The Watcher in the Water is a fictional creature in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth; it appears in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of The Lord of the Rings. Lurking in a lake beneath the western walls of the dwarf-realm Moria, it is said to have appeared after the damming of the river Sirannon, In the last pages of the book, the scribe, revealed to be Ori, relates: "We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They [the Orcs] have taken the Bridge and second hall. ... the pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Óin. We cannot get out. The end comes ... drums, drums in the deep ... they are coming."
An early version of the Fellowship's encounter with the Watcher is found in The Return of the Shadow. Tolkien's account of the creature at this stage is practically the same as in the final published version. Its emergence, physical appearance, abilities, attack on the Fellowship, and the breaking of the Moria Gate are already present in his initial writings.
Analysis
thumb|Gateway to Hell: the Fellowship's passage past the Watcher in the Water and through [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria's Doors of Durin has been compared to Odysseus's passage between the devouring Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis.
The essayist Allison Harl writes that the Watcher may be a kraken created and bred by Morgoth in Utumno,
The scholar of English literature Charles A. Huttar suggests possible origins for the Watcher in the Classical world. He compares the combination of the tentacled monster and the "clashing gate" when the Fellowship pass through the Doors of Durin, only to have the Watcher smash the rocks behind them, to Greek mythology's Wandering Rocks near the opening of the underworld, and to Odysseus's passage between the devouring Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ Charles Huttar's comparison with perilous passages in Classical mythology
Marjorie Burns, a scholar of English literature, situates the Watcher in the Water as part of a triple obstacle to entering Moria: "ominous obstructing waters, the Watcher within, and highly resistant doors". She comments that such a "piling up of opposition" is characteristic of Norse mythology, in which it is common for there to be massive obstacles, unwelcoming gates, aggressive dogs and "persistent guardians".
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ Norbert Schürer's analysis of symbolism before the gates of Moria
The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game by Games Workshop, based on Jackson's film, calls the Watcher in the Water the "Guardian of the Doors of Durin".
References
Primary
Secondary
fi:Veden valvoja