Scariest Thing In All Of Tolkien's Creation...Ever

[mark12_30]

Ted Sandyman.

Because I know people like that.

[spirit_of_fire]

What about Gollum, from the woodsmens point of view in the lord of the rings, I think when Gandalf was discussing him to frodo or at the council he said something like: "the woodsmen were terrorfied of some new and unknown horror that crept through windows and stole babies from their cribs in the night".

Or the eyes that kept watching bilbo and the dwarves in the pitch black of mirkwood, they would glow in the dark eerily, stare for minutes at a time, and then blink out, only to appear somewhere closer.

The winner of course has to be melkor though, he is the only reason arda has fear, and few of even the most valiant inhabitants of arda could meet his gaze without trembling.

[Kath]

What I find scariest is when they hunt Frodo, especially when Frodo and friends look up the hill that they came from and see a black rider on the top.

Yes, yes, yes Rune. This is the only bit in the whole of LotR which ever caused me to think twice about sleeping with the lights off ... which for me is the definition of scary!

[Durelin]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

The Cure seemed to have that effect on many folks some years ago.

Still do, still do.

Reading a lot of people's comments about the Nazgul make me think of how often my nightmares are (mostly were) about being chased by an often unseen but terrifying foe.

And the Spiders (those of Mirkwood, Shelob, etc) have an extra layer of terrifyingness (besides simply being spiders, which is scary enough) because they can poison you and wrap you up in a cocoon like a bug. I'm claustraphobic and am terrified of losing control such as one would after being poisoned by Shelob or the Mirkwood spiders...but then the Wight's magic is more frightening in that regard. And at least for the spiders all I need is a flamethrower.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

After the nightmare of last night I am definitely nominating Black Riders, the Ringwraiths. If Sauron tells them to do something they just go out and do it, whatever way possible. They are completely under his command, they have no will of their own. Their master told them to go out to find Frodo, a clueless hobbit, and take the Ring and what was supposed to happen to Frodo? Who knows, really? Not only that, but they were built off of greed, for money and power and glory. In a human, there's not much more frightening. On a final note; the atmosphere of them is, well, fear. That is plain enough as it is, I think.

I didn't used to think them scary, but now that thought is thrown out the window. I find that my mind can make something much more frightening than Peter Jackson can.

[oddkins]

Along with the arachnids, watcher in the water, and the terrifying barrow wights that freaked me out when I first read it, I have to agree with spirit of fire:

Originally Posted by spirit_of_fire

What about Gollum, from the woodsmens point of view in the lord of the rings, I think when Gandalf was discussing him to frodo or at the council he said something like: "the woodsmen were terrorfied of some new and unknown horror that crept through windows and stole babies from their cribs in the night".

Or the eyes that kept watching bilbo and the dwarves in the pitch black of mirkwood, they would glow in the dark eerily, stare for minutes at a time, and then blink out, only to appear somewhere closer.

The winner of course has to be melkor though, he is the only reason arda has fear, and few of even the most valiant inhabitants of arda could meet his gaze without trembling.

All that padding behind them in Moria and the snuffling in Mirkwood when the hobbits were sleeping on the flets, and Frodo saw his pale eyes peering up at him -all before they knew what it was.... ooh, gives me the creeps!

One thing about Melkor, though....he might be the reason Arda has fear, but he was also the only Vala to know fear himself...

[spirit_of_fire]

I had to laugh at all those 'gandalf uncloaked' references, though I must say when I was reading the books I had a very different interpretation of that phrase(one that doesn't involve nakedness in any way, shape or form). If you think about it though, there are dozens of phrasings that can be misconstrued like that, for example: Gandalf cautioning Aragorn not to 'reveal himself' to Sauron after they recovered the palantir.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but the silent watchers at Minas Morgul should be ranked pretty highly in this thread. They were scary I thought, because their power over you wasn't made clear. They threatened you on a spiritual/mental level, from which you cannot defend yourself with a sword or shield. It was an intangible and unknowable horror that preyed on the mind.

Orcs would also have been quite frightening if they weren't so common, if you only take into account how they were created.
They were ordinary elves, taken in the darkness, then twisted and tortured by the dark lord, warped and mutated until they were no longer recognizable as the firstborn that they once were, and in being so, they were instilled with an insatiable hate and hostility towards all life.

[Lalaith]

The fate of Hurin scares me more than anything else in Tolkien:

hen Morgoth cursed Húrin and Morwen and their offspring, and set a doom upon them of darkness and sorrow; and taking Húrin from prison he set him in a chair of stone upon a high place of Thangorodrim. There he was bound by the power of Morgoth, and Morgoth standing beside him cursed him again; and he said: 'Sit now there; and look out upon the lands where evil and despair shall come upon those whom thou lovest. Thous hast dared to mock me, and to question the power of Melkor, Master of the fates of Arda. Therefore with my eyes thou shalt see, and with my ears thou shalt hear; and never shalt thou move from this place until all is fulfilled unto its bitter end.
And even so it came to pass; but it is not said that Húrin asked ever of Morgoth either mercy or death, for himself or for any of his kin

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

The fate of Hurin scares me more than anything else in Tolkien:

I don't find it scary, but rather doom-tragedy-dread-etc sort of thing... That passage that you uote brings an "evil awe" feeling to me.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I don't find it scary, but rather doom-tragedy-dread-etc sort of thing... That passage that you uote brings an "evil awe" feeling to me.

I find the idea of being captured by Morgoth terribly scary -_- Really, Eru help you...

[McCaber]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I don't find it scary, but rather doom-tragedy-dread-etc sort of thing... That passage that you uote brings an "evil awe" feeling to me.

The scary part is what he's forced to watch his children go through. And he cannot do a single thing to help them, just sit there in chains and listen to Morgoth's laughter.

That's the scary part.