Timeline Event
Travellers approach the Weather Hills
Event Type: General
Age: 3rd Age - Ring War
Dates: October 4, 3018 ~ October 6, 3018
Description:
An event in Frodo's Departure from the Shire and in the prelude to the Attack on the Camp at Weathertop; see either entry for an overview.
4 October 3018
Away in the distance eastward they could now see a line of hills. The highest of them was at the right of the line and a little separated from the others. It had a conical top, slightly flattened at the summit.
'That is Weathertop,' said Strider. 'The Old Road, which we have left far away on our right, runs to the south of it and passes not far from its foot. We might reach it by noon tomorrow, if we go straight towards it.... [When] we do get there, it is not certain what we shall find. It is close to the Road.'
'But surely we were hoping to find Gandalf there?'
'Yes; but the hope is faint. If he comes this way at all, he may not pass through Bree, and so he may not know what we are doing. And anyway, unless by luck we arrive almost together, we shall miss one another; it will not be safe for him or for us to wait there long. If the Riders fail to find us in the wilderness, they are likely to make for Weathertop themselves. It commands a wide view all round. Indeed, there are many birds and beasts... that could see us, as we stand here, from that hill-top. Not all the birds are to be trusted, and there are other spies more evil than they are.'....
The hobbits looked anxiously at the distant hills. Sam looked up into the pale sky, fearing to see hawks or eagles hovering over them with bright unfriendly eyes....
'I think the best thing is to go as straight eastward from here as we can, to make for the line of hills, not for Weathertop. There we can strike a path I know that runs at their feet; it will bring us to Weathertop from the north and less openly.'....
All that day they plodded along, until the cold and early evening came down. The land became drier and more barren.... A few melancholy birds were piping and wailing, until the round red sun sank slowly into the western shadows; then an empty silence fell....
At the day's end they came to a stream that wandered down from the hills to lose itself in the stagnant marshland, and they went up along its banks.... It was already night when at last they halted and made their camp under some stunted alder-trees by the shores of the stream. Ahead there loomed now against the dusky sky the bleak and treeless backs of the hills. That night they set a watch, and Strider, it seemed, did not sleep at all. The moon was waxing, and in the early night-hours a cold grey light lay on the land.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 11, A Knife in the Dark
5 October 3018
Next morning they set out again soon after sunrise. There was a frost in the air, and the sky was a pale clear blue. The hobbits felt refreshed, as if they had had a night of unbroken sleep. Already they were getting used to much walking on short commons — shorter at any rate than what in the Shire they would have thought barely enough to keep them on their legs....
The hills drew nearer. They made an undulating ridge, often rising almost to a thousand feet, and here and there falling again to low clefts or passes leading into the eastern land beyond. Along the crest of the ridge the hobbits could see what looked to be the remains of green-grown walls and dikes, and in the clefts there still stood the ruins of old works of stone. By night they had reached the feet of the westward slopes, and there they camped. It was the night of the fifth of October, and they were six days out from Bree.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 11, A Knife in the Dark
6 October 3018
In the morning they found, for the first time since they had left the Chetwood, a track plain to see. They turned right and followed it southwards. It ran cunningly, taking a line that seemed chosen so as to keep as much hidden as possible from the view, both of the hill-tops above and of the flats to the west.... [Where] it passed over... more open ground on either side of it there were lines of large boulders... that screened the travellers almost like a hedge.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 11, A Knife in the Dark
'I wonder who made this path, and what for,' said Merry, as they walked along one of these avenues, where the stones were unusually large and closely set. 'I am not sure that I like it: it has a — well, rather a barrow-wightish look. Is there any barrow on Weathertop?'
'No. There is no barrow on Weathertop, nor on any of these hills,' answered Strider. 'The Men of the West did not live here; though in their latter days they defended the hills for a while against the evil that came out of Angmar. This path was made to serve the forts along the walls. But long before, in the first days of the North Kingdom, they built a great watch-tower on Weathertop, Amon Sûl they called it. It was burned and broken, and nothing remains of it now but a tumbled ring.... Yet once it was tall and fair. It is told that Elendil stood there watching for the coming of Gil-galad out of the West, in the days of the Last Alliance.'
The hobbits gazed at Strider. It seemed that he was learned in old lore, as well as in the ways of the wild. 'Who was Gil-galad?' asked Merry; but Strider did not answer, and seemed to be lost in thought. Suddenly a low voice murmured:Gil-galad was an Elven-king.The others turned in amazement, for the voice was Sam's.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea....
'Don't stop!' said Merry.
'That's all I know,' stammered Sam, blushing. 'I learned it from Mr. Bilbo when I was a lad. He used to tell me tales like that, knowing how I was always one for hearing about Elves. It was Mr. Bilbo as taught me my letters. He was mighty book-learned was dear old Mr. Bilbo. And he wrote poetry. He wrote what I have just said.'
'He did not make it up,' said Strider. 'It is part of the lay that is called The Fall of Gil-galad, which is in an ancient tongue. Bilbo must have translated it. I never knew that.'
'There was a lot more,' said Sam, 'all about Mordor. I didn't learn that part, it gave me the shivers.'....
It was already mid-day when they drew near the southern end of the path, and saw before them... the northward slope of the hill.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 1, Ch 11, A Knife in the Dark
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 10Jul06
