Old Forest
From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.
The Old Forest was the forest on the eastern border of Buckland near the Shire.
It is bordered in the east by the Barrowdowns and in the west by The Hay, a large wall which the Hobbits of Buckland built after they cut the forest to make room for their new homes.
The Hobbits believed the trees of the Old Forest were in some manner 'awake', and were hostile. They sway when there is no wind, whisper at night, and misleading and waylaying travelers. When the trees grew too close to the hedge, hobbits cut down the trees nearest and created a clearing by a Bonfire. Ever since then, the trees were more hostile and perhaps some were Huorns.
Old Man Willow controlled most of the trees here, causing all the paths to either lead to him or the Barrowdowns.
It was also the home of Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry and his power here was nearly absolute, and was the only person capable of truly navigating through the perils of the forest and tempering its wrath, for many living things respected him.
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[edit] Description and Features
Aside from the trees, a valley lied in its center and the Withywindle river flowed through it. At the south-eastern edge of the forest on the bank of the river Withywindle, stood the house of Tom Bombadil the only constructed dwelling in the forest.
[edit] History
[edit] Before the Third Age
The Old Forest along with Fangorn Forest were all that remains of a vast and ancient primordial forest that once spanned nearly all of Eriador before the Second Age, and is one of the few forests that the Elves decided to wake and teach to speak. Beginning in the middle of the Second Age, the forest came under threat by the felling of trees by the men of Middle-earth and of Numenor. Later, when Sauron declared war on the elves, the havoc and destruction he and his troops created resulted in the near destruction of Eriador and burning much of the forest.
[edit] Third Age
By the Third Age, the forest had become wild and dangerous and those that lived near it had to take precautions particularly the Bucklanders, who built the High Hay to keep out wild creatures. Just before the War of the Ring, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin passed through here on their way to Bree and were rescued by Tom Bombadil, after being trapped by Old Man Willow in The Fellowship of the Ring (novel).
