Episode 295 Summary

[Tony Meade]

SESSION 295

We shall soon see:

• One reason for Boromir’s bewilderment could be that these gates are operated solely using magical means, which would be completely abnormal to a practical man like Boromir.
• Boromir would be no stranger to great works of architecture and engineering from Gondor.
• This would make Gandalf’s explanation surprising, since they can open easily from the inside.
• The design that allows them to be opened from the inside without the password supports the idea that the doors can recognize the intent and friendship of the person opening them.
• Even having such heavy doors able to be opened by one person, and that the doors cannot be seen from the outside when shut, is remarkable engineering, if it isn’t itself a magical property.
• This fact would mean that the stone itself is a party to the opening and closing of the doors.
• Calling these “doors”, rather than “gates”, implies a homeliness and welcoming nature in their original intent, in that these would be more like the entrance to a house rather than a fortress.

Every spell in all the tongues:

• Arithmetic would presume that Gandalf knows over 200 opening spells in various languages.
• It’s possible that this could be hyperbole on Gandalf’s part, as this seems ambiguously large.
• The fact that there are Orc-spells for opening things is revelatory, probably in Black Speech or another native Orc language, as it is known that Orcs speak in different dialects to each other.
• The meaning of the word “spell” in this context is unclear, whether that is the magic being in the opening word, or in the thing being opened, but it is clear that these “spells” are spoken aloud.
• This also implies that the making of magic openings that respond to words was once common.
• Note: The use of the word “spell” has had several implications throughout the Middle-earth corpus, such as when Beren calls Lúthien “Tinúviel”, and it is said that a “spell” falls upon her. This use seems to be metaphorical, but that relationship is revealing about what “spells” are.
• Gandalf has used two spells before, both involving fire, in which he spoke words and those were made manifest, and it is implied that he has also done this with Butterbur and Bill the Pony.
• This means that the spells Gandalf is referring to are not simple passwords, but words spoken that put forth his power in themselves, and he seems to have made a special study of these.
• His knowledge is his explanation for why he is confident he will be able to open the doors, even though he didn’t know the password when they were coming here, as in answer to Boromir.
• The fact that Gandalf has already presumed that the opening word would be in Elvish shows Gandalf’s reasoning, as it was designed by an Elf to be used by the Elvish friends of the Dwarves.

In a commanding voice:

• Gandalf seems to assume that there is a tactile element to open the doors, and therefore touches the star, which represents the people of Fëanor, since this door is made for their use.
• This presumes that this spell is specific to Celebrimbor himself, being Fëanor’s only grandson.
• Gandalf knows that the doors open out, and therefore he is not exerting physical force on them.
• Therefore, Gandalf is thinking symbolically on the part of the Elves and uses his staff in doing it.
• It’s notable that Gandalf begins with a rhyming couplet, which includes mirrored consonants.
• Note: Since Tolkien gives the translation for the Elvish word for “open” immediately after, it is presumable that this is a key to help the reader begin to translate the rhyming couplet before.
• It is clear that this is addressing the doors in the imperative, and that edro and lasto are verbs.
• There is a parallel between referencing the Elves in the first line and the Dwarves in the second.
• The prepositional phrase at the end of the first line is a first-person plural, meaning “for us”, though Gandalf addresses the Door in the singular, unlike the inscription, which is in the plural.
• Gandalf may be trying to cover both possibilities by addressing both the Elves and Dwarves, and it seems as though this couplet is an impromptu composition by Gandalf only for this situation.
• Since this friendship between Eregion and Moria was unique, this would not be a common spell.
• Gandalf is not trying to guess a simple password, but rather cast a spell to invoke the doors’ magic, by using a power that is greater than that which was put into the gates by their makers.
• This is similar to the spirit in which Gandalf spoke words to the words to the trees to create fire, in Eregion, and it is done as a kind of appeal, and uses his staff to invoke his own authority.
• However, it is not mere power that Gandalf is exerting, as if that were able to open the doors, then they would have opened for Sauron, and rather it must be coupled with friendly intent.
• There is no intent to violate the doors, but the disappearance of the lines show that Gandalf’s appeal was rejected, and that both intent and knowledge of the lore are needed, not power.
• Using a poetic form shows that Gandalf had thought about what he would say before he arrived.
• Having not worked, Gandalf feels the need to revise his composition to see if it could work better, since he is still convinced that it is a poetic invocation spell that can be used effectively.
• By using different spells with varying deliveries afterwards shows he still thinks a spell will work.
• Only after this does he attempt to guess at the password by speaking individual words in Elvish.
• By the time Gandalf speaks the word “open” in every language, he is venting his frustration.
• Using spells, not passwords from the beginning, shows that Gandalf has missed the doors’ point.
• There is now an irony that Aragorn had warned Gandalf about his passing the Doors of Moria.

END OF SESSION