August 10, 2004

Charge of the Light Brigade, Anyone?
Everett

Re: Aragorn's charge at the Black Gate:

It's a great scene until you place it in the appropriate context. The question you have to ask is, Why attack the Black Gate in the first place? There was no way they could win the battle with the number of men they had, arrayed on a wide open plain, especially having the Nazgul to deal with. Either Aragorn had a death wish (along with Gandalf, Eomer, Legolas, Gimli, Pippin, Imrahil, etc.), and he wanted to take as many people with him as possible, or he actually hoped to accomplish some strategic objective with his assault, and whie he may have been fey, I don't think Aragorn wanted to die in battle for the heck of it.

So, we have to ask, What did Aragorn and the Captains of the West hope to achieve by launching an inherently futile assault on Mordor. Simply put, they wanted to distract Sauron for as long as possible. To that end, it was essential that they hold out as long as possible Because, every minute, every hour they could buy was one minute, one hour that Frodo and Sam had to draw nearer to Mount Doom undetected. In short, the longer they lived, the better Frodo's chances. Seeking to live a little longer for the sake of living a little longer, or even for killing a few hundred more orcs is of no strategic value, so charging headlong into certain death instead of holding it off for a few minutes or hours makes sense and shows great courage. Charging headlong into certain death instead of staving off the end when the objective is to buy as much time as possible is complete and utter stupidity.

Viewed in and of itself, Aragorn's charge is a great scene. Taken in its proper context, it makes even less sense than the Charge of the Light Brigade (Maybe Aragorn wanted a sweater named after him.).