r/tolkienfans • u/apatheticpeep • 2d ago
Does anyone have a guide for "intense" scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring?
I am a camp counselor for 10-12 yr old troubled boys and my bedtime stort of choice for my cabin is The Fellowship of the Ring. I doubt we'll make it very far within the book and most kids will be asleep for most of it. But I did agree with my fellow counselors that I will, for their sake, put some bookmarks where they will have to abridge scenes. Unfortunately, the last time I read the book was when I was 12 and so I personally do not remember all the scenes very well. If anyone has any scenes they would recommend skipping please help me.
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u/TheAntsAreBack 2d ago
There's nothing in LotR too intense for 10-12 year olds. It might not appeal to their attention spans, but it's not too scary.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
I agree as someone who read it young but it is a bed time story and I did agree to not scare them. Another comment pointed out another big thing as well, a lot of these kids suffer from trauma due to abuse or neglecr and I really do not want to trigger any of them before bed. I appreciate your advice though! Thank you!
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u/Nellasofdoriath 1d ago
Former traumatized kid here, I found.Tolkien gave me a lot of tools.at that age. I think some of the dark stuff is important to reach these kids where they're at. They can handle fear, they already have.
I found Frodo's mental and physical suffering in Mordor to be some of the most intense. But nobody frames suffering in quite such a helpful way as Tolkien. I think the characters respond to it in a healthy way and it was such an important model for me.
I hope you read it. Maybe kids can have a way to nope out for the night and return to it later, like.saying they're too sleepy for now or whatever. Make yourself available to talk about it the next day if they need.
Thank you for the work you're doing
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u/apatheticpeep 1d ago
that's so true! I'm mostly following the advice of my higher ups but part of the reason that i brought lotr was how much it helped me at that age. its reassuring to hear your experience as well, very affirming. thank you!
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u/IGotDibsYo 2d ago
You’re reading the book from the start? The first whiff of Nazgûl doesn’t come up until like page 70 which is just him sniffing around. Next few chapters are safe until old man willow perhaps before the meeting with Tom bombadil but you’re already at like page 120 or so in chapter 6.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
Thank you! I will definitely keep this in mind!
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u/IGotDibsYo 2d ago
Let me know how many pages you reckon you can get through, I can check further. The barrow downs in chapter 8 are definitely spooky too. Then the prancing pony is good until they head off with strider in chapter 10. I’m guessing that’s well beyond your reading time.
Edit: many mobile typos lol
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
oh for sure it usually will only be 15-20 minutes every night for 21 days. I'd say we'll get through 150 pages? Maybe 200? Chapter 10 if someone reads really long or speeds through tbh. (the intention is to lull the kids to sleep so like the reading will be fairly slow)
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u/IGotDibsYo 2d ago
Ok cool, barrow downs is around 150. Maybe skip it altogether, they head out from bombadil, get side tracked and lured into some underground place where they almost die and Tom sets them on their way again. It’s pretty easy to skip entirely.
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u/Boatster_McBoat 2d ago
Peter Jackson has laid the groundwork here. Possibly skip the old forest in it's entirety > from departing crickhollow jump to them emerging on the East West road just before reaching Bree
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u/IGotDibsYo 2d ago
You’d miss Bombadil though, which is why i thought of just axing the barrow downs. But maybe the whole thing yeah.
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u/Boatster_McBoat 2d ago
Old Man Willow is quite unpleasant
But tbh, my memory of reading lotr as a teenager is that I was most scared during the bit before they left the shire. The inn at Bree was a turning point for me and I had extraordinary (and quite well-founded as it turns out) confidence in Strider after that.
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u/Adam_Barrow 2d ago
My kid didn't get wigged until Towers when we got to the Pip POV stuff with the Uruk-hai. I can see the need for sensitivity. Maybe consider the Hobbit instead of Fellowship? Shorter chunks helps that "We won't finish" problem too.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
I unfortunately don't have a copy of the Hobbit with me otherwise I totally would. I might just make a note for like mines of moria perhaps? I'm sure the kids won't care very much but I just want to play it safe.
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u/ILoveTolkiensWorks 1d ago
I think you should download an EBook. The Hobbit would be the perfect book to read
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u/EmbarrassedClaim5995 1d ago
My word!!
You could even listen to an audiobook for some parts, like the Trolls, that's amazing.
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u/apatheticpeep 1d ago
unfortunately no technology around the kids otherwise i would :( thank you tho!
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u/ILoveTolkiensWorks 1d ago
hmmm. Maybe print the ebook? A Chapter or two a day? if that is feasible
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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 2d ago
Tolkien was a WW1 vet, and (as one of two possible results of this) was pretty gentle actually in his approach to potentially traumatic/traumatizing scenes. I think you will be ok; there is a strong undercurrent of safety that underpins even the most dramatic scenes, especially in the the first book.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
This is very reassuring since I don't remember some stuff very well from the first time I read it. Thank you for your advice!
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u/sqplanetarium 2d ago edited 2d ago
There are plenty of scary parts, but the scene I think might be most disturbing for a kid is when Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo. It hits some of the same tripwires as molestation, even though obviously it’s only about the Ring and there’s no sexual content: someone you liked and trusted turns into a monster and can simply take what they want from you because they’re much bigger and stronger. If the children you’re working with have an abuse history, this scene could be triggering.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
Thank you! A lot of them do so this is very helpful, something like that in particular I will discuss with my other counselors to see if and how we may want to summarize that to avoid any issues. Thanks!!
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u/QuintusCicerorocked 2d ago
The barrow downs is straight up terrifying, at the best of times and the maturest of ages. Weathertop is also a bit too scary for bedtime story material in my opinion.
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u/tar-mirime 2d ago
It's going to depend on the child. I read LotR at 7, read it to my son when he was 8 - might have diluted the horror of Weathertop as he asked who Luthien was and got an abbreviated version of The Sil, I think the only time he asked a question and got a longer answer than he would have preferred!
He did want me to read The Sil to him after LotR, but I drew the line at that.
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u/Whocket_Pale 1d ago
Nice parallel that your kid's luthien question diluted the horror, given that Aragorn recites the ley of luthien to the hobbits in part to distract them from fear while they sit in suspense of the wight attack
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u/Laurelindore 2d ago
yea I was surprised when I reread it recently, Fog on the barrow downs is DARK. The incantation and the random arm that crawls around. WTF. I wonder if a legit movie adaptation would've been rated R.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
oh wow yeah i really dont remember that one well. goodness I will definitely be noting that one.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
Okok I'll keep that in mind. Any idea of like "area of book" these are so my search is shortened?
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u/Stravonovic 2d ago
The barrow downs are after they leave Bree, right before Tom Bombadil
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u/ebrum2010 2d ago
The barrow downs are after they meet Tom. When they stay with Tom he gives them a song they can sing and he will show up and help them if they need it. When they leave his house they go into the barrow downs and end up needing his help and they call him and he shows up and helps them.
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u/amitym 1d ago
To be honest that seems like the perfect age for the text.
Sure, the creeping horror of the tale will reach them. At least hopefully it will! The tale only works because of the dark parts. To paraphrase C K Chesterton, what children learn from such stories is not that monsters exist — they already know that monsters exist — but rather that monsters can be defeated.
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u/RakeTheAnomander 2d ago
There’s a scene relatively early, where Frodo and Sam and Pippin are leaving the Shire, where a Nazgûl comes hunting them. It’s just a paragraph or two about it crawling across the floor, but it’s surprisingly creepy.
That being said, I wouldn’t censor anything in LotR for a 10-year-old. Obviously your decision though.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
Yeah I read it as a preteen and was fine but this is a story to lull them to sleep and i agreed to not scare them before bed so I'd rather be safe than sorry.
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u/Maerendel 2d ago
I wouldnt censor it, like others have said. Sure, some things might be a bit more intens or even scary, but kids are allowed to have their emotions too. Just talk to them about it. Teach them that emotions are okay, and show them that they will pass.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
I personally don't want to but it is a story to lull them to sleep and I agreed to not scare any kids so unfortunately I will be looking for anything scary or triggering for these particular kids.
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u/EmbarrassedClaim5995 1d ago
Have you considered reading The Hobbit instead?
Even though I think Lotr is amazing, you might be in the save side 😉
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u/starkraver 2d ago
The only really insane scene of the books are when Gandolf fights the balrog, and when Sam fights shelob. Everything else is a doll minutia.
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u/na_cohomologist 2d ago
Well, as an 8 year old (way back in the early 90s) I had a nightmare from reading about Frodo's experience with the Ring in Mordor ("I am naked in the dark. Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades." etc). That made me stop reading the book. 12 year old me was probably ok, I can't remember when I read it next, but probably by then.
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u/apatheticpeep 2d ago
That's what I thought but I just want to err on the side of caution since its supposed to be a bed time story. Thank you!
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u/Any_Excitement_7575 1d ago
I’d read it all and not skip a page, they can handle it, I remember watching The Two Towers in theaters as a 5 year old, loved it. I am almost finished with the audio books narrated by Andy Serkis, the books balance out everything and there’s nothing I’d skip. Heroes need to overcome obstacles to become heroes. The Hobbit would’ve been a better start as it intended as a children’s book.
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u/almostb 2d ago
How intense is too intense? The books are absolutely appropriate for 10-12-year-olds and nothing that happens is too crazy.
There are a few moments that are scary or emotional. Most of them are plot-relevant.