A Game of You

A Game of You

Chapter 4: Beginning to See the Light
Beginning to See the Light Name of a track from the self-titled third album of the Velvet Underground. Wikipedia Gaiman has written and referenced Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground's lead singer, extensively through the years.

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no cover on the plain This and the following pages contain numerous over parallels to Lord of the Rings. In LotR, the Fellowship of the Ring hazards crossing the mountain pass of Caradhras. They are, at the time, fleeing the Nine Riders (similar to the Black Guard here). Hildebrandt points out the similarity of the reference to the trees to Tolkien's ents, but does not explore the connections further. Numerous passages in this and the following pages evoke Tolkien:

"Not that they're on our side..." "So cold" (freezing on the mountain pass) "There's no cover on the plain..."

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"I was singing to keep our spirits up" Yet another Tolkien reference? Doesn't Sam do this in LotR?

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the Tantoblin After their failed attempt to cross the Caradhras mountain pass, the Fellowship in LotR comes across Balin's tomb in Moria, the skeletons of dead comrades, and messages written shortly before they died ("we cannot get out").

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"we have to bury him" This scene seems familiar. Isn't there such a scene in a famous fantasy story where, despite being pursued by danger, a group insists on burying a comrade?

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the came so close Again, the scene mirrors the hobbits hiding in a ditch from the black riders. "and had a brief, made impulse to scream, to run out, to laugh, to say "here we are!"" - doesn't this parallel the scene? need to check.

'''"Nothing else stirred"... playing cards''' The language of nursery rhymes and Alice in Wonderland are mixed into Gaiman's portrayal of The Land.

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looking for eggs Cuckoo theme.

Gniedrig A Gaiman invention.

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"I felt like Bilbo in Mirkwood" explicit Tolkien reference.

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"we were here before the Cuckoo" echoes the trees and ents in Tolkien.