What Were They Thinking?

Today I walked from Assisi to Spello over the top of Mount Subasio. I met Jess and Willa Marie for lunch there. They drove.

sunrise on the way up

following the marked trail

a storm rolling over the top

trail markers getting hard to find.

trees appearing out of the fog

point at which i knew i was lost

taking a road down and out

All clear here.

Umbria. Hour 6!

Spello! still in the distance

thank god! i made it

It was beautiful, cold, a bit dicey at parts, and eight hours of continuous hiking and walking.

It put me in mind of J.R.R. Tolkien. So... this post is for the Lord of the Rings fans.

On such a long walk you admire the surroundings often but, a not insignificant amount of time, is spent trudging, looking four feet in front of you, and letting your mind whirl in circles of thought.

They do a lot of long walking in LOTR. Day after day the Fellowship walks.

We all know the story of what happens when they stop or get waylaid but what whorls of thought were the members of the Fellowship caught in as they trudged along on the less eventful days?

Here’s my take:

Aragorn

Direction, logistics, weather signs were all likely top of mind but when that was solved for the moment he’s thinking of Arwen, the sound of her voice, that time they sang that funny folk song in harmony and Elrond disapproved. He’s also probably trying to push thoughts of ruling as king out of his mind when they arise. Too many years in the cold wilderness to hope.

Boromir

He’s happy to be moving his body and be far away from the grind of leading in Gondor - it reminds him of running wild in the woods when he and Faramir were young. He's got a running stream of invective-laced self-criticism which is actually the thinly veiled voice of his father. And also an unconscious stream of Man-supremacy and race-ism about elves and dwarves when he looks over at Legolas and Gimli.

Gimli

His kill count. Also, how he’s working twice as hard as Boromir because his legs are half as long. And that one amazing mead he got that-one-time-in-that-no-name-wayside-inn-in-the-Misty-Mountains and then whether he’ll ever find a dwarf wife with a beard as thick as his. And his kill count.

Legolas

Constantly holding his desire to just run ahead in check, he outdistances the others with his ears; listening to the sounds of a mother wren feeding her brood under that solitary tree a league away. And occasionally humming a wood elf song absentmindedly which, when he does it, makes all the rest of the Fellowship hush, stop thinking and listen.

Gandalf

Direction, wind speed, the obscure lore of the obscure herb Boromir just tread on and strategy - like four-dimensional chess strategy. And he's keeping a whole third of his mind busy with long recitations of ancient poem riddles he’s found in dusty scrolls over the years.

Pippen & Merry

They're pretty much saying everything that comes to their mind out loud. Most of it is about food and they're debating which inn on the Brandywine has the best ale, or meat pies, or cherry tarts.

Frodo

The Ring. The cold darkness in his shoulder. The Ring. Ugh the Ring. Watching Gandalf for cues of what to do next. Occasional memories of the Shire, Bilbo, and that book of hobbit poems he chose to leave behind.

Sam

Frodo. And (when he’s not thinking about Frodo) how to lay out his garden plot more effectively upon his return home. And Frodo.

Walking rocks!

- david