This is one of my favorite Chapters in all of Lord Of The Rings. And I have no idea why.
I know, I’m weird.
In this Chapter, we start in the bright sunshine of Ithilien, heading for the pass of Cirith Ungol, and as we travel the weather becomes more and more overcast, and we realize that the dimming of the light is being caused not only by clouds, but also by fumes rolling westward from Mordor, and then we hide by day and travel by night, as if we were on a nightshift with a storm coming, and the clouds and smoke take over more and more of the sky, and something is going on inside Mordor, and we see from far off fires and feel the impact of what is being done even in the ground, and then we come to a last bit of Ithilien, the Cross-roads, and the darkness has overtaken all but a little of the sky in the west, but a last gleam of sun touches the destroyed statue of a king at the Cross-Roads, and then Night comes.
I might as well touch on two minor points in this Chapter.
First, what Frodo sees on the defiled and separated head of the King at the end of the Chapter is a crown of flowers. It is a crown of Nature. It is a crown the Elves might use. And while I don’t know if Tolkien intended that sort of symbolism, if he did, I think it has implications about what Gondor is and should be. And that’s all I’m going to say until the beginning of Book 5, when we arrive at Minas Tirith.
The second is what may seem an odd conversation between Frodo and Sam – although I don’t think it’s odd at all. What might be odd about it? Well, on Frodo’s side, he doesn’t show much if any warmth or caring toward Sam. He answers questions, but doesn’t initiate topics. And on Sam’s side, he is quite proactive in bringing up topics, at putting forward his point of view, at suggesting an attitude towards Gollum, the weather, and their situation. He is, from my point of view, taking more and more of a leadership role, as well as trying to share the burdens of leadership with Frodo.
I suspect that this conversation was in the back of the mind of the movie-makers when they created a competition between Sam and Gollum for Frodo’s favor, as well as those of the radio plays when they had Frodo speak his lines from now on as if the Ring were causing him to be irritated at Sam (“I’ll try to be a bit quicker, Sam!”). I don’t see it that way – to me it feels as if Frodo’s attention is entirely focused on getting the Ring to Cirith Ungol and keeping its influence at bay, as you would answer someone briefly when you’re trying to hammer a nail into a wall.
And I reiterate, briefly, my belief that Sam’s speech is changing subtly as a result of the new responsibilities. He seems to me a little less discursive. He seems to put things a bit more in terms of his own viewpoint. He seems, somehow, to project more of an equal relationship with Frodo, to have gained rather than lost confidence from his missteps with Faramir – because they also brought him greater understanding of Gondor, of the issues at stake.
But none of this explains why I love this Chapter so much.
All I can do is describe the way I feel. It is as if I’m walking, and I realize there’s a thunderstorm or a snowstorm coming, and I need to hurry and get to shelter. Only it takes a while to come, and I stop and rest along the road, and find I have taken a nap, and I have no idea what time it is, only that the world has turned strange and dark, where there should be the usual daylight. And you and I are being urged by Gollum to hurry, and we do so, until we come to an old crossroads, and just for a moment, a last gleam of sun from the edges of the oncoming storm lights up the statue at the crossroads into a thing of glory. And then night comes.
In college, I worked over the summer at the Dept. of Interior building in Washington DC as an assistant to Under Secretary Russell Train. One job that was given to me was reading a book sent to the Under Secretary and responding to the accompanying letter from its author. The book turned out to be a detailing of the destruction of the streams and forests and beauty of the Cumberlands mountains and valleys in West Virginia by the strip mining of the coal industry, and the letter was a plea for help. It was one of the most frustrating things you can imagine to be told to send in reply a form letter saying “Thank you for your gift to the Under Secretary, we appreciate your support” while totally ignoring the situation and the author’s request. But what I remember most is the title: Night Comes to the Cumberlands.
I think that is part of what I feel about this Chapter – even though it doesn’t explain why I love it so much. Because a great storm is coming to Ithilien. A storm of darkness. A storm of destruction.
Night Comes to Ithilien. Night Comes to the Cumberlands.
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Like You’ve Never Heard It:
- The First of a Series of Ramblings About JRR Tolkien
- Part II. Pre-Psychology Writing, Poetry, and a New Hero
- Part III. Torture, Enlightenment
- Part IV. Weather, Mushrooms, Leaders
- Part V. In the Moment, Sam the Obscure
- Part VI. Folk Songs, Master, First, Fair
- Part VII. Hiking, Curses, Noble Language
- Part VIII. The Hiker’s Extrasensory Writing
- Part IX. Torture, Elves, Endings
- Part X. Your Highness
- Part XI. Business Meetings, Dwarves
- Part XII. Horns of Wild Memory
- Part XIII. Ecstasies of the Dwarves
- Part XIV. Valaraukar, the Third Touch of God
- Part XV. Memory, Nature, Passion
- Part XVI. The Gift of Enchantment
- Part XVII. Frontier Maturity
- Part XVIII. Pity, Decisions, Endings
- Part XIX. Into the Shadow, Kings, Names, Winds
- Part XX. People of the Morning, Child Soldiers
- Part XXI. Herdsmen and High Trees
- Part XXII. The Faith of God
- Part XXIII. Theoden’s Law
- Part XXIV. Helm’s Deep, Zangra, and A Life Worthy of Song
- Part XXV. Book of Marvels, Book of Friendship
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