[Farael]

Originally Posted by alatar

I initially thought that it was some moss or other plant-life that was emitting the glow, and though that might have been possible in Middle Earth, there are no 'green light-emitting' plants, mosses, etc in the real world. However, if the moss on walls contained the luciferase enzyme, which would be great to have in shubbery, then they would emit the glow. If there were ordinary moss and a little bit of light squeaking though the doorway, we may have a green glow as seen here.

Isn't there some kind of green algae that luminesces? or is it a Protozoan? I remember from first-year bio, they had a flask that if you shook it it'd glow green... maybe Frodo moved and disturbed the Wight's algae? no wonder why he was angry and sung a curse about stiff dead bones. *ahem*

Originally Posted by Alatar

Why is Frodo set apart? Was this do to the Ring or Frodo's resistance? Or being taken last? (Did I remember that right?) Was the Barrow Wight (in the books, not on this forum ) trying to force Frodo down the wrong path? If Frodo would have walked away, leaving his friends behind in the cold barrow, his downfall and the recapture of the Ring by Sauron would have been assured.

Well, I'm not sure that the Wight was trying to nudge Frodo to leave his friends behind and so make it easier for him to be ensnared by the ring. After all, he might as well just grab it and possibly earn some gifts from his Master (by that I mean the Witch King whom I believe awoke the wights on his way to The Shire).

I'm fairly sure he was taken last. Or at least, since we are told the story from Frodo's perspective, by the time he is caught he can no longer hear his friends' screams.

Originally Posted by FoTR Fog on the barrow downs

(to give you an idea of what has happened before without copying too much text, Frodo is screaming for Merry, Sam and Pippin as they got separated in the fog)

'Where are you?' he cried again, both angry and afraid.
'Here!' said a voice, deep and cold, that seemed to come out of the ground. 'I am waiting for you!'

It seems to me that:
a) The Barrow Wight knew of Frodo's coming
b) Frodo was probably the last one of the bunch (else the wight might have said "you and your friends" perhaps?)

Also,

Originally Posted by FoTR

But though his fear was so great that it seemed to be part of the very darkness that was round him, he found himself as he lay thinking about Bilbo Baggins and his stories (...)

(...)He found himself stiffening, as if for a final spring; he no longer felt limp like a helpless prey.
As he lay there, thinking and getting a hold on himself, he noticed all at once that the darkness was slowly giving way: a pale greenish light was growing round him. It did not at first show him what kind of a place he was in, for the light seemed to be coming out of himself, and from the floor beside him

A few pointers before another quote and then my conclussion... hope you are not bored yet.
a) When Frodo is afraid, he can see nothing.
b) When Frodo starts to feel a little less scared, he begins to see
c) The light is not only coming out of himself but from the floor beside him.

I'll discuss C now because it has nothing to do with the quote. Isn't it likely that, in Frodo's altered state of mind, he'd see things a little differently than what they are? What if the floor was glowing, reflecting on Frodo and he thought the light was coming off of him?

Also, to follow up with my luminscent algae theory, He might have spilled the stuff on himself and the floor. After the end of my quote it says that the light had "not yet reached the walls" perhaps it was because the poodle of water and algae had not yet dripped that far. *ahem, back to serious discussion*

Originally Posted by RoTK

(A quick preview to save you lines upon lines of text that do not matter to my point, Sam and Frodo are in the Emyn Muil trying to climb down a mountain, and just as Frodo is giving it a try a Nazghul flies overhead, Frodo slips but luckily lands on a shelf not too far below)

...But either the darkness had grown complete, or else his eyes had lost their sight. All was black about him. He wondered if he had been struck blind. He took a deep breath....

... Quickly Sam unslung his pack and rummaged in it. There indeed at the bottom was a coil of the silken-grey rope made by the folk of Lorien. He cast an end to his master. The darkness seemed to lift from Frodo's eyes, or else his sight was returning. He could see the grey line as it came dangling down, and he thought it had a faint silver sheen.

Again we see that, in a moment of great distress (and when dealing with super-natural creatures) Frodo seems to loose his sight. The only other time (other than these two) that I can think of Frodo being in a similar situation is when he is trying to escape the "Black Riders". Yet by then he did not know exactly who or what they were and perhaps in his ignorance he was not as acutely afraid.

So what's the point of all this? well, the glow may very well have been there all along, it was not until Frodo settled down a bit that he was able to see.