Matt DeForrest
Active Member
I am not convinced I am any closer to understanding the why Gandalf added boulders to the flood at the Ford of Bruinen, but I have noted a couple of things while considering this passage:
“At that moment there came a roaring and a rushing: a noise of loud waters rolling many stones. Dimly Frodo saw the river below him rise, and down along its course there came a plumed cavalry of waves. White flames seemed to Frodo to flicker on their crests, and he half fancied that he saw amid the water white riders upon white horses with frothing manes. The three Riders that were still in the midst of the Ford were overwhelmed: they disappeared, buried suddenly under angry foam. Those that were behind drew back in dismay.”
Let me start with what I don’t think it is — even though all the pieces are there: Air (the foam), Earth (the Rolling Stones), FIre (the white flames), and water (the...um, water). While the four elements are there, the passage doesn’t feel like it is somehow evoking or invoking them — either magically or symbolically.
The three Elven Rings (Air, Fire, and Earth-y things)? Likewise, it doesn’t feel right.
Nor does their addition a necessity. Any river called “Loudwater” is going to have plenty of boulders and/or rocks in it. Adding big ones to the churning result of the flood is akin to overkill (Of course, overkill might ultimately be the point — throw everything and the kitchen sink at the nine when they appear on your doorstep and be safe rather than sorry.).
Those things said, there is an odd image within this passage: Being buried under water, however angry it might be, is an odd way of trying to draw the image — paralleling the flood with an avalanche. Swallowed up and overwhelmed I can see. But buried? Burial requires earth (or, perhaps, snow) rather than water. And while this semi-synesthesian imagery evokes a different level of power for the flood, it doesn’t need actual (or spiritual) boulders to pull that off.
Unless, of course, Gandalf’s effort is to project/mirror the physical effect of the flood into the Wraith World, and thus impacting the Nazgul equally on both planes of their existence.
“At that moment there came a roaring and a rushing: a noise of loud waters rolling many stones. Dimly Frodo saw the river below him rise, and down along its course there came a plumed cavalry of waves. White flames seemed to Frodo to flicker on their crests, and he half fancied that he saw amid the water white riders upon white horses with frothing manes. The three Riders that were still in the midst of the Ford were overwhelmed: they disappeared, buried suddenly under angry foam. Those that were behind drew back in dismay.”
Let me start with what I don’t think it is — even though all the pieces are there: Air (the foam), Earth (the Rolling Stones), FIre (the white flames), and water (the...um, water). While the four elements are there, the passage doesn’t feel like it is somehow evoking or invoking them — either magically or symbolically.
The three Elven Rings (Air, Fire, and Earth-y things)? Likewise, it doesn’t feel right.
Nor does their addition a necessity. Any river called “Loudwater” is going to have plenty of boulders and/or rocks in it. Adding big ones to the churning result of the flood is akin to overkill (Of course, overkill might ultimately be the point — throw everything and the kitchen sink at the nine when they appear on your doorstep and be safe rather than sorry.).
Those things said, there is an odd image within this passage: Being buried under water, however angry it might be, is an odd way of trying to draw the image — paralleling the flood with an avalanche. Swallowed up and overwhelmed I can see. But buried? Burial requires earth (or, perhaps, snow) rather than water. And while this semi-synesthesian imagery evokes a different level of power for the flood, it doesn’t need actual (or spiritual) boulders to pull that off.
Unless, of course, Gandalf’s effort is to project/mirror the physical effect of the flood into the Wraith World, and thus impacting the Nazgul equally on both planes of their existence.