The Lord of the Rings: The Houses of Healing (Part Three)

Aragorn enters the Houses of Healing and the others follow. Inside they see Citadel guards, one tall and one short, and the short one is actually Pippin, who greats Aragorn with wonder and delight, calling him Strider, much to the consternation of Prince Imrahil. Is this how we greet our kings?

Aragorn laughs and tells Pippin they have no time to catch up just yet. But if ever his house is established, it will be called Strider. ‘But in the high tongue it will not sound so ill, and Telcontar I will be, and all the heirs of my body.’

As they walk along Gandalf tells him of the deeds of Eowyn and Merry. He knows because they spoke a lot in their dreaming before they sank down into silence. ‘Also it is given to me to see many things far off.’

Aragorn examines Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry and looks grave and weary. Eomer, seeing how tired he is, asks if he will not eat something and rest a while, but Aragorn says there is no time, and least of all for Faramir. He calls for Ioreth and asks if they have much store of herbs, and the old lady answers in a long complaint about how hard it is to get proper supplies, what with the war and all, but they do their best. Aragorn asks her very shortly if they have any athelas. She doesn’t know of anything by that name, but she could ask the herb-master.

He says it is sometimes called kingsfoil by the country folk, and Ioreth says, well no, we have none of that, she knows. She never heard it was good for anything. She once asked her sisters in Lossarnach why it’s called kingsfoil; if she were a king she’d have better plants in her garden. But it does smell wholesome when ‘bruised.’

Aragorn tells her then run as quick as her tongue and find some kingsfoil somewhere in the City, if any is to be had, as she loves the Lord Faramir.

‘And if not,’ said Gandalf, ‘I will ride to Lossarnach with Ioreth behind me, and she shall take me to the woods, but not to her sisters. And Shadowfax shall show her the meaning of haste.’

Bits and Bobs

Pippin says that somehow he knew it was Strider in the black fleet though everyone was shouting ‘corsairs!’ How he could have even suspected such a thing is never explained. He has not seen Aragorn since Gandalf took the hobbit to Gondor. A feeling, a lifting of heart?

Athelas is Sindarin (athae + lass); ‘leaves of the Kings.’ There is now a healthcare technology company that goes by the name.

In the Peter Jackson movies Sam calls kingsfoil a weed, though (gardener though he is) I wonder if he ever saw it in the cultivated Shire. It was said to grow wild in areas where the Dunedain had lived, and even then was hard to find. I wonder if Sam had ever wandered abroad much, even in the lands surrounding the Shire. But that was the movie, and they needed explication.

Ioreth fits the trope of the gabby old lady who, when asked a question, will rattle on in a discursive manner with whatever enters her head until she comes in a roundabout way to the answer one is looking for. I would say this is a stereotype if my own mother and my niece did not fit the trope to a T. You always have to have the explanatory story before the answer.

This is a pretty short snip, but I have a long day ahead.

The Lord of the Rings: The Houses of Healing (Part Two)

‘Now as the sun went down Aragorn and Eomer and Imrahil drew near the City with their captains and knights; and when the came before the Gate Aragorn said: ‘Behold the Sun setting in a great fire! It is a sign of the end and fall of many things, and a change in the tides of the world.’

He declares he will not enter Minas Tirith just yet. It has been in the rule of the Stewards for many years and to enter it unbidden might seem like a challenge, and cause upheaval among the people at this time of trouble. He’ll camp outside until welcomed in.

Eomer says that he’s already risen the standard of Elendil and the kings; will he let that be humbled? But Imrahil says he is wise; Denethor (whom he still believes is alive) is proud but old and set in his ways, and he’s been acting odd since Faramir was stricken down. ‘Yet I would not have you remain like a beggar at the door.’

‘Not a beggar,’ said Aragorn. ‘Say a Captain of the Rangers, who are unused to cities and houses of stone.’ He has his banner furled and takes off the Star of the North-kingdom and gives it to Elladan and Elrohir to keep for him.

But Eomer and Imrahil go into the City and go up to the Citadel, looking for the Steward to report and confer with. But when they come to the Hall of the tower his chair is empty, and before it is the body of Theoden, covered in a cloth of gold, laid in state with sword and shield and guarded by twelve knights of Rohan and twelve knights of Gondor. The peace of death is upon him, and he seems young, and wise beyond the reach of youth.

Imrahil asks of a guard for the Steward and is told he is in the Houses of Healing. And Eomer asks about Eowyn. Shouldn’t she be lying here with Theoden, in no less honor? Imrahil answers that she was still alive when they bore her in; didn’t Eomer know?

‘Then hope unlooked-for came so suddenly to Eomer’s heart, and with it the bite of care and fear renewed, that he said no more, but turned and went swiftly from the hall; and the Prince followed him.’ It is evening outside, and stars shine in the darkness above. Outside the Houses of Healing they meet Gandalf and ‘one cloaked in grey.’ They ask for the Steward; has he been hurt? And what of the Lady Eowyn?

Gandalf says she is inside, but near death. And the Steward is the wounded Faramir, for Denethor is now dead and his house in ashes. ‘And they were filled with grief and wonder at the tale he told.’ Imrahil says it is a sad day when both Rohan and Gondor lose their rulers. Eomer is new King of Rohan; with Faramir in peril, shouldn’t they now send for Aragorn?

‘And the cloaked man spoke and said: ‘He is come.’ He throws back his hood and it is Aragorn, wrapped in the grey cloak of Lorien, his only token the green stone Galadriel gave him. Gandalf has begged him to come. He is here not as king, though, but only as Captain of the Dunedain of the North. He says by his counsel Imrahil, as the Steward’s near kinsman, should rule until Faramir awakes, but that all their actions should be ruled by Gandalf in their ‘dealings with the Enemy.’ And Eomer and Imrahil agree.

‘Then Gandalf said: ‘Let us not stay at the door, for the time is urgent. For it is only in the coming of Aragorn that any hope remains for the sick that lie in the House. Thus spake Ioreth, wise-woman of Gondor: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.’

Notes

“The peace and youthfulness of the dead often represent a transition from earthly suffering to a state of calm, eternal rest, as described in literature and spiritual, as well as scientific, contexts. This state is frequently characterized by a release from fear, shame, and physical limitations, creating a "marble sleep" or serene, unchanging, and youthful stillness.” – AI summation.

Aragorn is very careful not to enter as merely a conquering hero, lest he seem too high-handed. All his claims to the kingdom must be established and proved first; he is not merely a victorious warrior; he is rightful king. His humility seems a little wry when says to tell people he is shy and not used to such high falutin’ stone buildings.

Ioreth seems to be a name that simply means old woman. That the hands of a king have the power to heal is an old medieval idea; the power was supposed to descend on them when they were sacramentally anointed. It is mentioned in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, where Edward the Confessor is mentioned as having the power. It is a form of laying on of hands, called the Royal (or King’s) Touch, and was said to cure the King’s Evil (scrofula, a tubercular infection). The last monarch of England to perform the Royal Touch was Queen Anne in the early 1700’s. The infant Samuel Johnson was among the people she touched, to indifferent results.

The Lord of the Rings: The Houses of Healing (Part One)

‘A mist was in Merry’s eyes of tears and weariness when they drew near the ruined Gate of Minas Tirith.’ Devastation is all around, fire and reeking smoke, dead bodies abound (some half-burned), even those of mumakil (‘shot through the eyes by the valiant archers of Morthond.’).  All the lower city is ‘wrapped in a smouldering reek.’

People are already trying to clear the way in, and a line of litters are bringing in the dead and wounded. Eowyn is brought on soft pillows, but Theden is covered in a great cloth of gold. These are brought in with extra respect and are shown due respect; but Merry follows on foot, treading the winding stony ascent in a sort of daze. ‘A meaningless journey in a hateful dream.’

To Merry the torches of the procession seem to flicker and go out and he walks in darkness. He imagines the road is a dark tunnel leading to a tomb, where they will stay forever. ‘But suddenly into his dream there fell a living voice.’

It is Pippin! They are alone. Merry rubs his eyes and asks where Theoden and Eowyn have gone and learns that they have been taken into the Citadel. Pippin says Merry must have fallen asleep on his feet and taken a wrong turn somewhere. When Gandalf saw that Merry was not with them, he sent Pippin to find him. Pippin asks if he is hurt.

Merry says his right arm is numb and useless ‘since I stabbed him.’ ‘And my sword burned all away like a piece of wood.’ Pippin said they should not have let him walk all the way back. But so many dreadful things have happened, one little hobbit on a great battlefield is easy to overlook. Merry says sometimes it’s a good thing to overlooked. He was overlooked just now by – but he can’t talk of it. Just the remembered thought of the Witch-King makes him grow colder and his mind darker.

Pippin wishes he could carry him, but all he can do is have Merry lean on him and head back. ‘Are you going to bury me?’ said Merry.’

‘No, indeed!,’ said Pippin, trying to sound cheerful, though is heart was wrung with fear and pity. ‘No, we are going to the Houses of Healing.’

They struggle along until they reach the main street. Pippin wonders if there can possibly be anyone to help them; they’ll never get there at the rate they’re going. Then suddenly as if in a moment of miracle Bergil, Beregond’s son and Pippin’s friend, comes running by. He is doing errands for the Healers. Pippin asks him to bear a message to the Healers and especially to Gandalf, that they have a wounded hobbit on their hands and need help. Bergil agrees and speeds on.

Pippin decides they’d better wait there and sits down with Merry in a patch of sunlight, his friend’s head in his lap. Merry’s right hand, the one that struck the blow to the Nazgul, is ice cold.  Before long Gandalf himself appears, checks Merry out, and lifts him carefully. He should have been borne into the city with great honor. Merry has well repaid the trust Gandalf had in him. He recalls how Elrond didn’t want the younger hobbits to come; if they hadn’t, the day could have been even more disastrous. ‘And yet here is another charge on my hands, while all the time the battle hangs in the balance.’

Bits and Bobs

A litter is a framework for carrying the wounded or dead; nowadays we would probably say stretcher.

Morthond (black + root) was a region in central Gondor, where the Morthond River runs near the southern entrance to the Paths of the Dead. It was a green valley carved by the river. Shooting an elephant in its eye, as its one vulnerable spot, is a classic motif.

I can’t help but think this section of nightmarish fatigue was informed by Tolkien’s war experiences, too.