April 10, 2003

Reviving Some Interesting Debate
Brett C.

Guys, what is the big deal with believing that Aragorn revived a dead Pippin, as Gimli describes in the book. ["And when I heaved the great carcasse off you, I made sure you were dead."] Okay it seems like an amazing and unprecedented feat, but honestly, we can do this sort of thing now with no more than basic CPR, under the right circumstances. The description of Pippin's 'death' seems to indicate smothering under the weight of the dead troll, so that when Gimli found him he his heart and lungs had stopped functioning. Technically he would be dead, but brain function would persist, and of course hobbits have, as Gandalf observes, amazing recuperative powers, so it is credible they could be revived from being in such a state for longer than commomn humans. The instances with Eowyn and Faramir involve overcoming mystical evil affecting them, and naturally would be comaparatively harder than 'simply' restarting breathing and circulation.