The Tale
‘The next day, though
darkness had reached it’s full and grew no deeper, it weighed heavier on men’s
hearts, and a great dread was on them.’ The passages of the Anduin river have
been taken by the Enemy. Faramir is retreating; the Gondor forces are ten times
outnumbered the enemy. They had been building secret floats and barges on the
other side of the river and used them to swarm to the other side. Even worse,
they are led by the ‘Black Captain,’ the Lord of the Nazgul, a force so
terrible even his own troops would slay themselves at his orders. At the news
of that, Gandalf rides off to help, and Pippin is left alone, gazing hopelessly
off to the East.
The next dark ‘morning’ has
hardly begun when fires spring up where the walls of the Pelennor stand, and
rumbles and red flashes show where the dark army is blowing holes to pass
through. Gandalf appears in the mid-morning, leading an escort protecting wagonloads
of wounded men. He reports right away to Denethor, who sits with Pippin in a
high chamber in the White Tower, keeping a grim watch in all directions. ‘Most
to the North he looked and would pause at whiles to listen, as if by some
ancient art his ears might hear the thunder of hoofs on the plains far away.’
Is Theoden coming? He asks the wizard about Faramir.
He has not returned yet,
Gandalf replies, but he still lived when he left him, keeping the rearguard
together as best he can. But he is fighting a foe too great, whom Gandalf has
long feared. Not the Dark Lord? Pippin blurts out in terror.
Denethor laughs. No, not
yet, he says bitterly. He’ll only come when all the fighting is over. He uses
others as his weapons. So do all great lords, if they are wise. Even Denethor
spends his own sons. But he can still fight, he declares, throwing back his
cloak to reveal he is clothed in mail with a sword at his side. He has kept
them on for many years, lest his body get soft and timid.
‘Yet now under the Lord of
Bard-dur the most fell of all his captains is already master of your outer
walls,’ said Gandalf. ‘King of Angmar long ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of
the Nazgul, a spear of terror in the hand of Sauron, shadow of despair.’
Denethor replies he knew
that long ago. Maybe Gandalf will finally meet his match. Or has he already met
his match, and slunk back to say so? Pippin
trembles, thinking Gandalf might be ‘stung to sudden wrath.’
But the wizard answers
softly. No, that trial has not been made yet. And if the old prophecy is true,
he will not fall by the hand of man. But anyway, he is not leading the army,
but driving it forward by fear. Gandalf has returned; he came to guard the wounded
men, and to counsel Denethor to send out a mounted sortie to check the enemy
for a while, if they can. The enemy has few horsemen.
So do we, says Denethor. Now
would be a good time for Rohan to show up. But the wizard tells him Cair Andros
in the northeast has fallen, and another army is coming from the Black Gate.
They are likely to be here before Rohan.
‘Some have accused you,
Mithrandir, of delighting to bear ill news, said Denethor, ‘but to me this is
no longer news: it was known to me ere nightfall yesterday. As for the sortie,
I had already given thought to it. Let us go down.’
Bits and Bobs
‘Book’ Denethor (that is to
say, the ‘real’ Denethor) is shown once more to be superior to ‘movie’
Denethor. He doesn’t sit around, slurping on cherry tomatoes while sending
soldiers to their death, but rather watches the conflict intently, is ready to
fight himself, and indeed anticipates much of Gandalf’s counsel and is acting with
plans already laid. I can see how for a movie they had to dramatize the ‘badness’
of Denethor more theatrically. They wanted to emphasize the arrogance of
entrenched power to contrast with the ‘suffering servant’ aspect of Aragorn’s ‘reluctant’
return. Couldn’t just have a rightful King returning; that’s too monarchical.
Book Denethor is not proud of ‘spending his own sons’ but is bitter about the
necessity.
Once more we are given
examples of Gandalf’s proper role in the defense of the West: he protects the
wounded and acts as messenger, counselor, and encourager. He is only a proactive
warrior when the forces of the West are outmatched by superior supernatural
forces (say, a Balrog or a Nazgul). He does not ‘take over’ as leader, but like
a good father lets his charges do the best they can so that they will grow.
Gandalf is not ‘stung to
sudden wrath’ by the Stewards gibes, but rather gently reminds him of the
prophecy that the Witch-King will not fall by the hand of man. How does Gandalf
stand, if this is true? While he’s obviously male, is he in a broader sense technically
human, being a Maiar (a spiritual being of the same order as Sauron, if more
limited in power) in human form? We can assume this fact is not widely known.
Does Denethor know, or guess? Could the wizard fulfill the prophecy?
Cair Andros (Sindarin Ship of Long Foam) was an island in the river Anduin, about ten miles long, and shaped like a ship. The island was of strategic importance, as it was a natural crossing point to get across the river. As such it was fortified by Gondor. The name reminds me of Cair Paravel in C. S. Lewis’ Narnia; Cair comes from the Welsh word Caer meaning ‘stronghold, fortress, citadel, court.’ It appears as an element in many Welsh place names, like Carmarthen, ‘Merlin’s Fort.’
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