RWD: Fellowship to chapter seven of book two

Synopsis: bereft of Gandalf, the party arrives at a mysterious and secret land -- the elven realm of Lothlorien. For many readers, this is one of the most enchanting sections of the book, and one that is very much lacking from the Peter Jackson movie version. There they are hosted by the lord and lady of the realm, with the lady Galadriel winning hearts and showing the hobbits predictions in her magic forecasting mirror.

Craft lesson: Deep strangeness after the three-quarter mark

To continue my theme: it seems as though, here, past the three-quarter mark of the story, that Tolkien decides the reader is truly ready to enter the unknown.

On one level, the elves are just attractive people living in a forest. But on another, there is a way in which these chapters present a reality that is absolutely alien -- on a mental, experiential level -- to both the hobbits and the reader. Lothlorien is not like the rest of Middle Earth (or our Earth).

On a mechanical-magical level, Galadriel is using one of the three elven rings to create a heightened reality, a mirror of the undying lands populated by the gods that these elves left behind when they came to Middle Earth ("Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky"). But it's one thing to say this. That's just an idea -- not fiction.

It's another to make the reader feel this on the page.

One way that Tolkien does this is by the strange way that the elves don't understand what "magic" is and find the question confusing.

Galadriel says of her mirror: "For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean..."

We see this later, in the following chapter, when the elves give out tools and equipment but laugh when they are asked if it is magical.

It is as if the rules of the world do not apply here.

Tolkien also describes very well what the place feels like to the protagonists.

The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lórien there was no stain.

He turned and saw that Sam was now standing beside him, looking round with a puzzled expression, and rubbing his eyes as if he was not sure that he was awake. ‘It’s sunlight and bright day, right enough,’ he said. ‘I thought that Elves were all for moon and stars: but this is more Elvish than anything I ever heard tell of. I feel as if I was inside a song, if you take my meaning.’

Haldir looked at them, and he seemed indeed to take the meaning of both thought and word. He smiled. ‘You feel the power of the Lady of the Galadhrim,’ he said.

Twice Tolkien tries out the technique of saying HE SAW SOMETHING FAMILIAR BUT NOW IT WAS...

"He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them."

Try this in your own writing: "IT LOOKED THE SAME BUT IT WAS NOW..."

Craft lesson 2: Crude homeliness versus elevated home

This is a bit beyond the scope of a craft lesson, but it really feels to me as if Lothlorien is supposed to be a higher, heightened, grander version of The Shire.

The hobbits practise all the same virtues -- making things with care, staying close to nature -- but the elves not only take it to another level, but they seem to have moved beyond the petty and irritable tensions present in the shire.

This is a kind of book and series level repetition that can be very powerful in a longer work. It is as if the hobbits are finding new, grander versions of themselves as they travel.

Craft lesson 3: the hidden powers of The Ring

It is smart of Tolkien to leave the real powers of Frodo's ring unclear. He could be doing a lot more with it. It is much more useful than it appears. But Galadriel warns him against it.

Frodo asks:

"I am permitted to wear the One Ring: why cannot I see all the others and know the thoughts of those that wear them?’

‘You have not tried,’ she said. ‘Only thrice have you set the Ring upon your finger since you knew what you possessed. Do not try! It would destroy you. Did not Gandalf tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become far stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others. Yet even so, as Ring-bearer and as one that has borne it on finger and seen that which is hidden, your sight is grown keener. You have perceived my thought more clearly than many that are accounted wise. You saw the Eye of him that holds the Seven and the Nine. And did you not see and recognize the ring upon my finger?'"

In the later books of the story, Frodo does grow in his use of The Ring -- it is not just a way to turn invisible -- and there is a different version of the story, perhaps, where he grows to be a threat to Sauron.

It's a reminder that magical items in a story can change and develop based on the need of the storyteller!

Discuss the chapters below.

FOTR: to chapter seven of book two

This course is only available for enrolled students only.

Weekly newsletters

Audio Lessons

Newsletters for The Age of Innocence

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Video lessons

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Audio Lessons

Newsletters

Discussion

Newsletters

Zoom Recordings

Newsletters

Zoom Recordings

Newsletters

Introductions and Resources

Newsletters

Zoom recordings and audio files

Newsletters