Category Archives: Uncategorized

Capital R, Ring

11 Wednesday Nov 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Welcome, as ever, dear readers.

Having grown up reading or being read to from fairy tale books like that by George Dasent (Popular Tales from the Norse, 1859—and here’s a copy for you:    https://archive.org/details/populartalesfr00asbj/page/n3/mode/2up     )

and Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books,

(You can start with the first here:  https://dn760108.eu.archive.org/0/items/bluefairybook00langiala/bluefairybook00langiala.pdf )

it’s not surprising that Tolkien’s first adventure book, The Hobbit,

should, in many ways, resemble such books.

One of the features of fairy tales is the use of magic, including magic objects, like rings,

(You can read more about such rings here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_ring )

and, of course, such a ring appears in The Hobbit, the magic being that it allows a person wearing it to become invisible, which then allows the hero, Bilbo, to escape from goblins,

(Alan Lee)

fight giant spiders,

(Oleksiy Lipatov—you can see more of his work here:  https://www.artstation.com/oleksiylipatov8 )

and even chat with a fearsome dragon.

(JRRT)

Where it came from and what other powers it might have are not explained, only that Bilbo picked it up on the floor of a goblin tunnel and that it was clearly the property—the “precious” –of the creepy Gollum, from whom Bilbo escaped after a riddling contest, using that same ring.

(Alan Lee)

But then the book was so successful that the publisher asked for a sequel and, as Tolkien wrote to W. H. Auden:

“But if you wanted to go on from the end of The Hobbit I think that the ring would be your inevitable choice as the link.  If then you wanted a large tale, the Ring would at once acquire a capital letter; and the Dark Lord would immediately appear.”  (letter to W.H.Auden, 7 June, 1955, Letters, 315)

Thinking about the Ring recently, I wondered about both its original purpose, and the effect that it had upon other wearers or potential wearers.   In an earlier letter, Tolkien had explained that original purpose:

“The Elves of Eregion made Three supremely beautiful and powerful rings…But secretly in the subterranean Fire, in his own Black Land, Sauron made One Ring, the Ruling Ring that contained the powers of all the others, and controlled them, so that its wearer could see the thoughts of all those that used the lesser rings, could govern all that they did, and in the end could utterly enslave them.”  (letter to Milton Waldman, late 1951, Letters 212-213)

Along with that controlling force, the Ring—and, as JRRT writes, the other rings– had another potential:

“The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. ‘change’ viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its resemblance—this is more or less an Elvish motive.”

And there is something more:

“But also they enhanced the natural powers of a possessor—thus approaching ‘magic’, a motive easily corruptible into evil, a lust for domination.  And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron…such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.”   (letter to Milton Waldman, “probably late 1951”, Letters 212-213)

That invisibility appeared in The Hobbit, but that “prevention or slowing of decay” was something new and we see that first in Gollum, who had taken the Ring from its finder, his cousin, Deagol.

Isildur had lost the Ring in the Anduin—or, rather, the Ring had abandoned him–in SA 3436.  Deagol had brought it to the surface in TA2463, Bilbo had found it in TA 2940, and Gollum is still alive at the time of The Lord of the Rings, in TA3018, making him over 550 years old. 

This slowing of age is then a give-away to Gandalf about Bilbo and his Ring, as Bilbo, among long-lived Hobbits, seems even longer-lived (eventually going off to the Grey Havens at 131).  As Gandalf said of Gollum:

“ ‘And I learned also that he had possessed it long.  Many lives of his small kind.  The power of the ring had lengthened his years far beyond their span; but that power only the Great Rings wield.’ “  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter 2, “The Council of Elrond”)

But here we see another effect of possessing the Ring:  it may lengthen life, but Bilbo says of himself:

“ ‘I am old, Gandalf.  I don’t look it, but I am beginning to feel it in my heart of hearts.  Well-preserved indeed!…Why, I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean:  like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.  That can’t be right…”  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter 1, “A Long-Expected Party”)

We can wonder, then, if Bilbo had possessed the Ring for about 60 years and felt odd, what must Gollum have felt like at 550+?  Gandalf gives us something of that:

“ ‘He is thin and tough still.  But the thing was eating up his mind, of course, and the torment had become almost unbearable.’ “  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter 2, “The Shadow of the Past”)

What is this torment?  I would guess that it’s a combination of things:  first, that the Ring, as we know from Gandalf, always wants to return to its maker/master, even to falling off a wearer’s finger:

“ ‘The Ring was trying to get back to its master.  It had slipped off Isildur’s hand and betrayed him; then when a chance came it caught poor Deagol, and he was murdered; and after that Gollum, and it had devoured him.  It could make no further use of him:  he was too small and mean; and as long as it stayed with him he would never leave his deep pool again.  So now, when its master was awake once more and sending out his dark thought from Mirkwood, it abandoned Gollum.”  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter 2, “The Shadow of the Past”)

Thus, the Ring could combine a pressure to release it with its terrible attraction and fear of losing it, which could drive even decent people to shocking behavior, as it had many years ago with Smeagol, and as Frodo feels, when, in Rivendell, Bilbo asks to see it:

“Slowly he drew it out.  Bilbo put out his hand.  But Frodo quickly drew back the Ring.  To his distress and amazement he found that he was no longer looking at Bilbo; a shadow seemed to have fallen between them, and through it he found himself eyeing a little wrinkled creature with a hungry face and bony groping hands.  He felt a desire to strike him,”  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter 1, “Many Meetings”)

(from the Jackson film, although more fiendlike, I think, than Tolkien intended)

It may also be that, for someone unequipped to wear it, the power enclosed within the Ring would simply overwhelm that person, as Elrond says:

“ ‘We cannot use the Ruling Ring.  That we now know too well.  It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil.  Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power of their own.  But for them it holds an even deadlier peril.  The very desire of it corrupts the heart.  Consider Saruman.  If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself up on Sauron’s throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear.’ “ (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter 2, “The Council of Elrond”)

If even someone as powerful as Saruman would be overwhelmed by that power—and perhaps by that pressure to return it to its rightful owner, as well—then it’s not surprising that Gollum, and Bilbo, would be worn down under it, as he tells Gandalf:

“ ‘I am sorry…But I felt so queer.  And yet it would be a relief in a way not to be bothered with it any more.  It has been so growing on my mind lately.  Sometimes I have felt it was like an eye looking at me.  And I am always wanting to put it on and disappear, don’t you know; or wondering if it is safe, and pulling it out to make sure.  I tried locking it up, but I found that I couldn’t rest without it in my pocket…’ ”  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter 1, “A Long-Expected Party”)

Such power delays decay, can make a holder invisible, and corrupts, as Elrond has said, but there’s another side to this as well:  such power can also weaken.  Sauron:

“rules a growing empire from the great dark tower of Barad-dur in Mordor, near to the Mountain of Fire, wielding the One Ring.

But to achieve this he had been obliged to let a great part of his own inherent power (a frequent and very significant motive in myth and fairy-story) pass into the One Ring.  While he wore it, his power on earth was actually enhanced.  But even if he did not wear it, that power existed and was in ‘rapport’ with himself:  he was not ‘diminished’.  Unless some other seized it and became possessed of it.  If that happened, the new possessor could (if sufficiently strong and heroic by nature) challenge Sauron, become master of all he had learned and done since the making of the One Ring, and so overthrow him and usurp his place.  This was the essential weakness he had introduced into his situation in his effort (largely unsuccessful) to enslave the Elves, and in his desire to establish a control over the minds and wills of his servants.  There was another weakness:  if the One Ring was actually unmade, annihilated, then its power would be dissolved, Sauron’s own being would be diminished to vanishing point, and he would be reduced to a shadow, a mere memory of malicious will.”  (Letter to Milton Waldman, “probably written late in 1951”, Letters, 214)

Even Sauron, in fact, deceived himself about the Ring:

“It was indissoluble in any fire, save the undying subterranean fire where it was made—and that was unapproachable, in Mordor.  Also so great was the Ring’s power of lust, that anyone who used it became mastered by it; it was beyond the strength of any will (even his own) to injure it, cast it away, or neglect it.  So he thought.  It was in any case on his finger.”  (Letter to Milton Waldman, “probably written late in 1951”, Letters, 214)

And then it wasn’t on his finger, passing through a number of hands until, on the last, it—and its wearer—were “unmade”—

(Marta Nael—visit her spectacular gallery here:  https://martanael.com/projects )

and, with it, so was Sauron.

(Ted Nasmith)

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Stay well,

Avoid the temptation to try to dominate the world—even Napoleon ended up an aging exile on a tiny volcanic island—

And remember that, as always, there’s

MTCIDC

O

Cap-a-Pie (2)

04 Wednesday Nov 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Part 1 of this posting came about after I had seen this in a toy catalogue—

It’s clearly based on Jackson’s Sauron

as seen at the moment when Isildur cuts the Ring from Sauron’s hand, as Elrond tells the council:

“ ‘I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father’s sword, and took it for his own.’ “  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter 2, “The Council of Elrond”)

There is no description of how Sauron was dressed or armed, so it was up to the film’s designers to create their own image of him and it’s clear that their idea was all about spikiness—perhaps also, by his helmet, suggesting kingly aspirations?—but it made me wonder what JRRT had in mind, if not for Sauron, for his minions–

no, not those—that is, for his various followers—as well as for his opponents, and, in the first part of this posting, I had a look at those opponents, using evidence from Tolkien’s letters and The Lord of the Rings as my basis.

Now, I want to see what those same sources might tell us about his view of Sauron—and Saruman’s—forces.

Beginning at the top, there are the Nazgul.  When we first see them and hear about them, they are cloaked—

(J.G. Jones—you can read about him here)

but, on Weathertop, Frodo puts on the Ring and sees

“…upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands swords of steel…The third was taller than the others:  his hair was long and gleaming and on his helm was a crown…” (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter 11, “A Knife in the Dark”)

Because, wearing the Ring, Frodo can see

“In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes…”

presumably, the Lord of the Nazgul—and perhaps the others—wore open-faced helmets, like this one—

(Denis Gordeev)

And we can learn a little more about this last, the Lord of the Nazgul, when Eowyn and Merry destroy him—

“A crown of steel he bore…Merry had stabbed him from behind, shearing through the black mantle, and passing up beneath the hauberk…”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 6, “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”)

He doesn’t appear to be wearing his helmet here, but he is wearing a long chain mail garment, a hauberk

and perhaps we can assume that his fellow Nazgul wore the same?  He’s clearly not wearing armor on his legs, which is how Merry can attack the back of his knee

(Ted Nasmith)

and, with no helmet, Eowyn

“…drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her.”

As for the Orcs, the film designers have them in what look like a combination of medieval and Renaissance and maybe Samurai odds and ends—

so, what does JRRT have to say about them?

They carry swords and have some armor—as are described when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are preparing to send Boromir off—

“Quickly they searched the bodies of the Orcs, gathering their swords and cloven helmets and shields into a heap.”

Aragorn, however, is quick to recognize that all of the Orcs are not the same—

“There were four goblin-soldiers of greater stature, swart, slant-eyed, with thick legs and large hands.  They were armed with short broad-bladed swords, not with the curved scimitars usual with Orcs; and they had bows of yew, in length and shape like the bows of Men.  Upon their shields they bore a strange device:  a small white hand in the centre of a black field; and on the front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal.”  (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 1, “The Departure of Boromir”)

As well, at least some wear mail—as we learn from the moment when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli come upon the pyre of Orcs slain by the Rohirrim—

“Beside it was a great pile of helms and mail, cloven shields , and broken swords, bows and darts and other gear of war.”  (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 2, “The Riders of Rohan”)

We know from the text that these would have been the “gear of war” of both Sauron’s and Saruman’s Orcs, as the two troops were uneasily combined, but we can confirm the gear of Sauron’s orcs from a later description, when, in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, Sam and Frodo are dressing up as Orcs—

“There were long hairy breeches of some unclean beast-fell, and a tunic of dirty leather….Over the tunic went a coat of stout ring-mail, short for a full-sized orc, too long for Frodo and heavy.  About it he clasped a belt, at which there hung a short sheath holding a broad-bladed stabbing-sword.  Sam had brought several orc-helmets.  One of them fitted Frodo well enough, a black cap with iron rim, and iron hoops covered with leather upon which the Evil Eye was painted in red above the beaklike nose-guard.”  (The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter 1, “The Tower of Cirith Ungol”)

(Alan Lee)

(Denis Gordeev)

And, finally, there are Sauron’s allies from the east and from the south.  In the Jackson film, the easterners look like this—

whose helmets vaguely remind me of a combination of elements of certain Japanese foot soldier and Samurai helmets—

JRRT doesn’t appear to have given us a very clear description of the Easterners, other than to write:

“But here and there [Frodo] caught the gleam of spears and helmets…” (The Two Towers. Book Four, Chapter 3, “The Black Gate is Closed”)

About those from the south, however, he gives us a more detailed description and a pathetic one, about a warrior killed by Faramir’s men in ambush:

“Then suddenly straight over the rim of their sheltering bank, a man fell, crashing through the slender trees, nearly on top of [Frodo and Sam].  He came to rest in the fern a few feet away, face downward, green arrow-feathers sticking from his neck below a golden collar.  His scarlet robes were tattered, his corselet of overlapping brazen plates was rent and hewn, his black plaits of hair braided with gold were drenched in blood.  His brown hand still clutched the hilt of a broken sword…

…[Sam] wondered what the man’s name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.”  (The Two Towers, Book Four, Chapter 4, “Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit”)

We don’t know if this man was wearing a helmet or carrying a shield, but he is wearing armor—this “corselet” is what is called “lamellar armor”, and looks rather like fish scales—

In this description, I’ll conclude this brief look at how Tolkien might have imagined his various warriors dressed, but, at the same time, that last bit of description makes me wonder—was this how JRRT thought, when he saw his first battlefield casualty? 

If so, it shows his emotional complexity in that he can write about glorious cavalry charges on the one hand,

(Denis Gordeev)

but have Sam express a melancholy, compassionate thought, on the other.

As always, thanks for reading.

Stay well,

Remember that November 11th is the 108th anniversary of the Armistice which brought the Great War (World War One) and its monstrous slaughter close to its close—

And remember, as well, that, as ever, there’s

MTCIDC

O

Cockcrow

28 Wednesday Oct 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Welcome, as always, dear readers.

There is an odd but powerful moment in The Lord of the Rings.  In the vanguard of his invasion of Gondor, Sauron has cast a literal pall across the region:

“…The world was darkling.  The very air seemed brown, and all things about were black and grey and shadowless; there was a great stillness.  No shape of cloud could be seen, unless it were far away westward, where the furthest groping fingers of the great gloom still crawled onwards and a little light leaked through them.  Overhead there hung a heavy roof, sombre and featureless, and light seemed rather to be failing than growing.”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 3, “The Muster of Rohan”)

In this gloom, the Lord of the Nazgul confronts Gandalf.

(Angus McBride)

“ ‘Old fool!’ he said.  ‘Old fool!  This is my hour.  Do you not know Death when you see it?  Die now and curse in vain!’ And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move.  And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed.  Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 4, “The Siege of Gondor”)

You know what comes next:  like the US Cavalry in an old western,

the Rohirrim arrive to try to save Minas Tirith from Sauron’s armies.

(Denis Gordeev)

But of all things which could have happened at this moment, why does a rooster appear?

As an active Christian, Tolkien might have been prompted by that moment in all four gospels when Peter is quoted as saying:

“respondens autem Petrus ait illi et si omnes scandalizati fuerint in te ego numquam scandalizabor”

“Replying, however, Peter says to him, ‘Even if all the others will have been tripped up in regard to you, I will never be tripped up.”

To which Jesus replies:

“ait illi Iesus amen dico tibi quia in hac nocte antequam gallus cantet ter me negabis”

“Jesus says to him, ‘I tell you truly that in this night, before the cock may crow, you will deny me [that is, deny being my follower] three times.’ “

(Matthew 26:  33-34 from my favorite translation, Jerome’s, with my English translation—the verb “scandalizo”, derived from Greek, has several meanings, including “to cause to stumble”—it’s in the passive, indicating that what Peter is saying is that, even if all of the other disciples might fall away from Jesus, being tripped up by fear or lack of faith, he, Peter, will remain faithful.)

Peter does, indeed, do this, and the crowing of the rooster has had all sorts of theological interpretations since then, although, at base, that crowing simply means “dawn”.

But, remembering that the sky over Gondor has been made unnaturally dark, and that the coming of the Rohirrim signals a break in that darkness, we can easily think of another influence on JRRT—Shakespeare.  In my last, I had mentioned the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet’s father on the battlements of Elsinore castle.

(Henry Fuseli—Heinrich Fuessli)

In Hamlet, Act One, Scene 2, Hamlet’s friend, Horatio, tells Hamlet that he’s seen that ghost, to which Hamlet replies:

“Ham. Did you not speake to it?”

To which Horatio replies:

“Hor. My Lord, I did;

But answere made it none: yet once me thought

It lifted vp its head, and did addresse

It selfe to motion, like as it would speake:

But euen then, the Morning Cocke crew lowd;

And at the sound it shrunke in hast away,

And vanisht from our sight.”

(from the First Folio—as always, I use an Elizabethan text, both because I like the fact that it’s closer to what Shakespeare himself wrote, and because it often reminds us, by its spelling, of the fact that Elizabethan English, although still comprehensible to us, sounded different.  Here’s the First Folio for you so that you can read it:  https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_F1/scene/1.2/index.html And here’s a sample of what that English may have sounded like:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAl3FnW3GnE This is from a series by the RSC’s Ben Crystal and I recommend the whole series as a good intro to an earlier form of English.)

In the previous scene, Horatio has said to one of the sentries, who had, with him, seen the ghost:

“Hor. And then it started, like a guilty thing

Vpon a fearfull Summons. I haue heard,

The Cocke that is the Trumpet to the day,

Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding Throate

Awake the God of Day: and at his warning,

Whether in Sea, or Fire, in Earth, or Ayre,

Th’extrauagant, and erring Spirit, hyes

To his Confine. And of the truth heerein,

This present Obiect made probation.”

(“made probation”—said “pro-BAH-si-on”—here means “gives proof”)

The ghost, then, is what is called a “revenant”—that is, someone who has returned from the dead with a purpose, either to warn a living person, or, sometimes, in a more sinister move, to seduce a living person to join him/her in death.  Daybreak—symbolized by the crowing of the rooster—signals the limit of the revenant’s time to accomplish that task, whatever it may be. 

There are a number of ballads—traditional folk songs– in which a revenant appears and Tolkien, with his broad experience of literature, would have been aware of, such as “Sweet William’s Ghost” (Child Ballad 77—if you’re not familiar with this designation, F.J. Child, a late19th-century professor at Harvard University, created the standard ballad collection, entitled English and Scottish Popular Ballads, for the English-speaking world.  You can read a digest version here:  https://archive.org/details/englishscottishp1904chil/mode/2up ) in which the ghost of William visits Margaret, asking for her “faith and troth”, but, when Margaret replies that he must marry her, he admits that he is a spirit and

“14 Then up and crew the red, red cock.

And up then crew the gray:

‘Tis time, tis time, my dear Margret,

That you were going away.’

15 No more the ghost to Margret said.

But, with a grievous groan,

Evanishd in a cloud of mist.

And left her all alone.”

Just as the ghost of Hamlet’s father had.

In the The Lord of the Rings, the Lord of the Nazgul and his hordes aren’t ghosts, to vanish at cockcrow, but that crowing—and the appearance of the Rohirrim, signal the beginning of the end for Sauron’s forces, followed by the arrival of Aragorn and troops from the south in the ships of the corsairs, which does signal the final end for them.

And certainly one ghost was laid to rest when Eowyn and Merry gave a kind of death blow to the Lord of the Nazgul:

“Then tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her.  The sword broke sparkling into many shards.  The crown rolled away with a clang.  Eowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe.  But lo!  the mantle and hauberk were empty.  Shapeless they lay now on the ground, torn and tumbled; and a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up, and was never heard again in that age of this world.”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 6, “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”)

(Ted Nasmith)

As this posting will appear just before Halloween, it seemed, with its revenant, an appropriate one for the season.  The second part of “Cap-a-Pie” will appear next week. 

In the meantime, thanks for reading, as always.

Stay well,

Remember to placate ghosts who make come to your door shouting “Trick or Treat!”

And remember, as well, that there’s

MTCIDC

O

PS

In case you don’t have a nearby rooster to remind you of his song, here’s a medley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3CenN7d30Y

Cap-a-Pie (1)

21 Wednesday Oct 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Horatio is describing to Hamlet a vision of the night before—

“Hor. Two nights together had these Gentlemen,

Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,

In the dead vast and middle of the night.

Beene thus incountered by a figure like your father,

Armed to poynt, exactly Capapea

Appeeres before them thrise, he walkes

Before their weake and feare oppressed eies

Within his tronchions length…”

(from the First Quarto, 1603, of Hamlet, Act One, Scene 2, a somewhat quirky text, but, as always, I like to use Elizabethan/Jacobean spellings as they seem chewier to me and can sometimes indicate the very different sound of Shakespeare’s English.  For the complete text, see:  https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Ham_Q1/scene/1/index.html  To hear Shakespeare’s English reconstructed, see:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2QYGEwM1Sk This is part of a whole series which I recommend as a real ear-opener, if you are unfamiliar with the sound of English c.1600.)

(Henry Fuseli—that is, Heinrich Fuessli, 1741-1825—a Swiss-born artist who spent most of his later life in England.  A painter of Shakespeare and the weird, friend of William Blake, and extremely interesting Romantic period character.  You can read more about him here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fuseli#Influence )

That strange-looking “Capapea” is actually the “cap-a-pie” of my title and means “head-to-foot” in the French (roughly) it was taken from.  Hamlet’s father, then, was in full armor, something which was gradually disappearing from the military world of Shakespeare, but might still be seen in Tudor times, especially if someone was involved in one of the retro-tournaments which the Elizabethans and Jacobeans occasionally staged.

(Graham Turner)

My current interest in such things came from recently seeing, in a toy catalogue, this—

labeled as “Sauron”, a Lego model, and clearly based upon the image seen in the Jackson film of The Fellowship of the Ring,

where Sauron appears in Elrond’s account, from Chapter 2 of Book Two, “The Council of Elrond”, of the battle in which Sauron lost the Ring to Isildur.  There is no description of Sauron in the original text, but I wondered, looking at the Lego version, what Tolkien, rather than Jackson and his designers, might have had in mind, not only for Sauron’s look, but for armor in his story in general.  (This is just a cursory run-through, for the moment, but, on my next reading of the story, I’ll take more time—there are helmets, for instance, about which there is more to be said —such as whatever Gimli is wearing and what kind of helmet conceals Eowyn from her uncle—and the arming of the dwarves and Bilbo in The Hobbit might also be useful.)

We know from a letter to Rhona Beare how he imagined the Rohirrim:

“The Styles of the Bayeux Tapestry…fit them well enough, if one remembers that the kind of tennis-nets [the] soldiers seem to have on are only a clumsy conventional sign for chain-mail of small rings.”  (letter to Rhona Beare, 14 October, 1955, Letters, 401)

Here’s what JRRT was referring to—

and here’s what those “tennis-nets” would have been based upon—

The helmet is what’s called a “spangenhelm” and looks like this (with lots of variations)—

Tolkien had employed (and enjoyed) the work of Pauline Baynes (1922-2008), commenting, however, on her knights in the same letter:

“…Pauline Baynes drew her inspiration for F[armer] Giles [of Ham] largely from medieval MS. drawings—except for the knights (who are a bit ‘King-Arthurish’)…”

with this footnote:  “Sc. belong to our ‘mythological’ Middle-Ages which blends [sic] unhistorically styles and details over 500 years, and most of which did not of course exist in the Dark Ages of c.500 A.D.” 

Here’s one of Baynes’ illustrations—

Tolkien is dating King Arthur to early Dark Ages Britain, where warriors might have looked like this—

(Angus McBride)

“mythological” is an important word here, as Tolkien seems to be implying a fantasy world, where details from various periods can be–and are–used at random—and I wonder if he’s thinking here of something like Hal Foster’s long-running comic strip, “Prince Valiant”, which is set in the age of Arthur, but employs elements from all sorts of historical periods—

as does Howard Pyle, in his illustrations for The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903)—

of which you can have your own copy here:  https://dn720408.ca.archive.org/0/items/storyofkingarthu22pyle/storyofkingarthu22pyle.pdf

the irony being, of course, that Tolkien, himself, both in Farmer Giles and in The Lord of the Rings, is telling his own “mythological” stories.

There are scattered references to armored figures in the text, but, as far as I can tell, mostly just that, and not very detailed.  For the defenders of Gondor, instance, we are briefly shown Forlong of Lossnarch, as he leads his men into Minas Tirith—

“…a man of wide shoulders and huge girth, but old and grey-bearded, yet mail-clad and black-helmed…”

Mail-clad would mean wearing chain-mail, like this (and like the Normans depicted as wearing “tennis-nets”)—

but “black-helmed” is vague—are we looking at the earlier spangenhelm, or a later closed helm of some sort?

There’s no mention of heraldry on shields or banners, and Forlong is recognized, so perhaps this means an open helm of some sort?

Imrahil of Dol Amroth appears to be a figure like those in Howard Pyle’s illustrations—

“…with gilded banners bearing his token of the Ship and the Silver Swan, and a company of knights in full harness…” (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 1, “Minas Tirith”)

So JRRT probably meant something like this, as “full harness” usually means full armor–

or this—

There are, as well, the Guards of the citadel of Gondor, described in more detail than usual:

“…robed in black, and their helms were of strange shape, high-crowned, with long cheek-guards close-fitting to the face, and above the cheek-guards were set the white wings of sea-birds, but the helms gleamed with a flame of silver, for they were indeed wrought of mithril, heirlooms of the glory of old days.  Upon the black surcoats were embroidered in white a tree blossoming like snow beneath a silver crown and many-pointed stars.”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 1, “Minas Tirith”)

That description of helmets does seem strange, in a way sounding like a Greek Corinthian helmet—

but the addition of the white wings takes things in a different direction and here I think that Jackson’s designers came close to what Tolkien had described–

So much for the protagonists of The Lord of the Rings, but what about the antagonists?  We’ll look at what they’re wearing in part 2 of this posting.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Stay well,

Be sure to be respectful of visiting ghosts—the watchmen in Hamlet actually try poking theirs with their partisans—

(Yeomen warders of the Tower of London armed with partisans)

And remember, that, as always, there’s

MTCIDC

O

Now You See Him, Now…

14 Wednesday Oct 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Welcome, dear readers, as always.

In M. Night’s Shyamalan’s 2002 film Signs,

those signs, including crop circles—

will come to mean that the earth is about to be invaded from outer space.  Initially, all of this is eerie—we know that something is going to happen—and it does, but, until that moment, everything is oblique, suggested—but then we finally see one of those alien invaders and, for me, the magic of those first feelings of dread disappear.

Considering how the plot then develops, it would have been impossible for the aliens to have remained as mysterious as they had originally been presented, but think, for a moment, about The Lord of the Rings and its antagonists, Saruman and Sauron.

Saruman we see

(the Hildebrandts)

and we see a lot of him, first as the senior Maia, leader of a tiny band of five sent as a counter to Sauron—two of whom having disappeared (the so-called “Blue Wizards”) early from the history of Middle-earth, one, Radagast, seemingly self-marginalized, and only seen briefly before himself disappearing. 

(Lucas Graciano)

Then, Saruman appears as the attempted seducer of Gandalf,

(Harold Jigg)

the would-be Sauron trapped in his tower,

(Carl Lundgren)

as the outcast, followed by his lackey, Grima,

(Ted Nasmith)

as “Sharkey”, intent upon the destruction of the Shire,

(Inger Edelfeldt)

and finally as the victim of his lackey, with his final rejection by the power which sent him to Middle-earth.

(Joan Wyatt)

Because we see him again and again, first as a potential ally, but then as a boastful but timid rival to Sauron, then as someone trapped by the Ents in his tower,

(Ted Nasmith)

there is no mystery to him, and, as he sinks lower and lower, to his miserable end, he loses whatever menace he might ever have had. 

Sauron, on the other hand, remains only a dark presence, at the edge of the story, and it’s interesting that Tolkien’s one image of him is this—

(JRRT)

in itself, shadowy—and, when we do actually see him, it’s only one element—

and this suggests to me a kind of intense watchfulness—like Big Brother, in Orwell’s 1984—

who is spoken of, but, like Sauron, never seen.  Even his end—although spectacular—

(Ted Nasmith)

gives us only a final image of—a hand, like JRRT’s depiction, leaving us with a picture of a powerful failure—but still powerful, although, like his non-appearance in The Lord of the Rings, more suggestive as menacing shadow than like Saruman’s all-too-visible presence–

“And as the Captains gazed south to the Land of Mordor, it seemed to them that, black against the pall of cloud, there rose a huge shape of shadow, impenetrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky.  Enormous it reared above the world, and stretched out towards them a vast, threatening hand, terrible, but impotent:  for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed; and then a hush fell.”  (The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter 4, “The Field of Cormallen”)

I’m not disappointed that we see so much of Saruman—he’s a lesser character, a pale copy of his eventual greater master, and his end is, in its way, a sad one, someone sent to do good in Middle-earth, but whose arrogance corrupts him.  As with Signs, however, much of Sauron’s power lies in the fact that he is unseen, but often spoken of, and usually in hushed tones, but, unlike Signs, he is kept in the shadows and that shadow enhances that feeling of brooding threat almost till the end.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Stay well,

If tempted to put on the Ring, think of Galadriel and starlight, lest you be seen by the Eye,

(the Hildebrandts)

And remember that, as always, there’s

MTCIDC

O

Stand and Deliver, or, Pick a Pocket or Two

07 Wednesday Oct 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

As always, dear readers, welcome.

I’ve just finished rereading Leon Garfield’s (1921-1996) YA novel Smith:  The Story of a Pickpocket (1967).

I had discovered Garfield through an essay by Philip Pullman (1946-),

another YA author, whose work I’ve read and reread since I first discovered him in a book review of The Golden Compass (1995, called Northern Lights in the UK),

the first volume of a trilogy titled “His Dark Materials”.

Like Pullman, Garfield was a prolific author, from his first novel, Jack Holborn (1964),

to The Saracen Maid (1994—I believe that this was his last, although bibliographies of his work are a little murky), some 37 books in all.

As the subtitle suggests, the Smith of the title is a pickpocket,

 in 18th-century London, a dangerous occupation, as, from 1565, the law dictated the death penalty for the crime (later changed to transportation, initially to America, then to Australia—see for more:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickpocketing#Pickpocketing_in_the_17th-18th_centuries For lots of images of pickpockets at work, see:  https://www.18thcenturynotebook.com/pickpockets  )

We are not told how he learned the trade, but I immediately thought of the sinister thief-trainer, Fagin,

(Bartek Kubica)

In Charles Dickens’ (1812-1870)

Oliver Twist (1837-39).

For a rather overthetop depiction of this training, see this scene from the film version of the  musical Oliver! (stage version, 1960, film 1968):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BtRMxBYaqs

Garfield’s novel has the hero, Smith, beginning as a pickpocket, but his pickpocketing brings him to witness a murder, then the rescue of a blind magistrate, who then takes him in.  (That blind magistrate echoes an actual 18th-century blind magistrate, John Fielding, 1721-1780, half-brother of the novelist, Henry Fielding.  Fielding is a very interesting character and worth knowing more about.  See:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fielding ) 

The “stand and deliver” of the title of this posting refers to the fact that Smith (his first name isn’t used, although his sisters occasionally call him “Smut”) belongs, because of his profession, to the criminal underworld of London and his idol is another criminal, the highwayman, Lord Tom (Smith’s sisters are even involved, indirectly, being low-level seamstresses, who repair and sell the clothes of people executed for various crimes).

The character of a highwayman made me think of the silly Monty Python “Dennis Moore”

a bit of whose confused career you can see here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LFZ-MssIbA

and of Alfred Noyes’ 1906 romantic poem “The Highwayman”, which you can read here:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43187/the-highwayman

Lord Tom is paralleled by another highwayman, “Dick Mulrone”, caught and sentenced to be executed,

but meanwhile held in Newgate Prison,

which Smith frequents, first as a visitor (among his jobs—beyond pickpocketing—is to run errands for prisoners), then as an inmate himself.

Before witnessing the murder, Smith had pickpocketed something which turned out not to be cash, or a watch, but a document—which appears valueless to him, as he can’t read, and his quest to learn to do so becomes a major plot element as he crisscrosses central London, first in that quest, but then through all sorts of adventures, including an escape from Newgate as well as from two knife-wielding pursuers, dressed in brown.  There are all sorts of surprising turns until a happy ending, qualified by one final twist, in a book which brings various elements of 18th-century London to life, from the comfortable house of the well-to-do magistrate to the squalid conditions of the debtors and criminals in Newgate, with a suggestion, more than once, of Dickens thrown in.  Having just reread it, I realize that I did because I had so much enjoyed it the first time and so I recommend it to you.  Unfortunately most of Garfield’s work is out of print with only one or two exceptions, but, if you read and enjoy Smith, another of Garfield’s novels, John Diamond,

which I’m currently reading, is available at Amazon, and most of his work can be found for free—if you register and join—at the Internet Archive:  https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Garfield%2C+Leon%22

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Stay well,

Stay out of Newgate,


And remember that, there’s

MTCIDC

O

Death and the Rohirrim

30 Wednesday Sep 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Welcome, dear readers, as always.

“I myself will go to war, to fall in the front of the battle, if it must be.  Thus shall I sleep better…”

says Theoden to Gandalf.  (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 6, “The King of the Golden Hall”)

As Theoden has just said “to fall in the front of the battle”, it’s clear that he means here not falling asleep, but dying, and that’s exactly what he does, leading the Rohirrim against Sauron’s armies at the battle of the Pelennor Fields,

(Denis Gordeev)

and dying after tangling with the chief of the Nazgul.

(Angus McBride)

But where will he “sleep”?

Snowmane, his horse, whose reaction to the Nazgul’s ghastly mount,

(Ted Nasmith)

led to Theoden’s death, is buried under a mound on the battlefield—

“…but for Snowmane they dug a grave and set up a stone upon which was carved in the tongues of Gondor and the Mark:

‘Faithful servant, yet master’s bane,

Lightfoot’s foal, swift Snowmane.’

Green and long grew the grass on Snowmane’s Howe…” (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 6, “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”)

A “howe” is a burial mound,

and the word appears to come originally from Norse haugr, “mound; cairn” says Etymonline (https://www.etymonline.com/word/howe If you are a Narnia fan, you probably think immediately of Aslan’s Howe— )

(Pauline Baynes)

When Sauron is finally defeated, we know what then happens to Theoden’s body—

“Then the kings of Gondor and Rohan went to the Hallows and they came to the tombs of Rath Dinen, and they bore away King Theoden upon a golden bier, and passed through the City in silence.  Then they laid the bier upon a great wain

(perhaps something like this—but without the bagpiper—and the rooster)

with Riders of Rohan all about it and his banner borne before; and Merry being Theoden’s esquire rode upon the wain and kept the arms of the King…

At length after fifteen days of journey the wain of King Theoden passed through the green fields of Rohan and came to Edoras; and there they all rested…after three days the Men of the Mark prepared the funeral of Theoden; and he was laid in a house of stone with his arms and many other fair things that he had possessed, and over him was raised a great mound, covered with green turves of grass and of white evermind.  And now there were eight mounds on the east-side of the Barrowfield.”  (The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter 6, “Many Partings”.)

We’ve seen these mounds before—

“At the foot of the walled hill the way ran under the shadow of many mounds, high and green…

‘Look!’ said Gandalf…we are come to the great barrows where the sires of Theoden sleep.’

‘Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right,’ said Aragorn.”  (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 6, “The King of the Golden Hall”)

Since first reading this, I could always see those mounds—

and it made me wonder where JRRT got the idea.  My first thought was the ship burial at Sutton Hoo, which came to public attention in 1939—

and which Tolkien would have read about in the news of the day.  (And which you can read about here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo# )

The person buried in the ship certainly had “many…fair things”, now restored and kept in the British Museum—

Tolkien might also have been aware of Viking ship burials in Scandinavia, like that of the Oseberg ship, excavated in Norway in 1904-5—

which you can read about here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo#  And you can read about Viking ship burials in general here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_funeral

He could also have been aware of the Six Hills in Stevenage, England, thought to be Roman burial mounds—

(ricjl   For more images, see:  h)ttps://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=1475  For more on the site, see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Hills  )

or he might have been inspired by places like the early Neolithic West Kennet Long Barrow—

(see for more:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Kennet_Long_Barrow )

or even the many barrows in Ireland (for more, see:  https://www.danielkirkpatrick.co.uk/irish-history/irish-barrows-map/ )

but his ultimate sources were probably the burials of Patroclus (in Iliad, Book 23, lines 245-248—my translation—Achilles is speaking to the Greeks)–

τύμβον δ’ οὐ μάλα πολλὸν ἐγὼ πονέεσθαι ἄνωγα,

ἀλλ’ ἐπιεικέα τοῖον· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀχαιοὶ

εὐρύν θ’ ὑψηλόν τε τιθήμεναι, οἵ κεν ἐμεῖο

δεύτεροι ἐν νήεσσι πολυκλήϊσι λίπησθε.

“But I order you not to labor over a very big barrow,

But such as is suitable [for the moment].  But then

Make it broad and high, [you] Greeks,

Those of my survivors who may be left in the many-oared ships.”

and of Hector (Iliad, Book 24, 795-799—again, my translation)

καὶ τά γε χρυσείην ἐς λάρνακα θῆκαν ἑλόντες

πορφυρέοις πέπλοισι καλύψαντες μαλακοῖσιν.

αἶψα δ’ ἄρ’ ἐς κοίλην κάπετον θέσαν, αὐτὰρ ὕπερθε

πυκνοῖσιν λάεσσι κατεστόρεσαν μεγάλοισι·

ῥίμφα δὲ σῆμ’ ἔχεαν…

“and taking them [Hector’s bones], they put them in a golden chest,

Covering [them] with soft purple robes.

At once they placed [the chest] in a hollowed-out grave, then from above

They covered it with big, thick-set stones.

And quickly then they heaped up the mound…”

and, of course, Beowulf–

“The men of the Weders made accordingly

A hill on the height, high and extensive,

Of sea-going sailors to be seen from a distance,

And the brave one’s beacon built where the fire was,

In ten-days’ space, with a wall surrounded it,

As wisest of world-folk could most worthily plan it.

They placed in the barrow rings and jewels,

All such ornaments as erst in the treasure

War-mooded men had won in possession :

The earnings of earlmen to earth they entrusted,

The gold to the dust, where yet it remaineth

As useless to mortals as in foregoing eras.”

(Beowulf, John Lesslie Hall, translator, 1892—see:   https://archive.org/details/beowulfanglosaxo00hall/page/106/mode/2up )

And even more Beowulf in this—

“Then the Riders of the King’s House upon white horses rode round about the barrow and sang together a song of Theoden Thengel’s son…” (The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter 6, “Many Partings”.) 

which clearly comes from this—

“Round the dead-mound rode then the doughty-in-battle,

Bairns of all twelve of the chiefs of the people,

More would they mourn, lament for their ruler,

Speak in measure, mention him with pleasure,

Weighed his worth, and his warlike achievements

Mightily commended, as ’tis meet one praise his

Liegelord in words and love him in spirit,

When forth from his body he fares to destruction.

So lamented mourning the men of the Geats,

Fond-loving vassals, the fall of their lord,

Said he was gentlest of kings under heaven,

Mildest of men and most philanthropic,

Friendliest to folk-troops and fondest of honor.”

(again from the Hall translation)

And there, we can imagine, Theoden sleeps still.

Thanks, as ever, for reading.

Stay well,

And remember that, as ever, there’s

MTCIDC

O

Minor?

23 Wednesday Sep 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As ever, dear readers, welcome.

It’s true, as I said in my posting about War and Peace, that the novel certainly appears to have a lot of characters, many of them minor, people who appear for a scene or two, as T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) writes, speaking in the voice of “Prufrock”:

“No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

Am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use,

Politic, cautious, and meticulous;

Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse…”

(from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, first published in Poetry, June, 1915)

I would say that this is also true for The Lord of the Rings, with its many characters, some of whom “start a scene or two”—think of Sandyman the miller, for example, and his son, Ted, two sceptical Hobbits, who pop up in the first chapters of the book, foils for Gaffer Gamgee and his son, Sam, with their gossip about the Bagginses and traveling Ents—definitely “scene-starters”, though not much more.

Then there are minor characters who, for a moment, have more major roles and here I’m thinking of Hama, the doorward of Meduseld.

(This is from the wonderfully creative Lego “Rebrickable” site:  https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-174256/Sir%20BuildsALot/meduseld-the-golden-hall-of-edoras/#details which is all about building new things with Legos.)

In a letter to the editor of The Observer, Tolkien had stated of The Hobbit:

“Beowulf is among my most valued sources…”  (letter to the editor, 20 February, 1938, Letters, 41)

and, in the case of Hama, this continues to be true.

At the beginning of Beowulf, Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, is in trouble.  His mead hall (which the English for “Meduseld”)

has been attacked, for 12 years, by a monster from the moors—Grendel.

Security is tight, therefore, in Denmark, so, when Beowulf arrives from Sweden with his companions, he is first stopped and questioned by a coast guard,

and then, at Hrothgar’s door by Wolfgar, the doorward–

“As the party was approaching the palace together

They set their arms and armor against the wall.

In warlike equipments. ’Gainst the wall of the building

Their wide-fashioned war-shields they weary did set then,

Battle-shields sturdy; benchward they turned then;

Their battle-sarks rattled, the gear of the heroes;

The lances stood up then, all in a cluster,

The arms of the seamen, ashen-shafts mounted

With edges of iron: the armor-clad troopers.”

Wolfgar then questions them–

“A Danish hero asks them whence and why they are come.

Were decked with weapons. Then a proud-mooded hero

Asked of the champions questions of lineage:

“From what borders bear ye your battle-shields plated,

Gilded and gleaming, your gray-colored burnies,

Helmets with visors and heap of war-lances?—

To Hrothgar the king I am servant and liegeman.

’Mong folk from far-lands found I have never

He expresses no little admiration for the strangers.

Men so many of mien more courageous.

I ween that from valor, nowise as outlaws,

But from greatness of soul ye sought for King Hrothgar.”

(from John Lesslie Hall’s 1892 translation, which you can read here:  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-h/16328-h.htm#page_5 This translation suggests the heavy alliteration and rhythm of the original, but it’s occasionally archaic, so, if you’d prefer, there are many others out there.   There have, in fact, been English translations since 1837 and you can see a list of most of them here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_translations_of_Beowulf )

Here, we see Wolfgar (his name is mentioned in line 30) greet and question Beowulf and his companions after they have put down their weapons.  In the same scene in The Lord of the Rings, Hama is less friendly—

“ ‘I am the Doorward of Theoden,’ he said.  ‘Hama is my name.  Here I must bid you lay aside your weapons before you enter.’ “

Legolas easily lays aside his weapons, but Aragorn resists, saying,  “It is not my will…to put aside my sword or to deliver Anduril to the hand of any other man.“

To which Hama replies:  “It is the will of Theoden.”

And here Aragorn begins to sound rather high-handed:

“It is not clear to me that the will of Theoden son of Thengel, even though he be lord of the Mark, should prevail over the will of Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elendil’s heir of Gondor.”

This almost causes a political disaster as Hama replies:

“This is the house of Theoden, not of Aragorn, even were he King of Gondor in the seat of Denethor.”

And then—

“[Hama] step[s] swiftly before the doors and bar[s] the way.  His sword was now in his hand and the point towards the strangers.”

Gandalf temporarily calms the situation, but then Hama says to Gandalf:

“ ‘Your staff…Forgive me, but that too must be left at the doors.’ “

Gandalf pleads old age and Hama, hesitating for a moment, then allows him to keep it and, by doing so, steps from minor character for a moment to major as, when Gandalf and the others enter the hall, they find

(the Hildebrandts)

“…a man so bent with age he seemed almost a dwarf…”

(Alan Lee)

as well as “…a woman clad in white..”

and

“At his feet upon the steps sat a wizened figure of a man, with a pale white face and heavy-lidded eyes.”

This is Grima Wormtongue, who, we soon find out, is not the loyal counselor of Theoden he pretends to be, but an agent of Saruman,

(the Hildebrandts)

bent upon betraying the king.  Angered by him, Gandalf

“…raised his staff.  There was a roll of thunder.  The sunlight was blotted out from the eastern windows; the whole hall became suddenly dark as night.  The fire faded to sullen embers.  Only Gandalf could be seen, standing white and tall before the blackened hearth.

In the gloom, they heard the hiss of Wormtongue’s voice.  ‘Did I not counsel you, lord, to forbid his staff?  That fool, Hama, has betrayed us!’  There was a flash as if lightning had cloven the roof.  Then all was silent.  Wormtongue sprawled on his face.” 

With Grima thrown down, great age falls away from Theoden—

“He drew himself up, slowly, as a man that is stiff from long bending over some dull toil.  Now tall and straight he stood, and his eyes were blue as he looked into the opening sky.”  (all of the above from The Lord of the Rings, Book Three, “The Two Towers”, Chapter 6, “The King of the Golden Hall”)

In fact, Hama hasn’t betrayed Theoden, but has given Gandalf the weapon to free the king from Grima’s betrayal and what seems to have been some sort of aging spell.

Theoden then goes on to fight at Helm’s Deep,

(Angus McBride)

to lead the charge at the Fields of the Pelennor,

(Denis Gordeev)

and to die heroically at the battle’s end.

(Angus McBride)

Hama is no Prince Hamlet, but, in allowing Gandalf to keep his staff, he has done more than “start a scene”—he has restarted his king, and, in doing so, he has brought Theoden back into the story, leading the Rohirrim to actions which will help to thwart both Saruman and Sauron—not bad for a minor character.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Stay well,

And, as always, know that there’s

MTCIDC

O

An Homeric PS

16 Wednesday Sep 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

As always, dear readers, welcome.

I earlier posted a review of Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey (see “Out of Work Athena”, 12 August, 2026),

but I’ve thought a lot about the film since and I felt that it might be helpful to add a second note on the subject–about the film’s ending, in particular.

Here’s what the Wiki article has to say:

“After the meal, Odysseus, still disguised, confesses to Penelope his guilt for violating Zeus’ law during the sacking of Troy, desecrating Athena‘s statue after killing her priestess (whose form Athena assumed in visions), and initiating the collapse of the Bronze Age… After the remaining suitors surrender, Odysseus cedes his throne to Telemachus and leaves with Penelope to seek peace in exile. Sailing west to honor his fallen soldiers, the couple expect civilization’s renewal and muse that time will forget Odysseus’ mistakes.”

I was surprised when I read this and even more surprised when I saw it acted out on the screen.  This may be “Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey”, but it’s not “Homer’s”.  And that subtitle on the poster, “Defy the Gods” shows the major difference, as I began to demonstrate in my earlier posting.  Athena is Odysseus’ patron and therefore the last god he would “defy”, but it’s because of another god that Odysseus will perform the action which is first laid out for him in the Otherworld by the seer Tireisias.

Odysseus’ trouble began in Book Nine, where Odysseus tells his Phaeacian audience (an important part of the story left out of the film) that, previously trapped by Polyphemus, the Cyclops, in the Cyclops’ cave, he has escaped after blinding him.

Groping his way to the shore in pursuit of the fleeing Odysseus, Polyphemus attempts to destroy him and his men by heaving the equivalent of a mountain top at them.

In the process of escaping, Odysseus does something which may seem rash, if not downright crazy, to us (and Odysseus’ crew would agree).  He shouts to the Cyclops:

“Κύκλωψ, αἴ κέν τίς σε καταθνητῶν ἀνθρώπων

ὀφθαλμοῦ εἴρηται ἀεικελίην ἀλαωτύν,

φάσθαι Ὀδυσσῆα πτολιπόρθιον ἐξαλαῶσαι,

υἱὸν Λαέρτεω, Ἰθάκῃ ἔνι οἰκίʼ ἔχοντα.”

(Od. 9.502–9.505—my translation)

“Cyclops, if any one of mortal men

Should ask [you] about the shameful blinding of [your] eye,

Say that city-destroying Odysseus blinded [it],

The son of Laertes, having his home on Ithaka.”

Doing so, Odysseus seems to have just handed over his name and address to his victim, even though the story makes it clear that Polyphemus’, by killing and eating a number of Odysseus’ men, deserved what he got.  (Polyphemus also violated the Greek custom of xenia, hospitality/guest-friendship, which, as Odysseus earlier had pointed out to him, was overseen by Zeus—unlike the completely imaginary “Zeus’ law”, which is mentioned more than once in the film.  Odysseus, by the way, when speaking to Polyphemus, is obeying another actual early Greek custom, if not “law”:  that of kleos.  This is a hard word to translate, meaning something like “reputation/fame”, and Odysseus, to add the escape of the Cyclops to it, must let his enemy know who tricked him, even though, in this case, it brings him and his men into mortal danger.)

Polyphemus, thwarted in destroying Odysseus there and then, prays to his father, Poseidon,

for revenge, something which is mentioned by Zeus at the beginning of Book One of the Odyssey (lines 68-75) when Athena approaches him for help in getting Odysseus out of the clutches of Calypso on the island of Ogygia and sent on his way home.  (Odysseus, by the way, hasn’t, as in the film, forgotten about home, stoked up on lotos, but, instead, grieves for it every day—see Book One, lines 55-59.) 

We then see Poseidon’s revenge told by Odysseus in Book Five, as Odysseus, aided by Calypso (through Zeus’ prompting via his messenger, Hermes), is attempting to get home via a homemade raft.  Poseidon spots the raft, with Odysseus on it, and works up a violent storm which partially destroys the raft and drops Odysseus into the sea before he can regain the wreckage, now at the mercy of the waves. (see Book Five, lines 282-332)

Odysseus survives, saved by the mysterious Phaeacians (whom I’ve mentioned earlier) and sent home by them, although Poseidon, annoyed by their helping Odysseus, turns the ship which carried Odysseus to stone as a punishment (see Book Thirteen, lines 125-165)

Odysseus is left with a very serious problem, however:  he lives on an island, among sea-faring people:  how will he ever be safe from Poseidon?  The answer lies in the directions which Tireisias gave him in their Otherworld meeting.  Once Odysseus has killed the suitors (all the suitors—unlike the film, Odysseus shows no mercy in the poem), Tireisias says:

“ἔρχεσθαι δὴ ἔπειτα λαβὼν ἐυῆρες ἐρετμόν,

εἰς ὅ κε τοὺς ἀφίκηαι οἳ οὐκ ἴσασι θάλασσαν

ἀνέρες, οὐδέ θʼ ἅλεσσι μεμιγμένον εἶδαρ ἔδουσιν·

οὐδʼ ἄρα τοί γʼ ἴσασι νέας φοινικοπαρῄους

οὐδʼ ἐυήρεʼ ἐρετμά, τά τε πτερὰ νηυσὶ πέλονται.

σῆμα δέ τοι ἐρέω μάλʼ ἀριφραδές, οὐδέ σε λήσει·

ὁππότε κεν δή τοι συμβλήμενος ἄλλος ὁδίτης

φήῃ ἀθηρηλοιγὸν ἔχειν ἀνὰ φαιδίμῳ ὤμῳ,

καὶ τότε δὴ γαίῃ πήξας ἐυῆρες ἐρετμόν,

ῥέξας ἱερὰ καλὰ Ποσειδάωνι ἄνακτι…”

(Od. 11.115–11.130—my translation)

“Go, then, having taken a broad[bladed] oar,

Until you reach those men who don’t know the sea,

[and] neither do they eat food mixed with salt

Nor yet do they know ships with painted bows [literally “purple cheeks”],

Nor broad[bladed] oars, [which] are the wings of ships.

And I will tell you a very clear sign [which] you won’t miss:

Whenever some traveler, meeting you,

Should say that you have a winnowing fan on your splendid shoulder,

Then, having stuck the broad[bladed] oar in the earth,

Having made fine sacrifices to the lord Poseidon…”

go home and continue making sacrifices to the gods.  And, having done so, Odysseus will have an easy death in old age and his people will be blessed.  Although Odysseus later relates this to Penelope (see Book Twenty-three, lines 248-284), we don’t see him do it in the poem, but he certainly doesn’t “sail west to honor his fallen soldiers” (why west?  And how does that “honor his fallen soldiers”?)

It’s clear, from Tireisias’ directions, that what Odysseus is meant to do to placate Poseidon includes getting as far away from the sea as he can—but what’s this business with the oar and a “winnowing fan”?

In earlier times, the process of producing flour was complex.  One had to:

1. harvest the grain,

2. break the beards of grain off the stalks, called “threshing”,

3. then, often by tossing it up, using the air to free the grain from the husks which cover it, called “winnowing”,

before grinding the final product into powder—flour.

Winnowing could be done by tossing the grain in its husks into the air from a basket,

or by forking it into the air by a “winnowing fan”.

Probably because the fork had a long shaft, like an oar, Tireisias was suggesting that, meeting someone so far inland as to be ignorant of boats that he would confuse an oar with an agricultural tool, Odysseus would be safe from Poseidon’s natural element and could make his sacrifice to placate the god.

So—no abdication, no sailing west, nor restoration of civilization, but a godly man, so long protected by a goddess, now seeking peace by appeasing a god he has angered:  a very different and reverent story—and ending of the story–from Christopher Nolan’s, with its totally manufactured “defiance”.

Thanks for reading, as always,

Stay well,

Always check before assaulting someone—he might be related to a vengeful god,

And remember, as well, that there’s always

MTCIDC

O

December in September

09 Wednesday Sep 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

As ever, welcome, dear readers.

Recently, I watched an historical film which has been on my shelves for some time.

In English, this would be “Union of Salvation” which title, because the image includes what is clearly a soldier in a shako (a kind of military hat worn mostly in the first half of the 19th century),

may make you wonder—along with the title of this posting—what’s this one going to be about?

There are clues, however, both in the film’s title and in the posting’s title:  we’re beginning this posting with a film about the Decembrists, a group of Russian would-be revolutionaries, who, under the name “the Union of Salvation”, led a military uprising against the government in St Petersburg in December, 1825.

The soldiers involved included units of the tsar’s own bodyguard, who paraded in what was then called Senate Square to proclaim their support of a new tsar, Constantine,

 and a constitution.  Instead, it was revealed that Constantine had previously declined the position of tsar, so the new tsar would be his younger brother, Nicholas.

Nicholas, in fact, first attempted to deal with the rebels, but, when his emissary, the distinguished general Miloradovich, was mortally wounded by one of the rebels,

things went rapidly downhill and the new tsar turned his artillery on the troops, shooting down a number before the rest fled in confusion.

After this, Nicholas pursued the rebels, many were rounded up, and punishments ranged from demotion in rank to exile to Siberia,

to execution—the most prominent being that of the five men deemed the ringleaders.

The film was a striking one–beautifully made, with what appeared to be Star Wars quality CGI,

but, because I already knew the outcome, there was a grim, fateful feel to the film, even though I very much admired and appreciated the work which had clearly gone into it.  The conspirators were both ambitious and idealistic and even a little naïve, and, at the moment of crisis, things came apart and they and their attempted revolt failed miserably.  It’s a powerful film, and well worth watching, even if you are aware of its conclusion.  The version of the film I saw had subtitles which looked like they’d been done by an AI with almost no knowledge of idiomatic Russian, producing some very odd translations, but there is a far superior version on YouTube, which you can see here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_JiQWe36xM  Before you do, however, I would suggest that, to understand the complexities of the revolt (and it was complex—lots of personalities and plans), watch this very good documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXx_jLEG4KU 

Those who were sent into exile in Siberia made new lives for themselves there, but there were some who always hoped for pardon and, in 1856, with the accession of a new tsar, Alexander II (son of Nicholas),

they were allowed to return westward, and old noble privileges were even restored to their children.  (For more on this, see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decembrist_revolt )

This event, we’re told, inspired a writer already known for Childhood, Boyhood, Youth (1852-56),

(which you can read here:  https://archive.org/details/childhood-boyhood-youth-e-lev-tolstoy/page/n5/mode/2up )

Sebastopol Sketches (1855),

(which you can read here:  https://tolstoyarchive.org/Fiction/books/Sevastopol%20Sketches.pdf )

and The Cossacks (1863),

(which you can read here: https://archive.org/details/landedproprietor00tols/page/n7/mode/2up

Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910),

 to begin a new work, which would be based upon the revolt and its consequences.  He commenced his novel in 1863, but realized that, to make sense out of the events of 1825, he would have to go back in time, and the first version of this work was entitled 1805, and published in 1865, but then came years of revision and occasional publication of drafts until the final version, now entitled War and Peace, appeared in 1869.  (The creation and publishing history is as complex as the Decembrist plot—you can follow it here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_and_Peace )  And, although there is a hint of the Decembrists in an epilogue, the actual events of 1825 have completely disappeared from the novel which Tolstoy eventually published.

It’s a novel I’m now beginning to read for what I think is the 9th time, and, each time, I’m surprised at how easily I’ve been pulled in.

It’s long—the estimate of one translation is 628,215 words—and it has many secondary characters, but the primary characters—Pierre, Andrei, Natasha—are so vividly drawn that, reading, it’s those you follow, even as you do Andrei’s family—his seemingly severe father, his gentle, pious sister—and Natasha’s family—her overly-generous father, her loving mother, her siblings and their attachments.  And you watch Pierre gradually grow from the troubled, illegitimate son of a nobleman into a deeply thoughtful and kindly man.   As well, although Tolstoy had originally intended a very different historical novel, we see these characters set against the history of Russia in the period of the Napoleonic wars, beginning with its defeat, along with its Austrian ally, at Austerlitz in 1805 (you can read more about that here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz#General_references )


through Napoleon’s invasion and eventual defeat in 1812, with the burning of Moscow

and the terrible French retreat, through deepening winter and Russian pursuit.

There are battles,

but the majority of scenes are from civilian life:  dances, a hunt, jealousies, weddings, family struggles, even a duel. 

If this interests you, but the idea of such a massive work seems, potentially, a little overwhelming, I would start with the second BBC series from 2016.

This wisely concentrates upon those three primary characters (they are depicted in this image) and, having seen that, you can form a good idea of the shape of the book as a whole, then turn to what many believe to be the best modern translation—

or, having read this intelligent opinion–https://tolstoytherapy.com/tips-for-reading-war-and-peace-first-time-tolstoy/ –perhaps this translation—

and see what you think.  If you’re like me, you’ll become hooked and find yourself reembarking on this long but wonderful book again and again.

Thanks for reading, as always.

Stay well,

Be glad that Napoleon was eventually defeated and exiled to a tiny island from which he didn’t return,

And remember that, also as always, there’s

MTCIDC

O