20. B1:C8 Fog on the Barrow-downs - [LoTR Read Along]

The Nicks discuss the consequences of sleeping, mid-day naps, getting lost in the fog, being ambushed by wights, running naked in the sun, singing about "old Fatty Lumpkin", and the history of Angmar and the small Kingdoms of former Arnor.

Maps

Map of Middle-earth 

LoTRproject.com interactive map - Caution: spoilers for new readers!

Map of the Small Kingdoms of former Arnor

Notes for this episode

What Happened Last Time?:

The Hobbits have found possibly the strangest thing in Middle-earth in the form of Tom Bombadil. “Master”, “eldest”, “he is as you see him” are just some of the terms used to describe the who and what of good ol’ Tom. Through song and tale he weaves his knowledge and divulges the hearts and goings on of the trees and other fantastic beasts in the Old Forest, and he even knows a thing or two about the Ring, though it curiously doesn’t seem to affect him very much, if at all. Now the Hobbits, are laid to rest before venturing forth from the house of Tom Bombadil back toward the road, and then toward Rivendell.

The Story in this Chapter:

• Waking
• Leave taking
• Goldberry is calling after them!
• A view of the road - but not really
• An unexpected nap
• Fog on the Barrow-downs
• “Follow me!”... “Where are you guys?”
• Atop the Barrow
• Within the Barrow
• Garbed in white, with circlets, and rings
• A sword lay across their necks
• A SEVERED ARM crawls toward them like a macabre spider
• Calling out to Tom Bombadil Frodo finds his voice again.
• Running in the sun to shake off the darkness
• Fatty Lumpkin - Tom’s pony!
• On the road to Bree.

Other comments or observations:

• Angmar!  Carn Dum!   Nick Andrew LOVES THESE PLACES!!
• Referenced in the Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as the reason Bolg travels north and Tauriel and Legolas follow him -- the threat of a resurrected Angmar is too much to ignore!
• LotRO Players who completed the first major story arc of the game's narrative got to know Angmar extremely well. Most of you even got to play through a raid into Carn Dum itself.
• Speaking of Carn Dum, it's an oddity in the world of Middle-earth as we don’t exactly know what that name means… we can assume it is a compound of Elvish and Dwarvish, in which case it means “the Red Halls.”  Creepy, eh?
• Angmar was founded in midway point through the third age of ME with a singular purpose… DESTROY any and all remnant of the North that brought about Sauron’s demise at the War of the Last Alliance.  
• Witch-king!!!!!!

Notable Difference(s) from Films:

We get a small shot of the fog-laden Barrow-downs as one of the Nazgul looks over it atop his horse.

Locations/Distance Traveled/Distance apart:

• East of the HoTB - up into the Barrow-downs, then northward toward the main road leading into the village of Bree.

New Characters:

• The barrow wight

Info/History from Other Titles/Sources:

• Lots of information about Carn Dum and Angmar in Tolkien’s various other published works. I highly encourage you to check them out -- even if you just google it.

What to Watch for in the Next Chapter:

• BREE!

Links

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Special thanks to our friend Harry Murrell for the use of his music. Listen to more and subscribe to his channel here.