A point of comedy in its ridiculousness in Season 1 ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerwas the Harfoot’s walking song, sung by Sadoc Burrows (Lenny Henry), the Harfoot Trailfinder. Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and Poppy (Megan Richards) mock the Harfoot’s walking song for its seemingly random lyrics with no real meaning beyond the Harfoot slogan “nobody goes off trail, and nobody walks alone!”. In the opening three episodes of Season 2, released all at once, it appeared we were getting closer to the truth, with the walking song leading Nori, Poppy, and The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) through thedesert in Rhûn. However, in Episode 4 “Eldest,“we learn the specific reason why this song comes from these lands, and the sad tragedy of the Stoors' current existence in Rhûn that links back to the whole narrative themes ofThe Lord of the Rings.
The Harfoot’s Walking Song Is Actually About the Stoors of Rhûn
The backstory behind the song is told to Nori by Gundabale (Tanya Moodie), also known as The Gund and the leader of the Stoors, after Nori claims that Sadoc Burrows is the Harfoot’s leader. Gundabale takes Nori to a rock where Nori realizes it displays the oath described in the Harfoot walking song. Gundabale explains that one of Sadoc Burrows’ ancestors, Rorimas Burrows, a halfling from the Stoor clan of Rhûn, dreamed of a land where the “ground was soft” and “endless steams of cold water” flowed freely.Sadoc’s ancestor then took a caravan of Stoors and went searching for what was called the Sûzat, the promised land, swearing to send someone back to find them.
For some reason, Rorimas never followed through on his promise to send someone back to the Stoors. It could be he did, and one of the Gaudrim, the masked riders servingthe Dark Wizard in Caras Gaer, killed them. However, it appears that Rorimas took his caravan out of Rhûn generations ago, perhaps before the Dark Wizard arrived in Middle-earth. Therefore, perhaps the Harfoot slogan “nobody goes off trail, and nobody walks alone!” could explain them not sending a messenger.Perhaps the fear of losing what they had gained kept Rorimas from sending anyone back, something being similarly explored in Elrond’s character arc this season: is it worth trying to do good when we could risk losing what we have?
Either way, it is interesting that the walking song has been handed down for generations. Despite its lack of meaning, tradition has kept it alive. Many times inJ. R. R. Tolkien’s work, tradition has been to the detriment of others, like Eowyn (Miranda Otto) being banned from going to war inThe Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Yet, in this instance, it might just save the Stoors from the barren wasteland of Rhûn. However, the tragedy of no one being sent back to the Stoors, and the Harfoots eventually forgetting about them as they “kept wandering”, as Nori put it, links to some core themes ofThe Lord of the Rings.
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The Harfoot Walking Song Connects Directly to Themes From ‘The Lord of the Rings’
The danger of forgetting and the danger of communication between peoples dwindling is present from the very beginning ofThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.Galadriel’s (Tilda Swinton) monologue in the prologuespeaks about how “some things that should not have been forgotten were lost” when referencing the One Ring. This is what leads to the entire events ofThe Lord of the Rings. Many times throughout, it is referenced that the old alliances are dead, such as Theoden (Bernard Hill) points out to Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) inThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towerswhen they prepare for battle against all odds at Helm’s Deep.It is when alliances and history are forgotten that darkness is allowed to creep backinto the world.
The Harfoots walking song is a similar reminder of these themes andwhat happens to people who are left behind when they are forgotten. History has been so totally forgotten to the point that they can sing a song that actually holds a lot of guilt within it that the Harfoots, specifically Rorimas Burrows, should feel about leaving their old family behind. The silver lining is, of course, that Nori is here now, and could potentially help the Stoors find their way to the Harfoots, reuniting the two clans. This could be interpreted as alluding to the grand plan ofEru Illúvatar, the creator of Middle-earth, and how everything happens for a reason, as Gandalf reasons to Frodo inFellowship of the Ringwhen Frodo wishes the Ring had never come to him. So, whilst forgetting history and alliances allows darkness to come back into the world, as Gandalf says, to Frodo, there are always “forces at work in this world… beside the will of evil”.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Poweris available to stream on Prime Video.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Epic drama set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.
