Did Frodo have a prophetic dream?

Question

Right before Frodo and company head into the Old Forest, Frodo has this dream. > Eventually he fell into a vague dream, in which he seemed to be> looking out of a high window over a dark sea of tangled trees. Down> below among the roots there was the sound of creatures crawling and> snuffling. He felt sure they would smell him out sooner or later. Then> he heard a noise in the distance. At first he thought it was a great> wind coming over the leaves of the forest. Then he knew that it was> not leaves, but the sound of the Sea far-off; a sound he had never> heard in waking life, though it had often troubled his dreams.> Suddenly he found he was out in the open. There were no trees after> all. He was on a dark heath, and there was a strange salt smell in the> air. Looking up he saw before him a tall white tower, standing alone> on a high ridge. A great desire came over him to climb the tower and> see the Sea. He started to struggle up the ridge towards the tower:> but suddenly a light came in the sky, and there was a noise of> thunder.Was this dream supposed to be in some way prophetic, foretelling his future sailing to the Undying Lands? Or was there another reason/outcome for this dream?

Answer 1

In simplest form: yes. Recall, Tolkien was aware of an older form with respect to dreams and their dream-vision vehicle in literature. Examples include: Scipio, Chaucer and of course Bunyan. On this latter note, Bunyan opens with media res ("in the middle") to further extend the ideation of a dream.

Further, and by very definition, a dream is an in-between construct; not quite awake and not quite asleep. Frodo, reflects his Middle-earth existence vis-a-vis the dream vision motif.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Dr. T