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

[Thinlómien]

Yeah, the paths of the Dead and Baldor's fate, how could I forget that? *shudders*

Originally Posted by Legate

Anyway Sauron is really scary especially in there, then at Tol-in-Gaurhoth, at Númenor and then in LotR when talking to Pippin in the Palantír.

Yes, now this is actually quite interesting. Sauron seems to be rather scary every time we are given a glimpse of how he is, or when we can see him acting and talking. But when he is just the Dark Lord and we are told of his evil plans and thoughts, or his armies, or how he would torture his prisoners in Barad-dûr, it's really not very scary. I think it must be the distance... or either, the scary thing is maybe Sauron's personality, not his powers? I don't know... I just started thinking about this.

Originally Posted by Legate

Now depends what definition of "scary" we use.

Well, obviously. And now that I think of it, these Fëanors and Númenorians do scare me in a way (the same way modern humans sometimes scare me too - it's the ignorance, pride, selfishness and capacity to cause destruction), but maybe scary wouldn't really be the best word. At least it's difficult to compare their scariness with the scariness of Ringwraiths, for example.

And now that I started thinking along these lines, I realised it's very easy to start exaggerating when you start making lists like these. Most of the things I listed don't really scare me. Maybe they are kind of scary, but they don't creep me out or anything. I think that Tolkien's books mostly aren't scary. It's more like some weird sort of fascination...

I think Woses and Huorns and Ents aren't really scary (at least not Woses), they just fascinate me. (If I was a trespassing Orc, I would be terribly afraid, though. ) And by the way, I don't really get this arachnophobia... spiders are cute. (Well, maybe if you take Ungoliant or Shelob, they might be a little scary, but just in general... )

Originally Posted by Dimturiel

2. The trees of the Old Forest attacking the Hedge. Actually make that the trees of the Old Forest in general.

Yes, that's it. But maybe it's actually more discomforting than scary, if you know what I mean...