Episode 62 Summary

Tony Meade

Active Member
SESSION 62

At the house in Crickhollow:
  • The growing sense of fear and dread that Fatty Bolger feels shows that these are the Ringwraiths, and not any hired lackeys.
  • Fatty has been able to feel the distant presence of the Black Riders all day, though he can’t identify the source at the time.
  • This scene demonstrates that the Ringwraiths cannot communicate telepathically. They have been reporting to the Witch-king in person, who is currently stationed south of Bree.
  • These Black Riders have been exploring the Shire looking for Frodo and the Ring, and they don’t yet know that both have left the Shire. The news hasn’t reached them from Bree.
  • The Riders that have been searching for the hobbits in the Shire had tracked them as far as Bucklebury Ferry, and they knew that they had gone into Buckland.
  • The river is a significant obstacle, even crossing at the bridge, because of their nature and water.
  • It’s been several days since they lost Frodo at the ferry landing, and they don’t have any maps.
  • They have probably spent time watching the Road, so Frodo was right to avoid it for a few days.
  • The Gaffer had told them that Frodo was gone to Buckland, but they wouldn’t know where that is. They have patrolled the Road and may have asked the inhabitants to find Crickhollow.
  • Strider has said that the Black Riders do not like populated, well-lit places, so Buckland would act as a sort of fortress against them.
  • They are now raiding the house at Crickhollow only a few hours after Frodo was spotted in Bree.
  • Note: It’s important not to think in video game or RPG terms when reading the text, seeing the Ringwraiths as high-level enemies going up against low-level NPC’s. This doesn’t work on the metaphysical level in Tolkien’s works. The battle with the Ringwraiths is a spiritual battle, and their power, while great, is of a particular kind, being fear, not physical opposition. Even the stabbing of Frodo by the Witch-king is a spiritual attack using a physical weapon as an instrument. The hobbits are also unconsciously opposing them with spiritual resistance, through community and cheer. Also, their power comes from Sauron himself, so geography matters in their distance from him.
  • Is the sniffing of the Black Riders for a physical scent, and could they have tracked the hobbits having encountered them on the road already? Possibly, but it would’ve washed away by now.
  • The tracking of the Riders seems to be of a more spiritual nature and may be tied to the Ring.
  • Note: Bilbo’s comment about how Rivendell “smells like elves” may not be just a physical scent.
The Ringwraiths move in for the attack:
  • The gate opening of its own accord may be an uncloaked Nazgûl coming through it.
  • They do not immediately pounce upon the house but take their time in surrounding it.
  • The Black Riders are not literally crawling along the ground, but they are being compared to the way shadow creeps forward slowly, but inexorably. Some time passes as this happens.
  • The simile compares them to shadows of stones, meaning that they are completely still and featureless. There is also a strong sibilance and alliteration that adds creepiness.
  • The Ringwraiths seem to be putting forth their power of fear to drive out their prey. They are attacking the house directly, but not physically. This is a spiritual attack.
  • Note: The bursting of the door as the cock crows seems to be a foreshadowing of the breaking of the gate of Minas Tirith later. This points to the idea that their time to act is passing quickly.
  • It’s possible that they are waiting for the darkest hour of night, without moon or stars, to move.
  • The drawn blade seems to be same kind of weapon used against Frodo later at Weathertop. The gleam of the blade is unnatural, and the evil light shows some power.
  • Note: This is another example of a light is associated with evil power, such as the light in the barrow. There is also no alliteration with “gloom” here, as there often is.
  • The blade is not used to strike the door, based on the sound of the blow. This is covered hand or foot striking the door, but it is the shouted words that breaks it.
  • However, there is a parallel to the use of the spell to break the door just as the Witch-king uses spells to assist Grond in destroying the gate at Minas Tirith.
  • Note: There is a parallel here to the pounding on the door at Heorot by Grendel in Beowulf.
  • The narrator’s voice is used to lay the focus on the door, not on the one acting on the door.
  • The door is anthropomorphized and is compared to a defending army which is forced to yield.
  • Fatty Bolger has already fled, but the amount of time he has been gone is unclear.
The Horn-call of Buckland is sounded:
  • Note: In another parallel with the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the blowing of horns foils the attack of the Nazgûl, just after the cock crows.
  • The Black Riders seem to have underestimated hobbits in general, assuming that whoever is in the house will collapse in fear and be captured, but that doesn’t happen, as Fatty escapes them.
  • Fatty had already escaped before the following three Riders took up their positions around the house, but it seems they didn’t cover the back door first because of their overconfidence.
  • Fatty’s escape is a decisive action which the Black Riders of which didn’t think him capable.
  • They also underestimated the ability of the Buckland hobbits to resist them once alerted.
  • Note: Throughout the book, the mighty underestimate the Hobbits to their own regret.
  • Fatty’s fear communicates more to the neighbors than he tells in words, and even though they misinterpret the source of the trouble, they understand the immediacy of danger and respond.
  • The words in the horn cries are translations of the various arpeggios used to communicate.
  • Note: There are many tunes used in horn calls, whether in the military or traditional hunting, and each means something different.
  • The horns have not been silent for a hundred years. They have probably practiced this often, so everyone knows what the call means, but this is the first time it has been blown in earnest.
  • Note: In the modern world, these alarm horns would be parallel to tornado sirens or fire alarms.
The Black Riders flee:
  • We don’t know if the hobbit guards were hurt or killed, but they were definitely harmed.
  • The Hobbits converge on Crickhollow and are prepared to fight, just as they had against the wolves or the trees when they had attacked before, and they Black Riders are forced to flee.
  • Are the Black Riders in danger from the hobbit defenders? Not physically, and there are no torches described as being used against them, but fighting is not what they are used for now.
  • The Riders flee because they know that the Ringbearer has gone and they have missed him.
  • The haste with which they leave seems to be unusual. This seems to be a response to the solidarity of the hobbits coming against them, as their power is in loneliness.
  • This is the power of the Shire in action in this spiritual battle, and the community spirit of the Hobbits coming together to resist even an unknown threat can’t be withstood by the Nazgûl.
  • Note: When the Nazgûl attack Minas Tirith, nearer to Mordor and having been empowered by Sauron, they are able to counter this kind of community spirit and overcome it with fear. Minas Tirith is not as community-minded as the Shire, but it is not absent, as revealed by Faramir. The Nazgûl are also more powerful there and at that time.
  • There is a brief moment told from the Black Riders’ point of view, which is unusual in the text. They seem very definite that it is time to leave the Shire, as their work is done there.
  • There does seem to be some sense of the Ring and its presence, which the Ringwraiths do not feel here, and Aragorn will later say that the Ring draws them near.
  • How are we to know what the Black Riders are thinking? Their conclusions would be easy to put together later, but their thoughts can’t be a firsthand account and must be speculation.
  • Note: There are three candidates for the source of this narration: The hobbit authors, the Gondorian editor, or the modern translator/narrator. Findegil probably would not have used Sauron’s name, though that may have changed after his fall. Among the hobbit authors, Frodo has been told by Gandalf that Sauron has turned his attention to the Shire, to which Frodo has a strong reaction. Also, a hobbit might put the words “little people” in the mouths of outsiders. The hobbits might also verbally express the cold arrogance of the Nazgûl shown in their flight. This arrogance and pride are part of what captured the Ringwraiths in the first place.
  • Note: Sauron does not allow his name to be spoken by his servants because it is not his original name and it is meant as an insult or curse given by the elves in scorn and hatred. The Mouth of Sauron is a notable exception to this rule.
  • Note: In the early drafts, it was Gandalf who came against the Ringwraiths in power, using what Tolkien describes as a “sheaf of lightning” against them. Only the flight of the Nazgûl is preserved, but Gandalf’s power is replaced with the power of the community.
END OF SESSION
 

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