History NightmareFuel / TheLordOfTheRings

** Right then, of course, Pippin knocks a skeleton down a well, making all kinds of racket. After a tense moment of silence, Gandalf scolds him, then turns to leave. And then

** We actually know the answer to both questions: the Plateau of Gorgoroth that we see in the movies is desolate due to the active volcano, and further because Sauron uses it in his black magic. The armies of Mordor are fed mostly by slave-tended fields in the fertile lands of southern Mordor, rich from the volcanic ash, around the lake Núrnen. Mordor also imposes taxes on most lands of East and South, paid mostly in foodstuffs and soldiers.

** Technically speaking there are lots of things in the Invisible World, including bad things like the Nazgûl and the Barrow-Wights, but also good guys like those Elves who saw the light of Valinor.

* After Frodo tells Sam, "The Ring is mine," there's something unsettling about his smile before he puts the Ring on.
** There should be something unsettling, given that [[TheCorruption the Ring has just seized what could have been permanent control of Frodo.]]

** For me the Nazgul are scariest early in the story, when they're pursuing the hobbits. A good part of this is the fact neither the characters nor the reader know what on earth they are, they just instinctively know they really really don't want to be found by them. They're almost set up as slasher film villains- these mysterious relentless hunters chasing down a group of young people who cannot ask for help from the outside world because of a secret they carry and Tolkien is so good at describing landscapes that you get a very detailed picture of the lengths the hobbits go to to avoid detection- every valley and thicket they use for cover and every ridge they risk climbing to spy out their route. Tolkien goes for a similar atmosphere when Frodo Sam and Gollum are working through Ithilien, but never at the same length or with quite so terrifyingly personal a threat as the Nazgul when they're leaving the shire.

** It was particularly bad for this troper when he watched it as a kid, as my father chose the moment where it poisoned Frodo to start softly singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". Yeah...kept my eyes shut for that scene.

** Personally I thought the drums were the worst bit of that scene. The absolute silence for a moment and then the drums. ''Just like what Gandalf had finished reading''. And then you know that ''they are coming''. A city worth of dwarves couldn't beat ''them'', what chance do nine weary travelers have?

** It was particularly bad for this troper when he watched it as a kid, as my father chose the moment where it poisoned Frodo to starting softly singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". Yeah...kept my eyes shut for that scene.

** Right then, of course, Pippin knocks a skeleton down a well, making all kinds of racket. After a tense moment of silence, Gandalf scolds him, then turns to leave. And then…

* "[[BeneathTheEarth Far, far below the deepest delving of the Dwarves]], the world is gnawed by [[UltimateEvil nameless things]]. [[CosmicHorror Even Sauron knows them not]]. [[TimeAbyss They are older than he]]. Now I have walked there, [[TakeOurWordForIt but I will bring no report to darken the light of day]]."

* In the chapter "Scouring of the Shire," it is implied that Saruman forced the starving Grima to eat the hobbit Lotho.

** The Witch-King definitely stands out just for this. Even without the film, the description of his 'face' is horrifying enough.

** Blame this one on PeterJackson himself. He's an arachnophobe, and he used this to full effect to make the scenes with Shelob as frightening as possible. The part that was especially creepy was where she was following Frodo ''silently from above''.

** The heck with that, one wonders what Sauron's massive armies are ''[[ImAHumanitarian eating]].''
** We actually know the answer to both questions: the Plateau of Gorgoroth that we see in the movies is desolate due to the active volcano, and further because Sauron uses it in his black magic. The armies of Mordor are fed mostly by slave-tended fields in the fertile lands of southern Mordor, rich from the volcanic ash, around the lake Núrnen. Mordor also imposes taxes on most lands of East and South, paid mostly in foodstuffs and soldiers.

* In the extended edition of ROTK, we get the Mouth of Sauron. Most unnerving set of teeth ever, with a creepy voice to boot.

** The heck with that, one wonders what Sauron's massive armies are ''[[ImAHumanitarian eating]].''

* In the extended edition of ROTK, we get the Mouth of Sauron. Most unnerving set of teeth with a creepy voice to boot.

** They're even more haunting, in both the book and the film version, if you recall that [[RealitySubtext J.R.R. Tolkien fought in World War I and likely had very vivid memories of the flooded bomb craters filled with corpses.]]

* The Stone Watchers at Cirith Ungol. Especially the way their expressions change offscreen. The worst is their mocking smirk when the Phial doesn't work on them on the way out. They're worse than the frakking Weeping Angels.

* The Balrog, in Moria? Feh, that is [[NothingIsScarier NOTHING]] compared to Gandalf reading the final diary entries of the mine's dwarves. "Drums...drums, in the deep...we cannot get out...''[[KilledMidSentence They are coming-]]''"

** Blame this one on PeterJackson himself. Peter is an arachnophobe, and he used this to full effect to make the scenes with the GiantSpider as frightening as possible. The part that was especially creepy was where Shelob was following Frodo ''silently from above''.

*** [[ImAHumanitarian Each other]], if they're hungry enough. Orcs will also eat humans.

** Blame this one on PeterJackson himself. Peter is an arachnophobe, and he used this to full effect to make the scenes with the GiantSpider as frightening as possible. The part that was especially creepy was where the big frigging spider was following Frodo ''silently from above''.
* The [[BrownNote screech]] and VertigoEffect combination in ''Fellowship'' just before the four Hobbits encounter a Nazgûl for the first time.

* Bilbo Baggins' completely ''[[NightmareFace pants-wettingly out-of-left-field freakout]]'' in ''TheLordOfTheRings: Fellowship of the Ring''. It really does come out of ''gracious nowhere''.

* The Barrow-wight scenes in ''Fellowship of the Ring''. The hobbits get lost in the mist, hear voices calling to them... and the next thing Frodo knows is he's waking up in a ''grave'' and there is ''something'' in the darkness with them... terrifying!

** To say nothing of what [[GodOfEvil Sauron]] says to Frodo wen he puts the Ring on in The Prancing Pony:
-->''"I see you... You cannot hide from me. There is no life in the [[Hell Void]], only death."''

** There shpuld be something unsettling, given that [[TheCorruption the Ring has just seized whhat could heva been permanent control of Frodo.]]