Old Forest: Difference between revisions

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In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional universe of Middle-earth, the Old Forest was a daunting and ancient woodland which covered about 800 square miles (2,000 km²) on the eastern borders of Buckland and the Shire.

The Old Forest was one of the few survivors of the primordial forests which had covered most of Eriador before the Second Age. Indeed it had once been but the northern edge of one immense forest which reached all the way to Fangorn forest, far to the south-east.

The survival of the Old Forest was doubtless due to the influence of aboriginal nature-spirits such as Tom Bombadil (benevolent but protective)) and Old Man Willow (hostile). The house of Tom Bombadil was located beside the eastern eaves of the forest, near where the Withywindle stream entered the woods.

The Old Forest was bordered on the east by the Barrow-downs, in the north it reached towards the Great East Road, and in the west and south it approached the Brandywine river. The Withywindle, a tributary of the Brandywine, ran through the heart of the forest, which covered most of the Withywindle's catchment area.

This was also a catchment area in another sense. The landscape, trees and plants were aligned so that if any strangers attempted to traverse the forest, then they tended to be funnelled towards the Withywindle, and into the clutches of Old Man Willow in particular.

The Old Forest was a type of woodland nowadays described as temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. Many of the trees were covered "with moss and slimy, shaggy growths." The west and south of the forest was dominated by "oaks and ashes and other strange trees", which tended to be replaced by pines and firs in the north. beeches and alders were found here and there, and willows were ubiquitous along the Withywindle.

A variety of plants grew in the forest's occasional glades: grass, hemlocks, wood-parsley, fire-weed, nettles, thistles and brambles.

Birds and mammals were only recorded in the vicinity of the Withywindle.

The Old Forest was little concerned with the history of Middle-earth, but sometimes that history approached close to the forest, and occasionally it entered in.

• First Age: Elves passed the forest on their primeval migration to Beleriand and the West. The forest was already part of the domain of Tom Bombadil.
• First Age: Dwarves constructed the Great East Road past the north of the forest.
• S.A. 3320: The kingdom of Arnor was founded, and the forest became a nominal part of its realm.
• T.A. 861: The area was allotted to Cardolan in the division of Arnor.
• T.A. 1406: Cardolan was invaded by Angmar, which conquered most of it, but remnants of the folk of Cardolan took refuge in the Old Forest (and also in the adjacent Barrow-downs).^[1] Although the forces of Angmar were soon driven back out of Cardolan, it ceased to be a political entity from this time, and the Old Forest was nominally assumed into the territory of Arthedain.
• T.A. 1601: King Argeleb II of Arthedain permitted many Hobbits to migrate past the forest, into lands west across the Brandywine river. There they founded the Shire.
• T.A. 1974: The kingdom of Arthedain fell, and with any pretence of a claim to the Old Forest fell into abeyance until the Fourth Age.
• T.A. 2340: A group of Hobbits, led by Gorhendad Oldbuck, migrated back across the Brandywine (then the eastern border of the Shire) to occupy Buckland, a strip of land over 20 miles long and a few miles wide between the river and the western eaves of the Old Forest.
• T.A. 3018: The One Ring is taken into the Old Forest for a brief but critical period, thus preventing the Ring from falling into the hands of Sauron.

The Hobbits of Buckland believed the trees of the Old Forest were in some manner 'awake', and were hostile. They sway when there is no wind, whisper at night, and mislead travellers deeper into the forest. When the trees grew too close to the High Hay (also known as the Hedge), hobbits cut down the trees nearest and created a clearing by a bonfire. Ever since then, the trees were more hostile. Deep within the Old Forest was the Withywindle Valley, a dark, evil and malevolent place which was the root of all the terrors of the forest.

Just before the War of the Ring, the hobbits Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took crossed through it trying to escape from the Black Riders. This is detailed in the The Fellowship of the Ring, in the chapter called "The Old Forest." According to this chapter, the trees had attacked Buckland much earlier by planting themselves next to the Hedge and leaning over. After this, the hobbits cleared a long strip of land on the outside of the Hedge and created a large bonfire in an area that later became known as the Bonfire Glade. After this, the trees became much more unfriendly to the hobbits.^[2]

At the eastern edge of the forest, on the bank of the river Withywindle, stood the house of Tom Bombadil, who rescued Pippin and Merry when they were trapped by a tree Tom called Old Man Willow.

The Old Forest does not appear in the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, neither the animated nor the live action version, but it is mentioned by Merry in a conversation with Pippin while they were held hostage by the Uruk-hai in The Two Towers. It appears in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game), but the game adds a bit of Mirkwood taste by adding on large spiders that lurk in the labyrinth and on the banks of the Withywindle. This is probably to make it more of an action game atmosphere, but nowhere in The Lord of the Rings did Tolkien describe spiders in the Old Forest. Morgoth's creatures did not really darken the Old Forest, but they did enter Mirkwood and darken it. Mirkwood was also not inhabited by moving trees. The Old Forest also appears in Turbine Inc's "The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar" MMORPG. In this game, before a fairly recent patch, there was no map in the Old Forest, and it was like a literal hedge maze. A map was added later on, though it is still a very dark and mysterious place to visit.

• Goldberry
• Huorn
• Tom Bombadil
• Old Man Willow
• Withywindle