Tony Meade
Active Member
SESSION 137
Comment on Legolas, the strange Elf:
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”.
- 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.
- 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.