The scariest characters in the LOTR? [Archive] - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

The 1,000 Reader

03-31-2007, 02:11 PM

I don't know why, but I got a rather odd sense of being in a dark, hidden world no man was meant to be in when reading about Aragorn and company passing through the Paths of the Dead. Tolkien did a terrific job of making time seem foreign there, and, if I recall, there was some village located there, cut off from the rest of the world, which mistook Aragorn as the King of the Dead and entered a panic. Very creepy, and it seemed like a different world altogether.

The Nazgul gained my respect as the book went on. From normal men who hissed when they spoke, they basically became Middle-Earth's personal Grim Reapers who could go anywhere incredibly quickly thanks to the fell beasts that they rode. Infact, whenever a Nazgul "entered the scene" everything seemed to become more interesting. In ROTK, the parts with the Witch-King in them just seem to glow with an aura of awesomeness.

Sauron, however, did not seem frightening at all. When Sauron fought with the Ring, two minor characters (Elendil and Gil-Galad) slew him in combat. Right off the bat, that made me think that the Ring wasn't so mighty, and since minor characters are typically less important than major characters (they are minor characters after all,) it made me think that Sauron was a pushover. Throughout the entire story, Sauron is just some dude sitting in a large tower we only see once (the tower, not Sauron.) In the end, Sauron just seemed like a weakling who hid from everybody and waited until his armies killed everything before he'd come out. He was only a figurehead and, like Big Brother, felt like he was not real and only a symbol to rally under. He was like Gollum or Grima, but without the will to take action on his own (Gollum) and without the trickery (Grima.) He corrupted Denethor, yes, but Denethor was already rather unstable, and it felt more like Denethor was insane than corrupted.

Lord Halsar

03-31-2007, 02:21 PM

hmmmmmmm.

scariest thing in LOTR?
i'd have to go with shelob.
if Sauron came up to me, i'd ask for some pointers. if it were the WK, i'd be too exited to be scared. but shelob, she cant be reasoned with.

Legate of Amon Lanc

03-31-2007, 02:30 PM

When Sauron fought with the Ring, two minor characters (Elendil and Gil-Galad) slew him in combat. Right off the bat, that made me think that the Ring wasn't so mighty, and since minor characters are typically less important than major characters (they are minor characters after all,) it made me think that Sauron was a pushover.
I wouldn't call Elendil&Gil-Galad "minor characters" ;) In the LotR book they do not appear, of course, but personally I think that at their times they must have been more famous than seven Boromirs put together. Oh, and we don't see the tower once, we see it at least three times I think, maybe more. But this doesn't matter.

Anyway... I'd subscribe most of what has been said here of the Nazgul, and I think the Balrog of Moria is pretty scary as well. Not speaking of the Watcher in the Water - as always, the creepiest things are those you don't see. This however, at least in my case, does not work for Sauron. Definitely not in LotR - of course in Silmarillion, this is something else (in the tale of Beren and Lúthien, not only in Tol-in-Gaurhoth but also the Gorlim part), however, Mansun introduced this thread as only for LotR, so I'll leave this now. Generally I'd say that I agree with most of the things the 1000 Reader said about Sauron - succintly, Sauron is too much "sitting in a tower doing nothing" to be able to awake some "personal" feelings in the reader. There is, however, still one moment where Sauron seems creepy to me, and it is the moment when Pippin looks to the Palantír. There Sauron looks exactly how I think he should all the time - this is the closest we get to him. He speaks (through Pippin, but...), he is scary, well, I think this is one of the most emotionally thrilling moments of the book.

Volo

03-31-2007, 02:35 PM

I'd say orcs in general. They are not so big and mighty, but there is a lot of them and I'd say that they are pretty scary. Maybe because they feel much more real that f.ex. Sauron or the Nazgul.

Lord Halsar

03-31-2007, 02:44 PM

The balrog doesn't strike me as terribly frightening. it's a powerful monster, but thats about it. and it seems pretty slow. i meen, it didn't really catch up to the Fellowship until they got to the bridge. they saw it before that, but thats about it.
there's those points, and didn't Gandalf hold onto it's leg while he was down in the REALLY deep places. you don't grap onto the leg of a frightening monster.

Sir Kohran

03-31-2007, 04:04 PM

Shelob. There's something very alien and creepy about spiders, with their eight legs and eyes and their sticky, trapping webs and their deadly poison, and Tolkien carries it off brilliantly. The thought of entering a dark, slimy, stinking tunnel filled with webs with the thought of a giant spider lurking somewhere within is quite terrifying. I remember the movie version of ROTK - at one point Frodo hears movement somewhere. He spins around, checking all possible sources of sound...completely oblivous to the giant black moster that is silently suspended just above him! Very scary.

The 1,000 Reader

03-31-2007, 04:34 PM

I wouldn't call Elendil&Gil-Galad "minor characters" ;) In the LotR book they do not appear, of course, but personally I think that at their times they must have been more famous than seven Boromirs put together. Oh, and we don't see the tower once, we see it at least three times I think, maybe more. But this doesn't matter.

The thing is, we didn't know that, Elendil and Gil-Galad didn't do very much, and they weren't packing any powerful First Age muscles or strong magic. They were not too far from the main characters in LOTR, and the reader doesn't really know about them. That is what I mean.

There is, however, still one moment where Sauron seems creepy to me, and it is the moment when Pippin looks to the Palantír. There Sauron looks exactly how I think he should all the time - this is the closest we get to him. He speaks (through Pippin, but...), he is scary, well, I think this is one of the most emotionally thrilling moments of the book.

He wasn't that scary to me. Pippin was probably already afraid of the palantir's power, and Sauron was just puzzled and then simply told Pippin that Saruman wasn't getting "his piece of the pie," so to speak. Besides, Pippin's a hobbit and barely knows anything about the world.

Boo Radley

03-31-2007, 06:11 PM

I too, vote for Shelob.
I've got this thing about spiders in general (Watching Arachnaphobia just about sent me up the wall) and seeing what Peter Jackson did with Shelob was pretty toe-curling for me.
I remember the very, very first time I read LoTR and when I got to that part, thinking "A spider... Why'd it have to be a spider?*

(Blatant rip-off of Indiana Jones. -15 points)

ninja91

03-31-2007, 07:16 PM

Folwren

03-31-2007, 07:29 PM

I hate spiders, but I loved Shelob. The hobbits, in the books, are so fantastically heroic at that part that I can't help but love it.

The scarriest was definitely the Nine Nazguls. They made me stop reading the book. They terrified me. I would lie awake at night, after my sister had fallen asleep beside me, and just tremble, thinking that any moment, they'd come crawling through the window, or from under the bed. Oh, no, I didn't have monsters under my bed - I had Nazguls. :eek:

-- Folwren

Liriodendron

03-31-2007, 10:11 PM

I always found Galadriel scary.....not evil of course :cool: ....but surely scary. She had great power, if you entered her territory you could die, she was secretive, she could read your mind and tell your future....she never seemed to explain anything very well....so, she scared me.

Sauron was scary becuase he seemed to REALLY enjoy all aspects of being evil, 100%! :eek:

Lord Halsar

03-31-2007, 10:49 PM

I always found Galadriel scary.....not evil of course :cool: ....but surely scary. She had great power, if you entered her territory you could die, she was secretive, she could read your mind and tell your future....she never seemed to explain anything very well....so, she scared me.

An interesting point of veiw. but alas, what was not "scary" but most definateley creepy about Galadriel, was that her spell of seduction made even Gimli, a proud dwarf of Erebor, want her hair. that struck me as disturbing.

Raynor

04-01-2007, 01:04 AM

her spell of seduction made even Gimli, a proud dwarf of Erebor, want her hairThe Elves are the fairest of the Children of Eru, and beauty does have a 'natural' magic about it, or charisma in some cases; in that sense, you could be right. However, if you imply she used spells to seduce, you ought to provide some evidence.

Legate of Amon Lanc

04-01-2007, 05:58 AM

Scary? Well, put it this way: would you rather be locked in a castle with the Balrog or the Mouth of Sauron lurking around?

The Mouth of Sauron definitely takes the cake here for me. Plus, he is just so mysterious and unknown...

Oh, I would like to be there with the Mouth, rather. Though he might be a mad, fanatic sadistic sorcerer, he is still a human (at least a little bit). You might call his name through empty corridors and try to negotiate, and you can expect his reactions (though they can be negative, or just a mocking laughter from somewhere, but still it is something you can expect, however terrifying it might be). The balrog then is something definitely... alien. You don't know what it thinks about, it even does not have to speak at all, it might look like a beast in flames or it can douse a be just a shadow lurking in the darkness... (Not to mention you don't even know if it has wings!) I wouldn't want to be locked in a castle or catacombs with something like that, I can quite understand the Dwarves in Moria. (Has anyone seen the movie Alien 3? This is how it could look like.)

Ha, seems I unintentionally answered the question. The Balrog it is for me.

and didn't Gandalf hold onto it's leg while he was down in the REALLY deep places. you don't grap onto the leg of a frightening monster.
Well, this only speaks that there were REALLY much more frightening monsters down there ("nameless things"). And after all, when you get so far to fight something, it is not so scary then. The point is, Gandalf could fight it. I, being in his place, well... uh.

The Sixth Wizard

04-01-2007, 05:58 AM

If we don't just include LOTR, I would have to say Sauron. He's so insanely frightening in the Akkalabeth that I did what Folwren did and stayed up very late indeed... :eek:

Gothbogg the Ripper

04-01-2007, 01:03 PM

Saruman was always pretty scary. Just bent on destruction and nothing else. Sauron seemed as though he at least had an agenda but Saruman didn't seem to know what he really wanted.

Mansun

04-01-2007, 01:24 PM

The LOTR makes a strong case that the Balrog filled it's enemies & even acquaintances with the most terror. Whether it made the same impact on the Reader is another matter, but the fact that the whole ranks of orcs & even the large cave trolls were in awe of it's presence & dared not interfere with it's encounter with the Company was enough for me to suggest that it was in reality more scary to the eye than probably anything else, save Sauron.

Liriodendron

04-01-2007, 04:54 PM

An interesting point of veiw. but alas, what was not "scary" but most definateley creepy about Galadriel, was that her spell of seduction made even Gimli, a proud dwarf of Erebor, want her hair. that struck me as disturbing.

Frodo was quite willing to give her his precious ring too.....

narfforc

04-01-2007, 07:51 PM

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins reminds me of my ex-mother-law, a tyrant to match any Dark Lord, she had a lemon in her handbag just in case she smiled.

Selmo

04-02-2007, 03:32 AM

I don't know why, but I got a rather odd sense of being in a dark, hidden world no man was meant to be in when reading about Aragorn and company passing through the Paths of the Dead.

I feel the same.
I first read LoTR in the early 1960s and, more than forty years later, I can still vividly recall sharing Gimli's fear on the paths of the dead. That chapter cost me some sleepless nights.
It wasn't the ghosts themselves that were scary, but the situation. When the army of Dead were revealed and explained, the fear was gone.

In The Hobbit, I was as scared as Bilbo when he went down the tunnel to meet Smaug for the first time. In all the underground sequences, the walk in the dark towards the unknown was scarier than whatever waited at the end of the tunnel. As soon as there was a tangible enemy to fight or outwit, my emotion turned from fear to exitement.

To me as a youngster, Shelob was the most scary creature in LoTR (I used to have a phobia of spiders), but the walk in the dark before the encounter with her was worse.
.

Mansun

04-06-2007, 10:21 AM

Oliphaunts are pretty scary considering their size. What if one decided to land it's foot on the Witch King & crush him?

LjösÁlfr

04-06-2007, 12:04 PM

I'd say the Barrow-Wights... Not much explaining to be done, the whole discription fo them unto me just seemed scary.

As all of you af course now they are based upon the Old Norse mythological creature's called "Draugar". (Singular = Draugr). :D Origenally the Nazgul were barrow-wights as well, which would mean that the Nazgul are based upon Draugar as well, although there's not much to be seen back about that.

Celegost

04-06-2007, 12:37 PM

The Nazgul or the Barrow-Wights :eek:
Actually, the Balrog (Durin's Bane) Is pretty scary because he's so mysterious; after the Dwarves in Moria were all killed no-one knew what had happened to them, so when The Fellowship were travelling through Moria you didn't know what to expect...

The 1,000 Reader

04-06-2007, 01:23 PM

Oliphaunts are pretty scary considering their size. What if one decided to land it's foot on the Witch King & crush him?

He'd live. Granted getting stepped on would totally suck, but he'd live.

On the subject of oliphaunts, I never saw them as scary. They were first portrayed as rather innocent creatures in Samwise's song, and I only saw them as elephants.

Mansun

04-06-2007, 03:09 PM

He'd live. Granted getting stepped on would totally suck, but he'd live.

On the subject of oliphaunts, I never saw them as scary. They were first portrayed as rather innocent creatures in Samwise's song, and I only saw them as elephants.

I believe Gandalf said spells can be broken by great strength, so I could not say for definite that he'd still live. It depends on what you think 10 tonnes could do to even a spell-protected creature.

Oliphaunts in rage are as deadly as anything, so they can inspire great panic in the ranks of soldiers, regardless of which side. A close look at them shows a burning desire to cause damage - these are no sweet animals like elephants you see in the zoo!

I have found the subject of graveyards, ghosts & the undead the most chilling & fearful topic of all. The Dead Mountain is more or less an ancient graveyard, with the King of the Dead the ghost-like guardian. Quite terrifying stuff if you put it in context with the 3 Hunters going it alone into the unknown. Seems like a fitting home for the Nazgul too.

LjösÁlfr

04-06-2007, 03:16 PM

Well, Elephants can be great in earthly wars as well. The Persians and several Asian nations have what we call war-elephants. Alexander the Great is supposed to have coped with these elephants.

And to how they might be scary, well, several Latin texts state that Phyrrus (A Greek having war with the Romans) had brought an Elephant with him to Itali to scare the Roman Commander. And according to the text I had to translate about it at school, they were pretty damn scary in the eyes of the Romans.... :rolleyes:

Isabellkya

04-06-2007, 08:16 PM

I can't really say that I was terribly scared by any of the characters in the books.. if I had to choose.. I would probably say the Nazgul.. they were more creepy than scary.
I didn't find Shelob scary.. mainly because I kind of like spiders... well I don't mind them.. but they don't scare me... even giant ones.

Eomer of the Rohirrim

04-10-2007, 02:46 AM

One of the scariest parts for me was when Frodo woke up in the barrow and saw his friends lying next to him, as if dead, dressed in strange garments. It's not so much the big monsters that do it for me on the page; this scene was just really creepy.

Rune Son of Bjarne

04-10-2007, 06:00 AM

There is many scary charachters in the book so it is hard to point out the scariest one, also because you learn more things about some of them as the book progress.

Personally I found the Nazgul very scary when we only knew them as black ridders that constantly showed up behind Frodo and Sam. . .they really creeped me out.

Another charachter I found scary was Old man willow. . . you could do nothing against him, if you tried to hurt him he would crush your friends and if you did not then he probably would anyway.

Volo

04-10-2007, 07:05 AM

Another charachter I found scary was Old man willow. . . you could do nothing against him, if you tried to hurt him he would crush your friends and if you did not then he probably would anyway.
That sure is one candidate.

The Might

04-10-2007, 08:17 AM

I'd say Sauron and Gandalf.
As Gandalf says in "The White Rider" chapter I believe, he is dangerous in his own way, and nothing in ME is as dangerous as he is, unless you would stand before Sauron himself.
He isn't scary because he chooses not to be, but he could potentially be.
So from those ho do choose to be scary, I'd nominate the Nazgul.

Aganzir

04-10-2007, 11:18 AM

I agree with Rune about the Nazgul. Although they were scary and real enemies, they were an actual threat only until Bruinen. They were much scarier with living horses than with beasts, living or undead. Horses are living creatures, with a will of their own, and one should be able to predict their behaviour at least a little bit. Thus, it makes me wonder how corrupted those poor animals must have been to carry the Black Riders. I even feel a little pity for them though I am no animal lover. The same cannot be said about the fell beasts. They are just beasts born to serve Sauron, unlike the horses we know. This makes them a little less scary creatures than horses, and it affects also to the Nazgul. They can be ever present without actually being seen. They don't have to be close to keep watch. And in my opinion, the closer they are, the scarier they are.

The most terrible moments I've ever had with Tolkien were the ones with the Balrog. Maybe it's understandable, since I was 11 when I read the Lotr for the first time, and it was the only time I was truly afraid of the Balrog. The movies hadn't come out yet, so I created a very own conception of the Balrog, and I must confess that my balrog has always been much scarier than the one shown us in the movies.

Sauron was scarier in The Silmarillion. In those days he was nothing but a servant, he took risks and fought himself. Now that he's the one commanding armies from his tower, he doesn't seem so strong anymore. Really, I can't imagine he'd win an Elven lord in a song contest anymore. Not without the help of a bunch of Orcs. ;)

Was this thread about the number of nightmares, the scariest characters would be the Nazgul. I've happened to have several nightmares about the Ringwraiths living in our cellar and attacking me when I have nothing better than a flick knife to defend myself with. By now, I have managed to kill already three of them. Still six (or five) to go, but I beat Éowyn.

However, one thing I love in Tolkien's books is that there are no creatures that cannot be slain; nothing that is evil is invincible. They cannot conquer for ever.

Gil-Galad

04-10-2007, 12:43 PM

Gothmog has potential

is he a man? is he an orc? you don't know and that lack of knowledge can get you in the end

when i first read it i thought he was a demon, like the balrog, that serves sauron.

Elmo

04-10-2007, 02:00 PM

Whoever gave me a bad blank rep for saying Eru was scary... deary me :rolleyes:
I only lost five points so it was obviously a newbie but anyway...{shakes head}

He destroyed a whole civilisation!

Thinlómien

04-11-2007, 02:27 AM

Really, I can't imagine he'd win an Elven lord in a song contest anymore. Not without the help of a bunch of Orcs. ;)
I hope not (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=12859&)! :eek: ;)

More seriously, I think neeker-breekers are surely really horrible and possibly even scariest. Even the thought of them makes me shudder.

And in the Hobbit, Thranduil, his Elves (well maybe except the butler, Galion), the River and the whole Mirkwood are much more scary than say Smaug.

Liriodendron

04-11-2007, 05:19 AM

Yes....eactly what were those woodelves doing with the movable fires and feasting, in and out, on and off? Were they luring the starving company into a trap? Were they dumbly oblivious? Or were they simply selfish, cold and uncaring......that whole bit was quite annoying. Weird creepy elves ......;)

Volo

04-11-2007, 10:35 AM

Bill Ferny was actually very scary when I read the book for the first time. :eek:

The 1,000 Reader

04-11-2007, 02:00 PM

He destroyed a whole civilisation!

That civilization he destroyed was going to destroy a civilization.

Elmo

04-11-2007, 02:04 PM

The 1,000 Reader

04-11-2007, 03:01 PM

Actually, your post sounded like you were saying he did that as an evil act. He's strong to have destroyed Numenor, but that wasn't an evil act.

Folwren

04-11-2007, 03:01 PM

So, he still did it didn't he. As I said I wouldn't want to get the wrong side of him because obviously has no qualms about smiting.

(sigh) I probably shouldn't have mentioned him because conversations about Eru always get people worked up.

lol. You can mention him, just don't mention him in a bad way... There's a real Eru, you know, and you don't want to be on the wrong side of Him! But it's because of this real 'Eru' that people get all huffy and puffy about what's said about Eru. It's just easy to be riled up in the matter.

-- Folwren

Lalwendë

04-11-2007, 03:03 PM

So, he still did it didn't he. As I said I wouldn't want to get the wrong side of him because obviously has no qualms about smiting.

(sigh) I probably shouldn't have mentioned him because conversations about Eru always get people worked up.

I agree, ultimately, Eru must be the most scary character in the whole work! True, he's not a traditional 'horror' or 'monster', nor is he one of Melkor's spooky, twisted minions. He isn't some earthly horror nor is he a power hungry person. But he is in control, and he can and will smite you. The rules aren't set down for most people in Middle-earth and they must work out for themselves what is right and wrong. Put it this way, in the real world an ordinary man or woman might find it hard to believe the words of not another race, but a whole other species on what was right and wrong. Sure, some Men carried the words of Eru, but in a situation where the whole world is at war, trust is in short supply, so we cannot simply blame people for not believing in Eru.

I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him either. But who would be there to tell me otherwise? I think that's why you get so many complex figures and absolutely no 'perfect' people in Middle-earth; they're all trying to figure out what's right and wrong. If I was an ordinary Man trying to eke out a living why would I take everything that a Gondorian, descendant of the drowned Numenor, told me about Eru? Especially knowing the horrible tales that would've been passed down about the evil deeds of Numenoreans!

Eru is the Alan Sugar of Arda - he can say "You're fired!" at any point. And why? He's omnipotent.

Not everyone gets worked up about Eru. ;)

Actually, your post sounded like you were saying he did that as an evil act. He's strong to have destroyed Numenor, but that wasn't an evil act.

That's a moot point, not a given. I wouldn't word it as 'evil' myself, just as 'dodgy'. ;)

Gil-Galad

04-11-2007, 07:40 PM

all i have to say about the sinking of Numenor is that Eru was "The lesser of two evils"

brings into light a machiavelian aspect to Eru doesn't it...

weel Bill Ferny might be scary, hes no Sharku, i at first had no idea who Sharku was and that he had conquered the Shire when they were gone...

but the worse of all

Lobelia Sackville

:eek: scary

Elmo

04-12-2007, 04:06 AM

That umbrella :eek:

Lord Halsar

04-14-2007, 08:56 PM

So, he still did it didn't he. As I said I wouldn't want to get the wrong side of him because obviously has no qualms about smiting.

(sigh) I probably shouldn't have mentioned him because conversations about Eru always get people worked up.

Indeed. i beleive that people get so worked up about him, because he is sort of like the christian/jewish version of God. Everyone has a deep inner desire to defend the Lord's name should he be insulted. why would Eru be any different?

Rikae

04-14-2007, 09:09 PM

Honestly, I found Boromir the scariest. The Nazgul, the Barrow Wights, etc, were straightforwardly dangerous; but Boromir was a member of the Fellowship who became a threat. The scene where he tries to take the ring from Frodo is probably the scariest to me, maybe because it hits closest to home...the people we trust being the greatest danger.

Neithan Tol Turambar

04-15-2007, 12:08 AM

Caradhras

Elmo

04-15-2007, 07:52 AM

why would Eru be any different? because Eru is a fictional character, people don't worship Eru, there was never was an event called the Akallabeth, Eru never cursed mankind for eternity for worshiping at Melkor's temple. So I see no problem in questioning a fictional being's role in fictional events.

Stop me when this argument starts going round in circles :rolleyes:

darkcorsair

04-18-2007, 11:46 PM

I agree with what was said about certain settings becoming the scariest moments of all in the Lord of the Rings.

I disagree with the whole Sauron isn't scary because he does nothing and you never see him thing.

I take Sauron and the ring together as one huge, invisible evil, an evil that can as someone here said, turn your friends like Boromir against you. What could be scarier then that invisible evil, and knowing that the only way to stop it is to destroy the ring itself, which holds the greater part of Sauron's power.

Famov

05-18-2007, 10:59 AM

Not the Witch King. Dont get me wrong, I like the guy, but he seemed to make too many mistakes to be the scariest servant of evil.

Probably Durin's Bane, considering Gandalf's and Legolas' response upon seeing him.

Without his ring, would Sauron be as powerful as Durin's Bane? My initial guess is no, though I have little from the literature to back that claim up. And then, since Tolkein doesn't personify Sauron very well in the trilogy, it is tough to guess much of his power (and scary factor) very well. Though being an enigma might help his case.

Aganzir

05-18-2007, 02:37 PM

Without his ring, would Sauron be as powerful as Durin's Bane? My initial guess is no, though I have little from the literature to back that claim up. And then, since Tolkein doesn't personify Sauron very well in the trilogy, it is tough to guess much of his power (and scary factor) very well. Though being an enigma might help his case.
But there must have been something in Sauron that the Balrogs lacked. He was one of Morgoth's chiefs, and at least I have understood that his status was higher than that of the Balrogs'.
The Balrogs were of a different type of maiar than Sauron, but I don't know if being a demon of fire necessarily means being more powerful than an "ordinary" maia.

But his Ring lost a great amount of Sauron's original power was lost, too, so you may be right. Of course this depends whether we are speaking of Sauron whose Ring still existed, though not safely in his pocket, or of Sauron whose Ring was destroyed. A Balrog would probably win the latter in a combat.

The Sixth Wizard

05-18-2007, 03:55 PM

Oliphaunts are pretty scary considering their size. What if one decided to land it's foot on the Witch King & crush him?

Well, the Witch-King had the raw power to drive his servants mad, couldn't he just raise a hand or scream or something and get away?

I think that the scariest places for me when I FIRST read the book (about 10 years old) were the places that it really seemed like there was no way out. The Balrog wasn't that scary to me because you knew Gandalf was going to finish it off. But in that chapter, I find the 'drums in the deep' very disturbing. Just as we finished reading about how the dwarves were trapped and killed, we get the same drums. Scary.

Other places that made me scared were the Barrow-Wights (until Tom came, which was a relief, let me tell you!) the lair of Shelob, Boromir attacking Frodo, anywhere past the Fellowship of the Ring involving Nazgul and Frodo and Sam, when the wolves closed in around them on the hilltop, the Nazgul that Legolas shoots down and was described as "a shadow [like] the Balrog", when Frodo was captured by the enemy (I really thought Sam would go it alone then) and Pippin saving Faramir.

Sorry, not so much characters as scenes.

Places that I didn't get scared in include: Balrog vs. Gandalf, Lorien (Galadriel), the King of the Dead (I was a bit lost at this point) and Saruman wasn't really scary either.