Frightening!

[A-U Moderators]

Is there any sequence that you find particularly frightening, thrilling, or suspenseful?

[Lostariel]

Shelob *shudder* The way it moves and how real and spidery it is. I can barely watch it. Ew I'm all creeped out even thinking about it now. I can deal with people fighting orcs and cutting each other up (just, but it comes pretty close to me hiding behind the couch sometimes) but spiders and getting caught in webs is too much for me.

Edit: Oops this is a FotR forum isn't it. Sorry. But a moment that drives me crazy in FotR is when Frodo's running to jump onto the ferry. I know he's going to make it, but that doesn't stop me having to yell at the TV screen.

[Kitoky]

Shelob wasn't in Fellowship of the Ring though --- I mean, I agree, the Shelob sequence was rather surprising and tense.

I think the Barrow-Downs did it for me when it came to really frightening parts of the book.

[Eä]

I hated the Old Forest and The Barrow-Downs... and I was quite uncomfortable about Old Man Willow. I mean not even the Nine scared me as much as a tree! At least they had real flesh-and-blood horses!

Reading about the Hobbits going through the Old Forest was in the very beginning of the journey. I think I might have still been slightly anxious about what I was reading, not fully knowing what to expect. The Forest was so eerie and you never knew whether it was going to close down on the intruders and consume them. That's why Old Man Willow was so frightening too, because he contained so much of Natures ancient power. And it written quite claustrophobic!

But I think the Barrow-Downs really did it for me. I was so scared when Frodo got seperated from his friends, seriously, it was like being all alone in the fog without knowing whether you were going to be eaten, skinned, knocked out or have life sucked out of you from cold, boney hands... *shudder*

[Lor En Estel]

Mine was probably when Frodo and the other hobbits were trying to get to Bree. I kept waiting for a Wraith to kill them all at any moment. Weathertop was also an intense seen though probably more intense in the movie.

[Lady Rinoa]

I'd probably have to go with Moria. XD I was always expecting some kind of ambush by goblins. haha. That made it quite suspenseful. The Barrow-Downs is another one. I got really worried when Frodo started hearing "Help!"

[Celebwen]

When I was about 6, my brother read me the A Knife in the Dark chapter, which I believe is Weathertop. He intentionally stopped reading just as Frodo gets stabbed. His aim was to get me curious enough about what happened next that I would read the books myself. It certainly worked, and that bit at Weathertop has always held a certain fear for me.
Next on the list would have to be the Barrow Downs. That freaked me out.

[Manveru]

I would have to agree with the Barrow-Downs, but the first time I read it I was too young to understand everything. When I reread it, however, I was scared even though I knew the outcome.

[Nurrantiel Mashiara]

The Barrow-Downs, definitely. There's something about being trapped underground that is frightening in and of itself, and then you just add in the wights...ooh! Plus, you don't know if Merry, Pip, and Sam are even still alive. I haven't read it in a while, so correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't they lying with a sword across their necks? And then a hand comes out to them? That's just a freaky picture any way you look at it.

[Eä]

^Yeah, there is a sword and I've been puzzled as to why? It looks like it's some kind of old ritual but it doesn't actually seem like it has any meaning in the end. So when they eventually all get out alive I'm still left with this 'Dude, what happened'-feeling. Was this intentional from Tolkien's side or is there something I didn't get?

[Will]

I thought that the Pursuit to Bree and from Bree to Rivendel was especially frightening. And also the scene where Frodo leaves Bag End and hears the Old Gaffer speak to one of the Ringwraiths made me feel kind of uncomfortable. Just the thought that the Wraiths were so close make me shiver.

Eä - I think the whole thing of the Hobbits being dressed up in white garments and with jewelry should have something to do with it being a tomb of the Kings of Old and all. But I read that the Wights were sent by the With-King to occupy the Barrows of the Dunedain. So the sword might also have been some sort of test, because Frodo felt a great urge to put on the Ring upon seeing his friends and the sword. But I'm not really sure..

[Nurrantiel Mashiara]

I just reread this section again today. I think you're right, Will, that the dressed up bit is part of the tomb being one of an old king. It seemed almost like they were being put in the place of the king or something, or laid out like him. "They were on their backs, and their faces looked deathly pale; and they were clad in white. About them lay many treasures, of gold maybe, though in that light they looked cold and unlovely. On their heads were circlets, gold chains were about their waists, and on their fingers were many rings."

Though I don't think it was a test or anything like that. Frodo wanted to put on the ring to run and hide, not for any other reason. He felt the same in Bree. But the wight is definitely something dark. I mean, it was able to shatter the sword Frodo used to cut it and is just, well, creepy.

[Eä]

Thank you both for clarifying. Though there are still many things that aren't clear. I think actually part of the scariness of it is because I never fully understand what's going on... everything is so creepy and eerie...

[Nurrantiel Mashiara]

That's very true. We really have no clue about how the hobbits got into the barrow, if the fog that deterred them was really natural or something sinister, or what in the world was going on. It's just a whole eerie section. And Frodo is noticing stones set up like a doorway, that's how he gets into the barrow. But later on after Tom rescues them, he never sees the doorway. Interesting, no?




(on a side note, yay for the section being partially revived! =D)

[Lady Rinoa]