The Fellowship of the Ring // Book 1, Chapter 11 // A Knife in the Dark

Whew! What a chapter. First off, we get the last little glimpse back into the Shire we'll have for a long, long time. Isn't Fatty Bolger a brick?

Then in the same night we have the attack on The Prancing Pony (or rather, the terrifying, unseen visitors coming through as a gale by night), followed by all the subsequent negotiations for our little party getting on the road. It warms my heart that Merry's ponies went back to Tom Bombadil and I like to think of them living out their days in Bree. The little moment with the Neekerbreekers makes me smile too.

And what would our hobbits do without Strider? I shudder to think. I haven't got a lot to say on their character development in here that isn't spelled out pretty clearly and better in the chapter itself, but I like it a great deal.

I also tend to think of Sauron as being the arch-enemy/a Satan figure, but here we're reminded that he himself was but a servant of the Great Enemy, Melkor, who rebelled against Eru Ilúvatar (in Tolkien's high myth, the creator of all existence and supreme being of all the universe; Eru in Elvish meaning 'The One'). 

As for the Ring-wraiths. Quoting from Wikipedia, "Steve Walker, a Tolkien scholar, writes that the story gives the Ringwraiths credibility through a 'gradual incarnation of bodiless presence'. Little by little, in his view, Tolkien increases the reader's insight into their nature, starting with Black Riders who are 'spies more human than diabolical', rather than [immediately] developing their character. Walker sees this as appropriate in psychological terms: the Nazgûl's main weapons are psychological, namely fear and despair. He writes that the progressive revelation of their capabilities... builds up in the reader's mind an 'increasingly infernal vision.'"

So I've got a lot of thoughts on the Nine, but I'm gonna hold off on delving into those till later: partly for spoiler reasons, partly because this time around I want to focus on how Tolkien keeps adding those layers and layers of depth as we go along. (But of course, if you've got a good thought/question you'd like to share in the comments feel free! No problem with that. ;))  

Quotes:

• "Following its line eastward with their eyes they saw the Mountains: the nearer foothills were brown and sombre; behind them stood taller shapes of grey, and behind those again were high white peaks glimmering among the clouds."
  
• "How far is Rivendell?' asked Merry, gazing round wearily.The world looked wild and wide from Weathertop."
• "They stood for a while silent on the hill-top, near its southward edge. In that lonely place Frodo for the first time fully realized his homelessness and danger."
• "As Strider was speaking they watched his strange eager face, dimly lit in the red glow of the wood-fire. His eyes shone, and his voice was rich and deep."

 

For thought:

• Got a bunch of links for you today! Here's one for Tolkien reading Gil-galad was an Elven-king. And the Tolkien Ensemble's version of it here. It's so sad and wistful, but that's not a bad thing and I've come to like it, especially the second half. I also just ran across this interesting version.
  
• And Aragorn's Lay of Beren and Luthien from the TE (one of my favorites <3). I'd love to hear what you think. If you like it, there's a kinda sweet mix for it here. And again, the great man himself reading it here. (I'm not sure I'll include the Tolkien links every time -- there're just so many(!) -- but if you follow through to the channel and play lists etc. you can see all of them.)
  
• Have you read The Silmarillion?