Old Man Willow
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In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Old Man Willow is a fictional character, appearing in The Lord of the Rings. He was a willow in the Old Forest from which much of the Forest's hatred of walking things came. He might have been an Ent, or possibly a Huorn, as the Old Forest was originally part of the same primordial forest as Fangorn.
Tom Bombadil had power over Old Man Willow, and checked the evil as much as he could, or was willing.
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[edit] Biography
In the book, The Fellowship of the Ring, Old Man Willow cast a spell on the hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin), causing them to feel sleepy. Merry and Pippin go to lean against the trunk of the willow and fall asleep, while Frodo sits on a root to dangle his feet in the water, before he also falls asleep. The willow then traps Merry and Pippin in cracks of its trunk, and tips Frodo into the stream. They are saved by the timely arrival of Tom Bombadil who 'sings' the ancient tree to sleep.
[edit] Background
According to Tom Bombadil, of the corrupted trees of the Old Forest, "none were more dangerous than the Great Willow his heart was rotten, but his strength was green; and he was cunning, and a master of winds, and his song and thought ran through the woods on both sides of the river. His grey thirsty spirit drew power out of the earth and spread like fine root-threads in the ground, and invisible twig-fingers in the air, till it had under its dominion nearly all the trees of the Forest from the Hedge to the Downs."[1]
This description and its context make it clear that the Great Willow was originally a tree, despite its evident malicious sentience and power.
[edit] Portrayal in adaptations
Although this scene didn't appear in the 2001 movie adaptation, a very similar episode with hobbits being swallowed by a tree was included in the extended DVD edition of the second film where Merry and Pippin are attacked by a Huorn in Fangorn forest. In this interpretation Tom Bombadil's lines are spoken by Treebeard.
[edit] Folklore
In English folklore, a willow tree is believed to be quite sinster, capable of uprooting itself and stalking travellers. Katharine Mary Briggs characterized Old Man Willow as well fitting the traditional view of willows. [2]
- Willow trees are quite prevalent in folklore and myths. Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story called Under The Willow Tree (1853) in which children ask questions of a tree they call 'willow-father', paired with another entity called 'elder-mother' Green Willow is a Japanese ghost story in which a young samurai falls in love with a woman called Green Willow who has a close spiritual connection with a willow tree. The Willow Wife is another, not dissimilar tale. Wisdom of the Willow Tree is an Osage Nation story in which a young man seeks answers from a Willow tree, addressing the tree in conversation as 'Grandfather'.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.victorianweb.org/courses/fiction/65/tolkien/isaacs4.html
- ^ Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, "Fairy trees", p159. ISBN 0-394-73467-X
