Overview , with the Old Forest on the right. The forest's river, the Withywindle, flows into the River Brandywine. The Old Forest lay near the centre of
Eriador, a large region of north-west Middle-earth. It was one of the few survivors of the primordial forests which had covered much of Eriador before the
Second Age. Indeed, it had once been but the northern edge of one immense forest which reached all the way to
Fangorn forest, hundreds of miles to the south-east. The vicinity of the Old Forest was the domain of three nature-spirits:
Tom Bombadil,
Goldberry, and
Old Man Willow. The powers of these beings doubtless contributed to its survival when other forests were destroyed. Old Man Willow, along with the
Barrow-wight and Tom Bombadil himself, first appeared in Tolkien's narrative poem
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, where Old Man Willow trapped Bombadil himself briefly. Willow is portrayed as a sentient and evil willow tree with powers including
hypnosis and the ability to move his roots and trunk. Some characters of the story speculate that he may have been related to the
Ents, or possibly the
Huorns. However, unlike Ents or Huorns, he is portrayed more like a tree, with roots in the ground, and without the ability to move from place to place.
Tom Bombadil had power over Old Man Willow, and checked the evil as much as he could, or was willing. In the
Spring of Arda, plants emerge, possibly including Old Man Willow. leaving remnants such as the Old Forest. (Other vestiges included Woody End in the Shire, Chetwood in
Bree-land, and Eryn Vorn in Minhiriath.) The Old Forest was now "hostile to two legged creatures because of the memory of many injuries."
Geography, flora and fauna ,
Wiltshire, England. English oak woods provided the inspiration for the Old Forest The Old Forest was about 1,000 square miles in area (some 2,600 km2). It was bordered on the east by the
Barrow-downs, a hilly area dotted with ancient
burial mounds, where Frodo's party encountered the
Barrow-wight. In the north it reached towards the Great East Road, and in the west and south it approached the
Brandywine river. The
Withywindle, a tributary of the Brandywine, ran through the heart of the forest, which covered most of the Withywindle's
drainage basin. The Old Forest was a type of woodland nowadays described as
temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. The west and south of the forest was dominated by "
oaks and
ashes and other strange trees", which were generally replaced by
pines and
firs in the north. and
alders were found here and there in the forest, and
willows were dominant along the Withywindle.
Hobbits and the Old Forest In one of his letters, Tolkien explained that "the Old Forest was hostile to two-legged creatures because of the memory of many injuries." However at length (but still "long ago" before the War of the Ring), the Bucklanders found that the Hedge was under "attack" by the forest. Trees began to plant themselves against the Hedge and lean over it. To counter this attack, the hobbits cleared a narrow strip of land on the outside of the Hedge, felling and burning many trees. They cleared a space some way inside the forest; this later became known as the
Bonfire Glade. They also went in to maintain the cleared strip, which was still in existence during the
War of the Ring. At least one non-Brandybuck visited the Old Forest:
Farmer Maggot. The evil tree has puzzled critics, as it does not fit with Tolkien's image as an
environmentalist "tree-hugger"; others have noted that trees too are seen by Christians as affected by the Biblical
Fall of Man. == Analysis ==