The Lord of the Rings: The White Rider [Part Two]

 

‘What do you wish to know?’ said Aragorn. ‘All that has happened since we parted on the bridge would be a long tale. Will you not first give us news of the hobbits?’

Gandalf says he did not find Merry and Pippin and did not know of their capture until the eagle Gwahir the Windlord (the same who had rescued him from Orthanc and whom Legolas has been seeing over the past few days) told him. He had sent the eagle to scout the Great River, but he can’t see everything that happens under ‘hill and tree’. But Gandalf knows the Ring has passed beyond the reach of any of the Company. He was the rather acerbic Voice that opposed the Eye on Amon Hen, which allowed Frodo to escape. But now Frodo has passed beyond the wizard’s sight. All he knows is that Frodo resolved to go alone into Mordor.

Not alone, says Legolas. They think Sam went with him. ‘Good! Very good!’ This lightens his heart but doesn’t surprise him greatly: he knows something about Samwise Gamgee’s heart. But now the others must tell him what happened to them.

 Aragorn takes up the tale and when he comes to the fall of Boromir, Gandalf sighs. The Ranger has not told him everything, but he guesses (from what Galadriel has told him and from what he knows of Boromir’s circumstances) the trial that the man underwent. ‘But he escaped in the end.’ It was good for him that the young hobbits were there to give an occasion for his redemption, just as it was good that they came to Fangorn. They are like two small stones that will start an avalanche. Saruman had best not be far from home when the dam bursts!

Aragorn says that the wizard has not completely changed. He still talks in riddles! Gandalf replies that he was just talking aloud to himself, a habit of the old: to talk to the wisest person present to avoid long explanations. Aragorn says he is no longer young, even in the reckoning of the Men of ancient days. But can’t he explain things a little clearer?

Gandalf pauses for a while, then says that, in brief, is here how he sees the situation. Sauron has known for a long time that the Ring is abroad borne by a hobbit. He knew when the Fellowship left Rivendell, how many they were and the kind of each. But he doesn’t know the aim of their quest. Sauron cannot imagine that anyone would think to destroy the Ring; rather, that they would take it to a strong place like Minas Tirith, where one would emerge as the new Ring-lord. That’s what he would do in their place. So he’s started his moves earlier than he had planned, in an effort to hit so hard he needn’t hit again. Wise fool. If he’d stayed behind the walls of Mordor and guarded his walls, their plan would have had no chance.

But Sauron knows that none of the forces he has sent out have captured the Ring or any hobbits who could have been tortured to reveal their plan. And that was thanks to Saruman – who is still a traitor to the West, but also to Sauron. He wanted the Ring for himself, or at least hobbits for his evil schemes. But between Saruman and Sauron, they have brought Merry and Pippin to Fangorn, where they would otherwise never have come.

Sauron now knows of Saruman’s treachery but cannot know if he has captured the Ring yet. Gimli wishes Isengard and Mordor can just battle each other, but Gandalf says the winner would emerge even stronger. But Saruman can never get the Ring now. He appeared on the battlefield too late and saw his Uruk-hai all burnt. He does not know of their dissension with the Mordor Orcs, or if they had hobbits or not, or about the Winged Messenger.

‘The Winged Messenger!’ cried Legolas. ‘I shot at him with the bow of Galadriel above Sarn Gebir, and I felled him from the sky. He filled us all with fear. What is this new terror?’

Gandalf says it is not a new terror, and it cannot be felled with an arrow, only its steed. It was a great deed, but the rider was a Nazgul, mounted on a winged steed. At the moment they are not allowed across the River, and Saruman does not know of this new development. But Gandalf can guess much of Saruman’s thoughts. It is on the Ring: was it at the battle, and does Rohan and King Theoden have it? Saruman will now treble his attack on Rohan. But he is so busy with thoughts of war he has forgotten Treebeard.

Aragorn says he’s speaking in riddles again: what does the hobbits coming to the forest have anything to do with things? But first Gimli must know if it was Gandalf or Saruman that appeared to them last night? Wasn’t me, says Gandalf, so it must have been Saruman. Legolas persists: what about the hobbits? Well, they met Treebeard and the Ents.

Ents! Aragorn exclaims. Are there still Ents in the world? He thought they were only a memory, if not a legend. Legolas  knows they are not a legend: all Elves know their sad history. But if he was to meet one, he would feel young indeed. But Treebeard is only the translation of Fangorn. Is this a person?

Gandalf explains that Treebeard is the oldest living Ent, indeed ‘the oldest living thing that still walks beneath the Sun upon this Middle-earth.’ Gandalf saw him four days ago while the wizard was still weary with struggling with the Eye and they said nothing to each other.

Gimli said from what he was told that Fangorn was dangerous.

‘Dangerous!’ cried Gandalf. ‘And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous and Legolas is dangerous … you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion … and Fangorn himself, he is perilous; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless.’ But now something is going to happen since the Elder Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong, though Gandalf does not know what they will decide to do.

 

Bits and Bobs

Not so many bits or bobs this time, as this part of the chapter has much explication of action that has gone before. But it does touch on several themes that return and are emphasized later.

One is the idea that evil actions can be used by Providence to bring about some good that evil had never planned. Merry and Pippin are brought to the eaves of the forest, where they meet Treebeard and are the catalyst for the Ents joining the fight. This does not make the evil deed less evil but can redeem its consequences.

Another is that Evil has not enough imagination to understand Good, and thus cannot see into its motives, which makes it blind to much in the world. Sauron sees that the ‘logical’ and ‘wise’ thing to do is seize the power of the Ring; he can’t understand that they would want to destroy it. It is this blind spot that finally results in his downfall; he is a ‘wise fool’, weighing his opponents plans by what he would do.

A much debated saying in this chapter is Gandalf proclaiming that Treebeard is the oldest living thing on Middle-earth. What then about Tom Bombadil, who calls himself Eldest? Isn’t he alive? It has been argued that Gandalf means of all the creatures who are not pre-existent spirits, who are ‘born’ and not simply ‘embodied’. But there is still some ambiguity there. This would be on my list of questions to ask Tolkien if he were still alive.

And Gandalf talking about the danger of even good people reminds me of this exchange from C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

‘Then [Aslan] isn’t safe?’ said. Lucy

‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver. ‘Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’