So this chapter picks up right where “The Riders of Rohan” left off, but with none of the tension that chapter had. Obviously this is because we now know that Merry and Pippin are safe and sound, but Aragorn and company don't know that. We do get this bit of amusing snark out of Legolas after they find the Hobbits’ tracks and cut bonds:
‘Well, here is the strangest riddle that we have yet found!’ exclaimed Legolas. ‘A bound prisoner escapes both from the Orcs and from the surrounding horsemen. He then stops, while still in the open, and cuts his bonds with an orc-knife. But how and why? For if his legs were tied, how did he walk? And if his arms were tied, how did he use the knife? And if neither were tied, why did he cut the cords at all? Being pleased with his skill, he then sat down and quietly ate some waybread! That at least is enough to show that he was a hobbit, without the mallorn-leaf. After that, I suppose, he turned his arms into wings and flew away singing into the trees. It should be easy to find him: we only need wings ourselves!’
Movie aside: Viggo Mortensen gave quite the gut-wrenching cri de cœur when they are convinced that Merry and Pippin were dead. It’s not just Viggo being a good actor; he broke his toe when he kicked that Uruk-hai helmet.
The bulk of this chapter is really just about getting things synced up. The Fellowship had been divided into four groups (Frodo & Sam, Merry & Pippin, Gandalf, and Aragorn, Legolas & Gimli), and the reunion here serves as a chance for everyone to get a rundown.
Reinforcing everything I said about Boromir and his redemption:
‘You have not said all that you know or guess, Aragorn my friend,’ he said quietly. ‘Poor Boromir! I could not see what happened to him. It was a sore trial for such a man: a warrior, and a lord of men. Galadriel told me that he was in peril. But he escaped in the end. I am glad. It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir’s sake.
And then there’s Gandalf’s account of his battle with the Balrog. I’ve heard before that Tolkien liked Lovecraft, but wasn’t able to find anything confirming that, so unless someone in the comments knows something, I’m going to assume that we don’t actually know that. Regardless, there is a distinct Lovecraftian feel to his account:
‘We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted. Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin’s folk, Gimli son of Glóin. Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day. In that despair my enemy was my only hope, and I pursued him, clutching at his heel.’
It’s generally assumed that the Watcher in the Water from “A Journey in the Dark” is one of these “nameless things” that was driven/lured to the surface, but we don’t have any evidence of that in the text - it just fits very, very well.
“Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he.” I’ve alluded to this before, but holy crap does that statement cause headaches, given that Sauron as one of the Ainur was literally part of bringing the world into being in the first place. The best explanation that I’ve ever heard was that the name of the Ainur’s dwelling place with Eru, the Timeless Halls, is meant literally. The Ainur sing the Song of creation, Arda is created, and many of them descend to Arda. If the nameless things were part of the initial creation of Arda, and present before the Ainur entered Arda, then they would have spent longer existing in the stream of time and therefore be “older” than Sauron and the rest of the Ainur. Of course I’m describing things as a sequence of events, which implies a flow of time … see what I mean about headaches?
I don’t remember my reaction to Gandalf’s return, any more than I remember my reaction to Gandalf’s fall. I’d love to hear from any of you what you felt about it.
Friday, things get all Anglo-Saxon when we meet the King of the Golden Hall.