LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 11 - A Knife in the Dark

[Estelyn Telcontar]

The beginning of this chapter takes us back to Crickhollow and Fatty Bolger. Three of the Black Riders attempt to capture the hobbits there, but the Horn-call of Buckland sounds alarm and the Ringwraiths ride away.

Most of the chapter concerns the hobbits’ journey from Bree to Weathertop, with Strider acting as guide and protector. In the last chapter, we got to know Aragorn by conversation and Gandalf’s letter; here we get to know him by his actions. He starts by saving the lives of the hobbits in the Inn, since he was the one who kept them from being in their rooms when the Wraiths attacked (well-coordinated with the attack at Crickhollow, apparently). Then he leads them into and through the unknown woods and marshes, finally defending them against the direct attack of the Nazgul at Weathertop.

There are two poems, the Gil-galad poem, translated by Bilbo and recited by Sam; and the Tinúviel poem, sung by Strider. Aragorn also gives us readers a glimpse of the greater ancient history of Middle-earth with his tales.

The chapter ends with Frodo succumbing to the temptation to put on the ring and being injured by the Witch-King, yet calling out to Elbereth and removing the ring in the final lines.


There are some nice humorous lines in these passages, such as “Waste of a good apple” and “What do they live on when they can’t get hobbit?”, but my personal favorite is about the fate of the ponies that had disappeared: “They missed a dark and dangerous journey. But they never came to Rivendell.” How poignant!

Which parts do you find most interesting, amusing, and/or thought-provoking? What makes this chapter special and important?

[davem]

Standing upon the rim of the ruined circle, they saw all round below them a wide prospect, for the most part of lands empty and featureless, except for patches of woodland away to the south, beyond which they caught here & there the glint of distant water. Beneath them on this southern side there ran like a ribbon the Old Road, coming out of the West & winding up & down, until it faded behind a ridge of dark land to the east. Nothing was moving on it. Following its line eastward with their eyes they saw the mountains: the nearer foothills were brown & sombre; behind them stood taller shapes of grey; and behind those again were high white peaks glimmering among the clouds.

And that's when I fell in love.

It was that moment, looking out across the great desolate expanses of Middle earth that the fairy story spell of the Hobbit was broken for me. I had seen a new world stretched out before me for the first time, & I suddenly loved it absolutely, (& I've never fallen out of love with it). Looking back on my first reading of LotR, 28 years ago, I remember I had drifted through the earlier chapters, enjoying the pleasant escape into a fantasy world, but at this point, like Frodo in Lorien, I seemed to have stepped through a window into another world, a 'real' world.

This scene is, & always will be for me, Middle earth. If for Frodo its the case that:

When he had gone & passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wander from the Shire would walk there, upon the grass among elanor and niphredil in fair Lothlorien.

then when davem, wanderer from this world, has passed back into the outer world, he will still stand on the summit of Weathertop & watch the Old Road winding out of the West towards the Misty Mountains.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

It was while reading this chapter that I began to realise something. Only once does Strider live up to his name! That is in the Two Towers when he is one of the three hunters; at no other point is it mentioned about Aragorn’s ability to go about at a great pace. If he did then the Hobbits would not have been able to keep up with him having only very small and short feet.
It almost seemed to me like Tolkien forgot about it and went on with the story regardless.
Any comments?

[Encaitare]

There's the one definition of stride, which is just to walk at a fast pace. But think about it; when someone walks at a stride they're feeling pretty confident, like they own the place. Maybe the name implies a great underlying confidence that Strider has, and the fact that he's nearly always sure of himself, and his ability to deal with problems that come upon them as they make it to Rivendell.

[Aiwendil]

The pace quickens as we near the end of Book I. After two chapters spent at the Prancing Pony, this one takes us as far as Weathertop - halfway to Rivendell. And there is more to the chapter than just the journey: there is the attack at Crickhollow, the business to be settled in Bree, and of course the attack on Weathertop.

The cut to Crickhollow is momentarily disorienting to the reader. It is, after all, the first time since chapter 1 that we have a scene not involving our main Hobbits. The real function of the scene is of course to tell us that the Black Riders have found out the pretense of Frodo's living at Crickhollow - this knowledge naturally heightens the sense of danger we feel for the Hobbits.

Frodo seems almost to respond to the events in Buckland - he wakes from a deep sleep (as per the alarm of the Bucklanders - AWAKE! AWAKE!). He dreams then of wind and hoofs and even hears a horn-call - though it turns out to be a cock crowing in Bree. Again, the danger is heightened when it is found that the decoys have been slashed. All this makes the following events - the negotiation of a bargain for Bill Ferny's horse, the journey through the marshes, and the approach to Weathertop - more engaging than they would otherwise have been. Without the setup, the sense of danger and suspense would not be so great.

Strider takes the Hobbits on their third shortcut. The first spared them an encounter with a Black Rider and led them to Maggot - altogether a success. The second led them into a great deal of trouble - the Old Forest, the Barrow-downs - but also led them to Bombadil. Again, they evaded the Black Riders. But we all know the rule of three - twice establishes a pattern; thrice breaks it. So it is with the three little pigs and so it is with the shortcuts. This time they cannot evade the Nazgul.

The actual attack by the Nazgul is actually rather short - just about one page. But that one page does far more than Jackson can do with his action set piece. Just as, within the story, it is the fear caused by the Nazgul that is their chief weapon, so the chief technique Tolkien uses to engage the reader in this incident (as throughout Book I) is tension rather than action. The key to the scene is not the physical attack that comes in the very last paragraph; it is the slow approach of the Nazgul, the perception of them as a very powerful danger, the suspense that results from the certainty that there must eventually be a confrontation. Tolkien builds that suspense to the breaking point, only to ease off a little and save the real confrontation for the final chapter of Book I.

We have also in this chapter Aragorn's song of Beren and Luthien - in my opinion, one of Tolkien's finest bits of verse. The rhyme scheme is not too complex, but quite effective: ABACBABC. The first C line of each stanza always feels just slightly unexpected, as if we assume it will rhyme with B - then not only does it fail to rhyme, it also ends with two unstressed syllables instead of a single stressed one. The result is a sort of unresolved, trailing off feeling that pulls us along to the end of the stanza, where finally sense is made of the C line.

This poem brings up an interesting point. It is often remarked that a large part of the appeal of LotR lies in its sense of depth - the sense that there is a real history, filled with stories, that leads up to the present action. And of course there really is a history that lies before LotR - the Silmarillion. It's also been said (even by Tolkien) that LotR became more of a sequel to the Silmarillion than to The Hobbit. But just how many references to the Quenta Silmarillion itself are there? Not as many as you might think. Aragorn's talk of Beren and Luthien is probably the biggest reference. But even here, we are told only about a single incident in the story of Beren and Luthien - their meeting. Elsewhere there is a reference to Ancalagon; mention is made of Hador and Turin; there is Bilbo's poem about Earendil; there is the Balrog; Thangorodrim is mentioned. But most of these are just superficial references. The important events of the Silmarillion are not discussed at all. Even in the two big history chapters - I-2 and II-2 - nothing substantive is said about the First Age. The history that lies behind LotR, and that is alluded to in LotR, is for the most part not the Quenta Silmarillion of the First Age but rather the events of the Second Age and the Third Age. The Fall of Gil-Galad, Aragorn's kingship, the Rings, the Barrow-downs - all of the history that really matters to LotR comes from the Second and Third Ages.

This is interesting because, whereas the tales of the First Age were already very much in existence (and had been rewritten four or more times already), the history of the Second and Third Ages did not actually predate the writing of LotR very much, if at all. The story of Numenor had only been conceived in the 1930s. The history of Gondor and Arnor, and of the Rings, did not exist at all until LotR. So, when Tolkien came to develop the sequel to The Hobbit into a real epic, rather than drawing inspiration from the writings he had spent so much time on over the past twenty-five years, he more or less built things from the ground up. He connected LotR with the Silmarillion, to be sure, but the connection was a distant one, with two whole ages in between. LotR is more a sequel to the Akallebeth than it is to the Silmarillion.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling - these are thoughts forming as I'm writing. What I wonder is - 1. Why is there so little of the Silmarillion itself in LotR? and 2. What does this say about the bits of the Silmarillion that do make it into LotR - Aragorn's poem for instance?

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Aragorn's talk of Beren and Luthien is probably the biggest reference. But even here, we are told only about a single incident in the story of Beren and Luthien - their meeting. Elsewhere there is a reference to Ancalagon; mention is made of Hador and Turin; there is Bilbo's poem about Earendil; there is the Balrog; Thangorodrim is mentioned. But most of these are just superficial references. The important events of the Silmarillion are not discussed at all. Even in the two big history chapters - I-2 and II-2 - nothing substantive is said about the First Age. The history that lies behind LotR, and that is alluded to in LotR, is for the most part not the Quenta Silmarillion of the First Age but rather the events of the Second Age and the Third Age. The Fall of Gil-Galad, Aragorn's kingship, the Rings, the Barrow-downs - all of the history that really matters to LotR comes from the Second and Third Ages.

Aiwendil-- I would (mostly) agree; except for the whole splintered light concept. Bilbo's poem serves to set up Sam later: Galadriel's phial is from Earendil, and Sam recognizes it and ties the story all the way back to the silmarils. And there is Gandalf's cmmment in the House of Elrond that Frodo would become like a clear glass filled with light, for those to see who can.

Whether one calls this major or minor I suppose depends on how much one focuses on the symbolism of the light.

[Mithalwen]

I agree here with Encaitare ..... especially since it was his Bree nickname .... to the Breelanders, the rangers were more or less vagabonds - in the classic phrase "IDHTBOM" - but I think Butterbur says something like he "strides about on those long-shanks of his" It much have seemed strange to the Bree people that someone who seemed like a tramp went about with a sense of purpose. It is also a reminder that Aragorn is different physically as well in lifestyle and mentality to the men of Bree ...... literally and metaphorically "above" them... I think Sam comes through strongly in this chapter ..... shows some of the qualities that will ensure the success of the quest... aspects which were largely neglected in the film. Although Sam is always respectful he is not automatically cowed by his "betters" - he speaks his mind to Aragorn, Glorfindel, Elrond, Faramir and no doubt others who don't spring instantly to mind, he shows his native intelligence both in suspecting Strider (quite reasonable in the circumstances) , and by his having learnt of the fall of Gil-Galad ... I have said more about Sam's education in "Master Samwise can read" and don't want to repeat ... but I do think it is interesting that Sam begins to come into his own when all the hobbits are in unfamiliar territory. Perhaps in the Shire and Bree he was more aware of the difference in education and experience and social status ..... out in the wilds being the heir of the Thain or the Master doesn't count for so much..... but perhaps I am reading too much into it.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

We have also in this chapter Aragorn's song of Beren and Luthien - in my opinion, one of Tolkien's finest bits of verse. The rhyme scheme is not too complex, but quite effective: ABACBABC. The first C line of each stanza always feels just slightly unexpected, as if we assume it will rhyme with B - then not only does it fail to rhyme, it also ends with two unstressed syllables instead of a single stressed one. The result is a sort of unresolved, trailing off feeling that pulls us along to the end of the stanza, where finally sense is made of the C line.

Just to note that anyone interested in this poem should get hold of the volume Tolkien's Legendarium, & read the essay 'Three Elvish Verse Modes', especially the section on ann-thennath.

One thing that did strike me this time was what the Nazgul did to the hobbits beds in the inn - the sheer frenzy of the attack is appalling. Its as if they lost control of themselves - yet in other parts of the book we get the sense of them as cold & calculating. Its as if they can only function on two 'levels', one where everything is organised, ritualised, structured - even their cruelty, & the other where they kind of explode in an animal frenzy.

Finally, & this probably belongs in the HoME companion thread, so I'll keep it short: its interesting that in the original draft its Trotter who is eating the apple & throws it at Bill Ferny, not Sam. Its as if when Trotter becomes Strider, that 'apple-throwing' part of him is transferred to Sam - maybe this helps explain the sudden development of Sam's character which Mithalwen mentions.

[Ivriniel]

Originally Posted by davem

And that's when I fell in love.

It was that moment, looking out across the great desolate expanses of Middle earth that the fairy story spell of the Hobbit was broken for me. I had seen a new world stretched out before me for the first time, & I suddenly loved it absolutely, (& I've never fallen out of love with it). Looking back on my first reading of LotR, 28 years ago, I remember I had drifted through the earlier chapters, enjoying the pleasant escape into a fantasy world, but at this point, like Frodo in Lorien, I seemed to have stepped through a window into another world, a 'real' world.

This scene is, & always will be for me, Middle earth. If for Frodo its the case that:



then when davem, wanderer from this world, has passed back into the outer world, he will still stand on the summit of Weathertop & watch the Old Road winding out of the West towards the Misty Mountains.

Aye

I wish I could remember the moment I first had the same awakening. I remember reading The Hobbit, and did not grasp that Elves were tall, immortal and of a vast antiquity beyond my ken. I thought they were short, like garden gnomes, and impish. There was an exact moment when discovery occurred, but I cannot recall when. Though, I remember that by the time I saw the silvery Elvish glyphs, afire with Ithildin on the Moria gates according to Celebrimbor's "Mode of Beleriand", there was a sense of something beyond my awareness in an ancient world, as things that were only objects in the mind's eye came alive with vivid beauty, colour, life and love, as though beings I was reading about existed--as if they were alive, somewhere in some dimension.

Then Hollin became the Ost-In-Edhil and place of the Forging of the Three as the vastness of Middle Earth just kept expanding in awe and like grace that stirs embers of an old fire. I sometimes still hear gulls on the seashore when I think of the awakening of the Sea Longing in Legolas as he spoke of his experience of the ocean at Belfalas.

But for the chapter at hand, I keep coming back to the Amon Sul and Fornost, which were but echoes of the strange recollections, like those of the Barrow Wight dream--who were the men of Carn Dum? I read with wonder and awe. The Witch King was back at the ancient battle site, of which Aragorn must have been most keenly aware. Amon Sul, which was 'Weathertop' on my first reading 31 years ago, and a site of ancient ruins. And strand by strand, so much that was implied that was so ancient - the Great East Road, the Greenway, the Palantir of Amon Sul, Arvedui and so much more. And Numenor. Silmarien. A special place of homage for her in my heart.

I just re-read the end of the chapter, as Aragorn took us on a journey into his ancient world so many thousands of years prior to him. As he speaks of it "...is said" that the "Line of Tinuviel shall never fail", where he sat with the Hobbits, in--his Realm. Arnor, where one day he would be wit Arwen, in a long coming of full circle, by Lake Evendim....

[Formendacil]

It boggles the mind to see that "A Knife in the Dark" never broached a second page of discussion here, because were you to maroon me on a desert island with but a single chapter of The Lord of the Rings, there is a good chance this is the chapter I would take. It's got a little bit of everything:

-the tail end of the comfortable "known world" of the Hobbits (i.e. Bree)
-archaeology and history
-stunning vistas
-my favourite locale in all Middle-earth (Weathertop)
-pleasant woods and mysterious paths
-a wizard battle! (albeit from afar)
-the Nazgûl at their most terrifying (as a reader, I personally find the long, slow march of their relentless search across Eriador to be more visceral than their increased potency in the War)
-two of the best poems in the book (I'm personally partial to Gil-galad and I'm always deeply saddened that Sam didn't learn more of it!)


And, besides all that, there are a few curiosities, like the brief narrative return to Crickhollow, where Fredegar Bolger briefly becomes our point-of-view character! This is a remnant, narratively, of when Fredegar's predecessor character was still supposed to come on the quest, getting picked up by Gandalf as the wizard rushed from wherever he had to been to catch up to the rest.

The Fell Winter is an interesting nugget of Middle-earth history, if only because it was the last great test of the Shire before the War of the Ring, and though it was "more than a hundred years" ago, Bilbo actually grew up through it! He was quite small and, of course, in an affluent family, but it's still almost weird to consider that he was there.

One thing struck me that had never struck me before: the narrator tells us, in the course of telling us that Merry's ponies all fled to Bombadil before being returned to Butterbur, that it turns out that only one horse was actually stolen from the stables and that all the others had merely fled. Knowing that animals flee the Nazgûl, that makes perfect sense, but does this mean that Strider is *wrong* when he speculates about the motives of the thieves in stealing the ponies to slow them down and make them more vulnerable? At no point does he--or anyone else--assume anything other than that the stables were deliberately broken into. But if it was only one horse the Nazgûl (or the Southerner?) wanted, was it really aimed at them at all? Or is it possible that the entire stable just tried to break out and flee the Nazgûl when they attacked the inn and someone (the Southerner?) decided to just get a horse out of it?

I especially wonder... was it a black horse? Maybe one of the Black Riders needed a new steed.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

-two of the best poems in the book (I'm personally partial to Gil-galad and I'm always deeply saddened that Sam didn't learn more of it!)

Ah, yes. Tinuviel there has always been enhanced in feeling due to (as was the intent) the connection with Aragon. Reading the book through again with knowledge of Arwen, and what the War of the Ring means to Aragorn personally, makes it that much more poignant.

Originally Posted by Formendacil

But if it was only one horse the Nazgûl (or the Southerner?) wanted, was it really aimed at them at all? Or is it possible that the entire stable just tried to break out and flee the Nazgûl when they attacked the inn and someone (the Southerner?) decided to just get a horse out of it?

I especially wonder... was it a black horse? Maybe one of the Black Riders needed a new steed.

Well, Gandalf tells Frodo later that the steeds of the Nazgul were specially bred (to endure their terror), so I can't see them being able to use any horse from Bree.
I think their intent indeed was to slow Frodo down, and the Southerner got the horse incidentally to enable his escape.

[Boromir88]

This chapter has a ton of action packed into a short number of pages.

I rather like the cut to Crickhollow at the beginning. The previous chapter ended with the hobbits fearing the Black Riders would attack the Inn during the night and it's almost like a dream, not really a "flashback" but a clever use of a "flash to another part of Middle-earth" that temporarily throws the readers off of what we were expecting. We are expecting an attack on the Inn, but the Black Riders raided Frodo's home in Crickhollow. So far all we have is a handful of second-hand accounts and warnings to Frodo to avoid the Black Riders. But the previous chapters keep ramping up the tension and this chapter makes the direct encounter feel like Strider and our heroes are only "delaying the inevitable."

It's interesting reading this time and thinking about Strider's decisions in the chapter. His decision to instead of trying to slip out of Bree unnoticed and quietly, to leave openly with all the inhabitants of Bree and surrounding towns watching. His decision to head towards Amon Sul, even after seeing all the lights and fireworks a few days ago from the Nazgul's attack on Gandalf.

I'm trying to get back into the mindset of a first time reader and not knowing what will happen next and this chapter is not only about the inevitable showdown when the Black Riders encounter our heroes, but about Aragorn's decisions and reasons for taking the path he did in leading the hobbits out of Bree to Amon Sul.

"Is there no escape then?" said Frodo, looking round wildly. "If I move I shall be seen and hunted! If I stay, I shall draw them to me!'

Strider laid his hand on his should. "There is still hope," he said. "You are not alone. Let us take this wood that is set ready for the fire as a sign. There is little shelter or defense here, but fire shall serve for both. Sauron can put fire to his evil uses, as he can all things, but these Riders do not love it, and fear those who wield it. Fire is our friend in the wilderness."

"Maybe," muttered Sam. "It is also as good as saying 'here we are' as I can think of, bar shouting."

You get a sense from Aragorn's explanations of his decisions throughout the chapter that there is no chance at avoiding this confrontation. It's inevitable and what Book I has been building up to. They're caught between a rock and a hard place, and Aragorn's decisions are therefor based on trying to put himself and the hobbits in the best possible time and place to have the confrontation. Since there is going to be a fight, Aragorn's trying to have the fight on his terms and limit whatever advantages the Enemy has that he can.

Someone might think "well all of Aragorn's choices have kind of gone awry, and why did he choose a prominent site like Amon Sul, when so far they have been able to avoid the direct assault?" In a rather casual manner Aragorn drops a bombshell on us that Frodo's carrying a tracking device for the Nazgul, and even if they don't see the world as the living sees it, they have spies and other senses that are better for hunting Frodo. "So, yeah, I convinced you all to follow me but we're going to be attacked and it's entirely Frodo's fault. Sorry about that." I know it's seriously not Frodo's fault, but how the Nazgul hunt for the living and the Ring is a major bombshell that Aragorn dropped. If anything it makes you wonder why Gandalf and Gildor didn't reveal any of these important details to Frodo? I'm kind of questioning their judgment, while believing Aragorn displays his judgment in making the best out of a really bad predicament they're in.

Some other interesting tidbits:

-Sam hitting Bill Ferny in the face with an apple. We now have a first hand account of what the Prologue said about hobbits being excellent marksman and it would be wise for anyone to run when a hobbit "stoops to grab a stone." Then Sam's muttering about wasting a good apple.

-The mixed reactions of Bree-landers when Aragorn leaves openly:

They tramped off, anxious and downhearted, under the eyes of the crowd. Not all the faces were friendly, nor all the words that were shouted. But Strider seemed to be held in awe by most of the Bree-landers, and those that he stared at shut their mouths and drew away.

Not much is known about him yet and despite appearances, he definitely commands respect.

-And I always thought Jackson's portrayal of the Nazgul were off, in that they weren't really warriors (and obviously were not all "Kings of Men"), their main weapon is fear and they had no great power over the fearless. How in the movies when they break through the Shire there a scene where a rider kills a hobbit and thinking "that's not supposed to happen, their true purpose is in discretion and secrecy." Then my shock when reading this:

Meanwhile they had another errand: they knew now that the house was empty and the Ring had gone. They rode down the guards at the gate and vanished from the Shire.

Granted this is when they leave the Shire, and not when they break into it as the movies portray, but the movie scene isn't as an outlandish choice as I have always argued and felt previously.

[Lostgaeriel]

I think this must have been the chapter where I fell for Strider – his love of the outdoors and of poetry – what a combination! The Song of Beren and Lúthien is my favourite poem in the book.

As night fell and the light of the fire began to shine out brightly he began to tell them tales to keep their minds from fear. He knew many histories and legends of long ago, of Elves and Men and the good and evil deeds of the Elder Days. They wondered how old he was, and where he had learned all this lore.

‘Tell us of Gil-galad,’ said Merry suddenly, when he paused at the end of a story of the Elf-Kingdoms. ‘Do you know any more of that old lay that you spoke of?’

‘I do indeed,’ answered Strider. ‘So does Frodo, for it concerns us closely.’ Merry and Pippin looked at Frodo, who was staring into the fire.

‘I know only the little that Gandalf has told me,’ said Frodo slowly. ‘Gil-galad was the last of the great Elf-kings of Middle-earth. Gil-galad is Starlight in their tongue. With Elendil, the Elf-friend, he went to the land of—’

‘No!’ said Strider interrupting, ‘I do not think that tale should be told now with the servants of the Enemy at hand. If we win through to the house of Elrond, you may hear it there, told in full’

‘Then tell us some other tale of the old days,’ begged Sam; ‘a tale about the Elves before the fading time. I would dearly like to hear more about Elves; the dark seems to press round so close.’

‘I will tell you the tale of Tinúviel,’ said Strider, ‘in brief—for it is a long tale of which the end is not known; and there are none now, except Elrond, that remember it aright as it was told of old. It is a fair tale, though it is sad, as are all the tales of Middle-earth, and yet it may lift up your hearts.’

So why does Aragorn choose the tale of Tinúviel, of all the tales of the old days? (Or why does Tolkien choose to include in verse, only this particular tale?)

Only in the last few years did I link Aragorn’s choice of song with the following from Appendix A:

‘The next day at the hour of sunset Aragorn walked alone in the woods, and his heart was high within him; and he sang, for he was full of hope and the world was fair. And suddenly even as he sang he saw a maiden walking on a greensward among the white stems of the birches; and he halted amazed, thinking that he had strayed into a dream, or else that he had received the gift of the Elf-minstrels, who can make the things of which they sing appear before the eyes of those that listen.
‘For Aragorn had been singing a part of the Lay of Lúthien which tells of the meeting of Lúthien and Beren in the forest of Neldoreth. And behold! there Lúthien walked before his eyes in Rivendell, clad in a mantle of silver and blue, fair as the twilight in Elven-home; her dark hair strayed in a sudden wind, and her brows were bound with gems like stars.
For a moment Aragorn gazed in silence, but fearing that she would pass away and never be seen again, he called to her crying, Tinúviel, Tinúviel! even as Beren had done in the Elder Days long ago.
‘Then the maiden turned to him and smiled, and she said: “Who are you? And why do you call me by that name?”
‘And he answered: “Because I believed you to be indeed Lúthien Tinúviel, of whom I was singing. But if you are not she, then you walk in her likeness.”

So although this Ranger had no photograph or miniature portrait of Arwen to carry in his pocket, he could bring her image to his mind by singing this song – not only because he was singing this same song when he met her, but because she looks like Lúthien of whom he is singing. At this point in the journey from Bree to Rivendell he probably could use Arwen’s encouragement or the inspiration of her beauty.

Of course at the end of Book 2, Chapter VIII Lothlórien, Aragorn’s ability to bring Arwen’s image before his eyes is mentioned again.

Tolkien gives us the story of Beren and Lúthien early in the book to foreshadow the ‘fair, though sad’ tale of Aragorn and Arwen yet to come.

[mark12_30]

"'...about him cast her shadowy hair
And her arms like Silver glimmering."

Tinuviel used her hair for enchantment. She enchanted him. Intentionally.

Daughter of Melian, indeed!