The Nightmare World of Tolkien

[Anguirel]

My personal favourite-

"A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, fingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil. And the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with fell meats, until it grew beyond the measure of all other things that fly; and he gave it to his servant to be his steed."

The nameless things gnawing at the mountains and the Nan Dungortheb creepies mentioned above get honourably commended.

For me, the frighteningness of Tolkien's nasties usually is most pronounced when they are in some way sketchy, unarticulated and unarticulatable. "A creature of an older world maybe it was." I think it's because Tolkien is such a meticulous namer and describer that what really chills the bone-marrow is when his description blurs, not when it sharpens. The Balrog loses much of its terrifying nature after we find out what it is from the Silmarillion, for me at least. If something evil is named, then you resist it; simple enough. But how do you fight against nameless things? Things like the creatures of an older world, like Sauron himself, like the malaise that overcomes Frodo and blights his life...