Chapter Five: The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm and Chapter Six: Lothlórien

Hello.

At this point in the book, the company has just found the dwarf Balin's tomb. Gandalf finds a ledger-tome of the dwarves, finding terminal phrases such as "We cannot get out," "Drums in the deep," and "They are coming," and just as they finish assessing the situation, the aforementioned drums begin. The company prepares to make a stand against the orcs which have emerged from the darkness with an enormous cave troll. After a good many orcs are killed, the hordes draw back in fear. One orc drives a spear into Frodo's chest, which is luckily turned by Bilbo's mithril mail shirt. Gandalf discerns orcish words for fire amongst their fear; the fire is quickly revealed as a balrog, a terrifying flaming demon. The company flees to the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm, which spans a great chasm to connect to the exit. As the group travels across, Gandalf stands against the balrog, successfully deterring it with the made-famous phrase "You shall not pass!" However, as it falls into the chasm, it wraps its whip around the wizard's leg and drags with down as well, leaving the remaining company with the equally famous words "Fly, you fools." The company escapes the mines and makes its way to the woods of Lothlórien, where is encounters a party of elves led by Haldir. They travel to the tree dwellings of the Galadhrim, where they will soon meet the rulers of Lórien, Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel.
I was slightly disappointed, though not entirely surprised, by the literary depiction of the misadventures in Moria. Not only did I miss Pippin's mishap involving dropping a armor-clad skeleton down a well and Gandalf's angry retort, "Fool of a Took!" I found that the stand against the orcs was more of a small attack without a real focus, while the film adaptation centered around the attacking cave troll and its immense destructive strength. The film also did a much better job of dialogue -- of course, this was published more than fifty years ago, so the speech is somewhat different -- by writing it in a modern style and pulling some of the more iconic lines to places where they make more sense. One place I really noticed was Gandalf's speech to the balrog on the bridge: in the book it is basically a monologue, while in the film it is a back-and-forth between the wizard and the demon. Not enough has really happened in Lothlórien for me to make a comment, so I'll save it for tomorrow.

I did not get in time to do my real-life immersion post so it will definitely go up tomorrow.

Thanks for reading,
C