The Lord of the Rings Discussion : Chpts 7 and 8

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

Chapter 8 : Fog on the Barrow-Downs

Question 9 : The most interesting thing in this chapter, to me, was the wight - truly creepy! Now why is Frodo still awake in the barrow, while the others weren't? Was it just that he was the last one captured, or is it for some other reason?
Perhaps this is as he has the ring...?

Question 12 : Frodo's first big "temptation" - starting with "then a wild thought of escape came to him..." - how does he deal with this, and what are the details of how he's tempted and his thoughts? Did the success here help him in later temptations?
I think it was more fear than anything else that made Frodo think like this.

Question 13 : What is the significance, if any, of Merry's thinking he's another person?

Question 14 : We see a different side of Tom's personality, esp. when he finds the broach - thoughts?
It is his 'remembering' that reenforces the belief that Tom is a spirit of the Earth, having been in the area for a very long time.

Question 15 : And again the dream/vision theme - and why would Tom have the power to make visions appear to them, and who else can do this?
Gandalf can do this IMO.

Question 16 : Finally, they get the knives, which are extremely significant later on down the road - how are these knives special, and why, and when were they specially used further on in the book?
Them being Numenorean blades, made for the wars with Angmar, which is why they prove especially fatal to the Witch-King later on.

Question 17 : is it important for the hobbits to "keep up their merry hearts", as Tom admonished them?
IMO The hobbits must 'keep up their merry hearts' because the best defens against evil is goodwill.

Question 18 : why won't Tom leave his country?
Tom won't leave because he has a certain connection with the area of the Old Forest, and (earth-spirit though he is) too much had changed in the lands about, and tat evil was more prolific at that time.