|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The One Ring Forums:
Tolkien Topics: Reading Room:
Three phases of it all going wrong:
Edit Log
|
|
noWizardme
Gondolin
Dec 18 2021, 1:04pm
Views: 5416
|
|
Three phases of it all going wrong
|
|
|
Hi oliphaunt! Your Three phases of it all going wrong is a very fine 'three'.
I like your 'protagonists in scary stories always make the worst decision'! I'm pretty sure we must at some point have compared & contrasted Frodo et al. here with Bilbo et al. in Mirkwood. Bilbo's party is told under no account to leave the path, and so one immediately starts to think they will somehow end up doing just that. Frodo et al. have a contrasting problem I think - how to find a path, when the most obvious (or sometimes seemingly only one) is not the right one.
An unanswerable question is about mechanism. Does Old Man Willow ('OMW') really have the power to make the trees scuttle around, the bushes yield in only one direction, or the landscape otherwise change? Are the hobbits really left with no good choices because of the very lie of the land? Or is there an element of illusion, so that a mind more resistant to OMW's spells would see the hobbits miss very obvious opportunities to escape (such as paths that don't go towards OMW and which he therefore causes the hobbits not to see)? I'm guessing 'illusion' myself, but I don't see how it can be anything other than a matter of opinion.
I suppose that is a bit academic for our poor hobbits though. Even if a stronger mind might theoretically see through an illusion, it might as well be real for all our heroes can do about it. I find I'm wondering what else they could actually have done -- suggestions welcome from all! Sitting tight and waiting for rescue isn't an option, and once they come to the conclusion they are being herded then trying to retreat to the hedge might not be possible either. It would of course also be a big setback: they would be forced to leave along the road with their departure noticed, which would be bad for the reasons Frodo explained in the last chapter. For me it adds to the scary story that the hobbits know it is all going wrong, but are helpless (or think they are helpless) to resist.
But in the end, as you say oliphaunt, "The third path leads into danger (Old Man Willow) and also to Tom and Goldberry's house." Tom later says that he was expecting them (news from Gildor), that he thought they would end up down by the withywindle, and that this was one of his last forays down there. Of course Tolkien needs to make his adventure work and so danger and rescue/escape are only to be expected. But I suppose it's also plausible to note that OMW's schemes only in the end serve to introduce the hobbits to Tom and Goldberry; and imagine this this was 'meant' to happen, by forces within Middle-earth, rather than just Tolkien plotting his tale.
Whether the hobbits learn immediately from this chapter's adventure is debatable. As I see it , they make similar mistakes on the Barrow Downs - misjudging the difficulties of their day's journey, and succumbing to external (magical) suggestions of sleep. And there's a similar feeling of running out of good options, and having to make the best of poor ones!
PS: you're reminding me that I one wrote an ee cummings parody about OMW, and managed to creep myself out quite effectively!
~~~~~~
My profile picture is "Kaninchen und Ente" ("Rabbit and Duck") from the 23 October 1892 issue of Fliegende Blätter (see https://en.wikipedia.org/...2%80%93duck_illusion )
(This post was edited by noWizardme on Dec 18 2021, 1:17pm)
|
|
|
Edit Log:
|
|
Post edited by noWizardme
(Gondolin) on Dec 18 2021, 1:09pm
|
|
Post edited by noWizardme
(Gondolin) on Dec 18 2021, 1:17pm
|
|
|
|
