"The Bridge of Khazad-dûm" - Eric's Thoughts

Ok, so I said the last chapter was good, but this is a masterful chapter. It's the chapter where Gandalf dies, confronting the Balrog on the bridge.

It’s for chapters like these that we read books. Let’s break down what Tolkien is doing.

The chapter begins with momentum from a cliffhanger of a previous chapter, Balin’s death. Gandalf finds an old book with haunting fragments, describing Balin’s expedition into the mines. The expedition did not fare well, and the burnt out words and lack of clarity as to what went wrong makes the scene more eerie. It's a classic trope, but done really well here. The book foreshadows drums, and ends with the forlorn line, “We cannot get out, we cannot get out.”

Notice the language that Tolkien uses in creating his world: he references in the book specific halls that give the illusion that there is more to Moria than just the scenes described thus far. It’s little snippets like these that allow novels to have depth that go outside what the characters are actually experiencing, and make a book three dimensional. (Note that while the LOTR world-building is three-dimensional, the characters in LOTR so far are not three dimensional. At least not yet. So far we’ve had little thought from any character, and each of the Company are little more than caricatures. The only character so far with any semblance of depth is probably Strider, and the character of Gandalf is well-done, though two-dimensional, in his role as the wise wizard. Feel free to chime in Jacob and Ben whether you think I’m wrong about this.) 

In this chapter, I found myself wanting to read on, even knowing what happened. Unfortunately I don’t remember what I was thinking or feeling the first time I read this chapter. My experience this time was one of awe at how well the chapter was done.

So you’ll never guess what happens next. As foreshadowed in the book Gandalf finds, drums begin to beat, and Gandalf growls that they shouldn’t have been reading a book. One of the Company members suggests running, but Tolkien rules that possibility out by telling the reader the Company needs to stay and fight in the tomb (Gandalf notes that it would serve no purpose to flee into the darkness, although later that’s exactly what they do.)

A battle occurs next, which is very simplistic in its language. Orc heads are cleaved, arrows whine, and even Sam gets a kill, though is bleeding from a nasty scrape in the head. There are not blow-by-blow accounts here, and the scene is no less compelling for it. This is also where Bilbo’s gift comes into play, where an orc chieftain rams his spear into Frodo. Everyone thinks Frodo is dead. But Frodo declares himself not dead, and Gandalf notes that there is more to Frodo than meets the eye, like Bilbo. (A very Gandalf line that references the first book, and is a nice touch of consistent characterization.) I anxiously then was waiting for Aragon’s movie line, “That thrust would have skewered a wild boar,” and it did not happen until way after when the Company leaves Balin’s tomb and goes into the next chapter safely (Lothlorien). When it wasn’t said at first, I was actually disappointed, because I thought it was a good line. But lo and behold, when the Company is out of Balin’s tomb, Aragon says it in the Lothlorien chapter, and I was made whole.

Gandalf’s first confrontation with the Balrog happens offstage, and Gandalf describes that he was almost “destroyed.” How well done was that? This is the difference between a professional writer and an amateur, knowing what scenes to tell and what scenes to put in action, and what sequence to put them in. An often heard guideline for writers is to “show, don’t tell.” This is something that high school teachers teach without actually knowing what it means. In fact, high school teachers, and college professors, often get it wrong. Telling is actually a critical tool for a writer. There is nothing more important than the phrase, “Three days passed without event.” Guess why? Because otherwise scenes drag out without event, and the story becomes dull. One of the most difficult parts of writing is knowing what to show and what to tell. Now, maybe Tolkien could have written an okay scene from Gandalf’s perspective fighting, and then stagger back to the Company, but the scene becomes much more compelling when told from Company’s perspective: their leader, beaten and tired, growling that he needs to rest if all the orcs in Middle Earth were after them. (Gandalf, apparently, as shown by his short temper on the matter, is not one that is used to defeat.)  The Company is left in suspense, as is the reader.  While in the movies there is a wizard’s duel earlier with Saruman where Gandalf gets a sound licking, in the books Gandalf was taken by Saruman by trickery than an outright confrontation of power. (By the way, I digress, but what the heck is up with the names Saruman and Sauron? Tolkien really dropped the ball there. Soooo confusing to readers. I remember this confused me the first time I was reading the books, two powerful villains with such similar names.) So having Gandalf tell the confrontation, rather than experience it, is a very nice touch. Note that when Gandalf is telling the story, the scene is showing, so this isn’t necessarily a perfect example of knowing when to skip fluff with a simple sentence, but you know what I mean. I guess it’s a better example of sequencing, and how using a quick reverse-chrono switch you can create an even more compelling scene.

So then the Company runs, and crosses a narrow bridge that falls to infinity. And of course, it’s the iconic Gandalf confrontation with the Balrog. I’ve included all of the sentences I could find that describe the Balrog, which in the text is interspersed, so you can easily reference what language Tolkien is using to describe the beast. I think it gives a good example on how you want to use language to create imagery and dramatic suspense. It's clear that Tolkien uses a more classic (i.e. not modern) form of style to convey imagery, but it still works.

But it was not the trolls that had filled the Elf with terror. The ranks of the orcs had opened, and they crowded away, as if they themselves were afraid. Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror seemed to be in it and to go before it. It came to the edge of the fire and the light faded as if a cloud had bent over it. Then with a rush it leaped across the fissure. The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it. In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs.[. . .] The dark figure streaming with fire raced towards them. [. . .] His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. [. . .] The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height , and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone : grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm.

 [. . .]

With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard’s knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss . ‘Fly, you fools!’ he cried , and was gone.

It’s here that we leave the fairy-tale land of the Hobbit behind, and realize that there may not be a happy ending to this tale.