The Wicked Willow of Withywindle

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

I think Not only did Old Man Willow hate those who walked on two legs, there are two reasons he would take on Merry and Pippin:

1: These horrid two-legged creatures Dared to Sleep against him using him like some common pillow. Willow doesn't like being used in such a manner.

2: Depending on his age, He could remember the old battle between Hobbits and the ld Forest. The great burning in the middle of it. Revenge is oh so sweet.

Ok there Is a third less likely option
3:Old Man Willow, somehow knew they were on an important quest. He felt they were being too aloof about the entire thing and needed a little bit of teaching about be cautious. I mean he didn't seem to want to Kill them. just punish them a little.

The first option is the most unlikely, I think. The Hobbits had been diverted to the Withywindle against their will, and the implication is that the Willow was responsible. He was certainly the reason they fell asleep.

The third is also improbable. Their intention was to get out of the Forest as quickly as possible, and avoid the Withywindle Valley, as well as the Downs. If Bombadil hadn't come along, at the very least the Hobbits would have been lost, and been obliged to waste time finding their way again. It doesn't seem any altruistic motives were involved.

The second option, that he was still smarting about the Bonfire, could have played into it. Merry did say that after that event, the trees became very unfriendly (as if moving right to the Hedge and leaning over it in a menacing fashion was not 'unfriendly' enough).
If that's all it was about though, he certainly went to a lot of trouble to get them to his location, when it seems the message 'Get out of here, you're not wanted!', had already been clearly received by the Hobbits.
I was musing whether he might not have been actively aiding the Nazgûl. In UT, there is a version of the events occurring during the Hobbits' flight from the Shire, which brings up that very idea. The Witch-king had made a temporary base between the Barrow-downs and the South Downs. At one point he had gone to the Downs in person.

In notes on the movements of the Black Riders at that time, it is said that the Black Captain stayed there for some days, and the Barrow-wights were roused, and all things of evil spirit, hostile to Elves and Men, were on the watch with malice in the Old Forest and on the Barrow-downs.

The Hunt For the Ring (emphasis added)

If the Willow was in league with the Witch-king, I wonder what the plan was? The Willow didn't succeed in capturing all four of the party at any rate. Was it simply a delaying tactic? Would the Witch-king have gotten word somehow that a party of Hobbits had been located leaving the Shire?