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Barrow-wights are wraith-like creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. In The Lord of the Rings, the four hobbits are trapped by a barrow-wight, and are lucky to escape with their lives; but they gain ancient swords of Westernesse for their quest.
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- Overview
- Description
- History
- In other versions
- Inspiration
- Etymology
- Appearances in adaptations
- References
"Cold be hand and heart and bone
and cold be sleep under stone
never more to wake on stony bed
never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead
In the black wind the stars shall die
and still be gold here let them lie
Wights appeared as dark phantoms whose eyes were luminous and cold, and whose voice was horrible yet hypnotic; their skeletal hands had a touch like ice and a deadly grip. Victims under a Wight's spell would lose their will; in this way the Barrow-wights drew the living into the tombs of the downs. Some, if not all, victims were laid on a stone altar and bound in chains of gold, to then be draped in pale cloth and jewelry of ancient dead, and killed by a wight with a sacrificial sword.
East of the Brandywine River beyond the Old Forest were the Barrow-downs, the most ancient burial ground of Men in Middle-earth. There were no trees nor water there, but only grass and turf covering dome-shaped hills crowned with monoliths and great rings of white stone. These hills were the burial mounds that were made in the First Age of the Sun for the Edain, and later in Second and Third Ages for the Kings of Men.
The Barrow-wights began appearing in the Barrow-downs after the Dúnedain of Cardolan succumbed to the ravages of the Great Plague. In roughly TA 1409, evil spirits were sent by the Witch-king of Angmar, who wished to keep the Dúnedain from resettling the region.
On September 28 of 3018, Frodo Baggins and his companions, Sam Gamgee, Merry, and Pippin, while passing through the Barrow-downs, were captured by wights and trapped in what was believed to be the cairn of the last prince of Cardolan.
It is possible that the Witch-king himself had visited the Barrow-downs during the Ringwraiths' search for Frodo, and that it was he who had roused the Barrow-wights to be vigilant for trespassers on their land.
Due to his inspiration from the Hrómundar saga Gripssonar, during the writing of The Lord of the Rings Tolkien at first saw a link between the Wights and the Ringwraiths, initially describing the Black Riders as "horsed Wights", but the suggestion that they were the same kind of creatures was dropped in the published work.
The concept of a burial mound housing evil spirits was not a new one created by Tolkien. The Barrow-wights themselves resemble a creature in Germanic Mythology known in Norse as Draugar (singular Draugr).
Another likely related creature from Germanic and Slavic folklore was the Mahr (also called an Alp), a vampire-like creature said to rise from its barrow after dark to plague the sleeping and drink their blood. Their chief vulnerability was exposure to sunlight, like the Barrow-wights of Tolkien's mythology.
The term Barrow-wights was based on the Old Norse "Draugr". Barrow refers to the burial mounds they inhabited and wight is the modern derivation of wiht, an Old English word for "living being" or "creature" (it does not mean "spirit" or "ghost"; it is cognate to modern German "Wicht", meaning "unpleasant person"). Tolkien likely borrowed the concep...
•Khraniteli, 1991
•J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1 SNES 1994
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game), 2002
•The Hobbit: The Video Game, 2003 - "Wight Lord" (Spiders & Flies level boss)
•The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring, 2003
••The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, 2006
1.The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, I: The Númenórean Kings, (iii): Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur
2.The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter VIII: "Fog on the Barrow-downs"
Jul 12, 2024 · Barrow Wights are not just confined to the Barrow Downs, but have risen in many parts of Middle-earth mainly around the decaying ruins of Arnor. Wights can be found haunting the darkest corners of Mirkwood to even the Elven ruins which dot Ered Luin.
Apr 1, 2024 · What are the Barrow-wights? In Deep Geek. 710K subscribers. 11K. 204K views 1 month ago. Explore the best of fantasy and sci-fi in depth, with analysis of the worlds of Lord of the Rings, Game...
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- In Deep Geek
Dec 22, 2001 · A barrow is, in this context, a mound of rock or earth marking a grave, especially an ancient one. The word comes from Middle English berw, from Anglo-Saxon beorg "grove". Groves have a great deal of mystical/religious/mythical significance. A wight is, in this ancient use, a preternatural, supernatural, or unearthly being.
Jul 15, 2020 · The Barrow-wights who attacked the four Hobbits reanimated the dead bodies of the Kings of the Barrows. In most instances, the Barrow-wights appeared on the unwary traveler disguised as a dark phantom with cold and luminous eyes.
We look at the undead creatures that occupied the Barrow-downs, the Barrow-wights! They appear as shadowy figures with a pale, icy light gleaming from what would be their eyes. They speak...
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- The Broken Sword
