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masterghandalfThis is a repost from Das_Sporking2; previous installments of this sporking may be found here.
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Dennis L. McKiernan’s The Iron Tower! Last time, our Thornwalkers sang a song, infodumped to each other (about things they all already knew…), fought some Vulgs, and Hob died (and we knew him so well…). Today, they finally arrive at their base at Spindle Ford, and we get some indication of where this story is actually going, as McKiernan continues to mix and match elements from LotR in the process. Joining us today will be Shade and Sonam!
*Shade materializes in the sporking chamber next to a young man in a plain blue robe; he has a shaved head, a staff slung over one shoulder, and a pleasant, friendly expression*
Sonam: Hello, everyone! For those who don’t know me, I am Brother Sonam, itinerant monk of the West Wind, and I’m very glad to be joining all on today’s adventure, and hopefully this will be more pleasant than what the last story we had to deal with turned into… although I’m afraid if this one was actually good, we wouldn’t be here… well, in any case, I would like to approach things with an open mind and try to see the good along with the bad. Onward, then!
Shade: You do that. I’m here to point and laugh at how much of this thing is apparently copied from a better book – that sounds a lot more fun to me! Anyway *raises her hand as if making a toast* what the good Brother said – onward!
Chapter Three
MG: Before we get started, I would like to note that we’ll be splitting this chapter, as we’ll be doing for most of the chapters going forward, owing to the fact that they’re about to start getting very, very long – we’re probably even going to get to some three-parters eventually, something I don’t usually do! Just wanted to give you all a heads’ up!
Shade: Great. Well, we open just before noon as Tuck, Danner, Tarpy and Patrel arrive at Spindle Ford; Hai roi! Patrel! Ho! Where’s your ponies? Welcome back! *confused* Hai roi? Not heard that one before… Anyway, the camp is composed of tents and lean-to’s, making for the headquarters building, one of only two permanent structures there, made of hewn, notched logs and stone and sod, the other building being a goodly sized storehouse. The other Warrows quickly realize that Patrel is downcast and not responding to their happy greetings and quickly get together and lead him and the others into the main building, where two more buccen are waiting – one in his prime, the other old, a granther. The younger greets Patrel and his recruits and asks where their fourth recruit is, and Patrel explains that he’s dead. Vulg slain. To which the others react with disbelief… which doesn’t speak well of these Thornwalkers, I’d say, since they’re supposed to be protecting the Boskydells but somehow at least one pack of evil monster wolves snuck past them undetected. *shakes her head* Tsk, tsk.
Sonam: Now, Shade, I’m sure there’s a logical explanation here… somewhere? Anyway, Patrel explains how Hob died, and that they fear the Vulgs got Arlo and Willa Huggs as well, to the old “granther’s” dismay. He summons Patrel and the others to come sit with him and tell him their story in full, and introduces his companion as Captain Darby, and himself as Gammer Alderbuc, who I believe was mentioned back in the first chapter.
As the three young buccen bowed, they saw before them Captain Darby: square-built; slightly shorter than Tuck with hair nearly as black, though his eyes were a dark blue. He had about him an air of command. Yet, as arresting as Captain Darby’s appearance was, Gammer Alderbuc’s was even more so, and the eyes of the trio were irresistibly drawn to him: Old he was, a granther, yet his gaze was steady and clear, peering from pale amber eyes ’neath shaggy white brows that matched his hair; he could not have been any taller than Patrel’s diminutive three-feet, but he was not bent with age, and though he bore a cane, he seemed hale. This was the Warrow who had first taken action to muster the Thornwalkers and to organize the Wolf Patrols when Northdell crofters began losing sheep and other livestock because the unnatural winter cold had driven Wolves into the Boskydells. At the time, he had been the honorary First Captain of the Thornwalkers, but he had stepped aside, declaring that it was a task for a younger buccan, Captain Alver of Reedyville in Downdell. And so it was that Captain Alver assumed command of all the Boskydell Thornwalkers.
Sonam: And so Patrel, Tuck, Tarpy and Danner do indeed sit down and share their tale – mercifully skimmed over for the reader – and when they’re done, Captain Darby proclaims them no longer raw recruits, but blooded Thornwalkers. He says he’s proud of them, and the Gammer agrees. Lunch is brought in for them, and when they’re done eating the two officers compliment them on raising the alarm, so that soon the whole Boskyedells will know. Tuck asks if they can send out scouts to find their ponies, Danner and Patrel agree, and Tarpy falls asleep.
Shade: …understandable, for more reasons than one. But this motivates Captain Darby to dismiss them to their tents to rest and starts making plans to look for their ponies and to find wherever the Vulgs have to be sheltering in the day, wishing they had dwarves on hand to help them search deep places. *rolls her eyes* Because clearly, only dwarves know how to look for caves. Before they go, the Gammer speaks up. He says when he first organized the Wolf Patrols he thought they really only had regular wolves to deal with, and rambles at some length – rather longer than he needs to - about how wolves have come to fear them, though he’s sure hunger will drive more of them into the Bosky during the winter. But despite the rumors, he hadn’t really expected Vulgs until now, but thanks to the actions of Our Heroes, the four Warrow kindred have been alerted to the danger.
Look around you: this very building symbolizes the four kindred: The logs represent the trees where dwell the Quiren Warrows, my folk, and I dare say ancestors of Tarpy and Patrel; the stone represents the field houses of the Paren Warrows, perhaps kith to Danner, here, by the look of him; the wicker comes from the fens of the Othen Warrows, like Captain Alver down in Reedyville; and the sod represents the burrows of the Siven Warrows, Captain Darby’s folk, and it seems Tuck’s, too. But whether Bosky folk live in tree flets, stone field-houses, fen stilt-houses, or burrows, none are safe where the Vulg walks, for Vulgs slink in secret through the night.
Shade: …yaay, more telling people things they already know. I’m sure all of these Warrows don’t need their own heritage explained to them, thank you kindly.
MG: In any case, it’s pretty clear that the four Warrow kindreds as a concept are directly derived from the three ancestral hobbit tribes in LotR, the Fallohides, Harfoots and Stoors, even if they don’t map onto them directly.
Sonam: *sighs* It begins already, doesn’t it? Alderbuc thanks them again for their service, and Tarpy thanks him in turn, calling him Eld Buccan, which he’s amused by since he’s over a hundred years old and therefore technically a granther, and I guess Warrows are very particular about giving the proper names to their life stages? *he shrugs*
MG: In any case, as I recall from other books in the series “eld” is McKiernan’s preferred description for an old person regardless of race or species.
Sonam: … interesting? Well, after some gentle ribbing from Alderbuc, our heroes head off for their tents as Alderbuc himself prepares to move out to the next camp on his tour, and the scene ends. We cut to Tuck waking up in the middle of the night to update his diary before falling back to sleep, full of troubled dreams he doesn’t remember, and this scene ends, as well.
MG: Worth noting that Frodo Baggins also has troubled sleep and uneasy dreams, though Tolkien tends to tell us what they entail, unlike McKiernan here.
Shade: I’d just as soon keep my nightmares private and not go exploring anyone else’s, thanks. We cut to Tuck and Danner as they’re awakened by Patrel, who tells them that they’ve been assigned to the early evening watch, but first it’s time to eat and meet their squadmates. They start getting ready, and are somewhat taken aback by the accommodations, especially as it turns out their squad only gets to do laundry once a week, on Tuesdays, but by the time you’ve chopped the wood for the heating fire, and hauled water from the spring for the tubs, and all the other work needed to get a bath and do your laundry, then once a week will seem often enough for that privilege. Patrel goes on to explain the chores they’ll need to do, including cooking, sorting supplies, and chopping firewood as well as laundry. We learn that their squad contains twenty-two Warrows in total, and they also get a chance to inspect the Thornwall itself for the first time.
Dense it was; even birds found it difficult to live deep within its embrace. Befanged it was, atangle with great spiked thorns, long and sharp and iron hard, living stilettoes. High it was, rearing up thirty, forty, and in some places fifty feet above the river valleys from which it sprang. Wide it was, reaching across broad river vales, no less than a mile anywhere, and in places greater than ten. And long it was, stretching completely around the Boskydells, from the Northwood down the Spindle, and from the Updunes down the Wenden, until the two rivers joined one another; but after their joining, no farther south did the ’Thorn grow. It was said that only the soil of the Bosky in these two river valleys would nourish the Barrier. Yet the Warrows had managed to cultivate a long stretch of it, reaching from the Northwood to the Updunes, completing the Thornring. And so, why it did not grow across the rest of the Land and push all else aside remained a mystery; though the grandams said, It’s Adon’s will, while the granthers said, It’s the soil, and neither knew the which of it for certain.
MG: …so yeah, it’s just the Hedge that separates Buckland from the Old Forest in LotR, only bigger and, well, thornier. And surrounding the wholeShire Bosky instead of just Buckland.
Sonam: …well, it would certainly be intimidating to me. We learn that Spindle Ford is one of a number of locations where the Warrows have cut paths through the Thornwall, though it’s possible for other creatures to break through it as well, with patience and determination. Apparently, keeping the passages open is hard work, as one might imagine, but the Warrows make certain to do it to better facilitate trade with the outside world. Tuck sits there eating his breakfast and musing on all this as Patrel fills in the rest of the squad about the fight with the Vulgs, and when he’s done Tuck notices that he, Danner and Tarpy are being regarded with a high respect akin to awe. *shakes his head* And we’re not even three chapters into the story yet… Patrel assigns Arbin Digg, one of the other Warrows, to show the newcomers around the camp, though Arbin mostly just wants to talk about, of course, the Vulgs. Tarpy confirms that Vulgs really are as big as ponies, though the only way one would ever ride them is from the inside… so to speak. Though Danner thinks they don’t actually eat Warrows, and just kill for the joy of it.
Shade: I will note that they’ve been stealing the bodies of Warrows they kill, so clearly, they do something with them. Arbin then shows them the passage through the barrier, which is so dark that when it’s fully leafed out you need torches to see, and explains how they keep the passage clear and the movable barricades they put up in various parts of it. Finally, they reach the River Spindle, which sadly isn’t much described, and its eponymous ford– and meet the squad who are standing guard on that end. On the other side of the river, there’s apparently yet more thorns – by the Four! – continuing for another two miles until it reaches the border of the realm of Rian.
MG: That being the northern realm of the High Kingdom of Mithgar… so, in other words, it’s Arnor, or at least Arthedain, still intact in Mithgar, unlike it’s Middle-earthian counterpart.
Shade: Well, they cross the river on the ice and look up at the sky peaking through the thorns, which Arbin marvels at, and keep going down through the thorns on the other side, where the Beyonder Guard…
MG: Not to be confused with Shire’s Bounders (or Marvel Comics’ Beyonder, for that matter! Though come to think, Modru’s name also sounds suspiciously similar to a notable DC villain, Mordru…)
Shade: …is stationed. He explains some more about how the different units send messages to each other and how they fight off any attempted intrusion, with the last line of defense being the Deep Plug *snickers* back at camp, which can seal off the passage till Gyphon, himself, comes back. Which seems to basically be a fancy of saying “until the world ends,” though Tuck can’t help but shiver at the mention of Gyphon, and the scene ends.
Sonam: That night, Tuck, Danner and Tarpy are assigned to the guard post on the near side of the ford; they take turns standing guard and Tuck writes in his diary, and then the watch shift changes and the scene ends. That… was remarkably pointless. The next morning
Tuck and Danner’s ponies are found, but not Patrel’s or the pack pony. Tuck, Danner, Tarpy and their squad go hunting Vulgs, or at least caves or sheltered places where they might hide during the day, but have no luck, and see no mundane wolves either. Again at night they stood Beyonder Guard at the ford, but nothing of note occurred. Beg pardon, but why is the author explicitly point out to us that nothing is happening? Shouldn’t he be trying to distract us from that? We’re then told that for the next six days the routine continues, with the only thing of note occurring being that Tarpy cooks, which… I guess is noteworthy? The day after, Patrel’s pony comes wandering into camp, and Patrel’s squad is assigned to go hunting for wolves and Vulgs. This time it’s Tuck’s turn to cook so he stays behind and spends all day worrying about his friends, especially when they’re an hour later in returning than the other hunting squads, leaving him terrified something has happened to them. But finally, they return. Tarpy informs him they found the pack pony, dead, its packs ransacked and Patrel’s lute smashed up, but no sign of Vulgs. He admits they’re all exhausted from the day’s work, and the scene ends.
Shade: Well, apparently ten more days pass with no sign of wolf or Vulg – by the Four, if McKiernan’s goal is to make me feel as bored as his characters are, he’s succeeding! – and they wonder if the Vulgs may be somehow lairing inside the Thornwall itself, in which case they’ll never find them in there. Patrel muses that they’ve been sending out enough patrols they should have found something by now, and Danner suggests they lay a trap and lure the Vulgs to them. Tuck thinks they could track them with dogs, and Patrel says another squad tried that and it turned up nothing, too. He wonders if the Vulgs came to the Bosky on some errand and, having completed it, left. But what that mission may have been, I cannot say. Oh, that’s very helpful! Tuck finds himself again shivering from the icy fingers of an unknown doom – it’s just nerves, boy, stop being so melodramatic – and the scene ends.
Sonam: Well, the next night, something out of the unusual finally happens – a wagon train of refugees passes the Bosky, heading west from Rian to Wellen.
Danner, who had cook duty, described the train: “Long it was, perhaps a hundred or so waggons, loaded with food and household goods, and driven by Men, mostly oldsters, and Women, with their offspring, too. Big, those Folk are: nearly twice my size, and I’m no tiny dink like Tarpy, here.
“And the escort, soldiers on horseback, with helms and swords, and spears, too. Lor! Big horses, big Men.” Danner paused in reflection, and it was the first time in Tuck’s memory that he’d ever seen Danner impressed. “It took nearly two hours for the train to pass through,” continued Danner, “and the Captain of the escort, well he was closeted with Captain Darby for most of that time. Then he just up and rode off as the last waggon trundled through. And then they were gone.” Danner took a bite of bread and chewed unconsciously, his amber eyes lost in elsewhen thought.
Sonam: Hmmm; I wonder if Danner being impressed by the soldiers is foreshadowing for something? Everyone surrounds Danner, asking him questions, but Patrel interrupts, saying that Captain Darby wants to gather the whole camp for an important message in an hour. Everyone, Tuck included, hastily finishes their meals and cleanup and soon gather at the main building where Captain Darby is waiting, his face enshadowed. He calls roll – everyone is there except the Beyonders – and then gets to business.
“Buccen,” Captain Darby began, his voice raised so that all could hear, “some of the rumors are true: There is trouble brewing up north, beyond the Keep. High King Aurion prepares for War: War with Modru, the Enemy in Gron.” …“I had a long talk with Captain Horth, leader of the waggon-train escort; he said that the call had gone forth for the allies of the High King to rally to his aid. Why the summons has not yet come to the Bosky, neither he nor I can say; but I believe that it will, and so we must begin to think upon going: those who will it may take their leave and join the Allies at the Keep; yet the Bosky must not be left unguarded and undefended should the foe come nigh, hence that, too, must be considered.”
MG: Surely, it’s a complete coincidence that Modru, like Sauron, is sometimes called “the Enemy” with a capital “E.” Obviously. And, again, this is a point where I feel like McKiernan is mixing and matching different elements from the Legendarium. Unlike Frodo, neither Tuck nor any of the other Warrows are in possession of some object of Modru’s or that he wants, or that they’re going to have to flee to keep safe from him (there is an artifact involved with Modru’s power that will be plot-critical later for how things will end up being resolved, but it enters the story at a later time and in a different way). So, while our heroes are, essentially, hobbits, they’re not getting involved in the broader story the way that Frodo and his friends did. However, there is an instance of the Shire militia being called up to support a high king in the backstory – a squad of archers was sent from the Shire to support Arvedui, the last king of Arthedain and Aragorn’s ancestor, in his final struggle against Angmar and the Witch King. And Rian, as noted, as basically a still-extant Arnor or Arthedain, and Gron, at least in its geographical position, is as much Angmar as Mordor. I just find it interesting that even when McKiernan does deviate obviously from LotR, you can still find a parallel to what he’s doing somewhere else in the Legendarium.
Also worth noting is that, while a lot of modern high fantasy likes to play coy with just what and who the actual plot and antagonist even is, sometimes not even revealing it until the end of the first book of a series or even into the second, Iron Tower establishes its conflict and stakes right away, and sticks to it. It’s honestly kind of refreshing.
Sonam: Well, I don’t really feel qualified to comment on any of that? Anyway, the Thornwalkers are stunned that the rumors are true and that they may have to leave the Bosky to fight for the High King. Tuck himself is torn – he’s even more disturbed now than he was when he first heard the rumors about Modru, and he’s certainly never considered leaving the Bosky, but part of him thinks that if he wants to avenge Hob, the best way to do it would be to go, answer the High King’s summons and face Modru’s Horde on the battlefield, and that this might also be the best way to protect the Bosky. Someone else asks how they know it’s really Modru – a good question, I think?
MG: I’ll note that this is an interesting way LotR is different from a lot of its imitators – a lot of later epic fantasy will have the dark lord/elder evil/what have you only just returning at the beginning of the story, with a lot of doubt about what’s really going on and a need to rally disbelieving peoples to join against the enemy. This isn’t true in LotR – Sauron returned to Mordor shortly after the events of The Hobbit, more than seventy years before LotR, and declared himself openly at the time – no one has any doubt by the beginning of the story that it’s really him. What effort has to be put into rallying people to face him has less to do with disbelief and more with the enemy actively working to sew division among his enemies, as in Rohan. Now, the hobbits themselves have only just recently started hearing rumors of Mordor’s resurgence… but that’s because the Shire is a long, long way from Mordor and largely insulated from the effects of the war, not because Sauron isn’t operating publicly.
Shade: Well, as it happens, there’s something going on in Gron that nobody can explain.
“Captain Horth said that there’s a great wall of darkness stalking down the Land from the north. Eerie it is, and frightening, too, like a great black shadow. And inside the darkness is bitter winter cold and the Sun shines not, though it rides the day sky. And there be fell creatures within that blackness, Rûcks and such, Modru’s lackeys of old, a gathering of his Horde. And it is reported that some skirmishes with the Enemy’s forces already have occurred.”
Shade: …sounds like my kind of place. Ahem. Well, that’s one way around Adon’s Ban, I guess! If your troops are instantly killed by the sun, just… remove the sun as a factor! Simple, direct. I like it. The Warrows, though, start panicking about Modru’s horde! This is awful! Legends come to life! Captain Darby calms them down, pointing out that even the shadow could just be a system of thick clouds and not really Modru’s hand at work – come on, now – and tells them that for now, they need to focus on their duties. Yet when King Aurion’s muster is sounded, then you must choose. He dismisses everyone to their tents, and Tuck writes a longer diary entry than usual that night as the scene ends.
MG: And this is where we’ll be taking our break for today! The biggest thing that jumps out at me in today’s selection is the pacing. Last chapter, the pace felt like it was moving faster than in the actual LotR, with us having what felt like a version of the Weathertop attack before our heroes even made it out of “the Shire.” But here, the pacing ends up being kind of the opposite. Narratively, the closest equivalent to this sequence in LotR is Frodo and Friends spending the night at Crickhollow after reaching Buckland, before leaving the Shire entirely the next morning. That stayover, obviously, was quite brief – and the Bakshi and Jackson movies both skip over it entirely. Here, however, our heroes are basically stuck and Spindle Ford for days doing nothing of note… as the narration actively lampshapes. We have numerous scenes of them just going through their routines, accomplishing nothing, waiting for something to happen. It’s hardly the worst pacing I’ve ever encountered in fantasy, admittedly, but especially coming after last chapter and comparing it to the original story, it’s still pretty jarring. We do, on the other hand, learn far, far too much about the daily operations of the Thornwalkers and the composition and tending of the Thornwall, most of which I skimmed over for all our sakes’. And guys, I think McKiernan really, really likes the damn Thornwall; he sure spends enough time describing it!
When the actual plot gets started, we get another interesting parallel with LotR. We get to see how Modru is getting around the Ban by, as Shade noted, removing the sun as a factor entirely. Of course, in LotR Sauron does something very similar, but it’s much less significant – Sauron only blots out the sun for a few days (and a few chapters) in the lead-up to the Siege of Gondor (as distinct from the clouds of smoke and shadow that always cover Mordor proper), to allow the Witch King to have an easier time moving his armies from Minas Morgul to the Pelennor Fields (notably, this is something I don’t think the Jackson movies convey very well – the sky is overcast, yes, but the movie never really shows the oppressive, overwhelming darkness the book describes. Weirdly, this is something the Rankin-Bass RotK movie actually did better). It’s a mostly tangential plot point, albeit a terrifying demonstration of the scope of Sauron’s power. Here, perhaps because the Spawn’s weakness to the light is far greater and more fatal than that of the orcs, Modru’s darkness is much greater in scope, much longer-lasting, and much more central to the plot. We’ll find out more about what’s going on with it as we go on (but suffice to say, there’s a reason he can do this now, but never before).
Something interesting I’ll note is the description of Modru’s army as a “Horde.” Mordor’s armies in LotR are a well-oiled, impersonally brutal machine – the orcs live strictly regimented lives, talk – and act – like caricatures of WWI-era British infantrymen (something Tolkien, of course, had first-hand experience of!) and even have serial numbers. Too many later fantasy writers would just make their evil mooks feral, barely-sapient monsters – Trollocs, Darkspawn, Sranc, what have you – and McKiernan unfortunately tends more towards that end of things (the Hloks and especially the Ghuls are more intelligent, but with a couple of exceptions still rarely emerge as actual characters). It’s an aspect of the telephone-game that is the evolution of epic fantasy tropes that I find curious, and even a writer who imitates Tolkien more directly than most fell into it (notably, fellow Tolkien-imitator Terry Brooks did not – the Trolls in Sword of Shannara, who fill the basic narrative niche of orcs despite their name, ultimately prove to be noble proud warrior race guys forced to fight for the Warlock Lord and a group of rebel Trolls fighting against him prove critical to the climax of the story; the Gnomes, who in the Shannara books are closer to stereotypical goblins, are just easily intimidated by magic and bullied into fighting for the villains, but left to their own devices mostly just want to be left alone). OTOH, calling the villain’s army the Horde with a capital H just makes me think of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, sadly soon to leave Netflix due to rights issues – and you know, substituting Hordak for Modru, and Horde Prime for Gyphon, would make this story far more interesting, in my humble opinion!
Anyway, that’s all for today! Next time, the Thornwalkers set off! We’ll see you then!
MG: Well, everyone, it’s time to continue our journey through Dennis L. McKiernan’s The Iron Tower! Last time, our Thornwalkers sang a song, infodumped to each other (about things they all already knew…), fought some Vulgs, and Hob died (and we knew him so well…). Today, they finally arrive at their base at Spindle Ford, and we get some indication of where this story is actually going, as McKiernan continues to mix and match elements from LotR in the process. Joining us today will be Shade and Sonam!
*Shade materializes in the sporking chamber next to a young man in a plain blue robe; he has a shaved head, a staff slung over one shoulder, and a pleasant, friendly expression*
Sonam: Hello, everyone! For those who don’t know me, I am Brother Sonam, itinerant monk of the West Wind, and I’m very glad to be joining all on today’s adventure, and hopefully this will be more pleasant than what the last story we had to deal with turned into… although I’m afraid if this one was actually good, we wouldn’t be here… well, in any case, I would like to approach things with an open mind and try to see the good along with the bad. Onward, then!
Shade: You do that. I’m here to point and laugh at how much of this thing is apparently copied from a better book – that sounds a lot more fun to me! Anyway *raises her hand as if making a toast* what the good Brother said – onward!
Chapter Three
MG: Before we get started, I would like to note that we’ll be splitting this chapter, as we’ll be doing for most of the chapters going forward, owing to the fact that they’re about to start getting very, very long – we’re probably even going to get to some three-parters eventually, something I don’t usually do! Just wanted to give you all a heads’ up!
Shade: Great. Well, we open just before noon as Tuck, Danner, Tarpy and Patrel arrive at Spindle Ford; Hai roi! Patrel! Ho! Where’s your ponies? Welcome back! *confused* Hai roi? Not heard that one before… Anyway, the camp is composed of tents and lean-to’s, making for the headquarters building, one of only two permanent structures there, made of hewn, notched logs and stone and sod, the other building being a goodly sized storehouse. The other Warrows quickly realize that Patrel is downcast and not responding to their happy greetings and quickly get together and lead him and the others into the main building, where two more buccen are waiting – one in his prime, the other old, a granther. The younger greets Patrel and his recruits and asks where their fourth recruit is, and Patrel explains that he’s dead. Vulg slain. To which the others react with disbelief… which doesn’t speak well of these Thornwalkers, I’d say, since they’re supposed to be protecting the Boskydells but somehow at least one pack of evil monster wolves snuck past them undetected. *shakes her head* Tsk, tsk.
Sonam: Now, Shade, I’m sure there’s a logical explanation here… somewhere? Anyway, Patrel explains how Hob died, and that they fear the Vulgs got Arlo and Willa Huggs as well, to the old “granther’s” dismay. He summons Patrel and the others to come sit with him and tell him their story in full, and introduces his companion as Captain Darby, and himself as Gammer Alderbuc, who I believe was mentioned back in the first chapter.
As the three young buccen bowed, they saw before them Captain Darby: square-built; slightly shorter than Tuck with hair nearly as black, though his eyes were a dark blue. He had about him an air of command. Yet, as arresting as Captain Darby’s appearance was, Gammer Alderbuc’s was even more so, and the eyes of the trio were irresistibly drawn to him: Old he was, a granther, yet his gaze was steady and clear, peering from pale amber eyes ’neath shaggy white brows that matched his hair; he could not have been any taller than Patrel’s diminutive three-feet, but he was not bent with age, and though he bore a cane, he seemed hale. This was the Warrow who had first taken action to muster the Thornwalkers and to organize the Wolf Patrols when Northdell crofters began losing sheep and other livestock because the unnatural winter cold had driven Wolves into the Boskydells. At the time, he had been the honorary First Captain of the Thornwalkers, but he had stepped aside, declaring that it was a task for a younger buccan, Captain Alver of Reedyville in Downdell. And so it was that Captain Alver assumed command of all the Boskydell Thornwalkers.
Sonam: And so Patrel, Tuck, Tarpy and Danner do indeed sit down and share their tale – mercifully skimmed over for the reader – and when they’re done, Captain Darby proclaims them no longer raw recruits, but blooded Thornwalkers. He says he’s proud of them, and the Gammer agrees. Lunch is brought in for them, and when they’re done eating the two officers compliment them on raising the alarm, so that soon the whole Boskyedells will know. Tuck asks if they can send out scouts to find their ponies, Danner and Patrel agree, and Tarpy falls asleep.
Shade: …understandable, for more reasons than one. But this motivates Captain Darby to dismiss them to their tents to rest and starts making plans to look for their ponies and to find wherever the Vulgs have to be sheltering in the day, wishing they had dwarves on hand to help them search deep places. *rolls her eyes* Because clearly, only dwarves know how to look for caves. Before they go, the Gammer speaks up. He says when he first organized the Wolf Patrols he thought they really only had regular wolves to deal with, and rambles at some length – rather longer than he needs to - about how wolves have come to fear them, though he’s sure hunger will drive more of them into the Bosky during the winter. But despite the rumors, he hadn’t really expected Vulgs until now, but thanks to the actions of Our Heroes, the four Warrow kindred have been alerted to the danger.
Look around you: this very building symbolizes the four kindred: The logs represent the trees where dwell the Quiren Warrows, my folk, and I dare say ancestors of Tarpy and Patrel; the stone represents the field houses of the Paren Warrows, perhaps kith to Danner, here, by the look of him; the wicker comes from the fens of the Othen Warrows, like Captain Alver down in Reedyville; and the sod represents the burrows of the Siven Warrows, Captain Darby’s folk, and it seems Tuck’s, too. But whether Bosky folk live in tree flets, stone field-houses, fen stilt-houses, or burrows, none are safe where the Vulg walks, for Vulgs slink in secret through the night.
Shade: …yaay, more telling people things they already know. I’m sure all of these Warrows don’t need their own heritage explained to them, thank you kindly.
MG: In any case, it’s pretty clear that the four Warrow kindreds as a concept are directly derived from the three ancestral hobbit tribes in LotR, the Fallohides, Harfoots and Stoors, even if they don’t map onto them directly.
Sonam: *sighs* It begins already, doesn’t it? Alderbuc thanks them again for their service, and Tarpy thanks him in turn, calling him Eld Buccan, which he’s amused by since he’s over a hundred years old and therefore technically a granther, and I guess Warrows are very particular about giving the proper names to their life stages? *he shrugs*
MG: In any case, as I recall from other books in the series “eld” is McKiernan’s preferred description for an old person regardless of race or species.
Sonam: … interesting? Well, after some gentle ribbing from Alderbuc, our heroes head off for their tents as Alderbuc himself prepares to move out to the next camp on his tour, and the scene ends. We cut to Tuck waking up in the middle of the night to update his diary before falling back to sleep, full of troubled dreams he doesn’t remember, and this scene ends, as well.
MG: Worth noting that Frodo Baggins also has troubled sleep and uneasy dreams, though Tolkien tends to tell us what they entail, unlike McKiernan here.
Shade: I’d just as soon keep my nightmares private and not go exploring anyone else’s, thanks. We cut to Tuck and Danner as they’re awakened by Patrel, who tells them that they’ve been assigned to the early evening watch, but first it’s time to eat and meet their squadmates. They start getting ready, and are somewhat taken aback by the accommodations, especially as it turns out their squad only gets to do laundry once a week, on Tuesdays, but by the time you’ve chopped the wood for the heating fire, and hauled water from the spring for the tubs, and all the other work needed to get a bath and do your laundry, then once a week will seem often enough for that privilege. Patrel goes on to explain the chores they’ll need to do, including cooking, sorting supplies, and chopping firewood as well as laundry. We learn that their squad contains twenty-two Warrows in total, and they also get a chance to inspect the Thornwall itself for the first time.
Dense it was; even birds found it difficult to live deep within its embrace. Befanged it was, atangle with great spiked thorns, long and sharp and iron hard, living stilettoes. High it was, rearing up thirty, forty, and in some places fifty feet above the river valleys from which it sprang. Wide it was, reaching across broad river vales, no less than a mile anywhere, and in places greater than ten. And long it was, stretching completely around the Boskydells, from the Northwood down the Spindle, and from the Updunes down the Wenden, until the two rivers joined one another; but after their joining, no farther south did the ’Thorn grow. It was said that only the soil of the Bosky in these two river valleys would nourish the Barrier. Yet the Warrows had managed to cultivate a long stretch of it, reaching from the Northwood to the Updunes, completing the Thornring. And so, why it did not grow across the rest of the Land and push all else aside remained a mystery; though the grandams said, It’s Adon’s will, while the granthers said, It’s the soil, and neither knew the which of it for certain.
MG: …so yeah, it’s just the Hedge that separates Buckland from the Old Forest in LotR, only bigger and, well, thornier. And surrounding the whole
Sonam: …well, it would certainly be intimidating to me. We learn that Spindle Ford is one of a number of locations where the Warrows have cut paths through the Thornwall, though it’s possible for other creatures to break through it as well, with patience and determination. Apparently, keeping the passages open is hard work, as one might imagine, but the Warrows make certain to do it to better facilitate trade with the outside world. Tuck sits there eating his breakfast and musing on all this as Patrel fills in the rest of the squad about the fight with the Vulgs, and when he’s done Tuck notices that he, Danner and Tarpy are being regarded with a high respect akin to awe. *shakes his head* And we’re not even three chapters into the story yet… Patrel assigns Arbin Digg, one of the other Warrows, to show the newcomers around the camp, though Arbin mostly just wants to talk about, of course, the Vulgs. Tarpy confirms that Vulgs really are as big as ponies, though the only way one would ever ride them is from the inside… so to speak. Though Danner thinks they don’t actually eat Warrows, and just kill for the joy of it.
Shade: I will note that they’ve been stealing the bodies of Warrows they kill, so clearly, they do something with them. Arbin then shows them the passage through the barrier, which is so dark that when it’s fully leafed out you need torches to see, and explains how they keep the passage clear and the movable barricades they put up in various parts of it. Finally, they reach the River Spindle, which sadly isn’t much described, and its eponymous ford– and meet the squad who are standing guard on that end. On the other side of the river, there’s apparently yet more thorns – by the Four! – continuing for another two miles until it reaches the border of the realm of Rian.
MG: That being the northern realm of the High Kingdom of Mithgar… so, in other words, it’s Arnor, or at least Arthedain, still intact in Mithgar, unlike it’s Middle-earthian counterpart.
Shade: Well, they cross the river on the ice and look up at the sky peaking through the thorns, which Arbin marvels at, and keep going down through the thorns on the other side, where the Beyonder Guard…
MG: Not to be confused with Shire’s Bounders (or Marvel Comics’ Beyonder, for that matter! Though come to think, Modru’s name also sounds suspiciously similar to a notable DC villain, Mordru…)
Shade: …is stationed. He explains some more about how the different units send messages to each other and how they fight off any attempted intrusion, with the last line of defense being the Deep Plug *snickers* back at camp, which can seal off the passage till Gyphon, himself, comes back. Which seems to basically be a fancy of saying “until the world ends,” though Tuck can’t help but shiver at the mention of Gyphon, and the scene ends.
Sonam: That night, Tuck, Danner and Tarpy are assigned to the guard post on the near side of the ford; they take turns standing guard and Tuck writes in his diary, and then the watch shift changes and the scene ends. That… was remarkably pointless. The next morning
Tuck and Danner’s ponies are found, but not Patrel’s or the pack pony. Tuck, Danner, Tarpy and their squad go hunting Vulgs, or at least caves or sheltered places where they might hide during the day, but have no luck, and see no mundane wolves either. Again at night they stood Beyonder Guard at the ford, but nothing of note occurred. Beg pardon, but why is the author explicitly point out to us that nothing is happening? Shouldn’t he be trying to distract us from that? We’re then told that for the next six days the routine continues, with the only thing of note occurring being that Tarpy cooks, which… I guess is noteworthy? The day after, Patrel’s pony comes wandering into camp, and Patrel’s squad is assigned to go hunting for wolves and Vulgs. This time it’s Tuck’s turn to cook so he stays behind and spends all day worrying about his friends, especially when they’re an hour later in returning than the other hunting squads, leaving him terrified something has happened to them. But finally, they return. Tarpy informs him they found the pack pony, dead, its packs ransacked and Patrel’s lute smashed up, but no sign of Vulgs. He admits they’re all exhausted from the day’s work, and the scene ends.
Shade: Well, apparently ten more days pass with no sign of wolf or Vulg – by the Four, if McKiernan’s goal is to make me feel as bored as his characters are, he’s succeeding! – and they wonder if the Vulgs may be somehow lairing inside the Thornwall itself, in which case they’ll never find them in there. Patrel muses that they’ve been sending out enough patrols they should have found something by now, and Danner suggests they lay a trap and lure the Vulgs to them. Tuck thinks they could track them with dogs, and Patrel says another squad tried that and it turned up nothing, too. He wonders if the Vulgs came to the Bosky on some errand and, having completed it, left. But what that mission may have been, I cannot say. Oh, that’s very helpful! Tuck finds himself again shivering from the icy fingers of an unknown doom – it’s just nerves, boy, stop being so melodramatic – and the scene ends.
Sonam: Well, the next night, something out of the unusual finally happens – a wagon train of refugees passes the Bosky, heading west from Rian to Wellen.
Danner, who had cook duty, described the train: “Long it was, perhaps a hundred or so waggons, loaded with food and household goods, and driven by Men, mostly oldsters, and Women, with their offspring, too. Big, those Folk are: nearly twice my size, and I’m no tiny dink like Tarpy, here.
“And the escort, soldiers on horseback, with helms and swords, and spears, too. Lor! Big horses, big Men.” Danner paused in reflection, and it was the first time in Tuck’s memory that he’d ever seen Danner impressed. “It took nearly two hours for the train to pass through,” continued Danner, “and the Captain of the escort, well he was closeted with Captain Darby for most of that time. Then he just up and rode off as the last waggon trundled through. And then they were gone.” Danner took a bite of bread and chewed unconsciously, his amber eyes lost in elsewhen thought.
Sonam: Hmmm; I wonder if Danner being impressed by the soldiers is foreshadowing for something? Everyone surrounds Danner, asking him questions, but Patrel interrupts, saying that Captain Darby wants to gather the whole camp for an important message in an hour. Everyone, Tuck included, hastily finishes their meals and cleanup and soon gather at the main building where Captain Darby is waiting, his face enshadowed. He calls roll – everyone is there except the Beyonders – and then gets to business.
“Buccen,” Captain Darby began, his voice raised so that all could hear, “some of the rumors are true: There is trouble brewing up north, beyond the Keep. High King Aurion prepares for War: War with Modru, the Enemy in Gron.” …“I had a long talk with Captain Horth, leader of the waggon-train escort; he said that the call had gone forth for the allies of the High King to rally to his aid. Why the summons has not yet come to the Bosky, neither he nor I can say; but I believe that it will, and so we must begin to think upon going: those who will it may take their leave and join the Allies at the Keep; yet the Bosky must not be left unguarded and undefended should the foe come nigh, hence that, too, must be considered.”
MG: Surely, it’s a complete coincidence that Modru, like Sauron, is sometimes called “the Enemy” with a capital “E.” Obviously. And, again, this is a point where I feel like McKiernan is mixing and matching different elements from the Legendarium. Unlike Frodo, neither Tuck nor any of the other Warrows are in possession of some object of Modru’s or that he wants, or that they’re going to have to flee to keep safe from him (there is an artifact involved with Modru’s power that will be plot-critical later for how things will end up being resolved, but it enters the story at a later time and in a different way). So, while our heroes are, essentially, hobbits, they’re not getting involved in the broader story the way that Frodo and his friends did. However, there is an instance of the Shire militia being called up to support a high king in the backstory – a squad of archers was sent from the Shire to support Arvedui, the last king of Arthedain and Aragorn’s ancestor, in his final struggle against Angmar and the Witch King. And Rian, as noted, as basically a still-extant Arnor or Arthedain, and Gron, at least in its geographical position, is as much Angmar as Mordor. I just find it interesting that even when McKiernan does deviate obviously from LotR, you can still find a parallel to what he’s doing somewhere else in the Legendarium.
Also worth noting is that, while a lot of modern high fantasy likes to play coy with just what and who the actual plot and antagonist even is, sometimes not even revealing it until the end of the first book of a series or even into the second, Iron Tower establishes its conflict and stakes right away, and sticks to it. It’s honestly kind of refreshing.
Sonam: Well, I don’t really feel qualified to comment on any of that? Anyway, the Thornwalkers are stunned that the rumors are true and that they may have to leave the Bosky to fight for the High King. Tuck himself is torn – he’s even more disturbed now than he was when he first heard the rumors about Modru, and he’s certainly never considered leaving the Bosky, but part of him thinks that if he wants to avenge Hob, the best way to do it would be to go, answer the High King’s summons and face Modru’s Horde on the battlefield, and that this might also be the best way to protect the Bosky. Someone else asks how they know it’s really Modru – a good question, I think?
MG: I’ll note that this is an interesting way LotR is different from a lot of its imitators – a lot of later epic fantasy will have the dark lord/elder evil/what have you only just returning at the beginning of the story, with a lot of doubt about what’s really going on and a need to rally disbelieving peoples to join against the enemy. This isn’t true in LotR – Sauron returned to Mordor shortly after the events of The Hobbit, more than seventy years before LotR, and declared himself openly at the time – no one has any doubt by the beginning of the story that it’s really him. What effort has to be put into rallying people to face him has less to do with disbelief and more with the enemy actively working to sew division among his enemies, as in Rohan. Now, the hobbits themselves have only just recently started hearing rumors of Mordor’s resurgence… but that’s because the Shire is a long, long way from Mordor and largely insulated from the effects of the war, not because Sauron isn’t operating publicly.
Shade: Well, as it happens, there’s something going on in Gron that nobody can explain.
“Captain Horth said that there’s a great wall of darkness stalking down the Land from the north. Eerie it is, and frightening, too, like a great black shadow. And inside the darkness is bitter winter cold and the Sun shines not, though it rides the day sky. And there be fell creatures within that blackness, Rûcks and such, Modru’s lackeys of old, a gathering of his Horde. And it is reported that some skirmishes with the Enemy’s forces already have occurred.”
Shade: …sounds like my kind of place. Ahem. Well, that’s one way around Adon’s Ban, I guess! If your troops are instantly killed by the sun, just… remove the sun as a factor! Simple, direct. I like it. The Warrows, though, start panicking about Modru’s horde! This is awful! Legends come to life! Captain Darby calms them down, pointing out that even the shadow could just be a system of thick clouds and not really Modru’s hand at work – come on, now – and tells them that for now, they need to focus on their duties. Yet when King Aurion’s muster is sounded, then you must choose. He dismisses everyone to their tents, and Tuck writes a longer diary entry than usual that night as the scene ends.
MG: And this is where we’ll be taking our break for today! The biggest thing that jumps out at me in today’s selection is the pacing. Last chapter, the pace felt like it was moving faster than in the actual LotR, with us having what felt like a version of the Weathertop attack before our heroes even made it out of “the Shire.” But here, the pacing ends up being kind of the opposite. Narratively, the closest equivalent to this sequence in LotR is Frodo and Friends spending the night at Crickhollow after reaching Buckland, before leaving the Shire entirely the next morning. That stayover, obviously, was quite brief – and the Bakshi and Jackson movies both skip over it entirely. Here, however, our heroes are basically stuck and Spindle Ford for days doing nothing of note… as the narration actively lampshapes. We have numerous scenes of them just going through their routines, accomplishing nothing, waiting for something to happen. It’s hardly the worst pacing I’ve ever encountered in fantasy, admittedly, but especially coming after last chapter and comparing it to the original story, it’s still pretty jarring. We do, on the other hand, learn far, far too much about the daily operations of the Thornwalkers and the composition and tending of the Thornwall, most of which I skimmed over for all our sakes’. And guys, I think McKiernan really, really likes the damn Thornwall; he sure spends enough time describing it!
When the actual plot gets started, we get another interesting parallel with LotR. We get to see how Modru is getting around the Ban by, as Shade noted, removing the sun as a factor entirely. Of course, in LotR Sauron does something very similar, but it’s much less significant – Sauron only blots out the sun for a few days (and a few chapters) in the lead-up to the Siege of Gondor (as distinct from the clouds of smoke and shadow that always cover Mordor proper), to allow the Witch King to have an easier time moving his armies from Minas Morgul to the Pelennor Fields (notably, this is something I don’t think the Jackson movies convey very well – the sky is overcast, yes, but the movie never really shows the oppressive, overwhelming darkness the book describes. Weirdly, this is something the Rankin-Bass RotK movie actually did better). It’s a mostly tangential plot point, albeit a terrifying demonstration of the scope of Sauron’s power. Here, perhaps because the Spawn’s weakness to the light is far greater and more fatal than that of the orcs, Modru’s darkness is much greater in scope, much longer-lasting, and much more central to the plot. We’ll find out more about what’s going on with it as we go on (but suffice to say, there’s a reason he can do this now, but never before).
Something interesting I’ll note is the description of Modru’s army as a “Horde.” Mordor’s armies in LotR are a well-oiled, impersonally brutal machine – the orcs live strictly regimented lives, talk – and act – like caricatures of WWI-era British infantrymen (something Tolkien, of course, had first-hand experience of!) and even have serial numbers. Too many later fantasy writers would just make their evil mooks feral, barely-sapient monsters – Trollocs, Darkspawn, Sranc, what have you – and McKiernan unfortunately tends more towards that end of things (the Hloks and especially the Ghuls are more intelligent, but with a couple of exceptions still rarely emerge as actual characters). It’s an aspect of the telephone-game that is the evolution of epic fantasy tropes that I find curious, and even a writer who imitates Tolkien more directly than most fell into it (notably, fellow Tolkien-imitator Terry Brooks did not – the Trolls in Sword of Shannara, who fill the basic narrative niche of orcs despite their name, ultimately prove to be noble proud warrior race guys forced to fight for the Warlock Lord and a group of rebel Trolls fighting against him prove critical to the climax of the story; the Gnomes, who in the Shannara books are closer to stereotypical goblins, are just easily intimidated by magic and bullied into fighting for the villains, but left to their own devices mostly just want to be left alone). OTOH, calling the villain’s army the Horde with a capital H just makes me think of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, sadly soon to leave Netflix due to rights issues – and you know, substituting Hordak for Modru, and Horde Prime for Gyphon, would make this story far more interesting, in my humble opinion!
Anyway, that’s all for today! Next time, the Thornwalkers set off! We’ll see you then!
