February 29, 2004

RotK #4
Eonwe

Well, I saw Return of the King last night for the fourth time! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, although the end did seem slow.

I noticed one thing over and over. The film keeps on reinforcing the belief that simply to stand and fight is a huge victory in itself. At Dunharrow a rider says, "We cannot break the lines of Mordor." And Theoden agrees. "No, but we will meet them in battle nonetheless." And then somehow, Jackson makes the moment when the Rohirrim live up to Theoden's words and charge into battle feel like a real victory. It feels like Rohan has won something just by charging, whether or not the battle goes their way.

This idea is also evoked when Gandalf knocks Denethor out and rallies the men of Gondor to fight, when Aragorn faces down the challenge of Sauron and then leads his army into battle at the Black Gate, and when Sam puts Frodo on his back and starts staggering up the mountain.

This is certainly one of Tolkien's big messages in LotR. We have a lot more control over how things are begun ("I will take the ring, though I do not know the way") than we do over their outcome ("But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the ring. The Quest would have been in vain, even at the bitter end."). So the feeling of triumph when things are begun well, when the battle is joined, is real, not illusory.