The sword that was broken

[I4detail]

Hey. So I think we've been dancing around the 600 lb gorilla in the room long enough.

Is Bilbo the first to call Narsil "The Sword that was broken?" We know Aragorn calls it that as a matter of course, but did Bilbo pick that up from him, or did he start saying that because of Bilbo?

Because if Bilbo indeed is the one who coined that phrase...

....and we accept the fact that the Faramir/Boramir dream is divinely inspired...

...then Bilbo's poetry is being quoted by the MFing Valar. Sorry. Being quoted by the Valar.

Talk about "not very good, perhaps, but to the point." It's good enough for Lorien (or, you know, whomever).

 

[Flammifer]

The Valar, unwilling perhaps to breach Bilbo's copyright, called it 'The Sword that was broken' in Boromir's dream.

Bilbo used the phrase, 'renewed shall be blade that was broken' in his poem about Aragorn.

Not exactly the same. But close enough.

 

[DolorousStroke]

I once had a phrase I said incorporated into a song by a largely unknown band that dissolved shortly thereafter. Bilbo and I should form a club.

 

[Anthony Lawther]

Maybe Bilbo's poetic inspiration was also the author of the dream poem.

 

[Kate Neville]

Maybe Bilbo's poetic inspiration was also the author of the dream poem.

This was my thought -- that Bilbo was inspired by the originator of the Denethor boys' dream. I suspect a joint project between Varda (to Bilbo for Estel/Aragorn/Elessar) and Ulmo (to Faramir/Boromir), unless it was Ulmo whispering to Bilbo on the banks of the Bruinen.

 

[Anthony Lawther]

This was my thought -- that Bilbo was inspired by the originator of the Denethor boys' dream. I suspect a joint project between Varda (to Bilbo for Estel/Aragorn/Elessar) and Ulmo (to Faramir/Boromir), unless it was Ulmo whispering to Bilbo on the banks of the Bruinen.

Perhaps Irmo (Lorien) was commissioned by Varda to create the dream with Ulmo contracted to deliver it. That could help explain the thematic concordance, but the slight difference in wording.

 

[Jim Deutch]

Perhaps Irmo (Lorien) was commissioned by Varda to create the dream with Ulmo contracted to deliver it. That could help explain the thematic concordance, but the slight difference in wording.

It's the folk process. The divine folk process.
And then of course there's the transcription process, in Gondor by Findegil, King's Writer, and the translation process from Westron to English, and the typesetting and proofreading by modern publishers . . . it's a wonder that any sense remains in the text at all by the time we get to read it!