Mines of Moria - Found Footage

The Mines of Moria - Found Footage

Lord of the Rings has a number of fantastic sections. I'm going to talk about the Mines of Moria scene, one of my favorite scenes. There is a part inside Moria where they find the book of Balin and it tells of what happened to him. This follows what we now would call 'found footage.' Obviously this book came out way before found footage became a thing but it follows in the role that found footage does.

What does is Found Footage and what does it do for a story? What you can do is take a individual or group and they'll go on a venture. Exploring a cave, area, region, island, anything like that. Normally this is a remote or isolated region and what it does is allows the characters or group to enter this isolated location and find the story of what happened to those who came before them. It lets tension build because in the story you are waiting for something to happen. You know this area is creepy, or spookie or something just feels wrong. The previous group disappeared and you were sent in to find out what happened. During the journey you'll find something like a book, film recording, or trace of something terrible that happened. And what this does is allow this unsettling sense of horror to fall on the characters and reader because they are just waiting for something to happen. Everything becomes danger. It's fantastic for creating tension and allows for this feeling of isolation and danger.
How does this relate to Lord of the Rings?

In the first section with Frodo and the Hobbits in the Shire is almost a thriller story. Where they are hunted by unkillable monsters sent by a great evil in a distant land. They make it to the town Bree, and run into a man named Strider, who is an ally of Gandalf who aids them and helps them flee the city, on the run from the Nazgul until they reach the Elven city of Rivendell.

At Rivendell the Fellowship of the Ring is formed with Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Aragorn, Gandalf, and the four hobbits. Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo. These nine form the Fellowship and head south with a plan to head over the Misty Mountains. They want to avoid the Gap of Rohan because of it's proximity to Saruman and Gandalf has a poor relationship with Rohan.
They head south and the journey starts off with them well furnished and full of energy only for it to begin to drag and weigh some of them down. The hobbits take turns regretting their life decisions.
They reach the foot of the mountains and head up and over. It's cold, snow and very high up and Saruman begins working his magic to stall and try and kill them. Avalanches and blizzards and the party makes the call to head back. There's three choices before them. They can head back to Rivendell, head to the Gap of Rohan, and then through the Mines of Moria.

They go back and forth and decide to move forward to find the gates of Moria, but there is still some hesitation on the path forward. They head to the gates, and are hunted by Wargs and run to the gate of Moria, which is the edge of the mountain, as dwarven doors are hidden into the very rock of the mountain.

Gandalf solves the riddle and as the door opens, the Watcher tries to grab Frodo. They pull him away and escape inside the Mines. The Watcher piles up rocks and debris outside to where they have escaped, but now are trapped. They cannot get out.

This is a great part of telling the story like this because you've caught the characters, and by extension, the reader off guard. They were trying to weigh logical decisions and see which was the best way forward, when something attacked and now they are caught off guard. The comfort of a well planned decision is gone and now they are in the Mines, with Gandalf's extreme discomfort and a general feeling of unease, all except for Gimli.

They make their way through the mines, traveling for hours and hours and hours. Hearing strange distant noises and despite all the endless weaving of tunnels and caves, Gandalf seems to know where to go. Without him they'd be surely lost.

And at this point it's simply a uneasy path. It's dark and scary but nothing's happening. What the story can do with this section is build unease and tension. The audience knows something is out in the dark and that something is going to happen, but we don't know what.

They find a room and stop. Pippin tosses a rock down a giant role and it falls for miles and miles before clacking around. They hear tapping below, like hammer signals. Gandalf chews Pippin out, but again, we feel like something ought to be happening, but nothing is. We know there's something out in the darkness of Moria, but we don't see it yet. The tension builds.

They come to the great rooms and Gandalf begins to give more of the history of Moria. How Durin came to build it, and how the dwarves began to dig too deep. They found Mithril and how valuable it is and how it caused the doom of the dwarves. Balin supposedly came here, but they've found no trace of him.

They find the Tomb of Mazarbul and learn of Balin's ill fated end. Reading of how despite all their efforts "they cannot get out." Gandalf reads to the fellowshop ending with the traililng and haunting warning, "they are coming."

The Fellowship has little time to ponder this as the drums of the deep begin to roll and Orcs begin pouring out of the darkness to kill them. They defend against a number of attacks but have to flee. This slow build of the story until we see what happened to Balin and now it turns into a terrifying chase through the dark passages of Moria. It's a masterful story technique and done very well.

Tolkien' doesn't end it there. The stakes have been set and what could be worse than running through a maze underneath the mountains surrounded by Orcs? Add a Balrog to the mix. The Fellowship crosses the Bridge of Khazad-Dum and Gandalf has to turn and fight the Balrog only to fall into the depths and disappear. The party manages to escape the nightmare but it's an utterly fantastically written section and one of my favorites in the entire Trilogy.