The Old Forest
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The Old Forest is an old forest that is found on the borders of the Shire, in Buckland.
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[edit] Description
The forest is spooky, dark, misty and dangerous. Sometimes the trees come alive and try to waylay travelers. The trees can move, making it confusing and easy to get lost. The whole forest is held under control by the spell of Old Man Willow, who lives on the banks of the Withywindle River.
[edit] Old Man Willow
Old Man Willow is an ancient willow tree who hold the entire forest under a spell that makes the trees able to walk. None can escape his realm without his knowing. The four hobbits, Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and Sam encounter him on their way through. He enchants the hobbits by bringing a spell of sleep over them. He traps Merry and Pippin inside himself, and Frodo and Sam desperately try to rescue them. They are saved only just in time by Tom Bombadil. Old Man Willow kills his enemies either by drowning them in the river Withywindle, or trapping them inside his roots.
[edit] Surrounding Areas
Tom Bombadil, whose identity is quite unknown, lives on the edge of the Old Forest and his house also borders the Barrow-downs. He saves the hobbits from Old Man Willow, and gives them shelter, rest, food, provisions, and ponies.
The Old Forest is not the last mysterious, dangerous place between the Shire and Rivendell. It is bordered by the Barrow-downs, an old hill country with tombs of old kings. They are inhabited by ghostly Barrow-wights, who take and kill all who pass through.
[edit] Adaptations
The Old Forest does not appear in the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, neither the animated nor the real version. It of course appears in the The Fellowship of the Ring game, but the game adds a bit of Mirkwood taste by adding on large spiders that lurk in the labyrinth and on the banks of the Withywindle. This is probably to make it more of an action game atmosphere, but nowhere in FOTR did Tolkien describe spiders in the Old Forest. Morgoth's creatures did not really darken the Old Forest, but they entered Mirkwood and darkened it. Mirkwood was also not inhabited by moving trees.
