The Tale
‘Pippin left him and called
for the servants[.]’ Six men come, trembling at the summons. Denethor has them
lay warm covers over Faramir and bids them take up his bed. They proceed slowly
out of the chamber, followed by Denethor, ‘bending on a staff’, and last of all
Pippin.
They leave the White Tower
like a funeral procession, the overhanging clouds flickering red with the fires
below. They pause for a moment by the withered White Tree, the fountain’s dripping
water from its dead branches dropping like tears into the pool below. They pass
out of the Citadel gate, and those they see them pass look on in wonder and
dismay.
Going westward they come to
a door in a wall towards the rear of the sixth circle. This gate is called Fen
Hollen [Fen=Door, Hollen=Closed], and was only opened at times of funeral. This
takes a winding road to the ‘mansions of the dead Kings and of their Stewards.’
Denethor bids the porter open the gate and they take the lantern from his hand.
They pass down to Rath Dinen, the Silent Street, past pale domes and empty
halls and statues of men long dead, until they come to the House of the
Stewards. They enter in and lay down their burden.
In the little light of the
lantern Pippin sees they are in a huge, shadowy vaulted room, filled with
tables on which lay silent forms with folded arms. There is one table nearby, ‘broad
and bare.’ Denethor has them put Faramir there and lies there with him. He
commands the bowed servants to bring wood and oil. They will not be embalmed
but burned at his command. Speak to him no more.
Pippin takes his leave of
Denethor and flees from that deadly place in terror. His only thought is of
Faramir, about to be burned alive, and of Gandalf, who might be able to save
him. In passing the servants he asks them to go slow and set no fire until
Gandalf can get there.
‘Who is the master of Minas
Tirith?’ the man answered. ‘The Lord Denethor or the Grey Wanderer?’
‘The Grey Wanderer or no
one, it would seem.’ Pippin speeds on out from the tombs and out into the
Citadel again. At the gate he is hailed by Beregond, who has heard that
Denethor and Faramir have passed through the Closed Door. Pippin confirms this
and Beregond despairs that Faramir is dead, then.
But Pippin affirms he is not
dead yet, and even might yet be saved, if he can find Gandalf. He has Denthor’s
leave but calls the Steward ‘fey and dangerous.’ Beregond directs him down to
the battle, and Pippin asks him to go back and do something to stop ‘any
dreadful thing happening.’ Beregond replies that he cannot leave his post save
at Denethor’s command. ‘Well, you must choose between orders and the life of
Faramir.’ Denethor’s loony, I tell you. [Well, he doesn’t use these exact
words, but he says this in the Rankin/Bass adaptation, and I thought it one of
their more grievous choices of dialogue.] He must go, but the hobbit will
return if he can.
Pippin runs down to the
Second Gate, past fleeing men who, seeing his livery, urge him to turn back. At
the Second Gate he sees great fires flickering over the wall, but all is
strangely silent.
‘Suddenly there was a
dreadful cry and a great shock and a deep echoing. Forcing himself on against a
gust of fear and horror that shook him almost to his knees, Pippin turned a
corner opening on the wide place behind the City Gate. He stopped dead. He had
found Gandalf; but he shrank back, cowering into a shadow.’
Bits and Bobs
Denethor’s walking ‘bending
on a staff’, where before he stood tall and tough, shows his spirit is broken
and age fallen upon him.
Rath Dinen features some
buildings with balusters, which means ‘pear shaped columns.’
The shadowy forms on the
tables in the House of the Stewards seem to be the embalmed bodies of past
Stewards. The book has already mentioned that Gondor had long developed such
skills in an effort to cheat death, if only in form. But Denethor says no long
embalmed sleep for him and Faramir. It may be noted that fire is not only
quicker, but it will also keep the conquerors of the City from desecrating
their bodies.
Beregond is once more faced
with the dilemma: follow orders to the letter, or do the right thing? You may
remember Hama, Theoden’s doorward, was faced with the same kind of choice when
debating whether to let Gandalf bring his staff into Edoras. Although Pippin
has Denethor’s leave, people seeing him racing down to the gate know that
guards in his uniform are not supposed to leave the Tower and try to stop him,
if not too effectively.
There are only three more
pages of this chapter to go; I seem to have lingered over it for months now.
But those three are very dramatic and important, well-illustrated many times.
Not so this interlude among the tombs.
