Favorite chapter from Lord of the Rings?
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Ancalagon
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I'm pretty confident that everyone on the boards here has read The Lord of the Rings. Sooooo I'm curious as to what is everyone's favorite chapter from the story. What say you?
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan
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Necron 99
- Level 8: Noble
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Too many to have a single favorite, but I can say that Fog On the Barrow-Downs is probably at the top there for me. Several of the early chapters in FotR stick out in my mind, probably because they set such a dire and ominous mood when reading them. The hobbits are very much oblivious to who is after them and why, you only catch minor instances and confrontations with the Black Riders so it tends to build up some good tension.
Of course, also have to mention the chapters detailing the journey through Moria, just a great dungeon-crawl-esque read.
Of course, also have to mention the chapters detailing the journey through Moria, just a great dungeon-crawl-esque read.
“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.” - Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
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Ancalagon
- Level 8: Noble
- Posts: 1691
- Joined: December 5th, 2018, 5:42 pm
- Location: Bellevue, NE
I know the original post asked for favorite chapter, singular, but I must name two as they go hand-in-hand.
1. The Bridge of Khazad-dûm is at the top for me. The way JRRT builds the tension as Gandalf reads from the battered book in the Chamber of Mazarbul, with references back to several of the dwarves from The Hobbit, and punctuated by the attack by the orcs and a troll... What a great way to start! Gandalf's use of a "shutting-spell on the door," a hold portal or a wizard lock in AD&D jargon only to have the door burst in pieces. And, of course, the encounter with The Balrog. Wonderful chapter!
2. A Journey in the Dark as everything from the riddle at the gate, the Watcher in the Water, the use of senses other than sight (feeling temperature differences, hearing things in the distance, smells) helps immerse the reader and lays the ground work for The Bridge of Khazad-dûm.
1. The Bridge of Khazad-dûm is at the top for me. The way JRRT builds the tension as Gandalf reads from the battered book in the Chamber of Mazarbul, with references back to several of the dwarves from The Hobbit, and punctuated by the attack by the orcs and a troll... What a great way to start! Gandalf's use of a "shutting-spell on the door," a hold portal or a wizard lock in AD&D jargon only to have the door burst in pieces. And, of course, the encounter with The Balrog. Wonderful chapter!
2. A Journey in the Dark as everything from the riddle at the gate, the Watcher in the Water, the use of senses other than sight (feeling temperature differences, hearing things in the distance, smells) helps immerse the reader and lays the ground work for The Bridge of Khazad-dûm.
“Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” - Carl Sagan