What are the Barrow-wights?
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- čas přidán 31. 03. 2024
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Isn't Barrow Wight the guy who sings all those sexy songs?
The Walrus of Lurve...
Yep, you've got it! He had such hits as
Can't get enough of your Dunedain
And
Just the wraith you are
The Walrus of Lurve ...
Barry
Dude, that's barrow Manilow
The mind of Tolken never ceases to amaze me. I can't meal plan for a week and yet this guy made over 3000 years worth of twists and turns that are all linked!!!!
To be fair, alot of his works were notes written down in downtime between battles and in the trenches of ww1
It helped him deal with trauma of war.
@@matthewcopley7679I literally was going to say something like this as a joke. I didn't know that it was actually true though!
Frank Hubert did, too
Arguably, Stephen King made an infinite universe with the Dark Tower series
Yes, and languages 😊
The ritual the Barrow-Wight performs on the Hobbits is sick 🔥 Tolkien knew how to write horror. The Wight implied that he would sacrifice them all to the Darkness, and it seems he was referring to Morgoth, not Sauron.
Definitely, the whole part about Barrow-downs is quite scary... especially in the contrast with the jovial Tom Bombadil who appears right before and right after that.
Horrors experienced during WWI no doubt influence these darker passages
Wouldn't the darkness be ungolaint the spider. Might have spelt it wrong
This is another example of how interconnected Tolkien made things in the Legendarium. The Dúnedain of Arnor crafted weapons, including those daggers, specifically to be effective against wraiths and even the Ringwraiths in the Angmar Wars. They still lost that war but some of those weapons survived and over 1000 years later one would end up in the hands of Merry, who would use it to help strike down the mightiest of all wraiths, the Witch-King of Angmar, the one who had led the war against the Dúnedain in the north.
And the Witch-King, getting stabbed by a dagger he actually set free, says his last "D'oh!" and is never heard of again.
Tolkien seems to have fundamentally viewed evil as self-destructive. It could be clever, cunning, but it could never truly be wise, and would sooner or later lead itself to doom. This is just one of many examples.
Or even just destructive. Mock vs make. Etc.
@@4tdaz It´s sort of the same in Christianity. When you perceive the world as God´s creation, destruction and self-destruction are quite similar. Either way, you´re destroying something that was initially good.
And associates it with dark colours but don't look too deeply into it. Written in a different time and what all
Evil is disorder, working against the natural order, and thus of necessity making obstacles for itself.
@@ThommyofThennWhatever you think you're instantiating is substantiated in nothing but your own fantasy.
Mom used to read LotR to me and my brother when we were still young enough to be read books to, but old enough for LotR. The section with the crypts scared the shire out of me and probably gave nightmares but I regret nothing.
It is one of two memories I have of early teenaged reading.
I remember my mum reading this bit too!
"scared the shire out of me" 🤣🤣💀
I had a similar experience. At age 6, I first got the mistaken impression that the barrow-wights and black riders were one and the same, possibly because my mom used the same deep, menacing tone when reading the words of both...
Scares the shire out if you? 😂
It's always great when the villains of stories receive their most crushing defeats as a consequence of their own cruelty, or of their own most desperate attempts to prevent that very outcome.
It's very much a theme in LOTR. "Oft evil will shall evil mar".
Tolkien's way of discerning a karmic come-uppance@@ceejay0137
@@ceejay0137 Including the end of Sauron
I'm quite a fan of the triumph of evil myself
That's 'Arcadia'--and they are GOIN' DOWN. No choice in the matter.@@ScribeOfAcadia
I understand the movies choosing to exclude Tom Bombadil because he is quite a momentum killer in the books, but the Barrow-Downs are such an important part of the story that has great significance later in the story, especially with Merry. Plus!! It’s one of the few moments when Frodo’s courage is on full display, and the film definitely could’ve used a great Frodo courage moment. Sad it was never included in the films
But then again you need Tom Bombadil to save them in the end... You would have to make some workaround, like hobbits going there after Bree with Aragorn, who saves them or something...
It seems like they could have handled it in a streamlined way. Like being told about Bombadil by Gandalf or someone else, but not having them encounter him ahead of time. The first they see of him is when he rescues them from the Barrow-Downs. Then maybe they stay with him right after it and they are quickly sent on their way.
If ur going to make a truly definitive version, you may as well include Bombadil and the Barrow Whites.
@@toncek9981If the swords in that tomb could destroy the Witch-King, they could definitely destroy the wight, eliminating the need for Tom to rescue them.
Merry’s blade is just as important as Eowyn’s thrust in dispatching the Witch-King
Iluvatar works in mysterious ways.
Seems to ME, to be FAR MORE important.. "No other blade.."
Definitely because it caused him pain which other weapons could not and distracted him so that she could get him in the ice slots of the helmet
That's true. Without the wound from the barrow blade, the witch king could not be killed by Eowyn,
@@chrisdaigle5410 true, but without being killed by Eowyn, the witch king would not have been killed by Eowyn. They both played their parts
Another thing that is worth thinking of is the strage story of what happened to Elronds wife. I think that attack was no coinsidence. It was meant to weaken both Elrond and Galadriel in one stroke. From the little we know, she was hurt beyond healing, or the capacity of Elrond at the time. That too ended worse for Sauron because I think that horrible fate of his wife is what made Elrond such a master healer. Because of the attack on Elronds wife he was able to heal Frodo enough for the journey to come to completion.
Wow, interesting point!
When Elrond got back to Valinor I'm certain there were plenty of unattached Noldorian wimmen so he could snag a 2nd wife.
@@fueledbylove That is probably another interesting theme - what about love when you are immortal? is it forever or do the elves also get devorced on ocassion?
@@alonys Well cant rightly says thats outside the canon of the books I think
The Battle of the Pelennor fields is my favourite part of LotR, and so much of it is because of the way that the past finally gets some justice on the Witch-King through Merry and Eowyn. It is so very epic, especially with all the lore layers.
I never thought about how the Witch King played a part in his own demise. He probably wouldn't have been defeated had he not awoken the Barrow Wights. That dagger would still be sleeping soundly.
I must re read LOTR. My head canon always considered the Barrow Wights as eternally restless undead trapped in their own graveyard, and the ritual was a way for the wight to escape.
I never connected that they were outside spirits sent there by the Witch King.
Definitely have to reread.
Many thanks. Your writing, narration, voice, and artwork are all superb. Worthy of the topic.
The Barrow Downs are one of the parts that really stick with me from when my dad read me Fellowship. An amazing moment.
Frodo saving Sam from the Barrow-wight is one of the best moments in the whole book. It adds great weight to Frodo’s character, showing his incredible inherent bravery, and to his relationship with Sam. It’s a shame that the deletion of Tom Bombadil ended up depriving Elijah Wood of this incredible moment which he could’ve had in the films.
Unfortunately, it had to be deleted due to time constraints. You see, there was a Legolas skateboarding scene that absolutely had to be included. Truly masterpieces.
It's also the first time the Ring openly tempts him, with the thought of abandoning his friends and using the Ring to escape, but he overcomes it and it's a very important moment. Sadly film Frodo is hopeless and just falls over all the time.
@@giokun100 ...those aren't even in the same movie. I agree its a silly scene, but come on lol
This js one of many reasons why I hate the depiction of Frodo in the Peter Jackson films. He always comes across as a bit milquetoast.
@@TheMarcHicks I quite agree. Book- overcomes rings temptation, hacks arm off Barrowowight, calls Bombadil to aid, saves his friends - film - nothing. Book - stands up to the Nazgul on Weathertop, stabs the Witchking and wounds him with a holy elven name - film drops his sword and falls over. Book rides alone to the Ford, confronts the Nazgul and defies and challenges them - film - gets carried there as baggage and falls off the horse. He even manages to fall over and drop the Ring on Caradhras and in the Mines instead of stabbing the troll as in the book, he falls over again. Not sure it's not an inside running joke. Trouble is in the films by not giving him any of the book moments and instead having him utterly passive in them, he just comes across as pretty pathetic and lacking any real grit. He gets none of the formative experiences before he reaches Rivendell he does in the book.
You know I sometimes wonder whether the spear that pierced the heart of the last prince of Cardolan (mind-boggling that Merry somehow relives his memories) was a Morgul blade. Gandalf later tells Frodo that Morgul wounds can turn you into a Wraith if left untreated
I often thought that the Barrow Wights were lesser Wraiths created by the Witch Kings Morgul Blades.
The Tom Bombadil poem about rings and otter skin is an allusion to the story of the dwarf Ótr from the prose Edda. He’s a shapeshifter and Loki killed him for his otter pelt. Ótr’s father demands a weregild of his son’s pelt covered in rings. But one hair wasn’t covered and Loki used a cursed ring to cover it.
I like your comments both about the "delicious irony" that the swords originally forged to kill wights were eventually used for that purpose - albeit in a way far removed from their original maker's expectation. Also, your comment that if Sauron had not dispatched the wights to inhabit these barrows, those swords would never have resurfaced, ready to fulfil their purpose.
This all ties in withTom Shippey's insight that in the philosophy of Tolkien's world, good is always worth fighting for; not because there is a simple, straight line path between good overcoming evil, but because in the end, the evil is always self-defeating
Perhaps Tom had foresight similar to that of Galadriel? Just as her gifts to the Fellowship were given with purpose and the benefit of vision, so too does the (pardon the pun) rather pointed choosing of those four blades for the hobbits. It seems to me that Tolkien liked to layer his themes and characters on a sort of repeat.
He easily might have that kind of foresight, but it´s also possible he simply thought they´d need weapons on their travels. Hard to say.
For some reason I always thoughts the wights were some of the most dangerous and mysterious beings encountered with some type of ancient power that rivals more larger baddies
I understand that. I was always intrigued by Gandalf saying that being under the wraiths´ spell had been the most dangerous moment for the hobbits.
totally get this- the way the sacrifice scene is written is one of the most chilling in the series. It feels like the closest the hobbits come to certain death. Even stuff like Frodo getting stabbed by the cave troll, or Gandalf challenging Durin's Bane doesn't quite have the same soul clenching immediacy to it.
It would have been quite interesting to see wether Gandalf without Elronds ring would have been able to defeat those wights on his own. Shure, he defeated the Balrog but as Gandalf told Frodo about the one ring, the power one can wield with such an item is highly connectet to how powerfull you are as a being without it. That should be true for rings of the elves as well.
@@Aufsammelkabbler Personally, I think as Maia that Gandalf should have creamed the Balrog and hardly gotten a scratch, you know in the 1st Age there were many of the nasty things slain by Elves and not all that fought them died too. I guess at his age Gandy was a bit out of shape plus that fall into very deep pit was no picnic.
@@fueledbylove Balrogs are Maia themself though. Also the term is used by Tolkien to describe a variety of different individuals with differing power levels. That Gandalf, a powerful Maia of his own right empowered by one of the rings of power was close to loosing the battle speaks volumes about the power of Durins Bane.
It's clear to me at this point that Tom Bombadil is Tolkien's version of Deadpool -- the one character who knows they're in a fictional universe and thus doesn't take anything seriously.
And Patchface in ASOIAF
*By far* one of the most underrated CZcams channels to date. I feel actual joy every time I get notified that this channel posts LOTR content. Hell, I've listened to "Where did the Entwives go?" at least 4 times because that video breaks down a few very intense subjects in a palatable manner.
On that note, while typing this, I searched for that video and could not find it, so I ask:
*Where did the, "Where did the Entwives Go?," go?*
There seem to be quite a few LotR videos missing. I was looking for the one about Pippin and realized there are others that I couldn't find anymore. Which is too bad. I love rewatching them occasionally.
I like the death of the Witch-King as a parallel to the destruction of the One Ring, with Hobbits doing great deeds and helping to destroy great evil, despite their humble appearance.
"The Barrow Wights are... wights".
No one else could this sentence off have pulled without sounding dumb. But IDG timed it perfectly, and it made perfect sense.
Which means the Witch-King is a lich, a higher level undead with more agency and self-identify.
The way you described that irony, Robert, was perfect. I could taste it.
Well done, sir.
Exactly, I've always considered the witch king a lich.
Barrow-wights are my favorite part of the story, even as little as there is.
That’s one of the reasons I didn’t watch any of the movies after the first one. I objected to the way they made Merry and Pippin’s joining the expedition accidental, and I felt that leaving out the barrow wights left a serious gap in the story.
@@anna9072 Per the movie- Merry and Pippen went out to steal carrots one day.......and then disappeared for over a year. I can't imagine their families took it all that well. Come to think of it....I wonder if Farmer Maggot had the constable coming around to check his fields for corpses! 🤣🤣
As someone that is reading the trilogy for the second time I can agree with this. Soo much in the first half of Fellowship is so amazing and sadly left out in the movie. That said - I will always love the movies. However I am becoming more critical as I age into a 5000 year old elf.
@@Peter-dy3tf you probably saw the film first, so that’s not surprising. I’d read the trilogy countless times, and knew it pretty much by heart, long before the movie came out, so I was not inclined to be forgiving.
2:59 - The Witch-King didn't spark that division in Arnor when he appeared on the scene in TA1300, Robert, the split occurred in TA861 after the death of High King Earendur when his three sons squabbled over their inheritance. Amlaith, the oldest son, who was king of Arthedain claimed the title of High King of Arnor (The other two realms - Cardolan and Rhudaur eventually failed, with Rhudaur being taken over by Angmar and Cardolan collapsed after a great plague).
My dad read many book series to my siblings and me growing up, The Lord of the Rings was one such series and I vividly remember the chapter with the barrow-wights. It freaked me out for days afterwards. Now, many years later, it's the only part of the book that isn't just a vague memory, I still have memories of my emotions from that night, whereas for the rest of the book, I just kind of remember a general feeling of wonder and excitement, but I can't tie any chapter to a particular feeling except for that one.
Evil being the source of its own doom is a common theme in LotR. Even the One Ring was arguably destroyed by itself (via Frodo commanding Gollum into a volcano if he ever attacked him again).
It´s sometimes like that in real life. Tolkien lived through the world wars and they were a good example of that. Hitler, Mussollini and Austria-Hungary, which proclaimed war on Bosnia even though it didn´t need to, ultimately destroyed themselves.
I can't put into words how much this ignites the imagination. As a man in his fifties, I am still enthralled by quality fantasy literature. Of course Tolkien is the Master. As a young child I was hooked on fantasy after watching the movie Excalibur. When I was in my mid teens I read the Lord of the Rings. Watching this video stirs something in me that I can't explain.
Lewis and Tolkien rarely intersected in their Fantasy stories (except in borad strokes about good/evil), but one of the few exceptions is Lewis' use of the barrows in Prince Caspain. It was one of the scariest parts to me as a young reader, with the old dark magic brought back in that setting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the different ways these two friends included the old English superstitions about the burial barrows in their literary works.
I used to go walking in the country as a kid, having read Lord of the rings it was always terrifying to pass a longbarrow... especially if it was getting towards dusk 😱
There are no barrows in Prince Caspian, where did you take that information from? There´s Aslan´s How where a hag suggests calling up the spirit of the dead White Witch, but that´s it. Lewis mentions dark magic and burial mounds very little in all the Chronicles of Narnia.
And btw, Lewis and Tolkien actually intersected in their fantasy stories. They both have a motif of sailing out of this world, both their worlds were created by singing, they both have an army of trees deciding the outcome of a battle, Pippin´s experience in the last battle is very much like Shasta´s experience in the Battle of Anvard in The Horse and His Boy. They aren´t striking similarities, but they´re there.
There are barrows (tombs) in A Horse and His Boy, but they are little more than background.
What reminded me more of the barrows was the Underworld in The Silver Chair, which 10-year-old me mashed up with LotR, resulting in me laughing at Sauron instead of the Green Witch.
England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have many standing stones and barrow mounds. The minds of Lewis and Tolkien may have intersected on this, or they may simple have drawn upon the same source. Both had a deep and abiding love for the countryside.
The northern wars are such a fascinating and underdeveloped part of Middle-earth's history. The internal civil wars among the kingdoms, the rise of Angmar, the plague, the undead magic. There were surely so many stories and heroes and tragedies during that time. And even Hobbits were involved! And elves! And ents! But we only know the main events and their general contours. There's room here for many novels, movies, shows, video games, etc. I've always been surprised at how little attention has been given to the gradual fall of Arnor.
Year would have been nice if somone with a billion dollars on his hand would have made a series on this, without having to constantly screw around with already firmly established lore...
Another big playfield for a LotR series would be the eastern kingdoms, possibly featuring the blue wizards. Pretty much a blank slate to work with.
@@Daniel-rd6st Yeah, that would have been awesome. They would need good writers for this though and I seriously doubt that hollywood can provide those right now. Even the most expensive series of all time with a budget of close to half a billion wasn't able to get someone to write a story without more plotholes, inconsistencies and outright atrocious dialogues than a common telenovela.
@@AufsammelkabblerYear i was reffering to Rings of Power with my first sentence 🙂
@@Daniel-rd6st Haha, I thought so, it is such a "milestone" as it is that I thought it kind of funny to treat as "He who must not be named" 😂
Wow. This part of the story always fascinated me but I didn't know why. Thanks for this video. I wouldn't have guessed or believed there's so much behind it.
I love it when the irony or providence of Eru speaks loudly in Middle Earth.
Thumbs up if you'd like someone to develop a GPS app with Robert's voice giving you directions.
What I couldn't quite get my head around is what would have happened if the transformation of the hobbits into the reincarnation of the princes had been allowed to continue. It struck me that the hobbits were not turned into something evil, but were imbued with memories of being something noble, and were possessed by ancient, allied spirits, albeit briefly.
I wonder if the spell had continued if the noble memories would have turned darker, ending with the hobbit's sacrifice as both the memory of the death and actual death coincided...leading to their resurrection as wraiths. Nothing to base that on, but it would be a fun twist- especially for anyone looking for inspiration for a table top game 😊😊
By completely leaving out Tom Bombadil and the hobbits gettingbtheir swords, Peter Jackson left outva critical part of the prophesy of the witch kings death as Merryxs blow was the critical one and met the prophecy even more than Eowyn, important as she was.
I understand not wanting to see lore left out, but I think this was an understandable thing to cut for the films. It's a case of having to include so much additional stuff (the scene in the barrows, plus all the Tom Bombadil scenes) for fairly minimal gain. I don't think that not knowing the exact lore of Merry's sword really diminishes the magnitude of what Merry and Eowyn accomplish in confronting and killing the Witch-King, and that's the real payoff.
@@Wolfeson28I dunno, I rewatched them recently and kept thinking how pointless it was to follow eowyn around so much… all she did was pine over Aragorn until he finally shut her down then she and merry went and showed them all…
She really could have been excluded and it wouldn’t have hurt the plot at all… or with more lore/context then maybe she could have been relevant
@@Wolfeson28 It didn't need the whole Tom Bombadil. Just the Barrow Wight scene.
@@TootlinGeoff Except then how do you explain this random guy in blue jacket and yellow boots who rescues them from the wights? I mean maaaaybe you could have Aragorn show up and rescue them instead, but then the whole meeting in Bree scene doesn't work.
Well he just appeared in the book, just earlier on.
Congratulations, Robert, on your Tolkien Society nomination! So well deserved!
Coincidentally, I was looking for a video from you on this topic last week. I'm glad to have your magisterially answer to the question!
Interesting! This hypothesis suggests a wight is a lesser wraith, and it certainly does fit.
The perfect quote to describe this: *oft evil will shall evil mar*
As said by Théoden
I think you missed a beat to do with the meaning of "wight" by itself. The common usage as an undead monster in e.g. Dungeons & Dragons is lifted directly from this episode in LotR.
The older meaning, which Tolkien would have known, was just "creature" or "being". So it's the full phrase "barrow wight" (a thing that lives in tombs) that implies an undead monster.
As an aside, hobbits could accurately be described as "burrow wights".
😂
I didn't realize this until now, but the Barrows of the North in ASOIAF (where Ned and Robert stop to talk about Danaerys for the first time, the Barrowlands) are based on this
There are the Barrowlands in Scotland
@@Hero_Of_Olddifferent barrow. It's a market where they'd bring their barrows of wares to sell.
They could also just be based on actual barrow graves, like at Sutton Hoo
Like the other commenters are saying, its not really related to LOTR. There are barrows, dolmens and other funerary structures all over the British Isles. LOTR is inspired by those; Tolkein didn't invent them. Since Westeros is basically just an upsized version of the UK it makes sense that Martin pulls some of the ancient funerary rituals into the story.
It’s always these small moments and small objects that have a bigger purpose later on than what’s happening at the moment, that makes this story compelling. The history of the lands and peoples before give the heroes of our tale the tools to win with a twist of chance and fate.
And the Witch-king destroyed another of those four swords, not just Merry's: he broke Frodo's at the ford, with a word of command. We don't know if he could have done that to any weapon, or if it was easier (or harder) for him to do it to one of those particular blades. Either way, it's an interesting little set-up for the later significance of Merry's blade.
re - 10:45
When Eru addresses the discord of Melkor, he tries to get Melkor to understand that "All that you do will turn and rebound to my greater glory."
It's rather fitting, then, that Sauron should direct the Witch King, or that the Witch King, of his own volition, would in turn direct these Barrow Wights to do his bidding, but that his bidding should turn and rebound to 'His' greater glory (where 'His" refers to Eru Iluvatar and the Spirit of Eru, living in heart and deeds of that Numenorean who forged those Barrow Blades...
Tom’s comment about the original owner of the blue brooch he takes back for Goldberry always makes me wonder, and shed a tear for the lady …
Yes!!
I remember wondering for awhile if it was a reference to Aragorn's mother, but I couldn't get the time lines to match up. Always wanted to know _who_ she was though - so much was hinted at in so few lines!
One of my favourite stories is the story of the barrow wright swords and how such an ancient and seemingly benign things plays such a pivotal role in the greater story. Tolkien was a mastermind story crafter
I vividly remember that, as a 9 year old, i listened to the audiobook version from 1992. Nearly sh*t my pants when the barrow wights appeared, singing their creepy sing. Still gives me the shivers.
Is there a good explanation of what "breaking the spell that knit [the Witch-King's] unseen sinews to his will" actually means, technically? What did Merry's sword exactly do, on a magical level?
The Witch-King's physical form is connected to his fëa via ring-magic, right? To me all this sounds like the Dúnedain of Arnor have found a way to counter ring-magic and then "forge" this spell into physical weapons, which is very impressive indeed.
I'm glad I found this channel. I read LOTR many times in my younger years, but the films usurped my memories. This channel, Robert, rekindles my awe of Tolkien and Middle Earth, and I have begun the books again, this time on Audible. One thing about audiobooks is that I don't skim, as my speed reading tends to do.
Thank you for the rekindling of awe and lore.
Everyone asks what are the barrow wights, but no one asks How are the barrow wights.
Hahahahahahahaha
I *Can honestly listen to these and fall asleep!*
-Not bc they’re “Boring”
_I love these videos VERY much!_
*But that Golden Honey 🍯 voice*
You should do some “Reading Videos” man!
Like LOTR or GOT
My Dad read me the entirety of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings piece by piece as a bedtime story when I was old enough to appreciate it, over years, or at least what seemed like it to me. I remember the part with the Barrow-Wights the most out of almost all of LotR- my recall of the details may be hazy, but the feeling of it I remember well. Having played it at a similar time to this, I likened the Barrow-Wights to the infamous Dead Hand from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- in my mind, the description of them from the book fit them exactly, especially the cold, hard grip of their hands. I wonder if they were inspired by Tolkien's Barrow-Wights? I like to think they might have been, whether or not that is actually the case.
Never spotted the connection with rings. I think you make a good point there!
Sadly in the movies, they are given to the Hobbits by Aragorn as almost an afterthought and seem to just be random mundane swords.
No galadriel gives them in lothlorien
@@vibalite395 I'm going to have to rewatch the films to check, but I thought they already had the swords on Weathertop.
@@vibalite395 Galadriel gives some of the Fellowship gifts in Lothlorian, but none of them are swords for the Hobbits. Aragorn gives them the swords on Weathertop and says, "Keep them close."
@@skyborne80the special edition shows galadrial giving Merry and Pippin swords/daggers, Sam the magic rope, gimli I think a lock of her hair, frodo got the light crystal. Reg versions don't show it. Strider gave all the hobbits common swords barely sharp
@@kyos8462 Ahh, well I've only seen the theatrical versions so interesting to know. However, I stand by my original point. In the theatrical version the Hobbits are given seemingly mundane swords which kinda sucks from a lore perspective.
Really appreciate this as the Barrow-wights always intrigued me and are not much-discussed - but as you noted without that interaction the Witch king does not die?
One other character(s) I would love you to cover are the storm giants in the Hobbit. Who were they? Are they just for the Hobbit not not the other Middle Earth stories - are there theories?
My favorite part of the first book - a real loss it wasn't in the films.
Tolkien's use of foreshadowing and circling around is so much more artful and long-term than any other artist. Other stories would have the mom cough in scene one and die of consumption in scene two.
Such a fantastic story for what is a seemingly unimportant item. Really on point with the whole theme of the series; small and seemingly inconsequential things can lead to great world altering changes and feats.
It all ties together perfectly because Melkor's discord was countered. For each fell dead that would be done, a note of remedy and resolution was sung. They sang of the forgings of the swords and he sang of the downfall of that kingdom. He sang of the wights and they sang of the hobbits and Tom and the retrieval of the swords. Perhaps not specifically - for even Melkor had no way of knowing how this would play out, but the notes and intonations were eventually to communicate in that dagger sank deep in a dark lord.
Could you do a video about the word of command and the idea of putting oneself into ones creation. I know that last one happens several times.
Duuuude. I'm listening to the book-on-tape and I literally just passed this part and now here's your video.
The timing is eerie. 😱
Me: "Okay, one more video, and I go to sleep."
The video:
Yeah... it's been years since I read this chapter in FotR, because it still gives me chills and sleepless nights! 😂
It is fitting that the journey of the dagger comes full circle like a ring. The dagger acts like a very long-range Chekhov’s gun.
I remember smiling when reading how Merry killed the Witch Kong with the sword from the barrow downs
He didn’t kill the witch king, ewoyn did. Merry broke the spell that made him unkillable .
I was looking forward to this part so much when I went to the cinema. I think the cast would have nailed it.
Where is the rest of your LOTR playlist?
Love this content and fall asleep to your soothing voice every night.
I miss so much that Jackson left out, Bombadil and the Scouring, for example. But I suppose even the bravest producer would have quailed at the prospect of three trilogies, which would heave been the least required.
I especially love this right now, because I just listened to the audiobook of this part of Fellowship of the ring this morning ❤
It seems like there's a couple dots you could have connected here, but you didn't. As you said, the barrow-wights captured the hobbits, but did not alert the Nazgûl or turn them over to them. There may have been motive there. The memory of past was obviously very strong with them, as they were trying to relive past events and the like, and thus they may have "subconsciously" hated the Nazgûl and thus betrayed them. Firstly by not informing them they had the hobbits (which was the primary thing - the Nazgûl sought nothing but the ring, and merely killing them was not what they wanted), and then by essentially providing the hobbits with the weapons that were originally designed to kill the Nazgûl in the first place.
Gread video, thanks for your work.
Today I learned... Always thought they were of the people buried there, not some external force. Thanks for enlightening me.
same here. I wonder how the original inhabitants felt about their graves being used by the barrow wights.....and also what they thought about Tom removing goods. Granted, the swords were to be used in the fight against the Dark Lord, so I doubt they minded that much.
I’m still mad they weren’t in the theatrical or extended versions of the films…..
Yeah! I wanted to see BARROW WIGHTS Dammit!
And the scouring of the shire. The films just don't work for me
The Barron Knights appear; cue to turn sound off and for mum to visit the loo.
As much as I love the Peter Jackson trilogy I don’t feel like I’ll ever read the books, which is why I’m so grateful for a channel like this to exist. Thumbs up and watch until the end every time so you get as much of my Premium subscription as possible.
Read the books!
The books are absolutely perfect for the winter months ... get comfy, have some hot chocolate or tea near, and read 'em. It's a very special kind of escapism, I do it every couple years.
I enjoyed this one, but it is possible to overstate the relevance of "rings" for Tolkien given their importance generally in the literature he loved best. "Rings", possibly arm rings rather than finger rings, which seem to be an important currency in the Viking Age, were a standard recognition of fealty and allegiance in works like Beowulf. "Ring-giver" was a kingly title.
Ohhhh! That's a good catch!!!
The Witch King brought about his own destruction, and unless you ponder on it you would never know. That's cool as hell.
Thank you, the Barrow Wights are some of my very favorite characters in Middle Earth.
awesome vid as usual, Robert!
Barrow weights are used on railway pump barrows so when running on the track the barrows don't derail. Depending on the size of barrow the weight has to differ. Where a 2 man pump barrow is concerned the weight of 2 men should be enough, but larger trolly barrows will have to be weighed by cast iron weight of in some cases up to a few tons.
Been waiting for a video on this !! Thank you
Thank you for this wonderfully detailed "essay" that could have come out JRRT's Appendices. Please do one on Barliman Butterbur.
I believe he did! "In Defense of Barliman", or something like that, though he may have taken it down since
You are right on both points. After 2 or 3 nudges to Robert got no response, I was trying a different tactic to get it back.😀
Love when you quote Tolkien directly, as you do at 7:01: mesmerizing detail! 🙌🏻🙌🏻
My favourite Barrow Wight hit is “Never, never gonna give you up”.
Love these videos, no matter how much I think I know about lotr I always learn at least 1 new thing in every video
It would have been really cool to see them represented in live action, although, it would have been tough to add them in without having Tom as well. Otherwise the Hobbies would have to be saved by someone else or free themselves somehow maybe?
Aragorn, or random Elves, are the only saviors who would make sense, and I can see people getting even more ticked about the implications of using either one than in simply cutting this section out all together
One of the great tragedies of the barrow-wights is that they were the reanimated corpses of the ancestors of Aragorn, inhabited by the evil spirits sent down from Angmar.
I enjoy your videos so much! Thank you for taking the time to make them. Could you make a character video about Arwen? ❤
That Tolkein had a way with words, they cast a spell of their own, and hearing them spoken transports our minds back into middle earth ~ Frodo lives ~
I suspect that the scene where Frodo falls in the Dead Marshes and sees those ghosts was sort of a transplant of the the Barrow Wight scene.
I visited a barrow on top of a hill in Wiltshire at sunset on midsummer solstice. There were a group of pagans there who had lit candles in some of the chambers inside the barrow, and were planning some sort of pagan vigil. It was kind of spooky but not terrifying so I guess the wights were not there. The only creepy bit was after I had come back out of the barrow and it was getting dark I suddenly realised all the people surrounding me were not the walking group I had arrived with but strangers, i.e. the pagan group. So I legged it down the hill just in case I became the subject of the evening's sacrifice 😀
Excellent presentation, well researched. Thank you!
I’ve been waiting for this one!
One point on the sword and the Witch-King, when he is stabbed by it Tolkien states "a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up, and was never heard again IN THAT AGE OF THIS WORLD" (my emphasis). Yes it could mean until the end of time, but it also could mean the Witch-King survives the destruction of the ring, his link to the one ring severed.
Thanks as always for the upload!
Frodo Baggins: "Who are the Barrow-Wights?" Easy Pete: "Baaad trouble." Frodo: "..." Easy Pete: "Your welcome."
What a brilliant little video. Thanks Rob.
There were at least 2 swords from the barrow wrights mound that played an important part. You didn't mention Frodo's sword from the mound. In the battle on Weathertop it injures one of the ring wraiths and may be one reason they broke off their attack.
Excellent video!
That was great. Thanks!