Bereitschaftsbeitrag

Zur Front

8. April 2016

Re-reading the Lord of the Rings, Chapter 52

The most interesting thing in this chapter is Legolas' remark, for sure, about the Dead.
Pale swords were drawn; but I know not whether their blades would still bite, for the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear.
The easiest way to read this, and Legolas' further words suggest it, is that Aragorn is wielding the weapon of shame on his campaign in the south, the fear of becoming known as someone, who didn't come to his succour, and that that fear is victorious against the fear of Sauron, the fear of the vanity of all resistance.

That interpretation, though, requires to ignore the described action, for the Haradrim and the Corsairs are supposed to be afraid and not the rural reserve of Gondor.

I had suggested that the Dead are colonists from Númenor, based on their connexion with the Stone of Erech, and that their siding with Aragorn constitutes a transfer of seniority.

And if so, this would be troublesome for the Corsairs, who are colonists from Númenor themselves.

Then I focussed on the unifying effect of rejuvenation, here now the focus is on the aging effect of schism, for those, who see their allies desert them, because they found their youth again for one more cycle, immediately age. And thus they either join the rejuvenation or they stay as older spirits, matured, if this happened early in their life cycle, or as phantoms of their former strength, if it happened late, and that prospect lies now before the Corsairs, to become, what the Dead have been.

The situation would be somewhat similar, if Christ was to return and some Jews would accept him as the Messiah while others wouldn't. (I am aware of the fact that both Christ and Messiah mean The Anointed.)

As for the last debate, this is one of the few things the film summed up very well: Mordor is full of Orcs, they stand in the way, some valve must be opened to let them flow out.

As Imrahil says:
This is the greatest jest in all the history of Gondor.
Actually, there's an almost uncanny likeness here with the role of the state of Israel in the Revelation: Orc-bait - and as Aragorn says:
If this be jest, then it is too bitter for laughter.

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