Sppokiest part in the book.
 

I think that the part of the book that gave me the most chills had to be Minus Morgul. Oooh spooky. What do you guys think?

Hi Turoch!
I think the freakiest part in the books is...Shelobs lair. When Frodo and Samwise are walking through and they can feel her eyes on them.... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] spooOOOoooOOOoky! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

ooohh the creepiest bit has to be The Paths of the Dead! That was so scary even Gimli was freaked out of his mind! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

It was totally the Paths of the Dead and also that part in Dunharrow, I think, when Theoden tells the story of the old man at the gate.

It's forty years since I first walked with Gimli on the Paths of the Dead and I can still vividly recall how I shared his fear.

That chapter cost me some sleepless nights.

Minas Morgul, man, all the way. That freaks me out more than anything. #2 would be the Dead Marshes, #3 Shelob's Lair, and #4 the Paths of the Dead.

The creepiest part had to have been when they were in Moria at Balin's tomb. When Gandalf started reading that book about what happened all those years ago, (they are coming, we can't get out...) you knew something bad was going to happen. You could feel it coming...

Definetly the night in Hall 21 (like Peri said).

"We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the Bridge and second hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there....the pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Óin. We cannot get out. The end comes....drums, drums in the deep....they are coming."

When Sam thinks that he sees golum but is not sure, and when golum is climing down the rocks and you just know that he will meet them.

I'd say something totally different. For I'm altogether not scared of the dead or monsters. I'd say:
- when the old man appears to Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn in the middle of the night and then leaves without a word to say, leaving no footprints and all.
- the craziness of Denethor, and Denethor wanting to burn with his son.

The scariest part was when they made movies out of the books, and though they were great, it made lots of newbies come to the Downs and pretend they are Tolkien fanatics. Ok sorry my rant is done....

To be honist I think creating fear is something Tolkein really cant do very well. He really cant build up the tension, and when he describes something that could be scary it sounds evil and powerful but not, well not scary really. Note the description of the Balrog, it sounds impressive but not frightening. He cant make things seem scary, big battles with evil monsters feel somewhat, hmm, cosy.

Oh I think The creepiest part was (don't laugh) the whole thing with the barrowwrights. It brought chills down my spine. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]
Then of course was Shelob's lair. Gosh that fight was intense! Then when Sam thought Frodo was dead, I knew he wasn't, but I cried. It was so sad. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Galorme, I think I see what you're getting at. Tolkien certainly doesn't write with intent to make the reader's hair stand on end; his goal is not to provide mere chills and thrills. Nevertheless, I believe he does build up tension, albeit with subtle skill. The entire tone of the book is dark and grim, which also contributes to the "creepy" factor in particular parts.

I personally respond most to the aura of evil in many of the segments that have been mentioned in this thread. The presence of evil is oppressive, dark and dreadful, although not necessarily terrifying. I do not have to fear evil to feel horror at its advent.

Does anyone understand what I'm getting at? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] My exposition is over now.

Same here, Cherie Centaur! I'm not laughing. I was so surprised no one else had mentioned it!

I think the Dead Marshes is the other creepiest part for me. The whole sadness of the dead past and of those long-dead warriors effects me strongly, and when that is added to the horror that they weren't really there at all...

[ November 20, 2002: Message edited by: Nuranar ]

Hands down - Shelob's Lair for me as I have a fear of giant spiders!

i didnt think there was a spooky part

Thanks Nuranar,I was surprised too that they didn't mention it. I was also surprised (and disappointed) when it wasn't in the movie. The AC was on high when I read it and that even heighten the tension in that scene. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Luckily, that event was followed by the jovial prancing of nude hobbits. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

I know just what you mean. That's why I think Minas Morgul is so creepy. The whole description of the place before anything even happens is so saturated in evil the I just wanted to run away for the characters. Plus, it was one of the few things that bothered Gollum, so you knew it had to be bad. In the end, nothing terrible really happened...the army rode out and away and the trio continued on. But the aura was thick with oppressive evil.

I really shouldn't be posting, 'cause I haven't read the books for at least . . . 9 months. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] (I can't believe that!)

The creepiest part: Barrow-Downs. I never understood that part, so it really incresed the . . . creepiness? Also, the Paths of the Dead. GIMLI was freaking out, and he was usually so calm! The part with Shelob is my FAVORITE part in the WHOLE thing!! Really!

The creepiest part for me was when Denethor carried his living, feverish and unconscious son onto his own suicide funeral pyre, and earnestly tried to justify his murderous action.

****For those who have not read the books all the way through, this is a spoiler********

Two Words: MOUNT DOOM.

That was the scariest part - Frodo's defiance in Mount Doom. Whole darn thing almost got botched!

Well actually ,Please don't laugh, the creepiest bit for me is the old forest and the old man willow, you know, all the trees pressing in and then when the hobbits sit down to rest merry and pippin disappear [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] and Frodo is pushed into the river*shudders*

When I was little and having LOTR read aloud to me, the part that gave me nightmares was the scene in Moria, "We cannot get out, we cannot get out" and then the "Doom, doom" of the drums. For some reason those drumbeats were just what did it.

Now I find the Dead Marshes to be the most frightening; even more so when I read Tolkien's drafts in HoME where he had Frodo and Sam looking in and seeing their own dead, rotting faces underneath the water - the stuff of a quiet nightmare, that.

I agree with Turoch and Diamond. The bit with Minas Morgul sent shivers down my spine. I just re-read it last night, and nothing else I read in the Lord of the Rings gave me a frisson quite as badly as did that part.

~*~Orual~*~

It has to be Moria. "Doom, doom, doom, doom.." There were actually not very many spooky parts in the book, but Moria is the most spookiest of them. When Gandalf read the book it was sure something terrible was happening. And Moria is a good part, anyways.

I really liked (?) the "doom" part too. I think if I had time and re-read them I *might* change my vote. But the whole hand thing in B-D . . . .*shudder*

I agree with all the parts mentioned above (esp the darn doom doom drumbeats..... ARGH! What IS it with them that just makes me shiver??! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] ).... But I wanted to mention a moment in The Hobbit when Bilbo is blindly walking through Smaug's cave trying to get out, wrestling with his own conscience. Also him in Gollum's cave scare me. And when I read the stuff about the RingWraith standing above the Hobbits as well as the paths of the dead (esp. when Toline describes the Army of the Dead that followed them into battle.... I had to put the book down, I was so creeped out)

The dead marshes, ghostly things like that always makes me shiver. It's the same kind of thing as walking over people's graves, I can't stand walking over people's graves.

Mount doom, because you see just how vulnerable the whole thing is...I mean if Frodo had kept the ring... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Balin's tomb because Gandalf reads "they are coming. We cannot get out. We are trapped" and then members of the fellowship also say
"they are coming"
"we cannot get out!"
"we are trapped"

And you sit there, thinking...DEJA VU!!! Aaaaaargh! Creepy! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Aaaaanyway. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

If I was not crying hysterically every time I read the darn thing, then probably Mount Doom. But, since I'm preoccupied trying to make it look like I am not crying, I would say the Barrow-Wights freaked me out the most...

no question about it Minas Morgul!