Timeline for Why did Caradhras not want the Fellowship to pass?
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| Jul 11, 2022 at 18:14 | history | edited | DavidW | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 18, 2019 at 20:11 | review | Suggested edits | |||
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| May 21, 2015 at 23:42 | comment | added | Wad Cheber | @Gilles - well thought out answer, +1, but I have to agree with the others - Caradhras seems to be actively malicious. This doesn't deviate from the larger pattern of sentience where we don't expect to find it, which is a fairly consistent theme in Tolkien's work. | |
| Jul 24, 2014 at 21:22 | comment | added | Oldcat | I think Tolkien's statements how the snow only piled up right around where the Fellowship was indicates he leans towards the Mountain of Malice side somewhat. Nearly as soon as they turned back, the deep snow and cold was gone. | |
| Feb 13, 2014 at 16:23 | comment | added | Matt | And this is exactly what Tolkien was trying to accomplish ;-) The "magic" and mysticism of Middle Earth are very closely related to what we (and earlier Britons) would have experienced. Just like sea-goers often attribute sentience or malevolence to the storms and waves of the open water, so it is with particular mountains. It certainly seems that thus-and-such mountain hates interlopers and drives them away with fierce storms, but it's really just a natural weather pattern... probably. | |
| Jul 2, 2012 at 17:19 | vote | accept | Dharini Chandrasekaran | ||
| May 24, 2012 at 21:25 | comment | added | user56 | @dlanod Ah, but the river spirits are spirits who live in the river, they are not the river. Old Man Willow is a tree — possibly a distant cousin of Ents, if not an Ent with unusual psychology. | |
| May 24, 2012 at 21:18 | comment | added | dlanod | I agree with your answer overall - the characters definitely believe in the malicious nature of Caradhras, it is not unambigiously shown to be sentient, and whether there is a supernatural force behind Caradhras is left unsaid. As you say, you have no doubt it is not sentient. I interpret the passage as implying that Caradhras probably has a nature (mountain) spirit in control, given we already have examples of river spirits (Goldberry) and tree spirits (Old Man Willow). | |
| May 24, 2012 at 20:35 | comment | added | user56 | @dlanod There is no doubt for me that Caradhras is not sentient, Tolkien only wants us to believe that his characters believe him so. | |
| May 24, 2012 at 20:33 | comment | added | dlanod | I have always interpreted it as the spirit of Caradhras providing the storm in question, given the quotes provided by Gilles. However, much like Balrog wings, there is enough ambiguity to answer the question in whatever way fits your own preferred reading of the books. | |
| May 24, 2012 at 19:24 | comment | added | NominSim | Though it isn't explicitly stated in the books whether Caradhras is sentient or not, Tolkien certainly has anthropomorphized the mountain so that the question still seems valid. | |
| May 24, 2012 at 18:55 | history | answered | user56 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |