Riddles in the Downs

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

I'll go with something a bit more obscure: the Gorcrows from the "Mewlips" poem.

Dripping blood, maybe -play on "gore".
In inertia, but not silent. -"croaking in their sleep".
Sentinels, possibly -Well, they might be; who knows?
Of a place both foul and violent. -icky swamp, and the Mewlips kill you.

PERFECTLY correct!

I think Tolkien probably meant to imply crows that eat gore. (I'm sure I looked up 'gorcrows' once to see if it's an actual species).

They might or might not be sentinels, but I think they look like sentinels in Pauline Baynes's illustration in 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil,' (two of them, one each side of the title).