Re: OT: Two Towers movie

Isidora Zamora sikyal:

> impression.)  Threre seem to be two characterizations of the Rohirrim
> going on simultaneously and fighting with each other.  One is the
> correct characterization of them as heroic warriors.  The other is the
> impression you get when you see the young boys and the old men arming
> for the coming battle with fear or despair in their faces; the
> impression you get when either Legolas or Aragorn characterizes them as
> farmers.  My impression of the Rohirrim was that every man and boy knew
> how to ride and fight as well as to farm.  I don't mind the shots of
> 12-15 year old boys being armed for battle, because that is probably
> truthful.  In such an emergency, they would have fought to the best of
> their ability.  But I am not convinced that there would have been fear
> in their faces.
Only a madman *wouldn't* be afraid going into a battle like that! For
those men and boys to be afraid says nothing about their bravery, only
their realism. (And in response to Padraic's comments, we should remember
that the Rohirrim are neither religious fanatics nor orphans in a war
zone, but people in more ordinary circumstances.) As has been said by
others, bravery is not lack of fear, but fighting despite fear, and by
that measure, the Rohirrim prove their bravery by their ability to win the
battle of Helm's Deep despite the incredible odds.

> When you see Gandalf lying on the mountain peak and sort of travel in
> through his eyes and see the stars...there are gas clouds, nebulae, and
> other extraneous materials floating in space.  Those shouldn't be there if
> this is Arda.  Varda made the stars, and they are lights in the sky, not
> other suns far away.  (My husband noticed this.)
Feh. The creation of Arda is an elvish *myth*, which does not necessarily
align with astronomical observation. Even Tolkein, in his later writings,
explores the fact that the history described in the Silmarillion might not
reflect natural history.

> Gandalf comforts Theoden on the death of his son saying that his spirit was
> strong in life and will make its way to the halls of his fathers, or
> something like that.  Not in Arda it won't.  The souls of Men do not go to
> the Halls of Mandos, but pass westward and depart from Arda.  What happens
> then is anybody's guess as far as I have been able to gather from anything
> that I have read.  (I noticed this one myself quite recently.)
Again, the elves don't know what happens to men, which means that it
doesn't get into our official sources. The men, presumably, have their own
ideas, and Gandalf appears to be simply repeating one of these.

Besides, this is in the book.


--
Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/
http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/blog

Jesus asked them, "Who do you say that I am?"

And they answered, "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground
of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our
interpersonal relationship."

And Jesus said, "What?"

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