Tolkien Tuesday: Re-Reading "The Lord of the Rings: Flight to the Ford"
In this suspenseful chapter, Tolkien shows his extraordinary skills when it comes to narrative pacing.
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Welcome to Tolkien Tuesdays, where I talk about various things that I love about the lore and writings of Tolkien, whether in a chapter reading or a character study or an essay. I hope you enjoy reading these ruminations as much as I enjoy writing them and, if you have a moment, I’d love it if you’d subscribe to this newsletter. It’s free, but there are paid options, as well, if you’re of a mind to support a struggling writer. Either way, thank you for joining me!
Though JRR Tolkien is often widely praised for the immersive nature of Middle-earth–particularly as this is revealed in The Fellowship of the Ring–I also think he deserves as much acclaim for his propulsive pacing. This is very much on display in “Flight to the Ford,” in which Frodo, suffering and increasingly debilitated by the wound given to him by the Witch-king, struggles along with the others to make it to Rivendell. Fortunately, they are given some unexpected aid by Glorfindel, an Elf sent out by Elrond, and they manage to make it to the Bruinen, before a great wave sweeps away the Nazgûl.
What immediately strikes the reader upon making one’s way through the chapter is just how breathlessly it’s paced. We hit the ground running at the beginning, as it quickly becomes clear that Frodo’s wound is far more serious than anyone might have supposed. Even though he had just received the wound, it already starts working its malevolent power on his body, rendering his arm almost useless and wrecking ever more havoc as the chapter goes on. It’s quite wrenching to see poor Frodo subjected to something that even the healing skills of Aragorn cannot stop, while the other hobbits–particularly poor Sam–look on helplessly.
It certainly doesn’t help that the land through which they pass is so grim. Looming above them are the ruins of castles and other fortifications, and Aragorn makes clear that these were domains that once fell under the dreaded sway of Angmar. Anyone who has read Tolkien’s work knows that the land often retains the memory of those who dwelt on it, even when those who still live have long forgotten their predecessors. The presence of such deep memories takes its own toll on Frodo and his companions, as they desperately try to reach the safety of Rivendell.
As always, however, the grimness of the chapter’s main action is offset by several light-hearted moments. In this case, many of these revolve around the trolls that Bilbo himself encountered so many years before. Whereas the Ring is the most fateful reminders of the old hobbit’s journey to the east, this sequence is a reminder of simpler times, when all one had to worry about were trolls (rather than, say, the most powerful being in Middle-earth getting control of a talisman that will make him almost unstoppable).
The highlight, of course, is Sam’s little song about the troll and the bone. We’ve seen before now that there’s much more to Mr. Gamgee than meets the eye, and now we know that not only does he know songs from the Elves; he’s also quite the wordsmith himself. I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes have a bit of difficulty making my way through the songs in Tolkien, but this one that I love without apology or reservation. Aside from its clever wordplay, its sprightly tone is a necessary leavening to the dour circumstances in which the characters now find themselves. There’s also something a little powerful about the idea of taking something dangerous and deadly like a troll and turning it into a figure of mockery and fun.
It’s when the group finally encounters the Elf Glorfindel that the action really picks up. Of course, this particular Elf has quite a fascinating history, but here he is primarily the agent of their salvation, since it’s unlikely that without his guidance–and his horse, Asfaloth–the group would have ever made it to Rivendell in one piece, even with Aragorn’s considerable aid. As it is, it’s still a very close thing, since the Ringwraiths have managed to construct quite the trap for their quarry, lying in wait for them right next to the fords. By the time that they reach the last stretch before safety the trap is already sprung.
By this point, clearly, Frodo has begun to fall ever further into the dark sway of the Nazgûl, whose perilous blade exerts a more powerful impact with every moment. What makes the wound all the more sinister is the fact that it is, on the surface at least, healing up quite nicely, as Sam points out. We won’t learn for some time that there is actually a fragment of it making its way toward Frodo’s heart, but we nevertheless get the sense that there is something dangerously wrong, and that if they don’t make it to Rivendell they will surely be lost.
Frodo deserves so much credit for his resistance to the call of the Nazgûl, even though he is now battling both the corrupting influence of the Ring and the wound from the Morgul blade. Time and again in these early chapters, we’ve seen the formidable hobbit character that Gandalf spoke about, but even so it’s truly marvelous–and inspiring!--to see him raise a fist in defiance, even though he knows by this point that there is no chance that he can withstand their combined might. If not for the rising of the waters of the Bruinen, there seems little doubt that he would have been carried away by them.
Though it won’t become clear for some time yet just how much this wound will come to impact Frodo and his life, it’s still clear just how close he has come to the terrible world of shadows that his enemies inhabit. Seeing them in all of their spectral glory is another of those chilling and horrifying moments in The Fellowship, a grim reminder of the stakes of what is happening on the outskirts of Rivendell. By the time that Frodo falls into unconsciousness, we feel as if we, too, have been subjected to the brutal pace of the flight to the ford. Though we don’t know just what will happen now that the Nazgûl have been swept away by the waters of the river, we can at least take some comfort in knowing that Frodo managed to avoid being drawn forever into the fatal web in which they tried to ensnare him.
That’s all for this week. Stay tuned for the fateful meeting in the house of Elrond.