Anyone who has watched Peter Jackson’s 2001 film adaptation of theFellowship of the Ring, will know that Weathertop is a dark and dangerous place, where the hobbits linger too long and are almost killed by the Ring-wraiths until Aragorn comes to their rescue wielding flaming torches to scare away the enemy. But it may surprise some people to know that Weathertop was once a strong and majestic place before it fell to ruin.
When the hobbits, led by Aragorn the Dunedain ranger reach Weathertop, they are all fearful, feeling exposed on such a high vantage point. They know that the Nazgul are in pursuit of them, and they don’t want to stay in the area for long but are hoping to survive a night or two in case Gandalf, who was supposed to meet them first in the Shire, and then at the Prancing Pony, finally makes it to join them. Whilst they wait for Gandalf, who istrapped on the tower of Orthancat the time, Aragorn tries to keep their minds from wandering off to dark and frightful places, so he sings them thesong of Beren and Luthien, and tells them about the history of Weathertop itself.
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It was once a great watchtower, one of many built by the Numenorians when they first began to settle in Middle Earth. They stationed these citadels in several key locations and housed in each, one of thePalantiri, the seven seeing stonesthat allowed them to keep in communication with each other across the kingdoms. Weathertop in particular was made to defend the kills from the evil seeping forth out of Angmar, where the evil lord Sauron first began regaining his power.
Angmar features a little more in The Hobbit films as Sauron tries to conquer the Lonely Mountain, which would give him access to reclaiming the lands of Angmar, and the entire province that lies in the north beyond it. The head of Amon Sul, who was in charge of protecting it and the surrounding lands from the onslaught was Elendil, one of the great Kings of Gondor, upon whomthe Argonath are based. But once he realized that the tower was under siege, he fled with his men and the Palantir so that it wouldn’t fall into the enemy’s hands.
The tower fell into the grasp of the Witch-King of Angmar, the servant of the dark lord who Eowyn the shieldmaiden of Rohan later defeats in the battle of Pelennor Fields, sustaining the injury that puts her in the healing houses where she meets andfalls in love with Faramir of Gondor. Once Weathertop was taken, Sauron’s forces quickly began to gain power and momentum, which led the Last Alliance of Middle Earth to band together and wage war against him in Dagorlad. This is the great battle that the audience sees in the prologue of the film adaptation and is also where the bodies who have come torot away in the Dead Marshesinitially died. Elendil, and Gil-galad the elf who Sam recites one of Bilbo’s poems about, manage to stave off Sauron’s power for long enough that he comes out to himself to battle in physical form, where the ring is cut from his finger by Isildur.
But Weathertop is also famous for another reason, for being the place at which Frodo receives his deadly wound from the Morgul Blade. As the company, who will all later become members of the fellowship, wait atop the hill, they leave themselves open to attack. After finding a ‘G’ rune, the same as the onesGandalf places on his famous fireworks, they realize that it is a warning that they must run from Weathertop as swiftly as they can, but just as they are about to leave they are intercepted by the 9 wraiths who stab Frodo in the dark. From this point onwards, it is a race to get him to Rivendell before he passes into the shadow realm, and they hurry across the land with Frodo on the back of Bill The Pony as he is too weak to walk.
Aragorn is luckily knowledgeable in the ancient arts of healing and manages to tend to Frodo’s wounds a little usingthe Athelas flower as a herbal remedy, but it is only when they encounter Glorfindell who takes them to the Ford of Bruinen and the healing hands in Rivendell beyond that Frodo has any chance of surviving his injury. The injury that many fans believe to be one of Frodo’s main reasons for leaving Middle Earth, as it never really heals, and causes him extreme pain until he is able to go to the Undying Lands and finally find peace.
