutches his body. But as he and the elven horse reach the shore, the very waters of the river rise up in a gushing flood that sculpts itself into charging horses, carrying away several wraiths and startling the others. The chapter ends as Frodo looses consciousness in the saddle.
I was somewhat disappointed by these chapters, in comparison to the film. I love the title "A Knife in the Dark" -- the song by that title on the soundtrack (find it on iTunes) is marvelously dark and terrifying -- but I found, as I have before, that the pace of the book greatly reduced the drama found in the movie. To start with, it is wonderfully scary to watch as Aragorn observes the would-be wraith assassins from the window across the street, while in the book they simply find the result in the morning. While I found that the experience at Weathertop was well represented, I noticed -- as I have previously, again -- that the film made out Frodo's companions to be somewhat foolish and ignorant, loudly cooking a meal over a bright fire, while the literary depiction faulted none of them in that way for the encounter. I also loved the introduction of Arwen in the movie; so far she is entirely absent but for the allusive tale of Tinúviel. It was especially interesting to see her and Aragorn's chemistry before they had been introduced as a couple and the fast-paced race to get the catatonic Frodo -- who, in book, was fully non-wraith and conscious until the very end of the chapter -- to Elrond. While I respect Tolkien's work and in no way mean to insult it, I found these chapter too drawn out. I loved the fast pace, as I am sure Peter Jackson, the movie's director, intended. Also, I sorely missed the spell-invocation of the flooding waters ("Nîn o Chithaeglir lasto beth daer; Rimmo nîn Bruinen dan in Ulaer") as it is one of the largest chunks of spoken Elvish, which is a beautiful language, in the films and Liv Tyler was fabulous.
Please feel free to respond with your opinion in the comments. I will be looking into some Lord of the Rings video games or video game interpretations in the next few days, and will probably post about them sometime between Saturday, July 20th and Monday, July 22nd (this weekend). If you have any you think I should look at feel free to let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading,
C
Also: I should have added this in the "Interesting Sources" post but forgot.
Arwen-Undomiel.com has, among other things, all of the Elvish lines in the films and even more of the language, including some fun and basic phrases. If you are an elf enthusiast as I am, please visit the link below.
http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/elvish.html
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