Chapter Eight: Flies and Spiders

Now that the party is without Gandalf, they stand at the entrance to the mysterious and dangerous forest of Mirkwood. Once known as Greenwood the Great in the Elder Days, the forest has grown darker and thicker and the evil stirring in Dol Guldur in the southern portion has had its effect over the years.

This chapter covers a lot of ground so I’m not going to describe each event in detail. Essentially, the action goes as follows: Bilbo and the Dwarves enter Mirkwood, they cross an Enchanted Stream (in which Bombur becomes temporarily enchanted into a deep sleep), play a game of cat and mouse with a camp of Wood Elves, get captured by a clutter of spiders after which they are rescued by Bilbo and Thorin is captured and brought before the Elven King. The content of this chapter could easily take up a full half an hour of screen time, if not more.

I will, however, make a few specific observations. Firstly, the presentation of Mirkwood should probably be different than the forests we have seen previously, such as Fangorn. While not as ancient as the home of Treebeard, Mirkwood is still vastly overgrown. However, I don’t think Tolkien intended it to be as dreary or menacing. I think we will see more natural light to show us the beauty of the forest as well as the danger.

When attempting the crossing of the Enchanted Stream, the Dwarves are surprised by a charging snowy white deer. In note 6 of “The Annotated Hobbit” it is pointed out that, in Celtic tradition, appearances of white animals prefigure an encounter with beings from the “otherworld”. Tolkien likely included this inclusion of the deer to foreshadow the approach to the realm of the Wood Elves. Will Jackson include the deer in the film? If so, it’s likely he read the same note and recognizes its significance.

There is also a point where Bilbo is directed by the Dwarves to climb a tree to its very top and get a sense of where they are in the forest. His appearance at the top of the trees and seeing large butterflies has always struck me as visually appealing enough to show on film. It was shown in the 1977 animated version but I don't hold out much hope that we'll see it here. It would, however, present an opportunity for a stunning visual.

As night falls, Bilbo and the Dwarves see a camp fire and follow it hoping to find some provisions to ease their hunger. As they approach, the fire goes out and they repeat this action two more times. But the Elves continue to evade them. Now, the Wood Elves are of a different sort that the Elves we saw in The Lord of the Rings. In Lothlorien, Galadriel and her kind were of the Noldor. The Elves of Mirkwood are descended from the Teleri, those who stayed in Middle-Earth and never returned to the Undying lands. Their race has a long history dating back to the First Age in the land of Doriath which later sank beneath the sea. They speak a version of Elvish known as Sindarin rather than the Quenya spoken by Galadriel. They will also, for the most part, have black hair like Elrond.

Their king is Thranduil, though he is only referred to as the “Elven King” in this book. His son is Legolas, who played a large role in The Lord of the Rings as a member of the Fellowship. Though Legolas is not part of the original story of “The Hobbit”, Orlando Bloom will be returning for these films. An ideal role for Legolas in this story would be to have him, rather than Thranduil himself, lead the party of Elves that encounter the Dwarves. And perhaps it would be most appropriate for Legolas to be the one who captures Thorin and brings him before his father.

The inclusion of Legolas, however, should be prudent as this character development is examined in The Lord of the Rings. Here we need to be merely introduced to him. Perhaps his relationship with Thranduil (and his role as “prince” of the Elves) or his personal view of Dwarves in general could be examined. It was also recently reported that a new female Elf character will be added to the story. I will address this change in the next chapter.

I would expect Peter Jackson to treat the material with the spiders as scary, if not downright terrifying. We’ve already gotten a taste for the Weta Workshop’s design of Shelob. These spiders will be certainly smaller, though how small in relation to the size of the Dwarves is anybody’s guess. And, no, I seriously doubt that they will be featured chatting about the quality of their captured prey.

Bilbo’s use of the Ring to confuse and distract the spiders begs an interesting question – just exactly how much of the invisibility power will be used throughout the film. Bilbo uses his new Ring quite liberally throughout the book but clearly this presents a limitation when translating the story to film. I’m guessing that unless a scene absolutely requires the use of the Ring (like Bilbo’s encounter with Smaug) that it will be included only sparingly.

Put another way, anyone who is familiar with the Harry Potter series will remember that the Invisibility Cloak makes repeated appearances (or disappearances?) in the books. But many of the same scenes in the films are either altered, shortened or eliminates the use of the Cloak entirely. This makes for a more visually friendly presentation. Don’t be surprised if in this case Bilbo uses the Ring only briefly or not at all, relying more on stealth to achieve the same effect.

On a side note with the spiders, note 12 of “The Annotated Hobbit” explains that Tolkien put spiders in the story specifically because his son, Michael, has a particular dislike of spiders “with a great intensity. [Tolkien] did it to thoroughly frighten him.”

In cutting the webs and fighting the spiders, Bilbo’s Elvish blade earns its nickname “Sting”. I would guess that this commentary by Bilbo will make its way into the scene. Those fans not familiar with the books may have wondered about the name when Bilbo gave it to Frodo to take on his quest with the Fellowship in Rivendell.

After the Dwarves are freed, they notice that Thorin is missing. We find out that he has been captured by the Wood Elves and is taken before Thranduil. Naturally, he is reluctant to divulge any information about his true objective at the Lonely Mountain being jealously protective of the treasure that lies within it. Does Thranduil suspect this? Perhaps he does but Thorin’s overall lack of cooperation leads him to his confinement by the Elves.

The strife between the Elves and the Dwarves goes back to the Second Age when the two races disputed possession of the Nauglamir, a necklace that held one of the Silmarils. The conflict led to the murder of the Elvish King Thingol and is recounted in Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion”. But it is never explained in The Lord of the Rings as to why there is all this animosity between the two races. Jackson may take the opportunity to explore this. It might be a nice tie in to the scene at the Council of Elrond where Gimli declares “never trust an Elf!”

In the next chapter, our hero and his party are tasked with getting Thorin (and, ultimately, themselves) out of this mess. Their escape is recounted in "Barrels Out Of Bond".