Tolkien is never clear about what exactly the Barrow-Wights are, or were. He says that the Barrows are the graves of kings of old (or something like that) but are the Wights the spirits of those kings, or something else completely different?

_________________
"...that kind of music in general turns my stomach. It's nice that they do have fans, though." -Nienor

My "Tolkien's world from A to Z: The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth" (by Robert Foster) says: "BARROW-WIGHTS: Evil spirits from Angmar who infested the Great Barrows after TA 1636. The wights tried to entrap people in the barrows and then sacrifice them."
That's not a whole lot of information, but in my Tolkien Bestiary (this thing is my preciousssss) it says...dum de dum....they were burial mounds made in the First Age for the kings of men...for many years they were sacred and revered...oh, here we go: "Until out of the Witch-Kingdom of Angmar many terrible and tortured spirits fled across Middle-Earth, desperately searching to hide from the ravening light of the Sun." There's more that says they were demons whose bodies had been destroyed and looked for other bodies in which their evil spirits could dwell. That's pretty much the gist of it. I'm thinking maybe it's the same type of thing as Melkor making mockeries of the Elves (Orcs) and Ents (Trolls)? Maybe the Witch-King did something similar. I love it when people ask questions like this!

_________________

^I really like it too, but I never asked myself what the Barrow-Wights are. I'm glad that I know it now, though. Thanks for the information, Meldawen!

To clarify further:

In Tolkien's letters, he makes it clear that the spirits inhabiting the graves of the ancient Dunedain were spirits sent by the Witchking under Sauron's direction. They were not the spirits of the people buried there, and only the "sorcery" of the WitchKing kept them bound there. When that sorcery is dispelled (such as when Tom breaks the spell of the mound with song and light) they are no longer bound to the place they have been set.

The word "demons" is a descriptive invention of the author of the Bestiary (which I own) and not how Tolkien described them, such as in these passages:

Here's the description of what what the spirits really were. This holds for all manner of spirits in Tolkien's mythology, including Barrow-Wights.

"Each feä was imperishable within the life of Arda, and that its fate was to inhabit Arda to its end. As soon as they were disbodied they were summoned to leave the places of their life and death and go to the 'Halls of Waiting': Mandos, in the realm of the Valar"

Note: feä "corresponds, more or less, to 'soul'; and to 'mind' It was thus in its being... the impulse and power to think"

"It [feä] cannot be brought to Mandos. It is summoned... yet it [the summon] may be refused", moreover "refusal of the summons to Mandos and the Halls of Waiting is... frequent", because it happened that "it [feär] were already committed to the Darkness and passed then into its dominion. In like manner even of the Eldar some who had become corrupted refused the summons, and then had little power to resist the counter-summons of Morgoth"

So in essence, these were practices of Morgoth and his followers. Sauron, of course, and in turn his own (The WitchKing)





[/i]

_________________

Yes, thank you very much! I've always loved this chapter, because its so creepy... I think half of why its creepy to me is because I've never had a solid picture in my head of what exactly the barrow-wights were.

_________________
"...that kind of music in general turns my stomach. It's nice that they do have fans, though." -Nienor

^
me too. It was very hard to imagine for me.. the description in LotR was always a bit confusing for me, but very interesting..

_________________
[!+~^$#&:;]

I have a copy of FotR illustrated by Alan Lee, but sadly there's to illustration of the Barrow-Wights. I'm sure I've seen one somewhere, though...

hopefully you find one. It would be interesting to see how Alan Lee imagined the barrow-wights to be.

_________________
[!+~^$#&:;]

I found this. It's made by Ted Nasmith. Click!

Hmm. That's a really interesting picture! I'd think the Barrow would be a little more full of treasure than that, though...

But that hand is interesting. Kind of big and Troll-ish. I always pictured the Weights to be about the size of a human or elf, but kind of rotten and decayed... a bit like the un-dead of Middle Earth.

_________________

<center>

~I am a Shieldmaiden for Christ!~
[?~^:]
Doll base

I always thought they never really had a permanent physical form but they could change, because they are spirits and all. They aren't exactly un-dead, are they? More like ghosts than undead?

_________________

No, they're definitely sprit beings, that's for sure. I was just thinking that since Frodo saw a hand grasping the sword, they have to take on some kind of physical form, and that one just makes sense to me.

I'm sure they could change forms, if they wanted. Many of the other spirit-beings in Middle Earth can obviously change, like Sauron or Gandalf.

_________________

<center>

~I am a Shieldmaiden for Christ!~
[?~^:]
Doll base

I definitely agree with that Belle. They aren't really ghosts because they can change form, but they are not alive either.

Ah, but this is interesting... The word 'wight' comes from the Old English word 'wiht' which literally means 'thing'. Not sure if this really helps, but it is quite interesting.

According the Encyclopedia of Arda the barrow-wights were evil spirits sent to dwell in the barrow-downs. They were originally from Angmar till the Witch King sent them away.

I wouldn't have imagined the barrow-wights like that, I imagine them as not as human-looking as they were drawn by Alan Lee... but I think the colour fits to the barrow-wights very well..

_________________
[!+~^$#&:;]

I posted a bit on this in "Tom Bombadil annoying?" but I just wanted to say here that it was a favorite place for me in FotR. Barrow-wights were definitely treacherous for hobbits! Like Fíriel_18190 says, it was creepy and mysterious, not unlike some things in our world....

_________________
"If you do not find a way, no one will."

wow very deep thoughts. But I can only agree with ya.. and actually I'm glad that there are some mysterious things in the world (life would be very boring without them I think)

_________________
[!+~^$#&:;]