A Journey Long Coming

And so it begins. After claiming the LOTR trilogy to be my favourite movie series ever since it first came out, and having watched the extended editions and the special features on the boxed sets, it has taken me this long to finally pick up the actual books.

I am major bookworm who typically tries to read the book before watching the movie, but even after all the movies were out, I never put real effort into tackling Tolkien’s trilogy (though I technically attempted to start reading them about 10 years back, but following along with an audio book of a different edition than your physical book is fairly off-putting).

So here I am again, attempt number two, years wiser, and more patient to getting out of the shire. This time I figured I’d try to blog about my thoughts on the differences from movies to books.

We’ll see how it goes.

5.X. The Black Gate Opens

Thoughts: There is not an epic, “For Frodo” moment when the company runs to meet the enemy at the black gate.

Outline: It takes the army a good number of days to travel to the Black Gate. They pass the Cross-roads with no trouble, and there is an attempt at an ambush on them, but their scouts told them of it in advance, “so the ambush was itself trapped.” Good on you guys.

After the ambush the Nazgûl fly way overhead to bring the dread and shadow that they hold over those nearby. And when they finally approach the gate, Aragorn allows those in terror to leave with their honour, to instead take Cair Andros, and over a thousand left them for that task.

The Black Gate opens to an embassy from the Dark Tower, including the Mouth of Sauron. He presents, not only the mithril-mail coat, but also Sam’s sword and Frodo’s elven cloak.

The Mouth of Sauron does not say that Frodo is dead, just that he is captured and his release could be bought with terms. Terms that state the lands east of the Anduin to be Sauron’s, and West of that to be tributary to Mordor, with no one bearing weapons. Isengard would be rebuilt, and a new lieutenant, The Mouth of Sauron, would be put in place. He speaks mostly to Gandalf, who turns him down and takes back the sword, cloak, and coat too.

Pippin does save Beregond from one of the hill-trolls out there, killing it but then it topples on top of Pippin, who then thinks he’s going to die. “This is my tale, and it is ended now. Good-bye!” are his final thoughts before falling unconscious.

Learned: Merry does not get to go to the battle at the Black Gate, he is still too injured, they leave two days later which isn’t much for recovery time, so it’s understandable.

Known: Just like in the movie, there is no one they can see manning the gate, so the Captains approach and Aragorn makes his proclamation for the “Lord of the Black Land come forth!”

Interesting: The Mouth of Sauron is apparently from a race named the Black Númenóreans who worshipped Sauron since the early days.

Evaluation: Certainty of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for? Despite the differences between it and the movie, overall still a good chapter.

Notes: And sadly, Aragorn doesn’t awesomely decapitate the Mouth of Sauron, he just turns tail and rides back behind the enemy lines that come out to meet them.

5.X. Thought 45

They fix the statue with a crown of flowers! 

“the old king’s head was raised and set in its place once more, still crowned with white and golden flowers; and men laboured to wash and pare away all the foul scrawls that orcs had put upon the stone.”

I’m so pleased that they actually put his head back up, I couldn’t believe it when I read it, had to read it twice my happiness was so great.

5.IX. The Last Debate

Thoughts: Upon going to see Merry and Pippin, Legolas and Gimli just casually throw out that they could give Aragorn things to fix up the city once he’s king, “service of stonewrights of the Mountain, and we will make this a town to be proud of.” and “the people of the Wood shall bring him birds that sing and trees that do not die.” Pretty big things to offer.

Outline: Legolas now explains more of what happened on their journey after the Paths of the Dead. “Some I saw riding, some striding, yet all moving with the same great speed. Silent they were, but there was a glean in their eyes.” They gathered some more allies, and drove the allies of Mordor away. When they reached the black ships they were laughed at, like in the movie, but then Aragorn unleashes the Shadow Host and all enemies were killed, drowned, or driven off home.

Gandalf puts forth the plan to draw out Sauron’s armies from Mordor, to be bait (not a diversion, sorry Legolas who is not in this meeting in the book), because Sauron fears Aragorn will gain the strength to use the Ring against him if more time is let to pass.

Aragorn even pulls out the point that they will rebuild the Gate, “In Erebor in the Kingdom of Dáin there is such skill [. . .] in time I will send Gimli Glóin’s son to ask for wrights of the Mountain.”

Learned: We also find out that that South wind that was mentioned earlier to have started blowing actually helps bring the ships come up the river in time to help win the battle.

Known: Aragorn takes the ships and the Shadow Host leave to the shore where Aragorn calls to them that their oath is fulfilled, “Depart and be at rest!”, not quite as elloquent as “be at peace” but oh well. I knew this from before, that the Host doesn’t actually join the battle of Pellenor, so it’s nice to see that while they were down one undead army, they did bring with them armies from the south.

Interesting: “The Stones of Seeing do not lie.” So Denethor saw truly great armies amassing in Mordor, so Gandalf calls on the Lords to what may be done next.

Evaluation: There is always a bigger fish. “Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary.”

Notes: “Oft hope is born, when all is forlorn.”

5.IX. Thought 44

Sauron surpassed Voldemort.

“If [the Ring] is destroyed, then [Sauron] will fall; and his fall will be so low that none can foresee his arising ever again. For he will lose the best part of the strength that was native to him in his beginning, and all that was made or begun with that power will crumble, and he will be maimed for ever, becoming a mere spirit of malice that gnaws itself in the shadows, but cannot again grow or take shape.”

So Sauron can’t actually be completely destroyed, he will still live on. I had thought that the Ring was like a horcrux for Sauron, but even with that gone, he can still live, so somehow he’s got one up on Moldy Voldy.

5. VIII. The Houses of Healing

Thoughts: Merry, of course, upon waking, his first words are “I am hungry.” Never a truer word spoken by a Hobbit.

Outline: On Merry’s journey up the streets of Minas Tirith he loses his way from the procession of Théoden and Éowyn until Pippin finds him under the orders of Gandalf.

Merry and Pippin run into Bergil, Beregond’s son, whom they send to Gandalf to get help for them, as Merry cannot make it. Gandalf comes along and carries Merry off to the Houses of Healing.

By some miracle, an old wife, Ioreth, brings up old lore, “The hands of the king are the hands of a healer.” Which sends Gandalf in haste to find Aragorn to see if he could be the one to heal the Black Shadow on Merry, Faramir, and Éowyn.

Aragorn is an honourable man and chooses to camp outside the walls until he is invited in as King by the Steward. But Gandalf reaches him and brings him up as the Captain of the Dúnedain of Arnor, to do the healing.

It is at the point of starting to heal Faramir, that Aragorn calls for athelas, aka kingsfoil, of which the herb-master says they don’t keep, so Aragorn sends him off in search of some. He comes back saying they don’t have any, that the rhyme “When the black breath blows and death’s shadow grows and all lights pass, come athelas! come athelas! Life to the dying In the king’s hand lying!” is garbled in memory, and that only old folk use it for headaches. And so Gandalf replies, “Then in the name of the king, go and find some old man of less lore and more wisdom who keeps some in his house!”. Gandalf speak for ‘then stop being an idiot and find someone wiser than you who has some’.

And as simple as breathing on some leaves, crushing them, and putting them in steaming water, does Aragorn awake Faramir from the Black Shadow.

Learned: Those touched by the Nazgûl incurred a malady called the Black Shadow, of which their medicines could not cure; first with fitful dreaming, then silence and deadly cold, then death.

Known: Aragorn also leaves a parting order that I believe sets the course for Éowyn’s future; he says that she must remain for 10 days and be restrained from leaving, if possible. She’s gotta be there to start some relationship with Faramir of course.

Interesting: When tending Éowyn, Gandalf talks to Éomer about the cold in her heart, and it is here that we see the words spoken by Wormtongue in the movie, but are actually spoken by Gandalf in admonishment to Éomer, “But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her.”

Evaluation: Keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. Lots of words, but many that don’t move the plot forwards much.

Notes: Aragorn kind of makes a joke. After the kerfuffle about the athelas, Merry asks about some herbs for smoking and Aragorn replies, “If your pack has not been found, then you must send for the herb-master of this House. And he will tell you that he did not know that the herb you desire had any virtues, but that is it called west-mansweed by the vulgar, and galenas by the noble, and other names in other tongues more learned, and after adding a few half-forgotten rhymes that he does not understand, he will regretfully inform you that there is none in the House, and he will leave you to reflect on the history of tongues.”

5.VII. The Pyre of Denethor

Thoughts: Gandalf makes the decision to not pursue the Dark Rider and instead follow Pippin to save Faramir from being burned alive. Pippin asks him to save Faramir and Gandalf replies, “but if I do, then others will die, I fear. [. . .] evil and sorrow will come of this. Even in the heart of our stronghold the Enemy has power to strike us: for his will it is that is at work.” So Gandalf knows that the Dark Rider will bring about the death of someone, that being Théoden, and that it is the Enemy that has poisoned the mind of Denethor to attempt such an act.

Outline: Upon leaving the gate, Gandalf leaves Prince Imrahil in command of Gondor’s armies.

Gandalf leaves Shadowfax before reaching the Door to Rath Dínen, the ancient tomb. And there they find Beregond holding off the servants from entering to light the pyre.

Gandalf makes his way in past Denethor to find Faramir not yet on fire, and he picks him up and carries him to a bier (stretcher).

Denethor actually pulls out a palantír from the pillow he was going to lay on while burning, he rants about how he has seen what the Enemy has in store, and that this fight is “only the first finger of its hand”, he refuses to surrender, and instead moves “to rule my own end.”

Learned: Denethor takes a torch to light the pyre, then sets himself upon the table with the palantír in his hands and burns to death. And the fire even takes out the whole tomb with it “they saw the dome of the house crack and smokes issue forth; and then with a rush and rumble of stone it fell in a flurry of fire.” Less crazy than running off the end of the castle to fall to his death, but only a little less.

Known: Denethor is crazy.

Interesting: And interesting to note, Pippin brings up a good point, “The Lord went away from the room where Faramir lay; and it was only when he returned that I first thought he was changed, old and broken.” So Denethor goes to the palantír in his moment of weakness, and sees what the Enemy wants him to see, that there is no hope of survival against the darkness.

Evaluation: The quality of Pippin is definitely not diminished by his stature, he still saves Faramir, and he doesn’t even have to jump onto a burning pyre to do it.

Notes: Good ol’ Beregond, putting his post aside for his duty to Faramir.

 

 

 

5.VII. Thought 43

It’s all down to a ‘What if?’.

Gandalf: “Beyond hope the Captain of our foes has been destroyed [. . .] But he has not gone without woe and bitter loss. And that I might have averted but for the madness of Denethor.”

It would be interesting to know whether or not Gandalf could have stopped the death of Théoden. It was technically an accident, but it was brought about by his horse freezing in place due to the cry of the Nazgûl, so maybe if Gandalf was there to fight the Nazgûl, he could have stopped it. But then would the battle have ended differently, would Eowyn have still been there to kill the Witch King? Would Gandalf have been able to kill him instead? If Éomer wasn’t so aggrieved by Théoden’s death and the sight of his seemingly dead sister, maybe he wouldn’t have rallied the troops so well for the second half of their fight and they might have lost before the Black Ships arrived. So many, many things could have been different for that one decision.

5.VI. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields

Thoughts: “But no living man am I!” and then goes on to explain who she is and “I will smite you, if you touch him.” Not quite as cool as “I am no man!” right before striking the final blow.

Outline: Upon the arrival of Rohan, the Lord of the Nazgûl leaves Gandalf at the gate to face his new foes, so they don’t really have much of an encounter.

Éowyn does indeed chop off the head of the Fell Beast, and right as the Black Rider is about to deal her a killing blow, Merry stabs him in the back of the knee and she uses the opportunity to stab her sword between crown and mantle.

Éowyn falls unconscious, so it is Merry who talks final words with Théoden; he states Éomer to be the next king, Merry is unable to tell him that Éowyn is there and she killed the Black Rider.

It is at this point that the mûmakil, oliphaunts, show up on the field, Éomer takes up the standard and rides to battle as the new king, calling “Death! Ride to ruin and the world’s ending!” instead of that being Théoden’s lines.

Merry does not stay on the battlefield, he follows the bearers of Théoden and Éowyn back towards Minas Tirith, and, on their way there, it is Prince Imrahil who sees that Éowyn is not dead, but gravely hurt.

Finally, the Black Ships come up the river, and all feel their hope waver despite their victories so far. But as the ships get close, a great standard is unfurled; “There flowered a White Tree and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold.” And instead of bringing the Dead, they brought the armies from the South who no longer needed to guard their own cities from the Black Ships.

Learned: And so many great people died in the battle that “a maker in Rohan said in his song of the Mounds of Mundburg” the list of all the names of the greats that passed during its battle.

Known: Théoden defeats the Southrons leader before the dark shadow falls over them all, His horse, Snowmane, freezes in fear and is struck by a black dart, which causes it to fall over onto Théoden, crushing him. Doesn’t help that the Fell Beast then lands on top of the horse, which is still on top of Théoden, as in the movie.

Interesting: They dug a grave for Snowmane with the epitaph: “Faithful servant yet master’s bane, Lightfoot’s foal, swift Snowmane.”

Evaluation: Even darkness must pass, and so Gondor is saved. I think the order of events in the movie give Théoden a bit more battle time before dying, but oh well.

Notes: Merry loses his sword, as it was smoking and “it writhed and withered and was consumed.”

5.V. The Ride of the Rohirrim

Thoughts: Theoden’s speech to the Rohirrim before battle is much the same as the movie, though a little more Ye Old Englishy.

Outline: Apparently there is also a wall that usually surrounds the fields of Gondor, but they are lucky and the orcs have broken it down, which means they don’t have to waste time fighting for it, or take the time to go two by two through the road opening.

Learned: The Wild Men of the Woods show the Rohirrim a way through the trees, around the trenches and stakes that had been erected in their path on the main road.

Known: The messenger with the Red Arrow was found killed, which explains why Denethor does not know that the Rohirrim are coming.

Interesting: Merry still doesn’t know about Éowyn, but at least during the travel, the Marshal of the éored he was in, “all his men ignored Merry and pretended not to hear if he spoke.” So that explains why no one mentioned that Merry disobeyed orders and came with.

Evaluation: “Need brooks no delay, yet late is better than never.” As said by Éomer, though I think this chapter was better never than late.

Notes: Too small of a chapter to even have anything of note.

5.IV. The Siege of Gondor

Thoughts: The exchange between Denethor and Faramir as he leaves to take Osgiliath back is phrased exactly like in the movie and it makes me sad. “But if I should return, think better of me!” “That depends on the manner of your return.”

Outline: Finally Faramir comes back from Osgiliath, and Gandalf indeed saves them from the Nazgûl that are chasing them.

At dinner with Denethor, Faramir reveals that he has seen more halflings, and tells the tale in front of Denethor, which seems like a super bad thing to do. So now he knows that Faramir let Frodo and the Ring go, and that they are going to Cirith Ungol.

Denethor is slightly more sensible about the ring in the book, wanting to keep it “hidden, hidden dark and deep. Not used, I say, unless at the uttermost end of need.” To which Gandalf just says that he trusts him even less because of this.

Gandalf actually goes out to Osgiliath with Faramir and comes back with wounded soldiers and news mid-fight. Denethor even puts on armour to fight in if it comes to it.

Again Gandalf goes out to meet the Nazgûl as it follows the rest of Faramir’s guard in retreat, he brings along Dol Amroth’s Prince Imrahil, from the south, and a company of men to beat back their pursuers, which already consist of Orcs and the wild Southron men. Prince Imrahil brings back Faramir who was injured in the battle.

Once Denethor hears that Faramir is ‘dying’, they are laid down on a table in the tomb together, and Denethor orders from there to get wood and oil to burn them with. When Pippin runs to find Gandalf he pleads a servant to “Go slow!” so as not to finish before he gets back. He also runs into Beregond of whom he pleads “to stop any dreadful thing happening”, despite that meaning he would have to abandon his post against orders.

Meanwhile, the first appearance of the Lord of the Nazgûl is upon a horse, commanding the battering ram and entering Osgiliath through the broken gateway. Here is where Gandalf meets him, but before they fight, “Horns, horns, horns. [. . .] Rohan had come at last.”

Learned: When Denethor releases Pippin from his service to “die in what way seems best to you”, he is not angry, and Pippin argues against it and to stay in his service, which Denethor allows. So Pippin is still in his service.

Known: And at the gate, the battering ram “founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old.”

Interesting: “[Sauron] has begun sooner than he would.” So apparently he wasn’t completely ready to attack Gondor yet, or was satisfied to hold out longer, but Aragorn using the Stone caused him to move early, possibly giving them an edge up?

Evaluation: “A traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend.” Ever the giver of second chances, eh Gandalf. Look what second chances gave Faramir, a possible burning alive.

Notes: Pippin does not sing for Denethor in the book, which I vaguely knew now that I think about it, Billy Boyd is a musician and composed the song himself I believe. Though it’s not out of the question that they could have just put a song of his making in instead of using lyrics provided in the book at the time.