The Red Book: Eomer

Showing posts with label Eomer. Show all posts

May 8 3019 TA

Eomer and Eowyn leave Rohan with the sons of Elrond.

(Lest there should be any confusion or matter of rights and whatnot, all quotes in this post are from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, unless otherwise mentioned. There may be slight errors, misspellings, or alternate punctuation in the quotes, and if you notice such, please inform me so that I can speedily remedy them. But I think the fact that I made this blog proves that I would never intentionally change something of Tolkien's in the transcribing of it.)

The Battle of Pelennor Fields

March 15 3019 TA

The Witch-king breaks the Gates of the City in the early hours

The arrival of Grond. Long quote because it's all so perfectly hideous and horrible and amazing. Really, you might as well just go and re-read the entire battle of Pelennor Fields.

"The drums rolled louder. Fires leaped up. Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on might chains. Long had it been forging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain trolls to wield it.
But about the Gate resistance still was stout, and there the knights of Dol Amroth and the hardiest of the garrison stood at bay. Shot and dart fell thick; siege-towers crashed or blazed suddenly like great torches. All before the walls on either side of the Gate the ground was choked with wreck and with bodies of the slain; yet still driven as by a madness more and more came up.
Grond crawled on. Upon its housing no fire would catch; and though now and again some great beast that hauled it would go mad and spread stamping ruin among the orcs innumerable that guarded it, their bodies were cast aside from its path and others took their place.
Grond crawled on. The drums rolled wildly. Over the hills of slain a hideous shape appeared: a horseman, tall, hooded, cloaked in black. Slowly, trampling the fallen, he rode forth, heeding no longer any dart. He halted and held up a long pale sword. And as he did so a great fear fell on all, defender and foe alike; and the hands of men drooped to their sides, and no bow sang. For a moment all was still.
The drums rolled and rattled. With a cast rush Grond was hurled forward by huge hands. It reached the Gate. It swung. A deep boom rumbled through the City like thunder running in the clouds. But the doors of iron and posts of steel withstood the stroke.
Then the Black Captain rose in his stirrups and cried aloud in a dreadful voice, speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and terror to rend both heart and stone.
Thrice he cried. Thrice the great ram boomed. And suddenly upon the last stroke the Gate of Gondor broke. As if stricken by some blasting spell it burst asunder: there was a flash of searing lightning, and the doors tumbled in riven fragments to the ground.
In rode the Lord of the Nazgul. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgul, under the archway that no enemy had ever yet passed, and all fled before his face.
All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dinen.
'You cannot enter here.' said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. 'Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!'
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a moun unseen there came a deadly laughter.
'Old fool!' he said. 'Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!' And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.
Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.
And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last."

Up until the end, this kind of makes me want to go hide under a rock. It's really interesting timing too that it comes out so delayed, because it's almost Easter, and this scene is greatly symbolic of this particular time of year. Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, are sort of all encompassed in that one page. It's not enough to just realize what a great story and world Tolkien created. That is only the tip of the iceberg.

On a less interesting note, this is ten times more epic than what they did in the movie. I mean, flying snake for ten seconds, or the Witch King of Angmar riding smugly over the bodies of the dead, through walls of flame, all fleeing at the sight of him.

The Arrival of the Rohirrim.

Another long quote, because every word is packed.

"Tall and proud he seemed again; and rising in his stirrups he cried in a loud voice, more clear than any there had ever heard a mortal man achieve before:

Arise, Arise, Riders of Theoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
With that he seized a great horn from Guthlaf his banner-bearer, and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder. And straightway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.

Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Eomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first eored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Theoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borned up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Orome the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City."

Death of Thoeden

"Then out of the blackness in his mind he thought that he heard Dernhelm speaking; yet now the voice seemed strange, recalling some other voice that he had known.
'Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!'
A cold voice answered: 'Come not between a Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.'
A sword rang as it was drawn. 'Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.'
'Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!'
Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. 'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Eowyn I am,Eomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.'
The winged creature screamed at her, but the Ringwraith made no answer, and was silent, as if in sudden doubt. Very amazement for the moment conquered Merry's fear. He opened his eyes and the blackness was lifted from them. There some paces from him sat the great beast, and all seemed dark about it, and above it loomed the Nazgul Lord like a shadow of despair. A little to the left facing them stood she whom he had called Dernhelm. But the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her, and her bright hair, released from its bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders. Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell, and yet tears were on her cheek. A sword was in her hand, and she raised her shield against the horror of her enemy's eyes.
Eowyn it was, and Dernhelm also. For into Merry's mind flashed the memory of the face that he saw at the riding from Dunharrow: the face of one that goes seeking death, having no hope. Pity filled his heart and great wonder, and suddenly the slow-kindled courage of his race awoke. He clenched his hand. She should not die, so fair, so desperate! At least she should not die alone, unaided."

I love that Theoden dies never knowing it was Eowyn that saved him, and thinking that it was he who had slain the great beast.

"Merry could not speak, but wept anew. 'Forgive me, lord,' he said at last, 'if I broke your command, and yet have done no more in your service than to weep at our parting.'
The old king smiled. 'Grieve not! It if forgiven. Great heart will not be denied. Live now in blessedness; and when you sit in peace with your pipe, think of me! For never now shall I sit with you in Meduseld, as I promised, or listen to your herb-lore.' He closed his eyes, and Merry bowed beside him. Presently he spoke again. 'Where is Eomer? For my eyes darken, and I would see him ere I go. He must be king after me. And I would send word to Eowyn. She, she would not have me leave her, and now I shall not see her again, dearer than daughter.'"

Eomer is made king.

"Slowly Theoden opened his eyes. Seeing the banner he made a sign that it should be given to Eomer.
'Hail, King of the Mark!' he said. 'Ride now to victory! Bid Eowyn farewell!' And so he died, and knew not that Eowyn lay near him. And those who stood by wept, crying: 'Theoden King! Theoden King!'"

Eomer sees Eowyn.

"Then suddenly he beheld his sister Eowyn as she lay, and he knew her. He stood a moment as a man who is pierced in the midst of a cry by an arrow through the heart; and then his face went deathly white, and a cold fury rose in him, so that all speech failed him for a while. A fey mood took him.
'Eowyn, Eowyn!' he cried at last. 'Eowyn, how come you here? What madness or devilry is this? Death, death, death! Death take us all!'
Then without taking counsel or waiting for the approach of the men of the City, he spurred headlong back to the front of the great host, and blew a horn, and cried aloud for the onset. Over the field rang his clear voice called:' Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!'"

Aragorn arrives

"[U]pon the foremost ship a great standard broke, an the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but the Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flame in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold."

"For now men leaped from the ships to the quays of the Harlond and swept north like a storm. There came Legolas, and Gimli wielding his axe, and Halbarad with the standard, and Elladan and Elrohir with stars upon their brow, and the dour-handed Dunedain, Rangers of the North, leading a great valour of the folk of Lebennin and Lamedon and the fiefs of the South. But before all went Aragorn with the Flame of the West, Anduril like a new fire kindled, Narsil re-forged as deadly as of old; and upon his brow was the Star of Elendil."

Denethor burns himself on a pyre.

Frodo and Sam begin their journey north along the Morgai.

Thranduil repels the forces of Dol Guldor in Mirkwood.

The second assault on Lorien.

The Dunedain

March 6 3019 TA

Aragorn is overtaken by the Dunedain. Which brings me into Book Five of the Lord of the Rings.

"'I bring word to you from my father: The days are short. If thou art in haste, remember the Paths of the Dead.'"

And he does. And as Eomer, Theoden, and Merry ride away.

"'There go three that I love, and the smallest not the least,' [Aragorn] said. 'He knows not to what end he rides; yet if he knew, he still would go on.'"

And away they all go. Theoden and Co. to the muster at Dunharrow. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and the Rangers, accompanied by the sons of Elrond, to the Paths of the Dead

The King of the Golden Hall

March 2, 3019 TA

Frodo, Sam, and Gollum come to end of the Dead Marshes.

"The marshes and the desert were behind them. Before them, darkling against a pallid sky, the great mountains reared their threatening heads."

Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli arrive at Edoras and Gandalf heals Theoden.

"Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?"

Also, Eowyn!

"Thus Aragorn for the first time in the full light of day beheld Eowyn, Lady of Rohan, and thought her fair, fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring that is not yet come to womanhood."

The Rohirrim ride west against Saruman

"Arise now, arise, Riders of Teoden!
Dire deeds awake, dark is it eastward.
Let horse be bridled, horn be sounded!
Forth Eorlingas!"

And away they all go, Eomer, Theoden, Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn, and the White Rider, leaving Eowyn in charge.

"For over the plain Eowyn saw the glitter of their spears, as she stood still, alone before the doors of the silent house."

Entmoot FINALLY ends in the afternoon and the Ents march to Isengard. They reach it around nightfall and begin the destruction of Isengard.

"To Isengard! Though Isengard be ringed and barred with doors of stone;
Though Isengard be strong and hard, as cold as stone and bare as bone,
We go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door;
For bole and bough are burning now, the furnace roars - we go to war!
To land of gloom with tramp of doom, with roll of drum, we come, we come;
To Isengard with doom we come!
With doom we come, with doom we come!"

And a few other quotes from The King of the Golden Hall that I didn't want to miss.

Gandalf to Grima

"'...A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning fails.'"

Gandalf to Theoden

"'...Too long have you sat in shadows and trust to twisted tales and crook promptings.'"

Theoden to Grima

"'...Your leechcraft ere long would have had me walking on all fours like a beast.'"

Gandalf to Grima

"'...How long is it since Saruman bought you? What was the promised price? When all the men were dead, you were to pick your share of the treasure, and take the woman you desire? Too long have you watched her under your eyelids and haunted her steps.'"

Aragorn realizing that Eowyn was falling in love with him, and disliking it.

"As she stood before Aragorn she paused suddenly and looked upon him, and her eyes were shining. And he looked down upon her fair face and smiled; but as he took the cup, his hand met hers, and he knew that she trembled at the touch. 'Hail Aragorn son of Arathorn! she said. 'Hail Lady of Rohan!' he answered, but his face now was troubled and he did not smile."

The Hunt Is On!

THE DAY

February 27th, 3019 TA

To begin with, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas have been running all night, and stopped for just a teeny bit before dawn. Then they found five dead orcs. This was, of course, a result of a food fight over the hobbits. The movie, though it had to squeeze some events together of course, did a pretty accurate rendition of Merry and Pippin with the orcs. Merry did in fact have a cut on his forehead. There was a fight. And they carried them exactly as we see them doing in the movie. Of course, they had to put Fangorn, Orc-fight, and Eomer attacking the orc band all in one night. But these sorts of things are inevitable in movies.

'Now,' thought Pippin, 'if only it takes that ugly fellow a little while to get his troop under control, I've got a chance.' A gleam of hope had come to him. The edge of the black knife had snicked his arm, and then slid down to his wrist. He felt the blood trickling on to his hand, but he also felt the cold touch of steel against his skin.

All of this technically happened last night. Exciting. Which means it spans the 26th and the 27th, but there was already enough going on yesterday, so I am plunking it in here. I should also like to mention that, courtesy of Tolkien, I read through Aragorn finding the bodies of the orcs, and then had to go FORWARD 24 pages to watch them get killed. I shall have to go forward a good deal more to get to what happened to Frodo on the 26th after he left with Sam. Its a rather odd way of writing a book, can be annoying at times, but is also rather clever. It makes it quite suspenseful. It is also rather difficult to pull off well, and I have just had the privilege of reading a book that attempted to follow this style of telling a bunch of the story, and then going all the way back to the beginning to tell it from another character's point of view. It was not good. Said nameless book tried a good deal to hard to do something weird with the timelines, and in the end it made the timelines not match up properly, and did a few rather impossible things. One must be very careful if one is to set their timeline up this way.

Now, as I so kindly neglected to mention yesterday, Eomer happened to hear of the orc band coming down from Emyn Muil, and now today, he set out after them against Theoden's orders. All this matter of him getting angrily banished and sent off to roam against his will is bilge. He left against the orders of his king, and was rather at fault, for all his intentions were honorable. In the end though, everything turned out splendidly, so he was forgiven. Reminds me of another incident in Gondor where someone broke a rule to try to help and even though he had the most honorable of intentions, was still required to face proper justice. Obviously, he was dealt with mercifully, but you get the idea. It wouldn't be an act of bravery to break the rule if you didn't still have to pay for it. The whole point is that the law is the law, and if you break it to help someone, it is a bit of a sacrifice. If you break it to defy a crazy person and help a bunch of good people, you will probably be dealt with mercifully, but that is not always the case. I am getting off on rather lengthy tangents today, but as they are all about LOTR, I think it is acceptable. NEXT.

Eomer sets out around midnight (yes I know, technically tomorrow, shut up. their days followed the sun, not some paltry 12 by 12 plan. Some day I shall speak further on that) to pursue the orc band, and I conclude this day.

My apologies for the shameful lack of quotes, but I kept getting distracted by wanting to read the whole book, and now I am out of time.

THE YEAR

3009

Appendix B, The Tale of Years 3009 "Gandalf and Aragorn renew their hunt for Gollum at intervals during the next eight years, searching in the vales of Anduin, Mirkwood, and Rhovanion to the confines of Mordor. At some time during these years Gollum himself ventured into Mordor and was captured by Sauron. Elrond sends for Arwen, and she returns to Imladris; the Mountains and all lands eastward become dangerous."

(Lest there should be any confusion or matter of rights and whatnot, all quotes in this post are from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. There may be slight errors, misspellings, or alternate punctuation in the quotes, and if you notice such, please inform me so that I can speedily remedy them. But I think the fact that I made this blog proves that I would never intentionally change something of Tolkien's in the transcribing of it.)

Hello Moria

THE DAY

On January 13th 3019, in the early hours of the day, the company is attacked by wolves. And by nightfall, they have reached the gates of Moria. At this point, Gollum begins to follow them.

THE YEAR

In the year 2991, Eomer of Rohan was born. And we all love Eomer. His helmet is AWESOME by the way.
For those of you who don't know, Eomer married Lothiriel, Daughter of Imrahil of Dol Amroth.

Appendix A>>Annals of the Kings and Rulers>> II. The House of Eorl>>The Kings of the Mark>>Third Line>>Eomer Eadig

"Eomer became a great king, and being young when he succeeded Theoden he reigned for sixty-five years, longer than all the kings before him save Aldor the Old. In the War of the Ring he made the friendship of King Elessar, and of Imrahil of Dol Amroth; and he rode often to Gondor. In the last year of the Third Age he wedded Lothiriel, daughter of Imrahil. Their son Elfwine the Fair ruled after him."

THE MOST POWERFUL THING IN HELM'S DEEP

There are many powerful moments in the Movie rendition of The Battle of the Hornburg. Many symbolic and beautiful moments

First, the elves come. Help out of the blue, completely unexpected and unlooked for. A last alliance of elves and men. Heroic, yes. Wonderful, yes. But that is not what made the battle what it was.

There is something in that whole battle sequence that links it all together and makes it beautiful, heroic, brave, powerful, meaningful.

It could be the love between Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. It could be the moment when Haldir dies in Aragorn's arms. Perhaps it is when Aragorn and Theoden gather the rest of the Rohirrim and ride out to die in glory and fight the hopeless fight. It could be the love and loyalty of Eomer when he returns to save the man who banished him from his home. It could be the hope and light of Gandalf returning. The bravery of the men behind the walls.

But even when you put all that together, you really just have a lot of fighting and death and no hope. Because there is still a big question.

Why?

Why are the men behind the walls so brave?

Why did Aragorn and Theoden ride out?

Why did Eomer return?

Why were the men prepared to fight until they all died?

There could be many reasons. And there are many reasons. But the one that unites them all. That makes the battle more than a bunch of men and orcs killing each other. One thing that explains it all.

And that is the women and children hiding in the caves.

These men are fighting for their wives, children, sisters, brothers, mothers, grandmothers. They are fighting for the people. Willing to die to defend the people. Brave for the people they are protecting.

Peter Jackson captured this perfectly, but frequently cutting from the battle, to the women and children. Terrified, weeping, hiding in the caves and listening to their loved ones die.