Episode 25 Summary

Tony Meade

Tony Meade

Active Member
SESSION 25

Comment on Sancho Proudfoot’s inheritance claim:
  • From a genealogical perspective, Sancho has a better claim than Frodo on Bilbo’s fortune.
  • He was eleven years old at the time of the Long-Expected Party, so Frodo would not have had to tussle with him too much.
  • This explains why Sancho would be so bold as to start digging in the walls.
  • Not only would he believe the stories of gold buried in the walls, but it’s something a kid would do if he heard those stories.
  • The only reason why Otho Sackville-Baggins, the natural heir, was excluded is because Bilbo made Frodo the heir specifically in his will.
  • Note: The hyphenated name Sackville-Baggins is not explained. The sources of the names are from the marriage of a Baggins and a Sackville, but hyphenating the names is uncommon. Lobelia does not insist on keeping her maiden name of Bracegirdle. It’s possible it was due to the prominence of one of the families.
  • The insistence on seeing the will on the part of Otho makes sense, as he could possibly find some reason to object to it and disinherit Frodo.
Comment on the use of sea imagery for landlocked scenes:
  • There are several examples of this, from during the trio’s trip, to Frodo’s dream, to their stop on the bald hill in the Old Forest.
  • This seems to relate the journey of the hobbits to a sea-journey generally, but specifically to Frodo’s later trip over the sea into the West.
  • Part of this is to emphasize the strangeness of the landscape to the hobbits.
  • The symbology is unclear, besides to simply be evocative.
  • There is also a hint that, like the sea, when one sees the top layer of the forest, it hides all the things that lie at it’s depths, which are unknown to outsiders.
  • Seas and forests are also wild, untamed places, unwelcome to Hobbits. They are “otherworlds”.
  • What is the sea-longing? What are they longing for? Is it something in the sea itself, or is it something on the other side? Is it escape from mortal lands?
  • The longing for many people is Valinor, but not everyone, as not all know about it.
  • Both the entering the forest and embarking on the sea are both crossing over into Faerie.
  • Tuor is the prime example of a human stricken with the sea-longing.
  • Note: There is a pattern of Tolkien bringing in the imagery, themes, and concepts from The Silmarillion into The Lord of the Rings, which were precious to him.
Reaching the Withywindle valley:
  • Merry is still trying to keep their spirits up by speaking confidently, even though he’s announcing that they have failed to meet their objectives.
  • He asserts that even though they are not where they want to be, being in the heart of the forest, at least they are no longer lost and know where they are.
  • The imagery of a gateway makes this seems like a private place.
  • They have been released from the trail, but not from the forest. The gateway is a way in, not a way out.
  • This is a trap, but an attractive trap, with the idyllic imagery of the sunlight and willow trees.
  • The trees seem to be leading the hobbits into a false feeling of safety.
  • The trees are not simply overpowering the hobbits but manipulating them.
  • Note: As in Frodo’s song, they have encountered “sudden trees” and a “secret gate”. The “standing stones” will come later.
  • There is a parallel between this place and Rivendell, as they are both secret valleys that are difficult to find the way into.
  • The movement and sounds of the willow trees are natural, but also subtly not natural. The trees seem to be talking to each other using sounds that sound natural to hobbits.
  • Note: This is reminiscent of the land of willows referenced in early versions of the Tuor story in The Silmarillion, as this was where Ulmo gave Tuor his mission to Gondolin.
Believing the stories now:
  • Once again, the paths are being ascribed action verbs, even by Merry and Pippin.
  • Merry is happy to be heading east, since that will lead them out of the Old Forest, even if it leads them to the Barrow-downs.
  • Pippin’s reservations about blindly following the paths are completely justified.
  • The paths near the Shire that they have followed to this point were probably made by the trees, but this new path through the grass is a footpath, made by something with feet.
  • We will find this is probably Tom Bombadil, as he’s the only one coming here often enough to make a path.
  • Pippin assumes that anyone came here often would probably bad, which is sensible, though the conclusion turns out to be wrong. He assumes everything in the forest is bad.
  • They have trusted paths wrongly up to this point, but when they mistrust one, they are wrong.
  • Merry doubted stories of wolves and goblins, but shown footpaths, Pippin starts believes them.
  • Would goblins fare better in the Old Forest than they do in Fangorn?
  • The trees have less reason to be antagonistic to goblins here than in Fangorn.
Following the footpath:
  • The fact that there are fallen logs used on this path to cross water shows that this is a footpath, and not created by the trees.
  • There is a difference with Old Man Willow and most of all the other places where malevolent things live. There is no corruption around him, and everything is lush and green and healthy.
  • The valley actually looks sunny and cheerful, which is unusual for a Tolkien villain.
  • Does this mean that Old Man Willow is not actually evil, but something different?
Under the spell of Old Man Willow:
  • The only thing not described in the scene as they approach Old Man Willow is the tree himself. Their senses are dulled, and they don’t notice him.
  • Are the flies here the only animals described in the Old Forest? So far, yes.
  • The hobbits’ thoughts are turned entirely inward, focused on their own weariness.
  • There is a rationalization going on here, with the sun and humidity blamed for the sleepiness.
  • Even their grammar and power of speech deserts them, as they start using shorter sentences.
  • Merry feels as though this is coming from inside him, and he sees the shade as a relief.
  • This rationalization is similar to the way the Ring works on people.
  • The song of Old Man Willow is to bring weariness, but it seems to come from inside those under the influence of the spell.
(continued below)
 

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(continued)

Frodo resists the song of Old Man Willow:
  • Merry and Pippin are fully under the spell, but Frodo isn’t. He is aware of the song, if only partly.
  • Once again, the voice of the willow could be mistaken for the natural sounds of willow trees.
  • He thinks the sound reminds him of singing, but he doesn’t hear it as actual singing.
  • When Frodo sees the huge willow tree, he is the first to actually see it.
  • Frodo is not alarmed or notice anything unusual about the willow tree.
  • By the time the hobbits notice words the song of the tree, it is too late, and they are fully under the spell. The words themselves are of water and sleep, which is what they are thinking of.
  • Note: Artistic renderings of Old Man Willow often show him with human features, but this is inaccurate, as none of the hobbits see those features. They just see a really big tree.
  • The tree has won, and the hobbits submit to the power of the promise of oblivion.
  • What is the goal of Old Man Willow? Does he want to consume them?
  • If he wanted to simply defend his territory, he could attack them other ways.
Frodo falls under the spell at last:
  • Frodo has resisted the sleep component of the song, but he is overcome with a compulsion for the water portion of the song.
  • This compulsion clearly comes from Old Man Willow, and since trees drink using their roots, this compulsion to drink makes Frodo dip his feet in instead of his face.
  • Frodo is thinking treeish thoughts instead of hobbitish thoughts.
  • Only now that he has given into the water spell is Frodo open to the sleep spell, and he succumbs.
Sam is not overcome:
  • Like Frodo, Sam can see the tree, but unlike Frodo he reacts to it as an enemy.
  • Unlike the other hobbits, he can hear the spell, and connects it to the sleepiness.
  • Why does Sam resist the spell when the others cannot? Is Sam least affected because of his gardening? Possibly.
  • His thoughts are not on himself, but rather tending to the ponies and his companions.
  • Sam is not unaffected by the spell, as he feels the sleepiness and sits down. But only Sam is able to break out of it and act.
  • The one big difference with Sam’s experience is that he is aware of the actions of the willow and sees them as the actions as of an enemy.
  • While the others submit to the will of the willow, Sam makes a conscious choice not to do that.
  • Sam, being working class, is used to keeping going even when he is tired.
Sam saves the day:
  • Sam knows that the tree is uncannily acting on Frodo, and Frodo says as much, but Sam gives a skeptical note that the tree had done this to Frodo. This is incongruent. Why?
  • It’s possible that Sam is willing to accept the tree singing, but not moving. Sam might also think that he had been dreaming before and had imagined the singing.
  • However, Sam has heard and defended stories of walking trees, but may not want to look foolish in front of the others, as he was embarrassed by Ted Sandyman for his beliefs.
  • Sam might have speaking metaphorically originally, but he clearly perceives the uncanniness of their sleepiness that goes beyond natural causes and blames the tree.
  • He might also not want to frighten or panic Frodo, having just rescued him from the tree. Therefore, he suppresses or downplays the uncanniness in order to get away from the tree.
  • He may also be lying to himself to allay his own fears and cognitive dissonance.
Frodo’s wakes up:
  • Frodo may be going along with Sam to allay his and Sam’s fears, and chalks it up to a dream.
  • Frodo might be being sarcastic about and does lip service to the dream theory.
  • When Sam pulls him out of the water, Frodo is no longer under the spell of the tree.
  • They may be tacitly agreeing not to talk about the uncanniness going on around them.
Frodo and Sam strike back:
  • Once again, the vibration of kicking a tree is a natural phenomenon that can account for the shivers of a tree, but here is an active response.
  • When they attack the tree, the tree stops ensorcelling them, and merely mocks their efforts.
  • Frodo’s words about a “foul thing” to have happened is an underreaction to the idea that the tree is eating their friends. He is treating this as a natural occurrence, not uncanny.
  • They have all accepted the stories about the forest, so this is not a hysterical response.
  • This attack by an animate tree does not change their worldviews, as they already believe in it.
END OF SESSION
 

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I disagree on this point :) "Arbour" is certainly the correct British spelling for the standalone word, but it is always "arbor-" in latinate compounds, such as arboreal, arboretum etc.

I am _astonished_ to discover that this is apparently because "arbour" does not come from the Latin "arbor" at all, but via French from the Latin "herbarium". The earliest middle-english usages make this clear as it is spelled "erber".
 
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