Though the chain of events that follow Frodo’s entrance to the Old Forest have completely altered his identity and made mirth impossible, entering Lothlórien does give Frodo a sense of hope as he takes in the purity of its woods and realizes that “on the land of Lórien there was no stain” (Tolkien 393).įinally, the phial of the light of Eärendil’s star that Galadriel gives to Frodo as the Fellowship prepares to exit Lothlórien proves to be a beacon of light and hope for Frodo, helping to carry him through the rest of his journey. Later in the Fellowship’s journey, Frodo has a brief chance to reassume a relatively carefree identity as the party enters the woods of Lothlórien. It is in the Old Forest that Frodo completely adopts the identity of grim determination that follows him throughout his journey to Mount Doom. As the hobbits lose their way, we learn that “a heavy weight was settling heavily on Frodo’s heart” (Tolkien 127). Shortly after entering the Old Forest, Frodo experiences the first symptoms of his identity shift. Merry even says triumphantly, “There! You have left the Shire, and are now outside, and on the edge of the Old Forest,” as if leaving the Shire was to be the worst part of their journey (Tolkien 124).

When they begin their travels, leaving the Shire and entering the Old Forest, all four hobbits are relatively carefree. In chapter 4, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin begin the journey that ultimately takes Frodo to Mount Doom. Old Forest: Īnother character whose identity shifts in his woodland journeys is Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring.

As he leaves the woods, Orfeo alters his beggarly identity, assuming the identity of travelling minstrel offering service to the king in order to gain entrance to the mysterious castle.įinally, after Orfeo rescues his wife and exits the metaphorical woods of testing his steward’s loyalty, he reassumes his kingly identity, bringing his kingdom back to the joy of former days. The author emphasizes this shift in Orfeo’s identity with four striking comparisons between his kingly identity and his new beggarly identity (241-56):Īt the end of ten years, Orfeo finally sees his wife again, and, in following her party, leaves the wooded wilderness and enters “a country fair / as bright as sun in summer air” ( Sir Orfeo 351-2). He effectually leaves behind his kingly identity, retaining only his identity as a musician. In Sir Orfeo, after his wife is taken, grief-stricken Orfeo forsakes his kingdom and enters the wooded wilderness with nothing but a beggar’s cloak and his harp. This is particularly evident in Sir Orfeo, an anonymous Middle English text, and J.R.R. Perhaps more interesting than the adventures that occur within the woods, however, is the way entering and exiting the woods tend to mark significant turning points in the characters’ identities. The idea that woods are a place of fantastic adventures is a common theme in both medieval and modern works. Though the wordplay is comical, their concern is real, and not altogether unmerited. 3.The Prologue of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Into the Woods ends with a dramatic, “Into the woods and out of the woods and home before dark!” as the characters make a determined effort to convince themselves that “the woods are just trees, the trees are just wood,” and that there is nothing to be afraid of in the woods. Mitchell was so taken with Tolkien’s fantasy tales that she even wrote him letters and named her music publishing company Gandalf Publishing. Mitchell interpreted Galadriel’s gift as a metaphor for “a memory of a beautiful time” which would help them brave the “hoary monsters” of the Wilderland. And when the travelers came to her kingdom before they had to venture off into very dangerous places and everything, she gave them a vial of light and she said ‘Take this vial and whenever you're in a dark place take it out.'” It’s an obscure enough term to make Mitchell’s mention seem coincidental, but she confirmed its origin while introducing the track at the 1969 Mississippi River Festival: “My favorite character, of course, was a lady wizard by the name of Galadriel. Joni Mitchell’s 1969 song “I Think I Understand” features the line “Fear is like a wilderland”-a reference to Tolkien’s Wilderland, a northern swath of Middle-earth that houses the forest of Mirkwood.

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