Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 Episode 4.
This week’s episode ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, “Eldest,” comes with a spooky twist. It introduces many iconic and peculiar Middle-earth beings, like the Ents and Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), but none is as frightful and dangerous asthe Barrow-wights. These are the undead beings that Elrond’s (Robert Aramayo) company fights while on their way from Lindon to Eregion, and they give the Elves a hard time, nearly capturing Galadriel (Morfydd Clark).This is the first time the Barrow-wights have appeared in live-action, and, although they look very realistic and terrifying, they are a little early according toJ.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth timeline.
In the books, the Barrow-wights show up only inThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.The Hobbits' journey out of the Shire is a lot more complex in the books, and involves running from the Nazgûl, meeting a group of Elves, and getting to knowTom Bombadilonce he rescues them fromOld Man Willow, a sentient tree (not an Ent, though) in the Old Forest. After their rendezvous at Tom’s house, the Hobbits continue on towards the village of Bree, but quickly find themselves out of their element again in a dark and foggy land: the Barrow-downs.
The Barrow-downs are a stretch of land between the Old Forest and Bree, where, in the First Age, ancestors of the Edain (the Men who fight with the Valar against Morgoth)laid their kings and warriors to rest in burial mounds (“barrows”). There, the Hobbits are lulled into a sleeplike state by the fog. After falling asleep on one of the mounds, they are captured by a Barrow-wight, who drags them into the barrow. Inside, they are laid out as if for burial, with the Wight chanting spells over them — the same ones Elrond’s company hears inThe Rings of Power.Frodo, only half awake, realizes their peril and calls out to Tom Bombadil, who rescues the Hobbits once again.
According to the timeline, the Barrow-wights only come into existence around one-and-a-half millennia earlier, during the Third Age. By that time, the kingdom of Arnor,founded by Elendil(Lloyd Owen), has split into three. One of these kingdoms,Cardolan, comprises the lands where the Shire, the Old Forest, and the Barrow-downs are located, and is attacked by the newly-risen realm of Angmar, lair of theleader of the Nazgûl, the Witch-king. He summons the Barrow-wights for the first time, having evil spirits possess the decayed bodies of the Edain buried in the Barrow-downs. Their purpose seems to be to trap and ensnare the living, drawing them into their cold, deathly existence. After these events, the Barrow-wights continue to haunt the Barrow-downs, filling them with a sinister presence.
Why Are There Barrow-Wights in the Second Age of Middle-earth?
When Elrond’s company finds their way to Eregion blocked by a destroyed bridge, Camnir (Calam Lynch) suggests an alternative route. Either the group goes north and adds two weeks to their journey, a time that they don’t have, or they go south, through the Hills of Tyrn Gorthad. Shortly before this scene, the transition shows a map of Middle-earth, revealing that the straight path from Lindon to Eregion passes through unnamed lands.The Hills of Tyrn Gorthad, though, are what the Barrow-downs are called in the Second Age.
In Episode 2, “Where the Stars Are Stranger,” High King Gil-galad (Benjamin Walker) sends messengers to Eregion to warn Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) is, in fact, Sauron disguised. The Elvensmith is awaiting news from Lindon about whether the Elven Rings of Power have worked or not, but Sauron gets to Eregion first, and, in a brief scene in between those events,the messengers from Lindon are shown to have been killed by an unseen enemy, with chains dragging their bodies through the woods. Later, when Elrond, Galadriel, and their company face the Barrow-wights in battle, the undead enemies are using chains as weapons, and nearly drag Galadriel into their barrows with them.
During the battle, Elrond’s company finds the message that was supposed to reach Eregion, too, and it’s heavily implied thatit was Sauron who summoned the Barrow-wights to block the Elves' path to Eregion. Surprisingly enough, when watching the whole sequence with a map of Middle-earth inthe Second and Third Ages, it’s possible to see that, in the Third Age, the Shire, the Old Forest, and the Barrow-downsare located exactly on the path between Lindon and Eregion in the Second Age. This probably means that Elrond’s company probably followed a path north of the Old Forest in order to go south toward the Barrow-downs; had they taken a straight path, they would have probably passed right through the lands that will eventually become the Shire. It also means that, inThe Rings of Power’s continuity, it’s Sauron who raises the Barrow-wights, not the Witch-king of Angmar.
How Can Barrow-wights Be Defeated?
The sequence in which Elrond, Galadriel, and the other Elves fight the Barrow-wights is a highlight of the episode, and an eagerly awaited one. The creatures look even better than anticipated in the trailers, moving slowly and creepily, withpiercing blue eyes that might as well freeze an enemy on the spot out of fear. There are alsoconstant rattling sounds of jewelry and chains, which illustrate the fact that the Barrow-wights were once royalty.
Whenever they are struck, though, the Barrow-wights immediately reform and continue their slow movements toward their enemies. Regular blows aren’t enough to kill them, and, luckily, Elrond reveals that, “according to lore,“they can be killed for good when struck with the weapons they were buried with. Elrond is, of course, one of the most knowledgeable Elves around, but this is an original piece of lore inThe Rings of Power. In the books, Barrow-wights simply can’t be killed, since they are already dead. There is a being who seems to have extraordinary authority over them, though: Tom Bombadil. When Frodo calls for his help inThe Fellowship of the Ring, Tomshows up and commandsthe wights to go away, bringing sunlight with him and dispelling the sinister atmosphere. Like many dark creatures in Middle-earth, Barrow-wights are also vulnerable to sunlight.
The Rings of Powerdoes a lot to establish new lore around the Barrow-wights,although some of it may contradict some of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings. Still, it was great to finally put some creepy faces to their names, and they didn’t disappoint. Hopefully, they show up again, because they are the kind of dark creature that perfectly aligns with Sauron’sdark intentionsfor Middle-earth.
Season 2 of TheRings of Poweris streaming on Prime Video. New episodes air weekly on Thursdays.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Epic drama set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.
