Days Fourteen and Fifteen: On to Weathertop

The weekend birthday celebration – stretched out over three days, and including a lovely visit from out of town friends – means I got a bit behind in my reading re-caps. We have continued to move forward in the reading each night though, welcoming the chance to fall into Tolkien’s exquisitely crafted world in the midst of our own summer busy-ness. This week should be quieter, and we should actually finish book one of Fellowship and move into book two. For the past couple of days, however, we’ve been lingering in the lengthy penultimate chapter eleven “A Knife in the Dark.”

S. was once again bit worried about the ominous chapter title, and well she might be. There are actually two “knives in the dark” in this chapter. In the first few pages, we see that Strider was right to keep the Hobbits in the little parlour/sitting room at the inn, instead of sending them to their beds. While he stays up and keeps watch (one gets the impression that Strider sleeps very lightly whenever he does sleep, which doesn’t seem to be often) some of the Black Riders make their way into the room where the Hobbits should have been sleeping. They slash up the mattresses and pillows, presumably enraged to not find them there. (One also gets the impression that, for all their evil menace, the Black Riders are thankfully a bit slow on the uptake…or perhaps just have a hard time maneuvering in the full dimensions of the living. Thank goodness.)

So the Hobbits and Strider escape, but not too quickly or quietly, which was their original hope. Their ponies have been let loose and they have to find another one to carry the baggage so they can set out on foot. They leave town with this poor, thin creature in tow, chased by curses and vitriol from the mean Bill Ferny, and with almost everyone in Bree watching and wondering over the strange events of the past day. But at least they have Strider by their side. By the time they get to Weathertop, days later, they’re thinner, hungry, tired, and ever more worried that they’ve missed Gandalf…who nevertheless seems to have been in the vicinity recently and tried to leave them a message. I don’t think S. picked up on the portent of the flashing lights they see from a distance before they get to Weathertop, though Strider does observe that it looks as though Gandalf must have been attacked there three days previously.

While they travel on, we get a surprising glimpse of Sam’s love of poetry and a further glimpse at his love of Elven-lore…both things that seem to be due to his friendship with Bilbo when he was a young lad. I love the thought of Bilbo planting seeds of adventure and history and poetry in Sam while the Gaffer planted vegetable and flower seeds outside in the garden at Bag End. The Hobbits are beginning to realize there is much more to Strider than meets the eye, and ask him to tell them some old legends or tales. He gives them the sad story of Tinuviel, an important bit of history and lovely piece of poetry, not to mention a welcome respite before the final storm of the chapter.

The second knife in the dark comes right at the end of the chapter, when they find themselves surrounded by five Black Riders (the most we’ve seen all together so far) in the dell at Weathertop. Frodo fights temptation as hard as he can, but still succumbs to putting on the Ring. We had an interesting talk about that after we finished reading, about how the Ring seems to have a mind of its own and to feel the pull of its evil master. S. seemed intrigued and worried that Frodo can see into the world of the Riders when he has the Ring on – that he can actually see what’s under their cloaks. The chapter ends with Frodo stabbed with what feels like “a dart of poisoned ice” and managing to take the ring off as he’s falling into unconsciousness. As he loses consciousness, he sees their staunch defender Strider run forward with fire.