forests and fog

[bilunabirotunda]

Somehow, the English mythological picture of forests just does not match my own. In English stories forests are always dark, dangerous, evil, mysterious places, have you noticed? In Tolkien, of course, Mirkwood, the Old Forest where the hobbits meet Tom Bombadil (and are almost eaten by a willow tree), and Fangorn are all Not Nice places. The only

Comments

[graymalkn]

Though I wouldn't argue about the general thesis that Europeans tend to treat forests as places of danger, I'm not sure I'd agree that Tolkien does, at least not uniformly. Mirkwood is certainly meant to be a Bad Place, but I think the others are meant to be supremely indifferent to humans - wild and uncaring. This does make them dangerous, but not malicious. Remember that when Legolas entered Fangorn he commented on what a pleasant place it seemed