Honestly I find it disheartening that as time passes the Jackson films are steadily becoming more and more reviled simply because they are unfaithful adaptations. Whatever is said about them in that regard they are at least still well-made movies.
@@myriadmediamusings Eh I’d say the films have a few redeeming factors or so. At least they were conveying Professor Tolkien’s intended feelings and messages.
I have a walking app that’s called “Fantasy Hike” and I got to the part where I was captured by a “Wight in the Barrows” and even though I’ve read the books, I’ve no memory of this part, so this came at a perfect time! ❤
This is one of my favorite parts in The Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien captures the cold and lonely atmosphere so well. There are still unanswered questions, but that just adds to it in the end.
One Tolkien lorebook, with some unique art, suggested that some barrows were broken open during the Fourth-age, letting the sunlight in, and the remaining wights within went away, fading to the winds forever.
@@animeyukiomalayalam6882 I was born the better part of 4 decades before the end of the last century. I read the trilogy for the first time when I was 10.
The crazy part about the barrow downs is that it happens right after the hobbits leave the Shire, where everything is peaceful and lovely. Then BOOM spooky ghosts and dreadful spirits kidnap the hobbits in the most terrifying thing ever
It's still sad that Barrow-downs & Barrow-wights weren't included in the LoTR trilogy. But the most of Jackson's decisions & reasons are understandable. Barrow-downs require Tom, Tom requires Old Forest and all of this requires at least one hour of screen time.
The barrow-downs episode is one of the most poignant. Tolkien was able to blend so much mystery and history into the narrative. I remember reading it for the first time as a (12yo) kid, and the goosebumps it gave me. Having not yet read the Silmarillion, it was an early glimpse of the depth and breadth of what lay behind--and sometimes literally beneath--the narrative at hand.
@@abbieb8130 Another favorite is part of the downs episode: Tom's reaction to the treasures and jewels he pulls ouot of the barrow, especially the one he saves for Goldberry.
The barrow-wights seem like they're inspired by the draugar, undead creatures from Norse mythology that also lurked in barrows and tombs. It's a shame they were cut from the movies. Peter Jackson probably could have done great stuff with them with his horror movie background.
"He awoke on a carpet of furs in front of a fireplace, sipping champagne and listening to seductive music. A dark, rumbling voice spoke to him, saying "Hey, baby, let's get a groove on!' and he knew: he had been taken by a Barry White"
Came here to say that I've finally finished reading about all of the works of Tolkien that have come out so now I'll grab some popcorn and start binging all your RUclips videos
@@SimonVanliew26 "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve". Rather than trying to find conflict, try and find happy and admirable things to make life happier so that you can "find value in the places where you least expect it". J.R.R. Tolkien.
Don't get me wrong, just curious, what is "everything" for you. Because that would also include more obscure texts like "Leaf by Niggle", some of the academic texts or the letters. And especially Tolkiens academic writings are really tough to digest for people with no linguistic background
Ohh! I remember that game. It’s a text based? Mud? Like reading a book and building your adventures every day. How is it going for Mume? Is the game alive?
Yes, and very much alive! It just celebrated its 31st birthday, continuously being enhanced. The Barrow Downs are a good place to get lost in game and find some Barrow-wights!
I love how closely the MUME map and areas represent Tolkien. I have learned a ton of Tolkien from this game, and then come to this channel to dig deeper and learn more.
I recall leaving the cinema after watching Fellowship and wondering how Peter Jackson was going to place the fatal blade in Merry's hand in the battle for Minas Tirith as it all tied back to the barrow wights which had been skipped. There are bronze age burial barrows all over the UK. There's a few in a field near me that have sheep grazing on them these days.
Thank you, I've always been curious about barrow downs & wights. It's the first thing in LOTR which makes me realize just how far back in time the lore of Middle Earth goes. Every point on the map has its own rich history. I wish we knew more about the last Prince of Cardolan and his people's war with Angmar.
You have to wonder about the microscopic minds of the show runners for Rings of Power. With so much rich history to mine and visually portray how on earth did they come up with such an amalgam of garbage. Like you say, if they had just spun out and portrayed the history of Cardolan, its intrigues with Rhudaur and Arthedain, and its losing fight against Angmar then we all would have been enthralled. But NO, with with Amazon money nobodies are more intelligent and creative than J.R.R. Tolkien. I stopped watching Rings of Power after 4 episodes. It was just to idiotic and lore breaking.
@@r.blakehole932 They didn't have the rights to these fragments, you clown, due to rights trolls sitting on relevant books containing them and refusing to allow not just their use, but mere acknowledge. The writers did the best they could with stuff they had rights to, how the hell they were supposed to make story of Cardolan when doing so would met with instant lawsuit? Try to read why they had so difficult work, then yap...
@@r.blakehole932 Right? There is so much intriguing history to tell. And even though we didn´t see the barrow wights in the films, there are so many connections. Film watchers only would recognise the Witch King, they would recognise Elrond and it would also explain why Merry´s sword helped to kill the Nazgul. You could see the Shire in the past and all that. But alas, it was not to be.
@@therra1101heck, they could have ignored 100% of Middle Earth and gone to the lands in the East and South, following the Blue Wizards, and had 0 conflicts with canon.
It is unlikely that these spirits belonged to the Cardolan people. Because the fëa of human souls is not inherently dependent on Arda, and after the death event has taken place (the termination of the fëa-hröa bond), the soul has to leave Arda. Apart from the rings of power, there is no other factor that will bind them to this world. Therefore, it seems unlikely that such souls are human souls. As for what happened, it's open to speculation. I think your main concern here is that the Witch-king of Angmar could have power over such souls.
We need a show show about the Angmar wars! One that follows the source material of course, that show could have a lot of time jumps but that could be as every season ends, the new season takes place in the further war and battles.
The Barrow-Wights are one of my favourite parts of LotR. I'm a big fan of well-done undead, and the very Norse-inspired approach was so well executed. It would be cool if at some point you had time to do a video about "mortal magic," like the spells of unlocking mentioned by Gandalf and Strider's song of healing after Frodo got stabbed. While it's definitely true that Middle Earth magic isn't as flashy as pulp/swords & sorcery fantasy, it's far more present than people like to admit.
The spiritual / horror aspects of the Lord of the Rings add great intensity to an already complex and interesting story. Geographical places become haunted with evil spirits at the command of a greater evil entity. They physical bodies of the righteous dead are used in a horrible fashion to capture and destroy innocent ones. Evil incantations are countered with the prayer/song learned by Frodo Baggins from the mysterious and enigmatic Tom Bombadil (who is most likely a Vala who sung the world into existence with his angelic companions in the Silmarillion), and as a result Tom comes to the rescue. Tolkien explicitly and implicitly suffused all of Middle-Earth with the supernatural. I think it was natural for him to do this because as a devout Catholic that is how he saw life in general. Thanks for the video. As usual the artwork presented was great.
Great barrow wight voice! Very creepy. For me, this episode is more chilling than the Paths of the Dead. There's a sense of deep and ancient mystery there that makes me almost shiver.
Thanks for this episode! The Barrow-downs chapter of FOTR is one of the most mysterious parts because it is told through the eyes of the hobbits, who have no context for what they are experiencing. And Tom Bombadil, when he shows up, isn't the best at explaining things 😆 Interesting that Tolkien intended for the Nazgûl to use the Barrow-wights as a trap for the ring-bearer should he pass that way; that had never occurred to me.
I always assumed part of the creation of the rings (of men and the one specifically) was the way of preventing a spirit from going to Mandos. That shard of ring lore may have been used by the witch king to create wights.
@@nickolas.vicente I don't mean to imply they never go to Mandos, just that there is some wiggle room in the timing. Even the witch king ended up there thanks to Eowyn and Pippin
This is one of those parts of the book I wish were in the movie, Tom B. and the Barrow Wrights. Because the daggers which the Hobbits received out of the treasure from the barrow were what enabled Merry to strike the blow that weakened the Witch King so that Eowyn could then strike the killing blow. As the daggers were works of Westerness and woven with spells to combat the evil spirits of Angmar and Mordor. Another change they made in the movie was making Aragorn seem reluctant to be king when that was his plan all along, with help from Arwen and Galadriel. The whole goal was to become king of both Arnor and Gondor so he would be given permission by Elrond to marry Arwen. Also I wish they had the ride of the Grey Company through the Dwimmorberg to the stone of Erech in the movie and had been more faithful to how that went down in the books. The army of the dead drove off the corsairs and freed up the southern armies of Gondor to sail north with Aragorn and help in the defeat of the armies of Mordor at the battle of Pelennor fields. Went on a tangent but I had to mention a few other changes from book to movie that this video made me think about. Other than those few changes I’ve always throughly enjoyed the movies.
Frankly it's good it was cut because that part of the book was garbage and didn't fit the setting at all. If ass end of nowhere, poor, small, backward Cardolan could make swords of nazgul slaying +10 then why Gondor, diminished but still powerful, met witch king and his army with terrible quality (in comparison) weapons that were useless? Why we never see these OP 'evil spirits' employed anywhere else? Why the wight was so stupid to play dressup and evil, extremely ineffective magic, instead of just stabbing the hobbits and be done with it?
@@KuK137 Frankly I don’t think you understand Tolkien or the history he created. The daggers would have been extremely rare creations. Similar to Glamdring, Orcrist and sting which all three were found in one troll horde. The four daggers of Neumenor’s craft being found in barrows in an area specifically linked to the Edain and to Neumenorian descendants is less of a stretch than what happened in the hobbit with the swords and the Dagger. But the Witch King broke Frodos, so only three survived, and Frodo was given Sting. But all where just as important, Sting and the daggers Merry, Pippin and Sam were given.
@@mikegardner107 100% correct. Elrond protected Aragorn, being the a distant relative of his brother Elros. But Elrond also stated that his daughter would not marry any mortal man, unless he had reclaimed the title of King of Gondor and Arnor, Neumenor and ultimately the Edain. Elrond put Aragorn to task to prove himself worthy of not only to marry his daughter but to be King.
Yesterday I was driving in my commute and I thought "man, Nerd of the Rings should do a video on the barrow downs, its one of the weirdest and bizarre parts of the LOTR"
I recently read again the chapters about the Barrowdowns . It’s so creepy and gloomy especially when the death of the Sun and Moon are mentioned. It’s a reference to the end of the world and the return of Morgoth
The Barrow Downs have always been one of my favorite scenes in all of LotR and I could never put my finger on exactly why, but I think I have it now. The Downs exist within a fairly short distance of the Shire, and the idea that there's a place filled with undead monsters and enchanted treasures within spitting distance of the character's home always filled me with a sense of wonder. Like at any point, at any time, the Hobbits of the Shire or the Breelanders could have raided the Downs, had an adventure, and walked away filthy rich. It's like a quest in your own backyard.
Fog on the Barrowdowns was a favourite chapter for me, since first reading Fellowship as a school kid; so much so, that I tried reusing the setting for one of my compositions, in which a warrior encounters a wight-like creature. My English teacher, a bit of a hippy, must have been into fantasy literature, and while giving it a good mark, immediately identified it as resembling a passage from Tolkien. I confirmed this when I wrote a review of LOTR for my next assignment. You didn't need Chatgpt to plagiarise back then! One reason for my interest was the setting reminded me of the nearby South Downs (in England), although I had never seen any standing stones or burial mounds on them. And the hobbits have a picnic on the downs like I sometimes did, and then they fall asleep in the warm sun, only to wake and find a fog has apparently come out of nowhere. I wonder if Tolkien was inspired by those very downs ...
Those wights were just a couple of undead Barrow-Clowns pulling an elaborate prank. Tom, probably drunk out of his skull and wanting to play sir Barrow-knight totally jumped the gun, overreacted and the whole thing was blown out of proportion and misrepresented later on as the story got thrown about in taverns across Middle Earth by halflings with full pints and small guy syndrome. A more sober version was actually recorded by a local Barrow-wright but undead journalism was pretty dead as a popular genre even then, so as usual the redfaced loudmouths of the world won out in the long run.
If you look into the history of the Ancient Celts you’ll see that their burials for their leaders and high society members are very reminiscent of that of the way the Hobbits are arrayed in the Barrow. Celts would dress their dead in fancy clothes with lots of gold treasures about them. Especially a golden torque, belt, or circlet. I’m sure Tolkien was very inspired by the Celts in this scenario as well as many others.
This fair maiden must have made a very strong impression on these two, to the point that Tom decided to keep an object of her as a "souvenir", since he has no attachment to this type of thing.
I can't help but think that the creepy, macabre horror of the barrow downs and barrow wights were partly inspired by professor Tolkien's experiences in the trenches of the First World War. There was so much death and despair that it must've seemed like the trenches and scarred battlefields were utterly haunted by the dead and sprits of death. That and plenty of bone-chilling cold nights from both the physical elements and the intangible fear and dread.
Too bad Peter Jackson didn't just film the entire Tom Bombadil scenes, Barrow Wights, etc., knowing they wouldn't fit in the main film, with the intention they would be in the Director's cut release or even a stand-alone short film, something like that...
An amazing video again, i just love how you put you passion of the legendarium into these videos 😊 I personally don't think tha barrow weights could've been Maiar, as they were sent by the witch-king who was a man and could be effected by Tom, who could not effect Maiar in such manner. Just my own take on this
I love this chapter. The chapter title alone great and I actually love it even more in czech translation. The atmosphere is beautifully haunting, the incantation brilliant. And so much history in just a few sentences. Like you know this is a green land full of legend and mistery just like the three hunters talked about with Éomer.
The Barrow-Downs side quest basically saw the entire party fail their saving throws and then only survive a tpk by the grace of an overpowered DMPC. Some real low-level shenanigans. Also the Fellowship really lacked a dedicated healer (though Aragon's Medicine was pretty high)
Barrow wights are eerie. There are many ruins of mediaeval castles and settlements in Georgia, where I live. These ruins always remind me of these evils entities.
So glad Brian Sibley was eventually able to adapt the Barrow-downs in Tales from the Perilous Realm. I always listen to it in the proper place when playing BBC's LotR.
As a kid I watched the movies and was enthralled by them and as an adult I read the books and realize there was so much more tolkien wrote and so much more history weaved in as well, it’s a world that has age and you can tell
I just don't understand how a spirit or whatever they are. Can possess and move a skeleton. I wonder if they're Nazgul adjacent. Thats the only way that makes any sense.
Its a small chapter in a way, but if you immerse yourself iin the imagined landscape it is definitely haunting when you consider it is a horizon to horizon landscape of grass hills and ruins. Very haunting setting when you put your mind to it.
This made me look up the seen in the Two Towers when Frodo tell Gollum his true name it is a nise inclusion of the black wind encantation in an altered form from the view of someone who has seen Sauron himself.
Fellowship is my favorite book in the series (I know, it's not common), it's basically horror and that's what I love about it...for some reason, the Hobbits seem more vulnerable when the black riders are chasing them in fellowship than any other time. And the Barrow-wights are one of my favorite parts....love the brief mentions of Angmar in the text.
Hello, im a huge fan! Have you ever thought about doing another channel like the nerd of the rings that dives into the lore and stories of the franchise but you do it about the wizard of earthsea? I absolutely love that series, it's my joint 1st favourite book series of all time along side lord of the rings. Or even if you didn't do a channle, you could maybe do some one off videos? Just an idea as no one really covers the lore of earthsea on RUclips.
Wow, one of the best videos I've watched in a long time well done Treebeard used some of those words to free merry and pippin. Every word in the movies was written in the book, but often by a different person in a different place.
Is it just me, or does that chant the Barrow-Wight chant sound like a prophesy of the distant future? "Till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead. In the black wind the stars shall die..." This sounds very similar to the end of the world when Morgoth returns and destroys the Sun and Moon. And to top it off, this spirit mentions the dark lord. "Till the dark lord lifts his hand over dead sea and withered land". This sounds very similar to something that has not yet come to pass, but after many years will eventually occur in a dying Middle Earth. What do you guys think?
I prefer to just read the original LOTR. It's scary enough and mysterious enough. This over-explanation and augmentation doesn't work for me, so I only watched a few minutes. I'm not saying you're not doing good work, but I'm what you might call an "originalist."
I did not know the barrow downs were first used as a burial place during the first age. Those original barrows must have seemed as old as the oldest tombs we know on earth. Cool!
Thanks for this back story. It's worth mentioning that this was a very confusing chapter in the books and I've read the book several times. Any explanation is appreciated.
When Frodo awakens in the house of Elrond Gandalf tells him that the incident with the Barrow Wight was the most dangerous time in the whole journey to Rivendell.
The wight likely would have sensed something but wouldn't know what the One Ring was or that it was important. The wights weren't like the Nazgûl; they lacked the necessary intelligence.
Thanks. I learned a lot. I think Jackson couldn’t understand the mystery of Bombadil and who he probably was so he completely left him out. That made Aragorn finding four swords on Weather Top for the hobbits completely anti climatic. When Merry stabs the Witch King in the back of the knee there is no reason that should have been effective. Tolkien wrote five books, his publisher squeezed them into three volumes. Jackson probably could have made five movies for LOTR and cut back on the Hobbit.
Oh mate, this was definitely one of your best videos up to date. Your research is impeccable and you really take us on the journey with you through this content (incl. the creepy voices). I so appreciate your work. But it still hurts that this amazing literary portion was left out of the movies. Perhaps because there are so many layers to it, as you presented. Tom Bombadil, I somehow just realised, helped to prevent one of the first traps of Sauron to succeed. That's a major plot-point and it's also a huge test for the Hobbits, which is rewarded with their first weapons. Another thought: J.K. Rowling's Dementors definitely must have been inspired by the Barrow-Wights, right?! Although the D's don't have any eyes...and don't wear bones. 🤣 But cold they are....🥶
I don't care about the cave troll in Moria, or the Balrog. I never even cared much for the Nazgul and of Sauron. But, the Barrow Wights scared the living hell out of me when I read these books in the early 1980s. It's also one of the very few let-downs from Peter Jackson's epic re-creation. I really hoped that during the DVD extras or Director's Cut, Jackson would have included the story of the Hobbit's encounter with Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-Wights - which led to closure of the story arc of why Merry's blade helped kill the Witch King. Without it, we're left guessing as to why a Hobbit and a Lady of Rohan were able to kill the greatest of the Nazgul.
Tolkien's thesis often seems to be that great works require some part of the power of the creator to be surrendered to the creation, so maybe Sauron could not repeat it, or deemed it too costly after it did not fully succeed the first time?
Nerd, are you familiar with the Hobbit (graphic novel) adapted by Charles Dixon and Sean Deming (1989)? It's a faithfully told effort with brilliantly illustrations by David Wenzil. I recommend it for your library. Still available.
Leaving out the barrow down blades and their intended power against the magic of Angmar was an issue. People think weathertop was some mistake of the Nazgûl. But when one realizes that what the witch king had perceived as easy prey had an ancient blade that could harm him, and given that Frodo called out “O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!”, the ancient name of the Valar that lit the stars, the nazguls’ hesitation makes sense. It would be as if in Christian terms a demon sought to attack someone and found they had an angelic blade and called out an ancient, forgotten name of god, and words in Tolkien have power. This is a good and thoroughly researched channel.
Gandalf later said this was the most dangerous time for hobbits. They were on their own, no Aragorn or Gandalf with them... luckily Bombadil was around just in time.
Jackson should have included Tom and the Barrow Wights in the extended cut. Barrow wights were a good challenging encounter for a 5-6 th LVL Player group in AD&D , 1st ed. , of course ;)
Tom Bombadil is pretty lame tbh. hes just an immortal? like wut? OK... but anyways, i remember the Barrow-wight fight from the first video game of LOTR on Xbox. was super tough
It’s a shame they had to cut this stuff when making the movie. I understand why, but I’d love to have seen what Jackson would’ve done with it.
It's in the unreleased Mithril Edition.
Honestly I find it disheartening that as time passes the Jackson films are steadily becoming more and more reviled simply because they are unfaithful adaptations.
Whatever is said about them in that regard they are at least still well-made movies.
@Myriad Media Musings there's no way for a LOTR adaptation to be 100% fateful. Even as a TV series you would have to cut and add some stuff.
@@myriadmediamusings Eh I’d say the films have a few redeeming factors or so. At least they were conveying Professor Tolkien’s intended feelings and messages.
At least Peter Jackson was willing to swallow doing the Oathbreakers. He didn’t like it. Seems he’s just not good with scary stuff
I have a walking app that’s called “Fantasy Hike” and I got to the part where I was captured by a “Wight in the Barrows” and even though I’ve read the books, I’ve no memory of this part, so this came at a perfect time! ❤
This is one of my favorite parts in The Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien captures the cold and lonely atmosphere so well. There are still unanswered questions, but that just adds to it in the end.
It would make a fabulous Tolkien inspired Halloween display!👻😱😁🍻
One Tolkien lorebook, with some unique art, suggested that some barrows were broken open during the Fourth-age, letting the sunlight in, and the remaining wights within went away, fading to the winds forever.
Can confirm. The barrows are gone now. All of it. Standing on top of it is a Taco Bell.
Don’t know what would be worse. Undead specters or mystery meat.
The Barrow Wights existed due to the dark magic of Sauron, so when he was defeated, they would've gone too.
Been a fan of the Lord of The Rings for 50 years, and now I'm a fan of the Nerd of The Rings too! you're presentations are awesomely done.
Well said! He dose a Great job!
How old are you and how old where you when you first got into it and other infromation, can you tell us that if your okay with me asking
@@animeyukiomalayalam6882 I was born the better part of 4 decades before the end of the last century. I read the trilogy for the first time when I was 10.
Agreed! These presentations are great and there are always numerous things I don't remember happening when I read the book.
For reals! This is 1 of the best channels on RUclips
The crazy part about the barrow downs is that it happens right after the hobbits leave the Shire, where everything is peaceful and lovely. Then BOOM spooky ghosts and dreadful spirits kidnap the hobbits in the most terrifying thing ever
Probably why it was left out of the movies, it went 0-60 too fast.
@@joemama69448
Also, it would fall to the soundtrack to capture the essence of Tom Bombadil--except that that would even be above Mozart's pay grade.
actually it's BOOM: crazy hippy couple in the woods, then BOOM dark undead .
It's still sad that Barrow-downs & Barrow-wights weren't included in the LoTR trilogy. But the most of Jackson's decisions & reasons are understandable. Barrow-downs require Tom, Tom requires Old Forest and all of this requires at least one hour of screen time.
Both the Old Forest and the barrow downs were cut out of the BBC radio drama as well.
They could have left out some fighting, and the scenes with Aragorn and his fiancee.
The story deserved a series of hour long episodes.
The scenes added nothing to the story though or to any of the hobbit’s character development.
I'm lucky enough to live where I see the ones Tolkien based them on, everyday. Nine BarrowDown in Dorset
That is awesome. Where btw?
Lawyers...?
Luton, Slough?
@@Kaiser_Wilhelm_IV. hahahaha that's hilarious but I think OP is talking about the barrows
Nine Barrowdown. Dorset
The barrow-downs episode is one of the most poignant. Tolkien was able to blend so much mystery and history into the narrative. I remember reading it for the first time as a (12yo) kid, and the goosebumps it gave me. Having not yet read the Silmarillion, it was an early glimpse of the depth and breadth of what lay behind--and sometimes literally beneath--the narrative at hand.
Those goosebumps had me re-read the passage.
@@abbieb8130 Another favorite is part of the downs episode: Tom's reaction to the treasures and jewels he pulls ouot of the barrow, especially the one he saves for Goldberry.
The barrow-wights seem like they're inspired by the draugar, undead creatures from Norse mythology that also lurked in barrows and tombs. It's a shame they were cut from the movies. Peter Jackson probably could have done great stuff with them with his horror movie background.
There is a scene in “the Northman” where he fights a draugr. I could totally see a scene like that scene in lotr.
I mean, have you seen any of Peter Jackson’s horror, movies?
@@fujifilm5127 The Frighteners was really fun.
"He awoke on a carpet of furs in front of a fireplace, sipping champagne and listening to seductive music. A dark, rumbling voice spoke to him, saying "Hey, baby, let's get a groove on!' and he knew: he had been taken by a Barry White"
Came here to say that I've finally finished reading about all of the works of Tolkien that have come out so now I'll grab some popcorn and start binging all your RUclips videos
Came here to say “didn’t ask, don’t care”
Don’t be needlessly mean because you can. Its not a good look
@@SimonVanliew26 "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve". Rather than trying to find conflict, try and find happy and admirable things to make life happier so that you can "find value in the places where you least expect it". J.R.R. Tolkien.
@@SimonVanliew26 Dick comment.
Don't get me wrong, just curious, what is "everything" for you. Because that would also include more obscure texts like "Leaf by Niggle", some of the academic texts or the letters. And especially Tolkiens academic writings are really tough to digest for people with no linguistic background
Really enjoyed this video! The pictures, voices and narrative. Finwe from MUME.
Ah MUME: Multi-Users in Middle-earth. Great game!
Ohh! I remember that game. It’s a text based? Mud? Like reading a book and building your adventures every day. How is it going for Mume? Is the game alive?
Yes, and very much alive! It just celebrated its 31st birthday, continuously being enhanced. The Barrow Downs are a good place to get lost in game and find some Barrow-wights!
I love how closely the MUME map and areas represent Tolkien. I have learned a ton of Tolkien from this game, and then come to this channel to dig deeper and learn more.
MUME got me deeper into Tolkiens world, and thus made me read the books yet again - and then again!
I recall leaving the cinema after watching Fellowship and wondering how Peter Jackson was going to place the fatal blade in Merry's hand in the battle for Minas Tirith as it all tied back to the barrow wights which had been skipped.
There are bronze age burial barrows all over the UK. There's a few in a field near me that have sheep grazing on them these days.
Thank you, I've always been curious about barrow downs & wights. It's the first thing in LOTR which makes me realize just how far back in time the lore of Middle Earth goes. Every point on the map has its own rich history. I wish we knew more about the last Prince of Cardolan and his people's war with Angmar.
You have to wonder about the microscopic minds of the show runners for Rings of Power. With so much rich history to mine and visually portray how on earth did they come up with such an amalgam of garbage. Like you say, if they had just spun out and portrayed the history of Cardolan, its intrigues with Rhudaur and Arthedain, and its losing fight against Angmar then we all would have been enthralled. But NO, with with Amazon money nobodies are more intelligent and creative than J.R.R. Tolkien. I stopped watching Rings of Power after 4 episodes. It was just to idiotic and lore breaking.
@@r.blakehole932 They didn't have the rights to these fragments, you clown, due to rights trolls sitting on relevant books containing them and refusing to allow not just their use, but mere acknowledge. The writers did the best they could with stuff they had rights to, how the hell they were supposed to make story of Cardolan when doing so would met with instant lawsuit? Try to read why they had so difficult work, then yap...
@@r.blakehole932 This. 💯 So true.
@@r.blakehole932 Right? There is so much intriguing history to tell. And even though we didn´t see the barrow wights in the films, there are so many connections. Film watchers only would recognise the Witch King, they would recognise Elrond and it would also explain why Merry´s sword helped to kill the Nazgul. You could see the Shire in the past and all that. But alas, it was not to be.
@@therra1101heck, they could have ignored 100% of Middle Earth and gone to the lands in the East and South, following the Blue Wizards, and had 0 conflicts with canon.
It is unlikely that these spirits belonged to the Cardolan people. Because the fëa of human souls is not inherently dependent on Arda, and after the death event has taken place (the termination of the fëa-hröa bond), the soul has to leave Arda. Apart from the rings of power, there is no other factor that will bind them to this world. Therefore, it seems unlikely that such souls are human souls. As for what happened, it's open to speculation. I think your main concern here is that the Witch-king of Angmar could have power over such souls.
We need a show show about the Angmar wars! One that follows the source material of course, that show could have a lot of time jumps but that could be as every season ends, the new season takes place in the further war and battles.
The Barrow-Wights are one of my favourite parts of LotR. I'm a big fan of well-done undead, and the very Norse-inspired approach was so well executed.
It would be cool if at some point you had time to do a video about "mortal magic," like the spells of unlocking mentioned by Gandalf and Strider's song of healing after Frodo got stabbed. While it's definitely true that Middle Earth magic isn't as flashy as pulp/swords & sorcery fantasy, it's far more present than people like to admit.
The spiritual / horror aspects of the Lord of the Rings add great intensity to an already complex and interesting story. Geographical places become haunted with evil spirits at the command of a greater evil entity. They physical bodies of the righteous dead are used in a horrible fashion to capture and destroy innocent ones. Evil incantations are countered with the prayer/song learned by Frodo Baggins from the mysterious and enigmatic Tom Bombadil (who is most likely a Vala who sung the world into existence with his angelic companions in the Silmarillion), and as a result Tom comes to the rescue. Tolkien explicitly and implicitly suffused all of Middle-Earth with the supernatural. I think it was natural for him to do this because as a devout Catholic that is how he saw life in general. Thanks for the video. As usual the artwork presented was great.
Great barrow wight voice! Very creepy. For me, this episode is more chilling than the Paths of the Dead. There's a sense of deep and ancient mystery there that makes me almost shiver.
Thanks for this episode! The Barrow-downs chapter of FOTR is one of the most mysterious parts because it is told through the eyes of the hobbits, who have no context for what they are experiencing. And Tom Bombadil, when he shows up, isn't the best at explaining things 😆 Interesting that Tolkien intended for the Nazgûl to use the Barrow-wights as a trap for the ring-bearer should he pass that way; that had never occurred to me.
Trying to get my wife to let me name our son Barrow
I always assumed part of the creation of the rings (of men and the one specifically) was the way of preventing a spirit from going to Mandos.
That shard of ring lore may have been used by the witch king to create wights.
@@nickolas.vicente I don't mean to imply they never go to Mandos, just that there is some wiggle room in the timing. Even the witch king ended up there thanks to Eowyn and Pippin
After the War of the Ring, Tyrn Gorthad was no longer haunted. But like any ghost story, the location still felt creepy.
This is one of those parts of the book I wish were in the movie, Tom B. and the Barrow Wrights.
Because the daggers which the Hobbits received out of the treasure from the barrow were what enabled Merry to strike the blow that weakened the Witch King so that Eowyn could then strike the killing blow.
As the daggers were works of Westerness and woven with spells to combat the evil spirits of Angmar and Mordor.
Another change they made in the movie was making Aragorn seem reluctant to be king when that was his plan all along, with help from Arwen and Galadriel. The whole goal was to become king of both Arnor and Gondor so he would be given permission by Elrond to marry Arwen.
Also I wish they had the ride of the Grey Company through the Dwimmorberg to the stone of Erech in the movie and had been more faithful to how that went down in the books. The army of the dead drove off the corsairs and freed up the southern armies of Gondor to sail north with Aragorn and help in the defeat of the armies of Mordor at the battle of Pelennor fields.
Went on a tangent but I had to mention a few other changes from book to movie that this video made me think about.
Other than those few changes I’ve always throughly enjoyed the movies.
Frankly it's good it was cut because that part of the book was garbage and didn't fit the setting at all. If ass end of nowhere, poor, small, backward Cardolan could make swords of nazgul slaying +10 then why Gondor, diminished but still powerful, met witch king and his army with terrible quality (in comparison) weapons that were useless? Why we never see these OP 'evil spirits' employed anywhere else? Why the wight was so stupid to play dressup and evil, extremely ineffective magic, instead of just stabbing the hobbits and be done with it?
@@KuK137 Frankly I don’t think you understand Tolkien or the history he created.
The daggers would have been extremely rare creations. Similar to Glamdring, Orcrist and sting which all three were found in one troll horde.
The four daggers of Neumenor’s craft being found in barrows in an area specifically linked to the Edain and to Neumenorian descendants is less of a stretch than what happened in the hobbit with the swords and the Dagger.
But the Witch King broke Frodos, so only three survived, and Frodo was given Sting.
But all where just as important, Sting and the daggers Merry, Pippin and Sam were given.
And after Aragorn’s father was killed his mom brought him to Rivendell. Elrond helped raise Aragorn to become King.
@@Colin13ify agree
@@mikegardner107 100% correct. Elrond protected Aragorn, being the a distant relative of his brother Elros.
But Elrond also stated that his daughter would not marry any mortal man, unless he had reclaimed the title of King of Gondor and Arnor, Neumenor and ultimately the Edain.
Elrond put Aragorn to task to prove himself worthy of not only to marry his daughter but to be King.
I remember this being both difficult to picture and terrifying when I first read it as a kid.
Yesterday I was driving in my commute and I thought "man, Nerd of the Rings should do a video on the barrow downs, its one of the weirdest and bizarre parts of the LOTR"
I recently read again the chapters about the Barrowdowns . It’s so creepy and gloomy especially when the death of the Sun and Moon are mentioned. It’s a reference to the end of the world and the return of Morgoth
The Barrow Downs have always been one of my favorite scenes in all of LotR and I could never put my finger on exactly why, but I think I have it now. The Downs exist within a fairly short distance of the Shire, and the idea that there's a place filled with undead monsters and enchanted treasures within spitting distance of the character's home always filled me with a sense of wonder. Like at any point, at any time, the Hobbits of the Shire or the Breelanders could have raided the Downs, had an adventure, and walked away filthy rich. It's like a quest in your own backyard.
The Barrow wights were a definite borrow by Donaldson in his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series.
One of my favorite parts of fellowship. Also one loaded with history in just a few pages.
The Barrow-Downs and their inhabitants would make a fantastic horror movie.
Fog on the Barrowdowns was a favourite chapter for me, since first reading Fellowship as a school kid; so much so, that I tried reusing the setting for one of my compositions, in which a warrior encounters a wight-like creature. My English teacher, a bit of a hippy, must have been into fantasy literature, and while giving it a good mark, immediately identified it as resembling a passage from Tolkien. I confirmed this when I wrote a review of LOTR for my next assignment. You didn't need Chatgpt to plagiarise back then!
One reason for my interest was the setting reminded me of the nearby South Downs (in England), although I had never seen any standing stones or burial mounds on them. And the hobbits have a picnic on the downs like I sometimes did, and then they fall asleep in the warm sun, only to wake and find a fog has apparently come out of nowhere. I wonder if Tolkien was inspired by those very downs ...
Nice work dude
Just to let you know how much attention I pay to your videos while I draw, I noticed you can hear a mouse click in 8:16. Love the content!
Those wights were just a couple of undead Barrow-Clowns pulling an elaborate prank. Tom, probably drunk out of his skull and wanting to play sir Barrow-knight totally jumped the gun, overreacted and the whole thing was blown out of proportion and misrepresented later on as the story got thrown about in taverns across Middle Earth by halflings with full pints and small guy syndrome. A more sober version was actually recorded by a local Barrow-wright but undead journalism was pretty dead as a popular genre even then, so as usual the redfaced loudmouths of the world won out in the long run.
If you look into the history of the Ancient Celts you’ll see that their burials for their leaders and high society members are very reminiscent of that of the way the Hobbits are arrayed in the Barrow. Celts would dress their dead in fancy clothes with lots of gold treasures about them. Especially a golden torque, belt, or circlet. I’m sure Tolkien was very inspired by the Celts in this scenario as well as many others.
This fair maiden must have made a very strong impression on these two, to the point that Tom decided to keep an object of her as a "souvenir", since he has no attachment to this type of thing.
Gollum : “Cold be heart and hand and bone/Cold be travelers far from home/They do not see what lies ahead when Sun has failed and Moon is dead”.
I remember the Barrow wights part from the lotr game , to this day still creeps me out lol
I can't help but think that the creepy, macabre horror of the barrow downs and barrow wights were partly inspired by professor Tolkien's experiences in the trenches of the First World War. There was so much death and despair that it must've seemed like the trenches and scarred battlefields were utterly haunted by the dead and sprits of death. That and plenty of bone-chilling cold nights from both the physical elements and the intangible fear and dread.
Tolkien's prose in this section is masterful.
Gotta love how Tolkien incorporated Neolithic barrows dotting the English countryside into his worldbuilding.
The voice acting for the wights is stellar!
Too bad Peter Jackson didn't just film the entire Tom Bombadil scenes, Barrow Wights, etc., knowing they wouldn't fit in the main film, with the intention they would be in the Director's cut release or even a stand-alone short film, something like that...
An amazing video again, i just love how you put you passion of the legendarium into these videos 😊
I personally don't think tha barrow weights could've been Maiar, as they were sent by the witch-king who was a man and could be effected by Tom, who could not effect Maiar in such manner. Just my own take on this
These pictures of the Barrow Whites are the most terrifying, and therefore simply the best renditions of evil things I have seen to date
I love this chapter. The chapter title alone great and I actually love it even more in czech translation. The atmosphere is beautifully haunting, the incantation brilliant. And so much history in just a few sentences. Like you know this is a green land full of legend and mistery just like the three hunters talked about with Éomer.
Lord of the Rings Online did a pretty good job with this location
Well except for that one escort mission. I swear if that NPC runs into another crawler, I’m leaving her here!
The Barrow-Downs side quest basically saw the entire party fail their saving throws and then only survive a tpk by the grace of an overpowered DMPC. Some real low-level shenanigans.
Also the Fellowship really lacked a dedicated healer (though Aragon's Medicine was pretty high)
One of the most terrifying moments of LOTR
Barrow wights are eerie. There are many ruins of mediaeval castles and settlements in Georgia, where I live. These ruins always remind me of these evils entities.
So glad Brian Sibley was eventually able to adapt the Barrow-downs in Tales from the Perilous Realm. I always listen to it in the proper place when playing BBC's LotR.
As a kid I watched the movies and was enthralled by them and as an adult I read the books and realize there was so much more tolkien wrote and so much more history weaved in as well, it’s a world that has age and you can tell
Sauron created the Great Plague? First I heard of this. Why then didn't he just wage germ warfare? Who needs orcs? 🤓😎✌🏻
Ya know something... You are an absolute treasure 💪🏽
Your stuff always helps pull me out of my funks 🤘
I just don't understand how a spirit or whatever they are. Can possess and move a skeleton. I wonder if they're Nazgul adjacent. Thats the only way that makes any sense.
I absolutely loved this video of the Barrow wights Matt, I never knew about any of this because I haven't read the LOTR books yet, I will now haha!
I've been playing LOTR-War in the North and this location is as amazing and creepy as it's in the lore.
Was gonna post the same thing. That game came out in 2011 and it's still one of my favorite Tolkien-inspired games.
I'm not sure but I can speculate that the barrow wright that attacked frodo was the young prince of cardolan
They strongly remind me of draugr from Skyrim. Great potential rabbit hole to write spin offs from.
When I first read The Fellowship as a kid, this was probably the scariest part next to the drums in the deep.
Its a small chapter in a way, but if you immerse yourself iin the imagined landscape it is definitely haunting when you consider it is a horizon to horizon landscape of grass hills and ruins. Very haunting setting when you put your mind to it.
Nerd will probably deny it, but this is the best Tolkien YT channel.
"The cold was cursing the warmth for which it hungered."
This made me look up the seen in the Two Towers when Frodo tell Gollum his true name it is a nise inclusion of the black wind encantation in an altered form from the view of someone who has seen Sauron himself.
Fellowship is my favorite book in the series (I know, it's not common), it's basically horror and that's what I love about it...for some reason, the Hobbits seem more vulnerable when the black riders are chasing them in fellowship than any other time. And the Barrow-wights are one of my favorite parts....love the brief mentions of Angmar in the text.
Lots of questions answered here - a great channel!
Hello, im a huge fan!
Have you ever thought about doing another channel like the nerd of the rings that dives into the lore and stories of the franchise but you do it about the wizard of earthsea?
I absolutely love that series, it's my joint 1st favourite book series of all time along side lord of the rings.
Or even if you didn't do a channle, you could maybe do some one off videos?
Just an idea as no one really covers the lore of earthsea on RUclips.
Wow, one of the best videos I've watched in a long time well done Treebeard used some of those words to free merry and pippin. Every word in the movies was written in the book,
but often by a different person in a different place.
Not every word, but they did use a lot of lines from the book.
@@spangelicious837 I would say about 95%
Thanks again Matt. The barrow downs scene in the Fellowship of the Ring is one of my favorites in the book. I really enjoyed this one!
Is it just me, or does that chant the Barrow-Wight chant sound like a prophesy of the distant future?
"Till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead. In the black wind the stars shall die..."
This sounds very similar to the end of the world when Morgoth returns and destroys the Sun and Moon. And to top it off, this spirit mentions the dark lord.
"Till the dark lord lifts his hand over dead sea and withered land".
This sounds very similar to something that has not yet come to pass, but after many years will eventually occur in a dying Middle Earth. What do you guys think?
The dagor dagorrath
I prefer to just read the original LOTR. It's scary enough and mysterious enough. This over-explanation and augmentation doesn't work for me, so I only watched a few minutes. I'm not saying you're not doing good work, but I'm what you might call an "originalist."
What a useless comment 😂
The bero wight was toking about the final fite with morgoth
I did not know the barrow downs were first used as a burial place during the first age. Those original barrows must have seemed as old as the oldest tombs we know on earth. Cool!
Didn't even know about them thanks nerd
You have splendid voice characterisation in your videos! It's most enjoyable to listen to - keep up the good work and thank you!
Thanks for this back story. It's worth mentioning that this was a very confusing chapter in the books and I've read the book several times. Any explanation is appreciated.
When Frodo awakens in the house of Elrond Gandalf tells him that the incident with the Barrow Wight was the most dangerous time in the whole journey to Rivendell.
Why did the wright not take the ring from Frodo surely it would have been aware of it.
The wight likely would have sensed something but wouldn't know what the One Ring was or that it was important. The wights weren't like the Nazgûl; they lacked the necessary intelligence.
Thanks. I learned a lot. I think Jackson couldn’t understand the mystery of Bombadil and who he probably was so he completely left him out. That made Aragorn finding four swords on Weather Top for the hobbits completely anti climatic. When Merry stabs the Witch King in the back of the knee there is no reason that should have been effective. Tolkien wrote five books, his publisher squeezed them into three volumes. Jackson probably could have made five movies for LOTR and cut back on the Hobbit.
I enjoyed learning about what humans were at what Time and when they came. Very cool! Great video!
Oh mate, this was definitely one of your best videos up to date. Your research is impeccable and you really take us on the journey with you through this content (incl. the creepy voices). I so appreciate your work. But it still hurts that this amazing literary portion was left out of the movies. Perhaps because there are so many layers to it, as you presented. Tom Bombadil, I somehow just realised, helped to prevent one of the first traps of Sauron to succeed. That's a major plot-point and it's also a huge test for the Hobbits, which is rewarded with their first weapons.
Another thought: J.K. Rowling's Dementors definitely must have been inspired by the Barrow-Wights, right?! Although the D's don't have any eyes...and don't wear bones. 🤣 But cold they are....🥶
I don't care about the cave troll in Moria, or the Balrog. I never even cared much for the Nazgul and of Sauron. But, the Barrow Wights scared the living hell out of me when I read these books in the early 1980s.
It's also one of the very few let-downs from Peter Jackson's epic re-creation. I really hoped that during the DVD extras or Director's Cut, Jackson would have included the story of the Hobbit's encounter with Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-Wights - which led to closure of the story arc of why Merry's blade helped kill the Witch King. Without it, we're left guessing as to why a Hobbit and a Lady of Rohan were able to kill the greatest of the Nazgul.
Great video as always!
In LotRO they made the women a local hero, Luilloth, I think. It is a pretty interesting story they came up with if you haven't already heard of it.
With the Barrow Wights gone after Sauron's defeat, all forest travelers need to worry about now is being drowned in the river by trees.
"The Hobbit" (USSR , 1985), Soviet teleplay with English subs:
ruclips.net/video/n9WdumCjq1c/видео.html
I've wondered for some time if Sauron actually did create the Great Plague. If so, I think he would have done so more than once.
Tolkien's thesis often seems to be that great works require some part of the power of the creator to be surrendered to the creation, so maybe Sauron could not repeat it, or deemed it too costly after it did not fully succeed the first time?
Nerd, are you familiar with the Hobbit (graphic novel) adapted by Charles Dixon and Sean Deming (1989)? It's a faithfully told effort with brilliantly illustrations by David Wenzil. I recommend it for your library. Still available.
Leaving out the barrow down blades and their intended power against the magic of Angmar was an issue. People think weathertop was some mistake of the Nazgûl. But when one realizes that what the witch king had perceived as easy prey had an ancient blade that could harm him, and given that Frodo called out “O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!”, the ancient name of the Valar that lit the stars, the nazguls’ hesitation makes sense. It would be as if in Christian terms a demon sought to attack someone and found they had an angelic blade and called out an ancient, forgotten name of god, and words in Tolkien have power. This is a good and thoroughly researched channel.
You can tell from the descriptions that the barrow wights heavily inspired GRRM's White Walkers
Tulkas please
Fantastic Barrow wight voice! 10 out of 10
these dementors... I mean... barrow wights are really cool
Gandalf later said this was the most dangerous time for hobbits. They were on their own, no Aragorn or Gandalf with them... luckily Bombadil was around just in time.
Jackson should have included Tom and the Barrow Wights in the extended cut.
Barrow wights were a good challenging encounter for a 5-6 th LVL Player group in AD&D , 1st ed. , of course ;)
I came to learn about the Barrow-wights after watching Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 4 🙃
Tom Bombadil is pretty lame tbh. hes just an immortal? like wut? OK... but anyways, i remember the Barrow-wight fight from the first video game of LOTR on Xbox. was super tough
I wonder why that manuscript wasn't incorporated into _Unfinished Tales_ ...🤔