The Nightmare World of Tolkien

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh

In my opinion, the use by these writers of hint and allusion to build a picture of horror is the right direction to take. A detailed description gives the reader something concrete, which may or may not terrify. Veiled threats are far more disturbing and therefore far more effective. Indeed, in some of Lovecraft's fiction, such as The Temple, the reader never finds out even what is causing the strange events, and must imagine most of the background for himself. I particularly liked Tolkien's 'nameless things': in two words, he implies that there are things in the world which fit into no exact place in his mythos; things more terrifying and horrible even than a balrog of Morgoth, and which even Gandalf will not openly describe. Perhaps that's why I dislike David Day's ascription of the name 'Kraken' to the Watcher in the Water: it removes some of the mystery and horror of that character by giving it a species and a form, and by relating it to the mythical sea-monster of Northern legend. Tolkien and Lovecraft both knew that something unnamed and unnameable is far more terrifying than something which can be recognised and catalogued.

This interested me as I was looking at a postcard of Maddo, Tolkien's drawing of his son Michael's nightmare, a limbless black hand that used to creep across the curtains at night and draw them open. There was also a drawing he made of Owlamoo, another of Michael's nightmares, an owl which stared at him through the night. In Artist & Illustrator it's suggested that Tolkien drew these figures for his son from his descriptions as a way of bringing the monsters into the light and turning them into real mythological figures of the nursery rather than leaving them as nameless, terrifying 'things'.

Scull and Hammond also mention Tolkien's lifelong nightmare of the devastating wave and suggest he gave the nightmare to Faramir as a way of laying it to rest in his own mind. The idea is that a nightmare brought out into the cold light of day becomes then much less terrifying once given form and name, so I think he was well aware that leaving something unnamed and without form would be much more terrifying.

These shadowy edges like the nameless things in the depths of Moria allow the reader to place their own nightmare imaginings there, whether they be boggarts, the 'boogey man', demons or Maddo. Everyone remembers being a child and how despite the world outside the door being a frightening place, the bedroom at night could be the most frightening place of all, with beds to be checked for lurking montsters, curtains to be drawn tightly and shadows to be watched all night long. Tolkien reflects that with relish.

I heard this weekend too about his lecture on Dragons in the University Museum, something which he also gave with relish to fire the imagination of listeners.

I don't know if this kind of elemental fear is due to the Id or something like that? Maybe someone can tell us?

And if anyone's interested, there's a fascinating section in Artist & Illustrator that's relevant to this topic - it includes several quite sinister, symbolic drawings by the young Tolkien which suggest what his own 'nightmare visions' might have been.