Greetings.
In these chapters the company begins their journey, beginning with their establishment: Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas -- to represent the elves, Gimli -- to represent the dwarves, Boromir -- to represent men (along with Aragorn), Merry, and Pippin. Bilbo presents Frodo with his elvish sword Sting and his valuable mithril chain shirt. Upon leaving Imladris they travel east to the mountains in an attempt to cross the Pass of Caradhras. On their way into the mountains they encounter a flock of spying crows, the crebain, though the spy is not specified. When they do reach Caradhras itself the storms stymie their progress and force them to retreat backwards. The company decided to attempt a trip through the abandoned underground dwarf mine of Moria, but not before being attacked by orcish wargs. When they do reach the entrance, Gandalf must first find the doorway and the password, which is hidden in a riddle on the title above the door: "Speak Friend and enter." When he finally opens it (the word being "Friend"), the company is attacked by a tentacled creature in the dark pool and are forced to retreat into the mines, where they become trapped and begin the path to the other side. The true value of Moria, in the mithril mined from it, is revealed to the reader. The chapter ends with the discovery of the tomb of Balin, the last dwarf lord of Moria.
While the film maintained close similarities in Rivendell, the journey varies more as they go. The sword Narsil is reforged as Anduril before they even leave Imladris as a mere sword, while in the movies it is remade in the third film and serves significantly as a key to win the battle of Pellinor Fields by commanding the Dead Army. There is much less obvious interference from Saruman: in the film he both spies through the crebain's eyes and amplifies the storms over Caradhras, as well as playing a part in revealing the danger of Moria in his book which says that the dwarves of Moria awoke "shadow and flame" from delving too deep into the earth; in the literary version he is neither identified as the spy nor as a force in the storm, and so far there has been no forewarning of the balrog. Also, when the company enters Moria in the film, Gimli expects to find a hospitable kingdom of dwarves but finds slaughtered kin and a dark, dusty mine. In the book, they know that the mine is certainly mostly abandoned, and there is no conflict of dwarf remains inside the entrance.
The next chapter is the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm, which I am very much looking forward to as it was possibly my favorite scene in the entire film series as well as my favorite non-elvish musical composition on the soundtrack (find it on iTunes!). If I have time I will also talk about the two biggest real world fantasy immersions: Renaissance Festivals and "Live-Action Role Playing." If I don't find time then (Thursday, July 25th) I will certainly find it the day after, so be sure to take a look.
Thanks for reading,
C
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