Before starting to write, I listed all the chapters I could include in my top ten. There were 25 of them.
1 In the House of Tom Bombadil
First, he is one of my favourite characters. Second, his house is adorable, especially when you have first spent a day lost in a forest. Third, all that food! Fourth, the stories and all that knowledge he has.
I don't really know what in Tom Bombadil is so appealing to me. Maybe the easy lifestyle and the control over their own lives, which I wouldn't mind myself either. Tom Bombadil is a sympathetic character who knows how much weight to put on things. In his house even the Old Forest doesn't feel so scary anymore - it's only a distant shadow that cannot reach over the bright grass in front of the house. The Black Riders are far as well, and even the Rings loses its power under Tom's magic.
I love, love, love the stories Tom tells the hobbits. In few words it all is described, and the reader gets a clear image of both the things that happened and Tom's opinion of them.
The whole chapter is a mystery - just like Tom and Goldberry. In the house everything goes by its own pace and time doesn't exist in the way it does elsewhere, but it's also different from Lórien.
This is the chapter I love the most, and it's also the hardest to describe in words.
2 The Old Forest
Now it really begins. The hobbits are going to a place unknown for them, a scary place, a place they have to go without the certainty if they ever find out again. I suppose it was much easier to plan to take an unexpected route through the Old Forest than to actually be there with threatening, whispering trees on both sides.
The safest place of the chapter is the Bonfire Glade, yet it only makes the atmosphere more pressuring when the hobbits notice that it has moved. And the same thing happens with other things. Every time there's a place the hobbits should know (take the Withywindle, for example), it isn't where it should be. The hobbits are relieved upon finding it but the oddity of it all makes them scared.
And the Old Man Willow! I admit that, based on the description, I
would go and lie my back down to the trunk without a second thought if I ever came to that place. The magic of it is so strong, and also the despair when Frodo and Sam see the other hobbits have been trapped.
The way Tolkien has built the chapter is wonderful. It really is one of the most depressing chapters in the book for me - a chapter I do love, but would always rather be in some chapter else while reading it, and I'm happy when it's over. Quite the way the hobbits must have felt there, too. And then there's the house of Tom Bombadil, which is a safe haven in the midst of a forest dark and scary.
3 Fog on the Barrow-downs
Beginning (and breakfast) in the house of Tom Bombadil. Then there are the barrows, which aren't really scary yet though threatening, and feel only a vague image of the ones Tom Bombadil told of. And then the hobbits have to fall asleep and the night falls, and everything is strange and frightening. You
know the barrow-wights are out there, somewhere, you cannot see them but they can you. It's different to think about ghost stories in the bright daylight than in the night, surrounded by fog and barrows. The panic of the hobbits is tangible.
I can but admire Frodo's courage in the barrow. If not anything else, at least the song of the wight would have driven me crazy - and even if I had had the guts to hew at the arm of the wight, I couldn't have started to sing. Hobbits are people one never considers quite brave or capable at the beginning of the book (at least if one hadn't read TH before starting on LOTR, like me), and therefore Frodo's effort is both surprising and great.
This chapter is what I call scary. Until Tom comes and saves them, fetches their ponies and takes them to the road.
And the vision the hobbits have; a vast plain, tall men, and one with a star on his brow, is one of my most favouritest moments ever in
all of Tolkien's works.
4 The Grey Havens
What else could I say? Full of life as it is, the chapter is also about giving up, about never being able to wholly repair things. Even though the Shire is cleared up, it will never be the same again, and even though all other people are busy making things better, there are still some like Frodo who cannot fend off the shadows. It is this chapter that eventually made Frodo one of my favourite characters - here it can really be seen how he grew up during the journey.
And of course there's also Lobelia, and she's an admirable character - that unbendingness and independence I like about her.
The last pages are something so sad yet beautiful. I think they were the first time ever I cried while reading a book - and are totally worth being my first time.
5 Three is Company
A long and perilous journey is about to begin, yet the hobbits are still in the Shire where all is safe and the biggest problems are caused by tree-roots they happen to lie on, knowing where they are heading and when they'll next get to eat. Still, the farewell atmosphere is present, especially from Frodo's part. He knows deep inside that he might never get back again, and sentences simple as "Our last meal at Bag End!" get a totally new meaning, a sad meaning. Everything is an adventure - and the first time they hid from the Black Rider was only a part of it. But then, in the heart of the Shire, things begin to get scary, and finally the elves appear as saviours. I have always loved the merriness of the chapter which slowly becomes dark.
6 The Passing of the Grey Company
I like how the dúnedain come for aid, unexpected, and the words they bring for Aragorn. It somehow makes Aragorn both more kingly and more human.
All that stuff about the Paths of the Dead and Isildur's curse is scary, really, as are also the Paths of the Dead themselves. In the movies they were rather ridiculous and had nothing left of their atmosphere in the book. The ride to Erech is maybe even better than the actual Paths.
This is one of those chapters that are difficult to describe. It just is wonderful.
7 The Breaking of the Fellowship
Poor Boromir, and poor Frodo! I pity them both while reading the chapter. Boromir really felt he could save Gondor with the Ring, and it must have been depressing for him that Frodo didn't seem to grasp his point at all. And I love it how he quite immediately after Frodo's disappearance realises what he has done and is sorry.
Somehow the dreams and visions people have in the book always appeal to me, and I really like the whole Amon Hen scene - and how the lovely landscapes are darkened by signs of war. It takes Frodo to distant lands he doesn't see on his way to Mordor, and helps him realise what it is he is fighting for, why he must destroy the Ring.
And Sam's decision to follow Frodo is so touching.
8 The Ride of the Rohirrim
I have always liked this chapter. The riders are going to war and Merry shouldn't be there, they are worried of being too late and are all in a hurry yet cannot move any faster. And then the Púkel-men come to their help, unexpectedly, and somehow the air is immediately more hopeful. It's a glorious chapter: morning comes at last, Théoden's song and ride, the rohirrim's surprise assault on the armies of Sauron, the singing hosts of Rohan. The end of the chapter always sends shivers down my spine.
9 Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
I don't think I can describe the main thing in the chapter better than
skip spence:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by skip
This chapter is great because of the unlooked for respite it brings for the Hobbits, and this feeling of relief carries through to the reader. They think they are heading straight into the pits of hell, but then suddenly find themselves in a lush spring garden where they even get to enyoy a well cooked meal.
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Ithilien was next to Mordor and under Sauron's dominion, but it was still more alive. It gives quite a contrast. It is full of beautiful trees and flowers, yet still Sam manages to find the remains of a slaughter place. Forgotten though it may be for a while, the peril is always present, just behind the corner.
But the whole chapter is rather peaceful and calm, and at another time the hobbits might really have enjoyed their stay in Ithilien. Even Gollum is pretty sympathetic there.
10 The Voice of Saruman
As a reader, it's easy to remember that Saruman is only trying to mislead and betray, but I'm not so sure I would have remembered it, had I been there on the stairs of Orthanc. Tolkien really made an effort to make Saruman sound plausible, and I think it couldn't have turned out better. He has both humility and arrogance appropriate for a wizard in his situation.
I like the tension and the fine character portrayals of this chapter. And in the end Gandalf shows his power and breaks Saruman's staff. Although I always rather liked Saruman, that is a fine scene.