The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
ALPHABETICAL RACES PLACES MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCE INTERACTIVE SHARE
Latest Chronicle Calendar Old and rare words Lexicon of names Links Random
Dates
First appeared in III 1636; survived at least to the last years of the Third Age
Location
The Barrow-downs, to the east of the Shire
Meaning
A barrow is a grave-mound, and wight means a person or creature1

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 28 August 2000
  • Updates planned: 3

Barrow-wights

Evil spirits out of Angmar

Encyclopedia of Arda Timeline
Years of the Trees First Age Second Age Third Age Fourth Age and Beyond

Evil spirits sent to dwell in the Barrow-downs by the Witch-king of Angmar during his wars with the remnant of Arnor, and who remained there long after the realm of Angmar itself had vanished from the world.


Notes

1

The word wight comes from Old English wiht, a word with a very broad meaning that could signify a person, a creature or even just a thing. That word in itself didn't have any particularly evil connotations, but the related Old Saxon wiht, which literally meant 'thing', could be used to also refer to demons. It may be that Tolkien had this connection to the underworld in mind when he chose to refer to the grave-spirits of the Barrow-downs as 'wights'.

See also...

Angmar, Araval, Argeleb II, Fatty Lumpkin, Frodo Baggins, King of Arthedain

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Website services kindly sponsored by Axiom Software Ltd.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2000. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.