The Barrow-Downs?

[Laurinquë]

So TheGreatElvenWarrior and I were talking and we were discussing why Tolkien put the Barrow-Downs and the Old Forest segment into LotR. And we were wondering if you peoples knew why the whole chunk from Crickhollow to the Barrow-Downs into the books and if LotR could have lived without it.

Of course we love it very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We would like some answers...

[The Might]

I am not sure myself, but perhaps infromation can be found in the HoMe series seeing how the story evolved.
Of course the story could have lived without it, you see that in the movies where the really important moment that takes place during this chapter - the Hobbits receiving the enchanted blades - is simply replaced with Aragorn giving them these swords.
As Tom Bombadil is not really of M-e it isn't really a big deal that they don't see him and nothing else in this time has great influence later.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

But surely there are many important things in the chapters. Let me say it this way: Of course if you reduced the whole story just to the basic scheme "hero goes to a quest, goes to First Safe Haven, gets companions, proceeds to... etc", you don't need the Old Forest. But if you take LotR as LotR, and not as "a story", then the question is rather pointless. How to say it, well, the Old Forest is a part of the story, and without it, it won't be the same story. Or, let me say it this way: if you take LotR as a complex work, not as "a story about Frodo going to Mount Doom", then it is necessary - in such a view, it does not matter whether you skip the Old Forest or whether you skip the part where Gollum falls to Mount Doom. Is it understandable what I want to say? LotR as a schematic work does not need to include Tom Bombadil and the events around. But LotR as LotR needs Tom Bombadil, needs Frodo's dream in his house, needs the Barrow-Downs. Needs Gandalf's visit of Tom Bombadil at the end of the story, even though there's nothing more than Gandalf mentioning it.

[radagastly]

I believe Tolkien said something about the hobbits needing an adventure between Crickhollow and Bree. I'm not sure where I read that, so perhaps someone else remembers and can provide the exact quote. At any rate, this side adventure increases the tension and tone of the story. It also causes a delay that allows time for other story elements to fall into place. Things might well have turned out quite differently if they had reached Bree in a day instead of the three days it ended up taking. The hobbits might well have passed Weathertop before the Black Riders ever got there.

But there is a more important reason to include this otherwise seemingly unintegrated adventure with Bombadil and the Barrow Wight. One of the things that LotR is about is its milieu, the setting and atmosphere of all Middle-Earth. While certain story elements may not be technically necessary to convey the plotline to the reader, they are essential to the texture of the whole. If he was only concerned with showing the plot, he could also have omitted Gildor and supper at Farmer Maggot's house and probably many other brief scenes as well. Maybe Fatty Bolger at Crickhollow? FEAR! FIRE! FOES! AWAKE! These sidelights give the reader a glimpse into the undusted corners of Middle-Earth that contributes to the bigger picture, one brush-stroke at a time, so to speak. The milieu itself becomes a character because we know it, it's woods and fields and little rivers. We care what becomes of it. Without these scenes, the departure at the Grey Havens would not move us so deeply. We know what Frodo is leaving behind, never to see again. We also see the descent from this world of wonder to the magic-free, mundane world it is meant to become. Without these scenes, the real wonder would never be there for us in the first place, so there would be no loss to mourn.

[Lalwendë]

Well said, radagastly. That section does add to the texture of Middle-earth. That whole section of the books is amongst my favourites, purely because it is so magical - in fact you can keep your Elves, I find the Barrow-Wight, Tom, Goldberry and Old Man Willow more magical than all the Elves put together Those chapters are just stuffed with references to English folklore and history.

Old Man Willow also foreshadows the Ents, and the Barrow-Wight the army of the dead.

And from a purely narrative point of view, it gives the Hobbits some genuine adventure and peril before they run into Strider. Had they run into him after having a wholly uneventful journey to Bree then I think they would have reacted in a completely different manner.

[Groin Redbeard]

Bang on job Radagastly! You hit the nail right on the head.

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

That whole section of the books is amongst my favourites, purely because it is so magical - in fact you can keep your Elves, I find the Barrow-Wight, Tom, Goldberry and Old Man Willow more magical than all the Elves put together Those chapters are just stuffed with references to English folklore and history.

Yes, yes, I love the fact that there is so much mystery located in that region of Middle Earth! I love folklore and history and that chapter seems to cover all of that.