Barrow-downs & Barrow-wights | Tolkien Explained

Ahoy! Gatekeep your fandoms!!... enemies are everywhere!!

So is this where game of thrones got white walkers from?

I do like that in the book the Barrow blades come full circle and one is used to stab the Witch-King. It's a nice payoff on the part of Tolkien.

Im not a hardcore Tolkienite by any means so forgive me if this question os pure nonsense but why am i remembering one of the blades taken from the treasure was the blade used to pry the silmaril from morgoths crown? Or am I confusing some other part of the lore with this?

It's crazy that out of every subject talked about ever since tolkien centered channels started, this was probably the least talked about episode of the adventures of the hobbits. It would have been amazing to see in live action.

I've been reading the books since I was a kid, but this part to this day is hard to get through, and I just skip to when they get to Bree. Some reason it's too dense for me. It's easier to listen too 😂 but I always wanted to know about the barrow wights

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.

Is it really established that Sauron was the root of the Great Plague? I always thought that it was brought by "dark winds" and it remaines unclear if he was the creator or not.

I’ve always wanted to see some of these “forgotten” scenes to be adapted on-screen somehow - not a whole new remake, literally just these missing scenes in episodic form. The entire Barrow Down sequence would be perfect as an episode or two, with a cold open of the Witch King going alone into the Downs to rouse the Wights. And then, of course, the Barrow Downs episodes would lead right into Tom Bombadil, which would then lead right up to when the hobbits arrive at Bree - and then you could pop in your Peter Jackson’s Fellowship and continue the story from there if you wanted to!

THIS is what the show should have been about. All the scenes/chapters that were either cut or skipped. That way the show could fill in the gaps in the movies, and every episode would be different.

Do you know what the significance of Tom keeping the necklace for Goldberry?

In The reader’s companion, can you cite the exact location of this manuscript? I am looking but it’s a daunting task thanks 🙏

The Barrow-Downs and their inhabitants would make a fantastic horror movie.

Edain is pronounced Eh dah een. Earnedil is pronounced eh-ah-Rehn-deel. Arthedain is arthe-dah-een. Dunedain is dune-eh-dah- een.

I do wonder if the Barrow Wights are still around. Things can be bound beyond death by powers other than the Rings. The undead host that Isildur cursed, for instance were bound by their oaths.

Gotta love how Tolkien incorporated Neolithic barrows dotting the English countryside into his worldbuilding.

I literally just read this part in FOTR! Glad I found this video

Plegue

Probably they are cousins of the Dementors.😅

Lots of questions answered here - a great channel!

We always appreciate your hard work and dedication towards these videos.. brilliant video.

Nice work dude

From a cantankerous bitter old tree to undead sorcerers. The stakes only grew from there.

You have splendid voice characterisation in your videos! It's most enjoyable to listen to - keep up the good work and thank you!

The Barrow Downs and the Old Forest were my favorite part of the series.

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

There is so much to learn of Tolkien

We did a MERP adventure in the Barrow Downs. Good treasures and weapons there, IF you survive the encounter with a Wight and take ONLY one or two things.

these dementors... I mean... barrow wights are really cool

These pictures of the Barrow Whites are the most terrifying, and therefore simply the best renditions of evil things I have seen to date

Tolkien's prose in this section is masterful.

cant help but think that the barrow-wights seem to the inspiration for the white walkers in game of thrones

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.

Personnally I think that the wights are elvish feä (I think I'm spelling that right) that have refused the summons to the halls of Mandos. Only evil elves refused the summons, normally because in Mandos the elven feä
are to be judged. Because this is against their nature it would corrupt and twist over time them, undoubtedly making them far more malleable to the commands of someone like the Witch King.

And this is the orgin of ancient mystery of white walkers of Wessterose😂

Where we can get yout new map?

This subject always reminds me of the song "Hollow Hills" by Bauhaus. Deeply creepy if you haven't heard it.

Demented Ghosts too not just Evil spirits like devils that witch king brought.

Yeah! Been waiting for this one 😄

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 ...

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.

Rise and fall, rise and fall, recycled stories, corrupted royalty, lost heirs claiming inheritance, last alliances, defeats, rising from ashes, another betrayal
past glories, forgotten wisdom, new messiah arrising
rinse repeat
rinse repeat....
rinse repeat,

Stop rolling your Rs like that. Eww

sanss?!!!

In Might and Magic there is land named Barrow Dawns, it must be a tribute to LOTR!