![]() The Watcher in the Water in Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring. Portrayal in adaptations įurther information: Adaptations of The Lord of the Rings This "guardian theory" has also been theorised by other writers such as Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. Harl also believes that Watcher in the Water represents itself as gatekeeper whose goal, in the context of the archetypal journey, is to guard the Doors of Durin keeping the heroes from entering into new territory, psychologically or spiritually. Įssayist Allison Harl speculates that the Watcher may be a kraken created and bred by Morgoth in Utumno. Tyler postulates the Watcher was a cold-drake: ".these dragons rely on their strength and speed alone (the creature that attacked the Ring-bearer near the Lake of Moria may have been one of these)." Another writer compared it to squids. However, Tolkien never called the Watcher a kraken nor described the presence of krakens in Middle-earth. In A Tolkien Bestiary, David Day calls the Watcher a kraken however, he also implies that there are some differences between the kraken of Scandinavian folklore and the Watcher in the Water. Since Tolkien never explicitly stated what the creature is, others have felt free to speculate on its identity and origins. However, its emergence, physical appearance, abilities, attack on the Fellowship, and rupture of the Moria Gate are already present in his initial writings. Tolkien's account of the creature at this stage is practically the same as in the final published version, except for the names of other characters. ![]() The episode is found in the chapter "The Mines of Moria", equivalent to "A Journey in the Dark" in The Fellowship of the Ring. This particular volume focuses upon The Lord of the Rings. See also: The History of The Lord of the RingsĪn early version of the Fellowship's encounter with the Watcher is found in The Return of the Shadow, part of The History of Middle-earth series, wherein the textual development of Tolkien's Middle-earth-related fantasy is discussed and analyzed by his son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien. The "Watcher in the Water" is the only name Tolkien gave to this creature in the The Lord of the Rings, and in any of his writings, although Tolkien refers to the Watcher in the Water as simply "The Watcher" for the remainder of the novel. They have taken the Bridge and second hall. In this manuscript, a scribe relates: "We cannot get out. There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world." Īfter journeying further into the mines, the Fellowship found the Book of Mazarbul, a record of the dwarf Balin's failed expedition to reclaim Moria and its eventual downfall. As Gandalf commented, "Something has crept or been driven out of the dark water under the mountains. ![]() Frodo and Gandalf were not sure whether it was one creature or many. Gandalf privately noted that the Watcher had grabbed only Frodo, the Ring-bearer. The Fellowship had no alternative but to go through the mines and exit them on the other side via the Dimrill Gate. The doors were sealed off, trapping the Fellowship in the mines. ![]() The Company retreated into Moria as the tentacles hurled the enormous stone doors shut and uprooted the trees that grew on either side of the entrance. Samwise Gamgee drove the tentacle off with his sword, but twenty other tentacles emerged from the water. The creature grasped Frodo with a long, pale green, luminous, fingered tentacle. Unknown to the Fellowship, something resided in the lake outside the gates, the "Watcher in the Water".īoromir unintentionally disturbed the water by casting a stone into the pool, and the Watcher attacked Frodo as the Fellowship was about to enter Moria. The Fellowship could not enter until Gandalf answered the riddle on the gates. The Doors were protected, allowing no entrance, requiring a password to be spoken. The Fellowship located the entrance to Moria: the Doors of Durin. Though many of the Company were reluctant, they were forced to turn back and instead make for the mines of Moria. At Aragorn's insistence they first tried the mountain pass, but weather conditions proved too severe for the Fellowship to continue on that path. In The Lord of the Rings, while the Fellowship of the Ring moved towards Mount Doom to complete its quest of destroying the One Ring made by the Dark Lord Sauron, Gandalf was forced to decide which path to take: over the mountain of Caradhras through the Redhorn Gate, or under the mountain, through the treacherous mines of Moria, where the Balrog resided, to the Dimrill Gate. ![]()
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