March 5, 2004

Theoden
The Bruce

I have to agree with Brett C. including Theoden's pre-charge speech in his "Really Good Bits." I will go further and say it was one of the best moments of ROTK.
I wasn't initially impressed with Theoden in TTT. It took a while for him to recover fully from the effects of Saruman's spell. It wasn't until Aragorn convinced him to charge into the Orc hoards at Helm's deep that he reached his true heroic potential. In an earlier thread someone said that the heros in ROTK, the movie, were excesively flawed. I think by the third film Theoden had pretty much shed all his flaws.
The speech Theoden gave before the charge combined with him riding along the line of his riders, cracking his sword on their lances was one of the most thrilling cinematic moments I've experienced. I had goosebumps. I was thinking myself accursed and holding my manhood cheap that I was abed in England (almost) instead of astride a horse and ready to charge at that moment. That a work of pure fantasy (sorry lads) could stir such feelings says a lot for the tallents of PJ and Bernard Hill, the real star of ROTK.
Ride for wrath...
Ride for ruin... and the World's ending,
The Bruce