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Finding Frodo
Tol Eressea
Feb 21 2008, 3:26am
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A Journey in the Dark III: Do you hear what I hear?
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The Nine Walkers rest and eat and have a sip of miruvor, then begin the trek through Moria with a march of several hours. Gandalf often consults with Gimli on the route, but makes all the decisions himself. Aragorn makes a prophetic statement:
'He has led us in here against our fears, but he will lead us out again, at whatever cost to himself.'
That sounds ominous in light of what we repeat readers know. I hope I'm not stepping on the toes of the next chapter leader when I ask for other quotes that foreshadow Gandalf's fate.
There are many cracks and chasms across the path, so Gandalf and his glimmering staff are essential for safe travel.
Now we know all the company plus a younger Bilbo can leap 7 feet. Can you? Also, for your extra reading pleasure, here is a fanfic on Pippin's leap.
Frodo finds that his senses have been sharpened as a result of his Morgul wound. He begins to hear faint footsteps far behind the Company.
Are heightened senses a blessing or a curse for Frodo?
After several hours, Gandalf stops at a meeting of ways, tired and unsure of which way to go. The Fellowship decides to camp in a nearby guard room. An open well in the center of the room piques Pippin's curiousity. He drops in a stone, alarming the others and angering Gandalf. It seemingly sets off a series of taps far below that sound like signals.
Is your hair standing on end yet? What is the most frightening thing about this journey in the dark to you?
Where's Frodo?
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FarFromHome
Valinor
Feb 21 2008, 1:22pm
Post #2 of 7
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I hope I'm not stepping on the toes of the next chapter leader when I ask for other quotes that foreshadow Gandalf's fate.
There was one earlier in this chapter, when Aragorn says to Gandalf: "I will follow your lead now - if this last warning does not move you. It is not of the Ring, nor of us others that I am thinking now, but of you, Gandalf. And I say to you: if you pass the doors of Moria, beware!" Yet Gandalf himself seems relatively confident, based on having done this before: "I passed through, and I came out again alive!"
So it seems that Aragorn has a premonition of the danger to Gandalf, but it's interesting that Gandalf himself, as far as I can tell, does not foresee that he will fall in Moria. Unless I've missed something, of course.
Now we know all the company plus a younger Bilbo can leap 7 feet. Can you?
I think I could manage a 7-foot running jump if I had to. But I'm bigger than a hobbit (although older and less fit too!). And I don't think I could get up the courage to do the running jump if I had to do it over a dark chasm whose bottom I couldn't see!
Are heightened senses a blessing or a curse for Frodo?
I think this hypersensitivity is mostly a burden to poor Frodo. Tolkien may have experienced this personally after his service in WWI. I've read memoirs of soldiers who, after returning home, would jump or even fall flat on their faces when they heard a car backfire, because they had been sensitized to explosions while serving at the front. The hypersensitivy that saved their lives every day in the trenches was nothing but a burden and a curse when they got home. And perhaps it's even worse for Frodo, because his heightened senses make him exquisitely aware of danger around him, and yet his duty is not to protect himself or try to avoid that danger, but to keep walking doggedly towards it. The only advantage that Frodo may have gained from this hypersensitivity, perhaps, is an understanding of Gollum's suffering.
What is the most frightening thing about this journey in the dark to you?
Many years ago, my kids had a computer game about exploring a dungeon, going through passageways and doorways, and suddenly coming upon creatures that you had to fight. It was in the early days of DOS games, and there were essentially no visuals at all. And yet somehow the creepiness and sense of lurking danger really got under your skin! Because it's what you don't see and can only imagine that's the scariest thing of all!
...and the sails were drawn up, and the wind blew,
and slowly the ship slipped away down the long grey firth;
and the light of the glass of Galadriel that Frodo bore
glimmered and was lost.
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Beren IV
Gondor
Feb 21 2008, 9:18pm
Post #3 of 7
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He paddled after us all through Moria and right down into Nimrodel
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I think that it is amusing that Aragorn knows that Gollum has been following them this whole time and yet says nothing! 
The most ominous part of this whole chapter is the notes of Frodo's certainty of evil following and evil behind. The encounter with the Watcher reveals to us that Moria is not deserted. We know that there is evil up ahead, but we don't know what.
Once a paleontologist, now a botanist, will be a paleobotanist
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Feb 22 2008, 3:50pm
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That would be just what the rest
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of the Fellowship would love to hear: "Hey, guys, we have a psychopathic killer trailing us." 
Notice that there were a few things he and Gandalf kept from the others, such as the possibility of travelling through Moria. Some things are best left unsaid until the time is right!
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
"It struck me last night that you might write a fearfully good romantic drama, with as much of the 'supernatural' as you cared to introduce. Have you ever thought of it?"
-Geoffrey B. Smith, letter to JRR Tolkien, 1915
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dernwyn
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Feb 22 2008, 4:06pm
Post #5 of 7
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The thought of having that open well in a dark room is scary enough! Combine it with Pippin's curiosity and tendency towards juvenile behavior, and the situation becomes alarming.
My own UUT is that the Moria-orcs used these wells as part of their communications system. They're very effective: in my grandparents' house, they had a laundry chute going from the second floor, past the kitchen where there was a door opening onto the chute, and on into the basement, ending above a basket. Grandma would rap on the chute from the kitchen, to get the attention of, and then communicate with, anyone upstairs. In the same way, the Orcs probably used leftover hammers to knock on the well walls using some simple code.
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
"It struck me last night that you might write a fearfully good romantic drama, with as much of the 'supernatural' as you cared to introduce. Have you ever thought of it?"
-Geoffrey B. Smith, letter to JRR Tolkien, 1915
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dernwyn
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Feb 23 2008, 7:17pm
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Well, she did have a small orc-hard of pear and apple trees!
Closer to a Dwarf, actually: she stood at most about 5 feet tall, as I recall. But she was a tough school-marm in her younger days, back in the early part of the century, so to belligerent students she probably did appear somewhat of an Orc...
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"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
"It struck me last night that you might write a fearfully good romantic drama, with as much of the 'supernatural' as you cared to introduce. Have you ever thought of it?"
-Geoffrey B. Smith, letter to JRR Tolkien, 1915
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