LotR -- Book 5 - Chapter 04 - The Siege of Gondor

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Book 5 takes us back and forth between the Rohirrim and Gondor - that is to say, between Merry and Pippin. After seeing the Riders off in the last chapter, we return to events in Minas Tirith. The chapter begins with an atmosphere that continues throughout - the darkness that prevails, accompanied by a heaviness of both air and spirits. Two elements seem most important in this part of the story - the plot, with increasing warfare, preceeding the big battle; and the characterization of the various persons involved. The intertwining of those two elements is what makes this chapter so compelling to read!

We begin with the quiet before the storm, with preparations and planning, orders and skirmishes. Troops and messengers go back and forth, and we can feel the suspense thick in the air. The increasing power and dread that emanates from the Nazgûl is part of the developing threat. Parallel to that is Pippin's preparation by donning the livery and armour of the Guard.

The individual characters about whom we learn more, both by their actions and by their words, are: Pippin, Gandalf, Denethor, and Faramir, mainly. Minor characters who play their parts are Beregond and Imrahil - and, minor at least in the part he plays in this chapter, the Witch King.

I'd like to mention only a few things, knowing that others who post will have more to say. One fact about Faramir struck me, as it's mentioned twice: It is said of him that he masters both men and animals. To what would you attribute this ability? We've seen something similar in Aragorn.

Another thing that impressed me strongly was Denethor's horrible attitude, especially in his words to his only remaining son. His increasing despair is palpable, but the negative words to Faramir made me catch my breath, and put a tight ring around my heart. How do they affect you?

The rivalry, an inner battle, between Gandalf and Denethor shows in various passages. What do you think of the Steward's open jealousy?

What does the encounter between the Witch King and Gandalf show us? This is a topic that's been discussed recently on other threads, since the relative strength of both is a topic of interest.

A question that is asked anxiously throughout the chapter is the one about the Rohirrim - will they come? Will they come on time? Does their coming at the end of the chapter strike you as anticlimactic or relieving?

I'd like to add one last comment on the additional characterization of a person who is not present in this chapter - Aragorn. We learn something new about him in Gandalf's thoughts about what has drawn out Sauron so early.

Ah! I wonder. Aragorn? His time draws near. And he is strong and stern underneath, Pippin; bold, determined, able to take his own counsel and dare great risks at need.

What a man, what a king!

[Kuruharan]

Denethor's attitude (at least at first) shows that in some ways he and Sauron are not so different. They both are interested in what somebody can do for them.

[Encaitare]

There Denethor sat in a grey gloom, like an old patient spider, Pippin thought; he did not seem to have moved since the day before.

Interesting comparison; Tolkien's portrayal of spiders has always been a negative one -- Shelob, Ungoliant, the spiders in Mirkwood -- and Ungoliant was called the Gloomweaver. Denethor is starting to deteriorate and fall victim to the shadows.

"And why should such songs be unfit for my halls, or for such hours as these? We who have lived long under the Shadow may surely listen to echoes from a land untroubled by it? Then we may feel that our vigil was not fruitless, though it may have been thankless." (Denethor)

Ouch.

"Treachery, treachery I fear; treachery of that miserable creature. But so it must be. Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself, and do good that he does not intend." (Gandalf)

This got me thinking. The traitors in LotR show themselves to be hardly comfortable with themselves and their deeds, and do actually "do good that [they do] not intend". Such was the case with Grima and the Palantir, and such will be the case with Gollum.

Denethor's words to Faramir in this chapter are, in a word, terrible! I saw the movie of RotK with a friend who had not read the book, and when she heard Denethor say that he wished Faramir had died instead of Boromir, she gasped aloud. And she was right -- what a horrible thing to say! And "That depends on the manner of your return" is just as bad.

Gandalf makes an important (and true) prediction:

"You [Faramir] will be needed here, for other things than war."

It's also good to see that unlike his movie character, Denethor is actually doing something:

And then a trumpet rang from the Citadel, and Denethor at last released the sortie. Drawn up within the shadow of the Gate and under the looming walls outside they had waited for his signal...

The cavalry rode on. But Denethor did not permit them to go far. Though the enemy was checked, and for the moment driven back, great forces were flowing in from the East. Again the trumpet rang, sounding the retreat.

It is only after Faramir is wounded that he abandons all hope.

Then the Black Captain rose in his stirrups and cried aloud in a dreadful voice, speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and terror to rend both heart and stone.

Neat trick. I love these little unknowns that keep things mysterious.

[Lhunardawen]

Esty: What a post!

Originally Posted by Esty

Another thing that impressed me strongly was Denethor's horrible attitude, especially in his words to his only remaining son. His increasing despair is palpable, but the negative words to Faramir made me catch my breath, and put a tight ring around my heart. How do they affect you?

The way Denethor spoke to Faramir was enough to make the not-too-attentive reader think that their relationship is only like that of a soldier to his commanding officer. While I understand that desperation is driving Denethor to say such words to his own son, he did not realize that Faramir also has his own burden to bear - not only his, but also that which Boromir left behind. Faramir doesn't really need a nagger (nay, worse) along with all that.

Originally Posted by Enca

Ouch.

Exactly what I said myself. But compare this to what Halbarad said in the previous chapter:

'A little people, but of great worth are the Shire-folk,' said Halbarad. 'Little do they know of our long labour for the safekeeping of their borders, and yet I grudge it not.'

This just goes to show that despite what he thinks of himself, Denethor is totally immature. Or is this also a comment brought about by their current situation, like the way Denethor treats his son?

There are a lot of changes Pippin has gone through in this chapter - so much that by the end of it you'll hardly remember how Pippin used to be.

All these began with a simple

His old clothes were folded and put away.

They say clothes make the man, or the hobbit. This simple act shows that Pippin was forced to lay aside all his hobbit-ness and assume his new 'persona,' that of a soldier of Gondor.

He looked now, had he known it, verily Ernil i Pheriannath, the Prince of the Halflings, that folk had called him; but he felt uncomfortable. And the gloom began to weigh on his spirits.

With his joyous nature taken away, he starts to see things in a new light, or in darkness in this case. And though he might look (and feel) more noble than ever before, he knows that who he has become is not the real him, and so he feels discomfort. And the fact that all these take place in such a somber environment does not really help him.

This summarizes the complete character change he has gone through:

Already it seemed years to Pippin since he had sat there before, in some half-forgotten time when he had still been a hobbit, a light-hearted wanderer touched little by the perils he had passed through. Now he was one small soldier in a city preparing for a great assault, clad in the proud but sombre manner of the Tower of Guard. (italics mine)

Another thing that has greatly changed is his lack of cheer, replaced by his full grasp of the consequences of his 'costume change'.

In some other time and place Pippin might have been pleased with his new array, but he knows now that he was taking part in no play...The hauberk was burdensome, and the helm weighed upon his head.

Unfortunately for Pippin, those physical troubles are not the worse of his experiences in that gear.

For one, here's this:

"And I'm not used, Master Beregond, to wait hungry on others while they eat. It is a sore trial for a hobbit, that."

Poor, poor Pippin.

Now we digress a little, and see what this scenario reminds you of.

...And when [Pippin] saw the pale face of Faramir he caught his breath. It was the face of one who has been assailed by a great fear or anguish, but has mastered it and now is quiet.

Merry and Dernhelm, anyone? While Dernhelm was off to seek death, Faramir seemed to be almost greeted by it. Dernhelm let 'his' feelings show while Faramir tried to control them. What does this tell us about Eowyn and Faramir, aside from "opposites (really) attract?"

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

I will, soon, have a much more full post about this chapter, but I just wanted to put this up right away -- it's a translation of the final paragraphs of the chapter into Old English:

Gandalf ne stureð. Ant i þet ilke time, awei bihinden i sum curt burhene, coc creow. Schille ant schire he creow, ne haldende na tale of wichecreft ne weorre, bute gretende ane þen marhen þet i þe heouene feor ouer þe schadewes deaðes wes cuminde wið þe dahunge.

Ant as þah ondswerende, an oðer song com from feor awei. Hornes, hornes, hornes. I dorc Mindolluines siden ha dimliche sweide. Great hornes of þe Norð wildeliche blawende. Rohan wes ed te leaste icumen.

As much as I'd like to claim it as my own, I found it here.

The two points I will make now are quite simple:

1) this is my single favourite bit of prose in the whole tale -- it surges ahead through heightened language and loaded symbolic resonances but culminates in the plain-style statement "Rohan had come at last". I love it so much because it mirrors exactly the action: Gondor and Mordor are confronting one another yet again in the long series of battles that go back to the First Age; Gandalf and the Witch King are facing off, the men of Westernesse and the orcs are fighting, and there they all are "lo-ing" and and "unto-ing" and "did fall-ing" all over the place, when the newer, younger race of Men rides up with their more contemporary and simple language. Their arrival is blunt, to the point and stirring beyond most of what's been happening in this chapter.

2) The movie exactly nailed this moment!

edit I'm away from my books and can't check, but in the timeline of the story aren't Frodo and Sam in Shelob's lair as battle rages on the Pelennor?? If so, that gives extra resonance to Denethor's being described as a spider: there are two non-Sauron enemies who must be overcome on each front before the heroes can hope to tackle the real Enemy. Also, this pairing is interesting in term of gender: Shelob/feminine and Denethor/masculine....herm....both present the threat of consuming the living, both are most dangerous in their stony lairs, both have retreated into themselves and pay no heed to the outside world.....more thought needed....

One more thing: the cock crowing who "recks nothing of wizardry or war" is always interesting to me, insofar as this line seems to point toward some kind of necessary connection between wizardry and war: is it a comparison of good and bad, light and dark, or are they linked in some other way? -- that is, are they being joined together as part of the same problem?

That would seem to be at least part of the implication of the confrontation of Gandalf and the Witch-King....

[Kuruharan]

The movie exactly nailed this moment!

I'm afraid that I couldn't possibly disagree more. The movie was horrible on this point. I'm not sure this is the place to discuss this in depth, but it was evident that (yet again) the filmmakers felt the compulsion to "jazz up" the action. They (yet again) made themselves look silly in the process.