Awesome deaths!!!

[Elianna]

Maybe this is too morbid a topic....

Throughout the books (and even some in the movies) there are awesome deathes. Such as these:

"The helm of Anárion was crushed by the stone-cast from Barad-dûr that slew him." I just find that awesome for some reason.

"But Aragorn was only two years old when Arathorn went riding against the Orcs with the sons of Elrond, and he was slain by an Orc-arrow that pierced his eye." Yes, in your eye!

And Saruman! HA!! Kicks Wormtongue and stalks away, fearing nothing. Then Gríma snarls, jumps on his back, jerks back his head, and slices his throat!

Then there's Gil-galad. His death isn't told about much in the books, only that he was burnt by Sauron, but if you've seen the extras on FotR, you'll understand. They weren't able to put it in the movie, but Peter Jackson had planned on showing Gil-galad's death: He and Sauron would meet on the battlefield and stare at each other for a while. Then Sauron grabs Gil-galad by his neck, holds him up off his feet (which is a feat in itself), and suddenly, Gil-galad bursts into flame and is tossed aside. That's great! Spontaneous Elven Combustion!

(I'm sure you noticed that I'm delighting in the deathes of good guys mostly, but I assure you that's just a coinsidence.)

Are there other deathes in Tolkien's writtings that you guys like?

[Kuruharan]

Yes, this does seem like a fairly morbid topic, but here goes anyway.

Smaug and Glaurung. Very dramatic and killing dragons is better than killing Balrogs any day of the week!!!! (Long story, that... )

But seriously, you have to admire the way that Ecthelion went out.

[Thorongil]

Or the great flash when Fingons helm was cloven(or something like that). It sounds cool. And I laughed when I saw the movie, and Denethor fell flaming down from that place.

[Numenorean]

(I'm sure you noticed that I'm delighting in the deathes of good guys mostly, but I assure you that's just a coinsidence.)

Sure it is Eli
But yeah there are some seriously well deserved (and otherwise) deaths in Middle Earth. I do not find death itself (even Broddas) awesome at all, just the way JRRT describes such incidents within the broader context of his Legends. As such the sheer dramatic and literary impact of Broddas overdue comeuppance at the fell hands of the Blacksword, is something:

'Not first will I die here!' he cried. And seized Brodda, and with the strength of his great anguish and wrath he lifted him on high and shook him, as if he were a dog. 'Morwen of the thrall-folk, did you say? You dastards, thief, slave of slaves!' Thereupon he flung Brodda head foremost across his own table, full in the face of an Easterling that rose to assail Túrin.
In that fall Brodda's neck was broken; and Túrin leapt after his cast and slew three more...

Kuru

But seriously, you have to admire the way that Ecthelion went out.

Definately.

[Evisse the Blue]

(I'm sure you noticed that I'm delighting in the deathes of good guys mostly, but I assure you that's just a coinsidence.)

Whereas I seem to 'delight' in the death of good girls. Delight is not the word though; more of a quiet 'wow' and a shudder. For instance, from the deaths in Silm (of which you agree quite many are gory), I have been very impressed by the death of Finduilas, (which doesn't even take so much space), but I imagined her very clearly surrounded by orcs, impaled to that tree...and keep in mind the fact that she expected and hoped for help until the very last minute...Still Turin never came.
Another impressive demise is Nienor's leap into Cabed-en-Aras. This is so like a Greek tragedy - her death is foreshadowed and anticipated pages before and yet -or maybe even more because of it- it strikes you.

[Lalaith]

Thanks Numenorean for highlighting the death of Brodda. You're quite right, a very impressive passage - Turin in his wrath must have been quite something to see.

[Kransha]

Well, Gollum rather obviously (who wouldn't want to plummet into lava?)

Also, even though dragons were mentioned, no one said anything about Ancalagon. He was slain by Earendil the Mariner, and his bulk was so huge that when his limp form fell from the sky, it took the towers of Angband that he fell on with him (not entirely sure if it was Angband or another evil outpost. Wasn't Tol-in-Gaurhoth). All in all, he was a heavy fellow, who weighed a lot, and died. That's pretty awesome in itself (or not).

Hmm...let me think of some others. Was going to say Nienor, but that would be both obvious and repetetive. I guess you could say that the Witch-King of Angmar's death was very awesome, despite being done in by a lady and hobbit (nothing against either *nervous laughter*)

Now then...more...more...thinking....

[NightKnight]

Most people in Gondolin's Fall, actually. Rog and his people who went on a balrog killing spree, one guy who got shot down from the walls with a firebolt... And of course Ecthelion.
Hmm, others... Like Thorongil said, Fingon's death was pretty cool, as well as Fingolfin's.

[Olorin_TLA]

What about Boromir? Or Glorfindel? Or Gandalf for that matter? And Gil-Galad.

[Amanaduial the archer]

Ah, but then, Gandalf's death wasn't really actually a death

What a very morbid topic, Elianna! If we are using all Tolkien's works (as we evidently are - silly me!) rather than simply LotR, may I also mention the three trolls in The Hobbit - transfixed in stone in mid-sentence as the sun came up! Probably rather inconvenient for them...

[tar-ancalime]

And let's not forget Feanor!

[Olorin_TLA]

The Disaster of the Gladden Fields is a great account of Isildur'sdeath...I could go on forever listing great deaths.

And yert the only great birth I can think of isFeanor,but that's because it caused a great death! Does the violence ever end?

[Saraphim]

Fingolfin for ever!!!!!

He (being my favorite character, I'm a bit biased) had the best death scene! Fingolfin really went out with a bang.

From the Lays of Beleriand:

...He fell to wreck/ upon the ground, and on his neck/ a foot was set,/and he was crushed./ Not conquered yet;/ one last despairing stroke he gave:/the mighty foot pale Ringil clave/ about the heel, and black the blood/ gushed as from smoking fount in flood.

Not everyone could eternally wound Morgoth while being crushed by him.

[Olorin_TLA]

Howcould I forget Fingolfin?! Anf Fingon, when they trampled his banners intothe mire of his blood. That'sone of the best descriptions I've ever read.

[Son of Númenor]

Elianna, you sadist.

I'm not sure about great deaths, but I felt the most stirring demise was the departure of Boromir. His passing & his final speech with Aragorn were touching, & made all the more poignant by the dirge sung by Aragorn & Legolas for the fallen Captain of Gondor. Perhaps it was particularly moving because some of his last thoughts were of failure, & the words 'I am sorry. I have paid,' indicate that he felt it was to some extent justice served that he had been slain defending his hobbit companions only a while after he himself had attempted to assail Frodo. His final plea to Aragorn, to 'go to Minas Tirith and save my people!' was, in my mind at least, an important factor in Aragorn's decision making from that point forth, as it gave him a tangible oath ('Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall.') to fulfil rather than simply a doubtful destiny to look forward to.

[Laitoste]

I've always thought that the deaths of Finrod Felegund and his companions in the captivity of Sauron was rather awe-inspiring. Just imagine, sitting in the dark, knowing that you will eventually be eaten unless you tell everything you know, and still not saying anything! Simply amazing.

The death of Fingolfin has cultivated a rather odd thought in my head. It says that Morgoth struck him multiple times with his mace (I think... ) I now think of Fingolfin being crushed, then popping back up again, like you would see in a cartoon. I feel bad about thinking like that about his heroic death...

[Bêthberry]

His final plea to Aragorn, to 'go to Minas Tirith and save my people!' was, in my mind at least, an important factor in Aragorn's decision making from that point forth, as it gave him a tangible oath ('Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall.') to fulfil rather than simply a doubtful destiny to look forward to.

I like how you relate this death to the plot, Son of Númenor. You provide a tangible reason and not simply opinion or personal preference (not to slam either, but they are tough to debate!).

Many of the deaths here concern derring do and heroic exploits. But I wonder if we could not step back and ask which death has the most bearing on a central concern of LOTR, the "gift" of man, mortality.

In this context, it seems to me that Arwen's death, recounted in Appendix A, part v, encapsulates most clearly the poignancy of this dilemma of death in man and elves. I would not call it "awesome" but certainly profoundly moving.

But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said fairwell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.

'There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring was not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.

Oh, I weep as I read this, for all the unnumbered lives of women who have passed unremarked and unmemorialised in all the ages of history which are devoted to the accolades of men and their petty rivalries and their doings and gettings and spendings.

Concerning the significance of Arwen's death, Tolkien wrote in Letter #181:

The Incarnation of God is an infinitely greater thing than anything I would dare to write. Here I am only concerned with Death as part of the nature, physical and spiritual, of Man, and with Hope without guarantees. That is why I regard the tale of Arwen and Aragorn as the most important of the Appendices; it is part of the essential story and is only placed so, because it could not be worked into the main narrative without destroying its structure: which is planned to be 'hobbito-centric', that is, primarily a study of the ennoblement (or sanctification) of the humble.

Of course, this is just my own personal reading; there are many other deaths as stirring.

[Gorwingel]

Well going back to LOTR, one of the most memorable (it's not exactly awsome) deaths for me has to be the death of Theoden. He was basically killed by his horse. What a cruel twist of fate! It was also for me one of the most saddening deaths in the book.

But yes there is a ton of good deaths (if any death is really a good one). I do have to give credit to the Balrog though. He did give Gandalf quite a fight before he went down

And Smaug's death has to be one of the most spectacular

[Osse]

Sorry to jump back to the start, but Elianna, i own the extended (4) DVD of both TT and FOTR, yet i cannot find anywhere the scene you describe of Gil-Galad's demise... not through lack of looking either, dosen't sound like something i'd miss!


Anyways... You guys talk about the ones actually describe, but i actually IMAGINE all my characters that die, dying in such splendour, really adds some pep to otherwise boring parts like; and <insert minor, soon-to-be-dead character here> met his fall at the hands of many orcs...

Always interesting to imagine just HOW <insert minor, soon-to-be-dead character here> met his demise at the hands of many orcs!

Most of the most interesting deaths handed to us seem to have already been discussed, so i won't go back into them much, except to say that Anarion's always seems rather comical to me, when i see it in my mind's eye; a tall, valiant-looking bloke, standing around a campfire under baradur, looking preoccupied, suddenly he looks up and a boulder is hurtling down upon him and in true warner brothers form, lands on his head, causing the man to completely dissapear into a gondorian-shaped hole!

Then, you think again, and his mithril helm is split, his brain spills out, and his neck is broken in three places; take your pick!!


<not another Osse-rave that adds little to the discussion, no, not at ALL!>

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Old Forlong of the flowering vales of Arnach, hewn by axes as he fought for his life, alone and unhorsed, surrounded by enemies in the fields of Pellenor.

Fea

[Elianna]

Osse:
Gil-galad's death as I described it is shown in the FotR DVD extras disc one, under Visualing the Story, then Early Storyboards, and finally: The Prologue. It's so cool. I'm going to watch it again now.

[Kuruharan]

Eeeeeeewwwwwww!!!!!

Yes, this has been a fairly morbid thread.

[Garulf]

Don't forget Helm Hammerhand killing his rival (can't remember his name) with one blow of his fist. he must've been hella-strong!

[Elianna]

I was just reading that today, Garulf, and thinking we should add his name here: Freca.

[Olorin_TLA]

Which brings us to Helm's death! A cool death! *Olorin gets slapped by the Pun Fairy*

But I don't like Helm. That was just uncalled for, even if Freca was a slimy character.

[Orophin]

As I was reading through this thread I just remembered one of the best and most shocking deaths in the LOTR. The death of the Witch king. The leader of the Ring wraiths and the Leader of Sauron's forces. He was pretty much invincable to the people of middle earth and yet he was killed by a Hobbit and woman Meriadoc Brandybuck and Eowyn to be exact. First he gets stabbed behing the knee and then the final blow to the head from Eowyn. It brings a tear to my eye. Tlak about awsome. Most of the deaths have been of the memorable good guys who die honorably but we cannot forget the deaths of the evil villains, who make the good guys so good.

[Lush]

I agree with Bethberry, Arwen's death really is worthy to weep over.

It wouldn't take a lot of special effects to film it, but it is one of the most touching moments in all that Tolkien has ever written for us.

There is something about a woman's quiet, lonely passing that highlights how much the priorities of history are skewed. I think Tolkien clearly had a point when he reminded us that she was not be remembered. But, in a sense, it also makes her passing more heroic, evocative of the same emotion that a monument to the Unknown Solider might produce in us.

I was also struck by the fact that she literally had to lose everything before she died, and am wondering whether or not this was highlighted to make her passing easier or more bitter.

[Kuruharan]

I was also struck by the fact that she literally had to lose everything before she died, and am wondering whether or not this was highlighted to make her passing easier or more bitter.

I think that it was made bitterer for her because she had to go through the mournful process of losing everything she held dear.

However, at the same time, I think it may have been easier to depart in the end because she had nothing to keep her.

[Legolas]

There is something about a woman's quiet, lonely passing that highlights how much the priorities of history are skewed.

How?

[Lhunardawen]

However, at the same time, I think it may have been easier to depart in the end because she had nothing to keep her.

Indeed, Kuruharan.

Boromir's death, though rather untimely, is truly awesome, especially he died while doing some good (i.e. defending the hobbits Merry and Pippin). I loved Faramir's description of his brother as he saw him floating in a both down the Anduin, saying that his face was more beautiful than that in life.

And Fingolfin's death is another awesome death. Though terribly dreadful, it was courageous. 'Nuff said.

Finrod's death battling the wolf was definitely awe-inspiring. Imagine him dying to save Beren, killing his enemy with only his bare hands and teeth...it brings tears to my eyes. It's a good thing, though, that he got to be together with his father Finarfin again.

But one death everybody seemed to miss is Huan's.

Huan in that hour slew Carcharoth; but there in the woven woods of Doritath his own doom long spoken was fulfilled, and he was wounded mortally, and the venom of Morgoth entered into him. Then he came, and falling beside Beren spoke for the third time in words; and he bade Beren farewell before he died. Beren spoke not, but laid his hand upon the head of the hound, and so they parted.

I think that the most awesome deaths are those that occured after doing a great and heroic deed.

[Lush]

There is something about a woman's quiet, lonely passing that highlights how much the priorities of history are skewed.

How?

In favour of the heroic, loud, vivid, tabloid-worthy deaths of men, of course, whilst often leaving out the fact that a forgotten life and a lonely death also heroic precisely because there is nobody to immortalize them (of course, that's not to say that I don't enjoy reading of the heroic, loud, vivid, tabloid-worthy deaths of men, or am ungrateful for their sacrficies, in war, in defense of something or someone, et cetera).

This why Tolkien's description of Arwen's death resonated so much with me. He wrote about what is rarely mentioned.

Not that I mind. Most of "history is written by those who hang heroes" anyway, or so Mel would have me believe.

George Eliot has a wonderful quotation that would do Arwen justice, I think:

...the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

[Lalaith]

*nods in agreement*
Yes, I thought of the Middlemarch quote too when I read Bethberry's post.
And let's not forget Tolkien's own take on the issue:
"Many a man of arms misreads patience and quiet. She did much good among us at much cost."
Aerin's death was pretty awesome, now that I come to think of it.

[mark12_30]

I was going to reply at length to the Arwen thought-- but I think I should start a new thread) on it.

In the meantime, I'll have to vote for Fingolfin. I gasped, I protested, I wept, I put the book down and walked away.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I was just thinking of Eomer's death... There's something to be said for dying at peace in the autumn, amongst friends, and after living a long and good life.

Fea

[Maédhros]

Echtelion's death is really good. The way he sacrificed himself over Tuor being himself previously wounded in the battle.
From Book of Lost Tales II: The Fall of Gondolin

But now the men of Melko have assembled their forces, and seven dragons of fire are come with Orcs about them and Balrogs upon them down all the ways from north, east, and west, seeking the Square of the King. Then there was carnage at the barriers, and Egalmoth and Tuor went from place to place of the defence, but Ecthelion lay by the fountain; and that stand was the most stubborn-valiant that is remembered in all the songs or in any tale. Yet at long last a drake bursts the barrier to the north -- and there had once been the issue of the Alley of Roses and a fair place to see or to walk in, but now there is but a lane of blackness and it is filled with noise.
Tuor stood then in the way of that beast, but was sundered from Egalmoth, and they pressed him backward even to the centre of the square nigh the fountain. There he became weary from the strangling heat and was beaten down by a great demon, even Gothmog lord of Balrogs, son of Melko. But lo! Ecthelion, whose face was of the pallor of grey steel and whose shield-arm hung limp at his side, strode above him as he fell; and that Gnome drave at the demon, yet did not give him his death, getting rather a wound to his sword-arm that his weapon left his grasp. Then leapt Ecthelion lord of the Fountain, fairest of the Noldoli, full at Gothmog even as he raised his whip, and his helm that had a spike upon it he drave into that evil breast, and he twined his legs about his foeman's thighs; and the Balrog yelled and fell forward; but those two dropped into the basin of the king's fountain which was very deep. There found that creature his bane; and Ecthelion sank steel-laden into the depths, and so perished the lord of the Fountain after fiery battle in cool waters.

[Sirithheruwen]

Well, what do you mean by "awesome"?

If you mean "awesome" as in "Cool!" then I'd have to say the Witch-king's death. I have to admit, I'm a huge Eowyn fan!

If you mean "awesome" as in "awe-inspiring" then I have quite a few. Theoden's death was so moving, I cry time after time. And I have to agree with everyone else, Arwen's death is very moving too.

[Legolas]

heh...I got a negative reputation with no comment for my last post on this thread. For asking a question of clarification? I was wondering whether or not Lush intentionally included the "woman's" part of the sentence...seemed to me that the significance of her death (as discussed here) was really (at the least, largely) independent of her gender.

[Lhunardawen]

I might be stoned to death for saying this, but it seemed to me that a woman's death is quite more sorrowful than a man's. It's just that in all the ages of Middle-Earth, the death of men are given more emphasis, especially in battles. But it is quite unusual to tell of a woman dying, so hearing of it makes me uneasy, not really because I am a female myself.

[Lyta_Underhill]

Some of you have noted that Fingon's death was cool or awesome, but for me, that point was the very place where I physically turned my head from the pages of the Silmarillion and said, "I can't look! It's too horrible!" It had a sort of "hammer of tragedy" hopeless feel about it that Fingolfin's heroic one-man stand did not, at least in my opinion. It was the death of Fingon that really characterized "unnumbered tears" for me.

Cheers for the morbid thread!
Lyta

P.S. As for awesome, can you beat the tooth and claw clash between Finrod and the werewolf?

[symestreem]

I can't find my copy of Return of the King at the moment, but Aragorn's death has always been interesting. Of course, after the first reading of 'the tale of Aragorn and Arwen', I wince every time I read it, because it's so... tragic.