Tolkien Tuesday: Re-Reading "The Lord of the Rings": "The Old Forest"
In which Frodo and his companions discover that the Old Forest is quite as dangerous as they'd been led to believe.
Hello, dear reader! Do you like what you read here at Omnivorous? Do you like reading fun but insightful takes on all things pop culture? Do you like supporting indie writers? If so, then please consider becoming a subscriber and get the newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. There are a number of paid options, but you can also sign up for free! Every little bit helps. Thanks for reading and now, on with the show!
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!
At last, we finally come to it, the moment when Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam have to bid a final farewell to the Shire and embark on the next stage of their very important journey. Having decided to go through the Old Forest, it isn’t long before they start to experience some mishaps, since the Old Forest seems to set its mind against the journeyers. They manage to become ensnared by the malevolent Old Man Willow, though they are rescued by the timely arrival of Tom Bombadil.
Narratively, this chapter serves a crucial function, as it marks the very last moment in which the hobbits can claim to be in the Shire. Indeed, there’s something more than a bit portentous about Merry’s statement that they are now outside, particularly given the hostility with which so many hobbits (including dear Fatty Bolger) greet anything from the world beyond the borders. We can’t say why, just yet, but we nevertheless get the feeling that there is something ancient and powerful about the Old Forest, something akin (but separate from) the darkness that we saw in Mirkwood during Bilbo’s adventure in The Hobbit.
As always, Tolkien manages to immerse us in the fraught and dangerous world of the Old Forest. There have been few writers in fantasy who have had his knack for capturing a sense of place, and this skill is very evident as the chapter follows the hobbits and their attempts to make their way through the sinister woods. He gives us not just a sense of what it looks like but also how it feels, with even Pippin’s cries to be left alone “muffled by a heavy curtain.” The whole chapter is filled with repeated references to the watching and oppressive nature of the trees, who remain dead set against the interlopers in their midst.
It is, in fact, quite striking the extent to which this chapter reminds us repeatedly of the forest as a site of danger and threat, considering Tolkien’s avowed love of trees and forests. It would be a mistake, though, to claim that the Old Forest is evil, and in that respect it is very different from Mirkwood, which was corrupted and twisted by the malevolent presence of the Necromancer. Instead it seems as if the Old Forest is just an entity that operates by its own laws and nature. Though this might be hostile to the hobbits in the moment, this is because they have violated the borders of nature. And, as Merry reminds them all, there is bad blood between the hobbits and the trees.
Reading this chapter, you feel as if you are right there with Frodo and company as they continue to find themselves stymied by the force of nature itself. Much of this chapter reads like something straight out of a nightmare, evocatively rendered and brought to life in the waking world. I’m reminded too of the moment in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, when the heroine stumbles her way through a dark wood that seems to have sprung to life all around her. Who, after all, hasn’t had a nightmare like this one? Tolkien manages to tap into our deep primordial fears and bring them to life.
Which brings us, of course, to the centerpoint of the whole chapter, the sinister encounter with Old Man Willow. What I enjoy about this part of the book is the way that Tolkien allows us (and the hobbits) to think at first that the valley of the Withywindle (what a perfect name) is a little oasis, a place where they can rest a bit. Who wouldn’t want to sit down and enjoy a “golden afternoon of late sunshine,” particularly when the light in question “lay warm and drowsy upon the hidden land”? Very soon, however, this little idyll is punctured when it becomes clear that Old Man Willow has his own plans for the intruders, part of which involves ensnaring Merry and Pippin.
Fortunately for all of them, Sam isn’t quite as easily lulled into somnolence. As he says with his usual no-nonsense demeanor, “I don’t like this big tree. I don’t trust it. Hark at it singing about sleep now! This won’t do at all!” Of all of the hobbits, it’s Sam who has the most intrinsic knowledge about trees and growing things, which is hardly a surprise, given his profession. Once again, it is homespun wisdom and his ability to cut straight to the heart of the matter that ends up saving the day, yet more evidence, if any were needed, that in all of the ways that count Samwise Gamgee is the true hero of this story.
But of courseI would be remiss if I didn't also address the Tom Bombadil in the room. I’ll be the first to admit that for a very long time I sort of dreaded this part of the novel. In part, my reservation stemmed from the fact that there's just so much singing, and so much of it is just so silly. As I’ve grown older, however, I’ve come to appreciate the jolly fellow for what he is: an enigma, but at least an enigma who is happy to help several hobbits who have been trapped inside of a willow.
It’s clear right from the first that Tom Bombadil is a being of power, since all it takes to make the recalcitrant tree release its prisoners. At this point in the novel we don’t know any more than the hobbits do about this mysterious figure, and that’s precisely what makes him so compelling and so fascinating. Whatever he is, at this point we know that he will at least be able to provide the hobbits some form of succor from the perilous realm in which they now find themselves.
That’s it for this chapter reading. Stay tuned for next week, as we get a little more into the weeds about just who (or what) Tom is ad wy he remains such a fascinating and frustrating part of The Lord of the Rings.