FOTR Book 1 Ch 12: "Flight to the Ford"
Here we go, last ch before Book 2, and it's quite the closer! The usual: I welcome and appreciate any thoughts you may have, and any reading at all, to ty!!
Hearing Frodo seemingly "from a great distance, or as if from under earth"...really almost this sense that he's come back from somewhere. V tangible and visceral. Sam with his mistrust, mmhmm that'll come back. Despite his uncommon interest in things beyond the Shire, he does have that parochial hobbityness in him, distrust in outsiders...or is simply his love of Frodo and sense of duty to protect him? Some of both? Either way, it will propel Plot for sure.
Aragorn steps up with the protectiveness next, ordering Merry and Pippin to heat water and warm Frodo. Then ooof, yes there are still Black Riders to deal with..."they are only waiting"...just peachy 🫤 that sense of peril always around the corner that Tolkien builds...but there is also fellowship and care and *hope* 💙
Indeed, right after that Strider tells Sam to not despair, for "Your Frodo is made of sterner stuff than I had guessed, and Gandalf hinted that it might prove so," (YES he is extraordinary, we have Spoken). Then because he's mysterious Strider, he leaves the care of Frodo to Sam and runs off into the woods, haha...athelas to the rescue!
Frodo self-flagellating: "he bitterly regretted his foolishness, and reproached himself for weakness of will"...nooo 😭 No one can resist the Ring's call, little guy, and you're doing GREAT. "He wondered if he'd remain maimed for life"...😭😭😭. I don't get the sense here that he was as far gone as the films portray (gasping and cloudy eyes and such), but he'e not doing great: "he felt too weak to stand." 😭 Yet he persists, because he is STRONG. Hey, at least Bill Best Boi 🐴 is doing better! 🥺
They're thankfully not seeing the Black Riders again at this point, but it's not exactly a good time: "it was a cheerless land, and their journey was slow and gloomy. They spoke little as they trudged along. Frodo's heart was grieved as he watched them walking beside him with their heads down, and their backs bowed under their burdens. Even Strider seemed tired and heavy-hearted." I keep using this emoji, but it's real: 😭😭😭😭😭.
Elf stone, sign of....GLORFINDEEEEL!!! BALROG SLAYER HIMSELF! It's something nice as the land feels "threatening and unfriendly". What they do see leads to questions from curious Pippin, those that reveal more about Strider, also I just love this line: "the heirs of Elendil do not forget all things past" (I can't think about it TOO much or I'll crash out 😃). ALSO: "there my heart is, but it is not my fate to sit in peace, even in the fair house of Elrond." 💔💔💔💔.
Now it's getting to Frodo's head: uneasy sleep, restlessness, imagining "Black shapes...advancing to smother him." I just need to give him a gentle hug 😭 The path makes travel harder and Merry mah boi gets worried for his friend 💔💙 Strider keeps a cool head, but I bet he has more worry about Frodo than he lets on. Or maybe he has trust and hope; he is Estel, after all! Thankfully things get sunnier...Tolkien always does give us those glimmers, and I'm grateful 💙
And even some humor; Merry and Pip were sure there were live trolls, but they were the very same that turned to stone by way of Gandalf's stalling 60 years prior. Strider: "in any case you might have noticed that one of them has an old bird's nest behind his ear. That would be a most unusual ornament for a live troll," LOL. Hints into Bilbo and Frodo telling family stories, Pip said he'd heard it often (yes I will be writing that at some point). There is laughter, and "Frodo felt his spirits reviving" 💙💙💙.
Sam's song 🥹 "I am learning a lot about Sam Gamgee on this journey. First he was a conspirator, now he's a jester. He'll end up by becoming a wizard -- or warrior!"; "I hope not..I don't want to be neither!"....he really does just want his garden 🥺🥺🥺
Heeeere's Glor!! "To Frodo it appeared that a white light was shining through the form and raiment of the rider, as if through a thin veil."...that light of Aman tho ✨ His "kindred" getting news of what was going on with the hobbits and the Nazgûl, so Elrond sent him out (the Balrog Slayer is a great choice, fr). They have that help and powerful allies in the loop, but still it's not going to be easy; the ford may be "held against them" and Frodo felt "a shadow...coming between him and the faces of his friends": disconnection from fellowship, that feels big ☹️ Frodo knows he's not doing well, but he still doesn't want to ride ahead and leave his friends 😭 But Glor knows best...it seems he becomes a new leader of them all (he "urged them on, and only allowed two brief halts during the day's march").
The "flight at the ford"!!! It's so vivid and full of immediacy; truly a nail-biter! It seems like the flood comes *just* in time. Frodo is *spent*, but he feels enough disdain for the Black Riders that he gets the strength to tell them off..."Go back to Mordor and follow me no more!"..."to Mordor we will take you!"...GULP 😱 but Frodo stays strong: "By Elbereth and Lúthien the fair, you shall have neither Ring nor me!" OH MY ERU. Moments like that are why this text remains classic!!
Theeen the closing of the book: "Then Frodo felt himself falling, and the roaring and confusion seemed to rise and engulf him together with his enemies. He heard and saw no more." 😱😱😱
