Monday, April 8, 2024

The Lord of the Rings: Journey to the Crossroads (Part Two)


The Tale 

The next day is much as the one before, except it seems even quieter and the stifling atmosphere heavier as they pass under the trees. Gollum pauses to sniff the air quite often, and then urges the hobbits to go faster.

By afternoon the trees (ilex, oak, and ash) spread out and the cover becomes scattered over the long launds (glades or grassy areas between trees) between them, sprinkled profusely with celandine, anemones, and woodland hyacinths. They see no birds or beasts, which makes Gollum nervous. They move quickly and cautiously from one shadow to the next.

By the end of the day, when the light is fading, they come to the end of the forest. Before them is a deep dim valley. The road ahead leads to woods again. To the right the Mountains of Gondor glow in the sunset; to the left are the dark walls of Mordor. Frodo seems to see ‘dim tops and broken pinnacles of old towers forlorn and dark.’ He asks Gollum if he knows where they are.

Gollum answers they are in dangerous places. On the left is the valley of Minas Morgul, the tower of the Moon; a road leaves from there to Osgiliath, a ruined city ‘full of enemies.’  He says they shouldn’t have taken the nasty Men’s advice; they’ve come far off their path and must turn east. They can’t use the road either. ‘Cruel peoples come this way.’ Frodo looks at the road; though empty it feels ‘as if things might indeed be passing up and down that eyes could not see.’

Frodo decides not to decide what to do just yet. They’ve walked long and far. Perhaps they should just rest at the edge of the wood. Gollum says they shouldn’t rest at night anymore. They should press on. Sam objects they have to rest, even if the get up to march in the middle of the night; there’ll still be plenty of dark left. Gollum reluctantly agrees.

They climb up into the branches of a holm-oak. Gollum curls up and goes to sleep right away. The hobbits eat but do not sleep.

A little after midnight Gollum wakes up and sniffs the air (which seems his usual method of determining the time of night. He asks if Frodo and Sam have rested and slept. Sam growls they’ve done neither. Gollum drops right out of the tree onto all fours. Frodo and Sam follow more slowly.

They head out eastwards. The land slopes upward and becomes broken and hard. The fact that they can hardly see anything doesn’t help. In fact, a looming darkness is coming from the East, eating up the dim stars. The sinking moon ‘is ringed all about with a sickly yellow haze.’ Gollum turns and announces it will be day soon and they must hurry and find a place to hide.

They follow him wearily. He leads them at last to a hogback of land, covered with ancient and thick gorse bushes, burned here and there. The bushes are so tall the hobbits can walk upright under their cover.

They reach the further edge of the hill and hide under ‘a tangled knot of thorns’, where there is a hollow hall roofed with new spring growth. They sit and rest, too tired to eat, and wait for the day to dawn.

But dawn never comes, ‘only a dead brown twilight.’ In the East there is a red light that is not the sun. The mountains before them loom blackly. Frodo asks which way they should go and Sam asks if they have to think about it just yet.

‘Perhaps not, perhaps not,’ said Gollum. ‘But we must go soon, to the Cross-roads. Yes, to the Cross-roads. That’s the way over there, yes, Master.’

Bits and Bobs 

A ‘hogback’ is a long hill or mountain range with steep sides and a narrow crest.

Anemone

Gorse

Celandine

Holm-oak


Ilex (Common Holly)

Wood Hyacinth

By a strange coincidence, we come to this part about the Dawnless Day on the same day we're due an eclipse here in Texas.

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