The Shadow Library

Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel

The Happy Prince and Other Stories, by Oscar Wilde

The Lord of the Rings: The King of the Golden Hall [Part Four]

The Tale

Gandalf asks Theoden if he will listen to him? He has counsel and aid to give, but it is not for those who despair. The wizard points to the high window, where the darkness seems to clear, showing blue sky. Not all is dark. Too long the king has sat in the shadows. Let him come out with Gandalf alone to look abroad and hear his private counsel.

Theoden slowly rises, and with the aid of the young woman by his side walks slowly down the hall. Wormtongue remains lying on the floor. Gandalf calls for the guards to open the doors and tells the lady to leave Theoden with him a while. ‘Go, Eowyn sister-daughter! said the old king. ‘The time for fear is past.’

Before she goes back into the hall she turns and looks back at her uncle with cool pity. She is very beautiful, slender and tall, strong and stern as steel. Aragorn looks upon her for the first time and sees that she is fair, but fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring. And Eowyn notices Aragorn: ‘tall heir of kings, wise with many winters … hiding a power she yet felt. For a moment still as stone she stood, then turning swiftly she was gone.’

‘Now, lord,’ said Gandalf, ‘look out upon your land! Breathe the free air again!’

Bits and Bobs

Not much to comment on from this little snippet. I meant to cover more ground today, but a number of circumstances is making it difficult.

I think what we can really take away from this passage is that Gandalf does not really use magic on Theoden. He may be controlling the weather, using dark and light, to emphasize his words, but he uses nothing more than encouragement, ‘short sharp bracing’ advice to shake Theoden out of his developed dark habit of thinking that had been re-enforced by Wormtongue’s guidance. There is no exorcism as in the Jackson films and not even a spell to restore him here unless you count ‘spell’ in the meaning of ‘news’. What Gandalf is doing here is more in the character of a good psychologist.

We are given our first real introduction to Eowyn (Anglo-Saxon ‘lover of horses’), Theoden’s ‘sister-daughter’ (i.e. his sister’s daughter, or niece). We also see the beginning of her warrior’s journey, and of her attraction to Aragorn and of his awareness of her and her dilemma.

According to The One Wiki to Rule Them All, in earlier versions “The character Éowyn had at first been the daughter of King Théoden. In another version, she had a cousin named Idis, the daughter of the King, who was later removed in the manuscript as her role was eclipsed by Éowyn's. Éowyn was initially intended to marry Aragorn. Tolkien considered that Aragorn loved Éowyn after her death, when she avenged the death of King Théoden. However, he later abandoned the concept, as he considered Aragorn to be "too old and lordly and grim". Éowyn was also once the twin-sister of Éomund.”

The Lord of the Rings: The King of the Golden Hall [Part Three]

Beyond the long hearth down the middle of the hall, on a three-stepped dais, in a great gilded chair sits Theoden, a man so bent with age he looks almost like a dwarf, a gold circlet on his head. His hair and beard are long and white. Behind him stands a woman clothed in white; on the steps at his feet sits a pale, wizened man.

The companions stop before the throne, and when the old man neither speaks nor moves from his chair, Gandalf addresses him: ‘Hail, Theoden son of Thengel! I have returned. For behold! The storm comes, and now old friends should gather together, lest each singly be destroyed.’

The old king rises to his feet, leaning on a short black staff, and they can see he must have been tall indeed when he was young. He greets the wizard, but does not welcome him. When Gandalf appears, Theoden claims, ‘troubles follow you like crows.’ He was glad when Shadowfax came back, but gladder that he had no rider. He was even happier when Eomer reported his death, but ‘news from afar is seldom sooth.’ And now he returns at an even worse time. ‘Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow?’ He sits down slowly.

Grima Wormtongue does not even rise to his feet to chime in. ‘You speak justly, lord.’ What with the king’s son slain just five days ago, and with Eomer being untrustworthy, and the Dark Lord stirring in the East, now he comes begging to the throne. ‘Lathspell I name you, Ill-news, and ill news is an ill guest they say.’ Gandalf answers him softly, but Wormtongue presses his attack on the wizard even further. He only appears when he wants something, like Shadowfax. But has he ever brought help, like men, horses, spears, swords? Only three ragged wanderers in grey, and Gandalf the worst looking of the lot!

But Gandalf ignores him and addresses Theoden. There is less courtesy in the King’s hall these days. Haven’t his messengers announced his companions? No King of Rohan ever had such guests, and they have brought weapons as ‘are worth many a mortal man.’ They are clad in grey because they were clothed by the Elves.

Wormtongue takes the opportunity to slight Galadriel as ‘the Sorceress of the Golden Wood’ who ‘weaves webs of deceit … in Dwimordene [Lorien].’

Gimli (of course) takes a step forward at the insult, but Gandalf stops him with a hand on his shoulder. The wizard sings a soft song in praise of Galadriel, ‘more fair than thoughts of Mortal Men.’ Then his attitude changes.

The wizard casts aside his tattered and stands straight and tall. His voice is clear and cold. ‘The wise speak only of what they know, Grima son of Galmod. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue between your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crook words with a serving man till the lightning falls.’ He raises his staff and there is a roll of thunder. The eastern windows grow dark, and Gandalf stands there straight and white in the gloom.

They hear Wormtongue hissing in the dark that he told Hama to take his staff and that the door-warden has betrayed them. There is a flash like lightning, then silence, and Wormtongue goes sprawling on his face.

 

Bits and Bobs

Although Theoden is about 80 years old here, he comes from vigorous sires and a vigorous people, who keep their vitality well into old age. Tolkien (in Unfinished Tales) says it was held in Rohan that his infirmity was partly caused by subtle poisons given him by Wormtongue. Crows are of course carrion birds, and associated with battles and predation on the slain, along with ravens and vultures. To call Gandalf ‘Stormcrow’ is no compliment.

The King’s son, Theodred (theod = people, raed = counsel), was killed just five days before at the Battle of the Fords of Isen. It is plain that Saruman’s major plan for the battle was to kill Theodred to further demoralize Rohan and Theoden in particular, and that his Orcish troops particularly targeted the prince. Although Theodred’s last words of advice were to meet the foe again at the Fords rather than wait at Edoras, Wormtongue’s counsel kept delaying the King.

Lathspell, ‘Ill-News’, is almost the exact opposite of Godspell, ‘good news’ or Gospel as we pronounce it now.

There is no mention of Saruman in the woes that Grima lists; he is obviously trying to keep the King’s mind as far away from that subject as possible.

Dwimordene is the Rohirric name for Lothlorien. It translates to ‘Vale of Illusion’: dene = valley, and dwimor = phantom, illusion. Grima refers to Galadriel as a ‘sorceress’ who ‘weaves webs of deceit’, placing her powers in as negative light as possible, even perhaps down to her making the Elven-cloaks that they wear, which help hide and camouflage from enemy eyes. ‘Dwimor’ will also recur as an element in the name with which Eowyn taunts the Witch-King.

Gandalf calls Wormtongue by his full name, Grima son of Galmod, which is almost an insinuating insult as his nickname. At least Wormtongue might carry a meaning implying ‘wise or subtle’. ‘Grima’ means ‘mask’ or ‘specter’ in Old English, implying his double nature, while ‘galmod’ means ‘licentious, lustful’, hinting of his as-yet unrevealed desire for Eowyn.

But Wormtongue’s poisonous and lowly nature is emphasized by Gandalf again when he refers to him as truly a worm (‘snake’) speaking with a double, deceiving tongue. Grima’s words come hissing out of the darkness.

Gandalf proclaims he has passed ‘through fire and death’ on a more important mission than trading insults with a crooked counsellor. This can most probably be seen as a reference to his battle with the Balrog and his return, but might also (a more prosaic interpretation) be referring to his passage through a land at war.

Second Edition, Much Like the First'un: Into the Archive

 

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Edited by Humphrey Carpenter (Assisted by Christopher Tolkien)

While I have had a hardback first edition for many years, its crumbling paper cover makes it hard to handle. This edition (which boasts a New, Expanded Index) will certainly be a much easier to consult.

The Ultimate Discworld Companion, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs (Illustrations by Paul Kidby)

I've got two earlier editions of this book, but this should indeed be the last, as Terry Pratchett has now passed away and most wisely had the foresight to forbid any new developments of his property, even going so far as to have all the notes and unfinished stories in his files destroyed (by steamroller, no less). Everything about the Discworld canon that will ever be is now published. The book I now have lacks this jacket, and it seems there is besides a more deluxe edition with color illustrations. But I am content.  

Letters to a Diminished Church, by Dorothy L. Sayers

She insisted on that L. when she was alive, and I see no reason to deny her it now. Consists of 16 essays, many of which I find I have read in other anthologies, but others that I do not have. Includes 'Discussion Questions', which indicates that this edition was prepared for study groups or book clubs, and an Index explaining many historical references, and some notes by Sayers herself. 

The Shadow Library: Devilotion

 

A New Synthesis of Evolution, by Teilhard de Chardin

“Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ ; 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philosophical books.

“He took part in the discovery of Peking Man. He conceived the vitalist idea of the Omega Point. With Vladimir Vernadsky he developed the concept of the noosphere.

“In 1962, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned several of Teilhard's works based on their percieved ambiguities and doctrinal errors. Some eminent Catholic figures, including Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, have made positive comments on some of his ideas since. The response to his writings by scientists has been divided.” – Wikipedia.

Another volume picked up from Yesterday’s Warehouse during the Searching Times. De Chardin was pretty hot intellectual property during the 50’s and 60’s, with his ‘enthusiastic’ if not perfectly synthesized mixture of science and religion, from which strands of argument have finally been analyzed enough to be cautiously allowed to be held by the Faithful, but not definitely accepted as a matter of dogma. A fictionalized portrait of him appears in the 1968 film, The Shoes of the Fisherman.

Except in specialized niches of knowledge, De Chardin is little spoken of today. The only reason I remembered this book was because he was mentioned recently on Intellectual Catholicism Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evoa4EOpJdA ,

Catholicism and Evolution, with Jimmy Akin.

The Devils of Loudun, by Aldous Huxley

“It is a historical narrative of supposed demonic possession, religious fanaticism, sexual repression, and mass hysteria that occurred in 17th-century France surrounding unexplained events that took place in the small town of Loudun. It centers on Roman Catholic priest Urbain Grandier and an entire convent of Ursuline nuns, who allegedly became possessed by demons after Grandier made a pact with Satan. The events led to several public exorcisms as well as executions by burning.” – Wikipedia. Huxley’s entire premise (and it seems not unlikely) is that the whole incident was sparked by political persecution and mass hysteria.

I seem to remember reading it in my senior year of high school, and that Mike(?) had it first and passed it on to me. As you can see, the cover is illustrated with a still from Ken Russell’s The Devils (1971), an obvious tie-in republication. I also remember the binding was so bad that the entire book cover (front, back, and spine) slipped off in one piece.

A Diller, A Dollar: Into the Archive

 

Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor

Nordic Gods and Heroes, by Padraic Colum

I used the promise of a quick trip to the library bookstore as the spoonful of sugar to help ease me through a visit to the doctor for a checkup. Both of these softcovers cost me only a dollar each. I have the Colum one in a pale yellow hardback under the title The Children of Odin, but this Dover edition makes a nice handy spare. And I've been wanting to get more O'Connor for the right price. A little dilatory posting today. 

Off the Wish List and Into the Archive

I am slowly but surely regaining my mental equilibrium, mostly through a great visit with my brother John over at his house yesterday, where he bought us Chicken Express for supper (for which I made some of Pop's old-fashioned BBQ sauce), and we watched The Ten Commandments in the amazing transfer he owns. There was much nostalgia mulled over (we always watched it when it came on around this time of year, and our Mom had actually seen it in theaters and had an old souvenir program) and we passed along much movie trivia to Kameron and Joey. Then today I was heartened again when I received (at about 5 PM) an order from Amazon that I had only made about two days ago.

There have been many 'add-ons' to the Gravity Falls franchise (comic books, journals, and such) but the only item I thought really checking out was this one, Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, written by the series creator Alex Hirsch himself. The four tales therein span time periods from when Stan and Ford were kids until right before Dipper and Mabel leave the Falls. The collection ends with the ostensible narrator, the gnome Shmebulock, more or less advocating another season. A tease, or a sidelong hint from Hirsch?

Rick and Morty: Season Six (DVD)

We come to the rather complicated Season Six of Rick and Morty, where the stories become a little more convoluted and the personal development of the characters deepens. It seems over time the writers are growing more tied to these instances of the iterations of the cast and their growth; in the old days any Beth, Jerry, or Summer could be replaced by one from another dimension. This season has been plagued by drama offscreen as well, with Justin Roiland (who voices both Rick and Morty) facing accusations of sexual misconduct, being canceled from his various projects, and then having the charges against him dropped for lack of evidence. What will happen now is anybody's guess, though Roiland's character still seems problematical, and the studio appears intent on re-casting the voices of Rick and Morty.

I ordered this book on a whim. I had been kind of nosing around Clark Ashton Smith for quite a while, my interest aroused by the high regard H. P. Lovecraft and others of his circle held him in. The only other books I had of his were Hyperborea, a short story collection edited by Lin Carter in the Ballantine Books Adult Fantasy Series and The Abominations of Yondo. The Dark Eidolon and other Fantasies seems to be an interesting anthology of his better short stories and poetry. It is edited with notes by S. T. Joshi which should help guide me through the tales. But what really put it over for me was that cover illustration, which I suppose to be a drawing by Smith himself. It recalls for me the sort of 'hieratic' art of the kind that fantasists of all stripes were probably scribbling in their high school notebooks in every age of time.