Episode 137 Summary

Tony Meade

Active Member
SESSION 137

Comment on Legolas, the strange Elf:
  • In what sense is Legolas “strange”? As this usage doesn’t mean that he is considered unusual, it could mean that he is unfamiliar, or from foreign lands, though he may be different culturally.
  • To whom is Legolas “strange”? To the Elves of Rivendell? To the other councilors? To Frodo?
  • Note: Tolkien did not decide on the Sindarin ancestry of Legolas until after writing the book.
  • Legolas is the only representative of the Wood-Elves at the Council, and so would be different from all the other Elves in dress, speech, and custom, even Galdor from the Grey Havens.
  • Note: Legolas’ physical appearance, including hair color, is not mentioned in the text, so we don’t know if there was an ethnic difference. Legolas as blonde-haired is from the adaptations. Tolkien only decided on common hair colors among the Elves after The Lord of the Rings.
  • It seems important that the strangeness of Legolas is the first thing the reader is told of him. The narrator’s differentiation of him from the other Elves at the Council is integral to his character.
  • His clothes of green and brown, the only ones described, must be different from the others.
  • The fact that the narrator is describing these events as though we were there, and since we identify Frodo as the narrator, gives the descriptions a kind of immediacy.
  • However, this narrative is written down over a year later, after his reflections on it, and his narrative is amended and corrected by others later.
  • The fact that Legolas was not personally known among any of the other Elves was something that Frodo only learned afterwards, though he may have perceived it at the time.
  • Note: Other points in the narrative are clearly written long after the events, as they talk about events that happen long after the moment in the narration. Songs, for instance, were composed years later but included here, as the text was composed and compiled much later as well.
  • In hindsight, Frodo will know that Legolas will be an outlier among the Elves because of his friendship with Gimli, so Frodo is making hobbitry in retrospect by calling him “strange”.
The return of the House of Elendil:
  • In spite of Elrond’s careful introduction, emphasizing his descent from Isildur, Aragorn declares himself as the heir of Elendil. This is an important distinction as it puts Boromir on the spot.
  • This is not necessarily an aggressive question, though it is direct and honest. However, Aragorn makes it less personal by focusing on the House of Elendil, not him personally.
  • Aragorn wants to be invited, or at least welcomed, so he is testing Boromir as a representative.
  • The importance of Boromir’s response is different from Denethor’s because Boromir represents the future of the House of the Stewards, while Denethor is only the current ruler.
  • With Denethor it is a question of relinquishing power, while with Boromir it concerns the future of Minas Tirith itself, and whether they will allow the return of the king.
  • As the heir of the lord of Minas Tirith, Boromir expects to rule the city, so his response to the possibility that he would have to step aside for someone else is important.
  • The Stewards have taken spoken oaths to hold the throne until the king returns, so Aragorn is challenging Boromir to uphold that oath when the time comes.
Doom and great deeds at hand:
  • Aragorn corrects Boromir twice, the first being that Boromir is assuming that the doom referred to in the dream is about Minas Tirith alone, but also corrects the sense of the word “doom”.
  • The doom that they will deem at this council is the doom that is at hand right at this moment.
  • This is a call to hope, as the end of the doom is not yet known, and by invoking great deeds, Aragorn is inviting Boromir, a great warrior and hero, to participate in those great deeds.
  • The counsels that taken now will play a part in the end, so they are not helpless in this doom.
  • By showing that the Sword of Elendil was the sign that doom and great deeds are at hand, Aragorn also transitions into invoking the House of Elendil itself, and by extension, himself.
  • The fact that he mentions that the sword broke beneath Elendil emphasizes Elendil’s death, not that he died defeating Sauron using this sword, or that it cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand.
  • While this explains how the sword was broken, it emphasizes Elendil’s sacrifice, not the deed.
  • The facts about how Elendil fought Sauron have already been told, so Boromir knows this, so the important aspect of Aragorn’s speech is what he chooses to highlight when describing it.
  • Elendil did not live to see Sauron’s overthrow, though that doesn’t diminish his heroism. This means that Aragorn is saying that their victory could be for those that come after, not them.
  • This links the breaking of the sword and Elendil’s death with the doom and great deeds, and he connects Narsil with that heroic final attack on Sauron in the battle of the Last Alliance.
  • What Aragorn is promising is not that his intervention will turn out well for them personally, but he is offering an alliance in the spirit of Elendil and Gil-galad, when they died to defeat Sauron.
(continued below)
 

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(continued)

It should be made again:
  • Aragorn is not only referring to his lineage, for which Elrond has already vouched, but specifically his connection to Elendil through the sword.
  • He then pivots into prophesying, and glosses Boromir’s dream poem as he interprets it. He also connects it to the lore of his own people, showing that this is the moment both are fulfilled.
  • By seeking the Sword that was Broken, which is the only imperative in the dream poem, Boromir is witness to the sign of Frodo presenting the Ring as the signal that the time of doom has come.
  • This is the first time since Isildur, that the Ring and the Sword are openly in the same place since Isildur cut the Ring off, and this convergence signals that it is time to reforged the sword.
  • There is a distinction in using the past over the present tense regarding the broken sword. That it is the “Sword that was Broken”, rather than “is Broken”, means the historical event is key.
  • This also means that the state of the being broken is not its permanent or future state.
  • By stating the question to Boromir as “what would you ask?”, Aragorn is implying that Boromir is here to make a request, though to not him personally, and he doesn’t use the word “king”.
  • This is gentler than Aragorn could be, and it shows that it is not Aragorn’s purpose to claim the kingship. His purpose is the defeat Sauron, his enemy, and not to assert any right to be king.
  • Note: Only if they defeat Sauron is the claiming of the kingship even possible, but it is only in the way that victory is achieved that Aragorn would be in a position to be acclaimed as king.
  • Having the House of Elendil return to the Land of Gondor is about coming to fight in the war, but he needs to be asked and to be welcome there in order to do that, and it is Boromir’s decision.
On the other heirlooms that were lost:
  • What other heirlooms is Aragorn speaking about? The Ring of Barahir is technically not an heirloom of the House of Elendil, as it was passed down through the heirs of Beren and Lúthien.
  • There are other heirlooms that still exist, like the palantiri, the Elendilmir, and Sceptre, etc.
  • Note: These other artifacts did not exist in the world of Middle-earth when Tolkien was writing this passage and were created as a result of Tolkien’s desire to deepen the connections between this story and the tales of the Elder Days. Many of these are in the appendices written after the main story, expounded on after the fact.
  • The Ring of Barahir connects Aragorn with Beren and parallels the Beren and Lúthien story.
  • Note: Tolkien, as careful as he was, would have connected those other artifacts with the other, much older Elder Days stories, not Elendil, who did lay a claim upon Narsil. Tolkien probably left the sentence unchanged because he wants to lay the emphasis on the sword and Elendil.
Help beyond our hope:
  • Boromir is exercising great caution by not committing to an answer to Aragorn, and he is not putting himself in the subordinate place, though he is on his dignity in his response.
  • While he’s already stated that he has not come to ask for allies, he acknowledged their need.
  • Boromir has already gotten what he came to Rivendell to seek, but Aragorn has offered more.
  • He can’t answer as an envoy for Denethor in the matter of having the House of Elendil return.
  • However, the phrase “beg any boon” shows that he feels that Aragorn’s question lessens him and his position relative to Aragorn, in that he would be seen as a beggar before his superior.
  • The word “boon” is specifically a gift given freely from a lord to his vassal, as Boromir takes it.
  • Therefore, while both Aragorn and Boromir are avoiding using the word “king”, it is clearly on Boromir’s mind with his response to being bidden to ask for something from Aragorn.
  • Boromir refuses to engage with Aragorn in this way, which is a kind of resistance to his claim.
  • However, he is willing to accept any help that is freely offered, if he can deliver on the promise.
  • There is an implicit “yes” in his statement to the Sword, he can’t say that explicitly to Aragorn.
  • His expression about the Sword is an emotional reaction, but skeptical about the possibility of its return. He’s not openly questioning Elrond or Aragorn’s claims about the past, but on the future.
  • He doesn’t doubt that Aragorn is who he says he is, but if he can live up to what they promise.
  • The fact that the Sword is a portent is also undoubted, but that means nothing about Aragorn.
  • Note: The use of the word “shadows of the past” is a link to chapter two, and the Shadow.
Annoyed on his friend’s behalf:
  • Bilbo is the first person in the room who is willing to directly use the word “king” about Aragorn.
  • He is showing cheekiness again in addressing Boromir like a young hobbit offering him “sauce”.
  • Bilbo responds to Boromir with a poem because he has asserted that he was only there to unravel a riddle. This is a new riddle for Boromir to unravel.
  • Note: This is the second time that there has been a repeat of a poem in a different context, which changes the impression of the poem after having been given new information.
END OF SESSION
 

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