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Wormy

21 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by Ollamh in J.R.R. Tolkien, Military History, Military History of Middle-earth, Villains

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Adolf Hitler, Bilbo, Dragon, Fifth Column, Gandalf, Germany, Grima, Madrid, Middle-earth, Nazis, Norway, Norwegian facist party, Republican government, Rohan, Saruman, Second World War, Smaug, Spanish Civil War, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Scouring of the Shire, Theoden, Tolkien, traitor, Vidkun Quisling, William Blake, worm, Wormtongue

Welcome, as always, dear readers.
In 1936, the Nationalist forces were marching to attack the Republican government in Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War.
image1nationalists.jpg
image2attackonmadrid.jpg
When interviewed, a Nationalist general is reported to have said that, as four military columns were about to assault the city,
image3natattack.jpeg
a fifth column of loyalists would join the attack from inside.
image4natattack.jpg
This phrase “fifth column”, then, was picked up and began to be used world-wide to mean “traitors/betrayers from within” and was popular during the Second World War era.
image5thcol.jpg

When the Nazis attacked Norway in 1940,
image6nazislandinginnorway.jpg
and the Allies failed to defend their positions there successfully and were forced to surrender or flee
image7capturedtroops.jpg
a member of the small Norwegian fascist party, Vidkun Quisling,
image8quisling.jpg
declared himself ruler as the Germans marched in.
image9conqueringgermans.jpg

In time, the Nazis recognized him as the head of Norway and he even had an audience with Hitler.
image10hitandquis.jpg

This time, a specific “fifth columnist” had not only betrayed his country, but also profited greatly from it and, when we looked at the dates—1936 and 1940—we wondered, as we so often do, if the current events of our world may have colored JRRT’s relation of the events in Middle-earth—even as we hasten to say, as we always do, that this is just a suggestion.
In his first meeting with Aragorn, Eomer is troubled and his veiled comments suggest just the same sort of fifth-columnist action:
“But at this time our chief concern is with Saruman. He has claimed lordship over all this land, and there has been war between us for many months…”
His concern, however, as we see, is for more than border security, as he says of Saruman:
“His spies slip through every net, and his birds of ill omen are abroad in the sky. I do not know how it will all end, and my heart misgives me; for it seems to me that his friends do not all dwell in Isengard. But if you come to the king’s house, you shall see for yourself.” (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 2, “The Riders of Rohan”)
So, all is not well, not only in Rohan, but in Meduseld itself. When Gandalf and the other survivors of the Fellowship arrive at the gates of Edoras, they are stopped by guards and by a command from Theoden, king of Rohan—or is it? A guard says:
“It is but two nights ago that Wormtongue came to us and said that by the will of Theoden no stranger should pass these gates.” (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 6, “The King of the Golden Hall”)
“Wormtongue” seems a very odd name—do worms actually have tongues?
image11worm.JPG
But this isn’t a worm, it’s a “worm”—an old term for “dragon”.
image12smaug.jpg
And, if Smaug’s speech and its effect upon Bilbo is anything to go by:
“Bilbo was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Whenever Smaug’s roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an unaccountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all the truth to Smaug. In fact he was in grievous danger of coming under the dragon-spell.” (The Hobbit, Chapter 12, “Inside Information”)
then a person having a dragon tongue might be a real threat, as Wormtongue, seated at Theoden’s feet,
image13theodenandgrima.jpg
inserts himself between Gandalf and Theoden:
“Why indeed should we welcome you, Master Stormcrow? Lathspell I name you, Ill-news; and ill news is an ill guest they say.”
Gandalf immediately resists this and, in a burst of power, breaks the real “spell”—the dragon’s words which Grima Wormtongue has been pouring into Theoden’s ears, as Theoden says to him of Gandalf’s efforts: “If this is witchcraft…it seems to me more wholesome than your whisperings. Your leechcraft [that is, “medical skill”—obviously ironic here] ere long would have had me walking on all fours like a beast.”
[A footnote here—is JRRT making a quiet reference to the fate of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, mentioned in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament? In Chapter 4, the king is driven mad and spends seven years as a grazing animal to prove the power of the Hebrew divinity. Here is William Blake’s (1757-1827) striking depiction of the mad king.]
image14blake.jpg

Certainly something Grima has been doing has affected Theoden, as he is initially described as “a man so bent with age that he seemed almost a dwarf…” and this shrinking is suddenly reversed when Gandalf strikes Grima down:
“From the king’s hand the black staff fell clattering on the stones. 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.”
For all that Grima has been blocked and Theoden restored, the fifth columnist tries once more. When he is told that he must ride with the king and his warriors to battle, he makes a countersuggestion:
“One who knows your mind and honours your commands should be left in Edoras. Appoint a faithful steward. Let your counsellor Grima keep all things till your return…”
But he gives himself away by finishing that sentence with “and I pray that we may see it, though no wise man will deem it hopeful.”
And Gandalf sees all too clearly what is behind Grima’s proposal—and who is behind it:
“Down, snake!…Down on your belly! How long is it since Saruman bought you? What was the promised price?…”
image15fallofgrima.jpg

Although it is said that Grima deserves death for his treachery, he is allowed to flee, and, when we next see him, he is with his true master, acting as his “footman” as Gandalf calls him (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 10, “The Voice of Saruman). And here, as Bilbo’s pity has preserved Gollum for an unseen but vital part in the later story of the Ring, so Gandalf’s mercy to Grima preserves him for two final acts: first, his mistaken use of a palantir as a missile, which puts it into Gandalf’s hands and, ultimately into Aragorn’s, who shakes Sauron’s nerve with it; second, Saruman’s ultimate end:
“[Saruman] kicked Wormtongue in the face as he groveled, and turned and made off. But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman’s back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane.” (The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter 8, “The Scouring of the Shire”)
image16deathofsaruman.jpg
Grima doesn’t survive this attack, however: “Before Frodo could recover or speak a word, three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead.”
Merry calls these final acts of violence “the very last end of the War”, but we would suggest a parallel with a specific event in our world: the end of Vidkun Quisling–executed by firing squad in October, 1945, for treason. Could we say that Grima’s death—deserved earlier, but deferred—was also a kind of execution for treason, against Rohan, finally carried out?
And a final thought: after World War 2, Quisling’s name became, for a time, an easy synonym for “fifth columnist/traitor”—could we imagine that, in the Common Speech of Middle-earth after the War of the Ring, the same might have happened to “Grima Wormtongue”?
Thanks, as ever, for reading.
MTCIDC
CD

Fairy Tale to Bill of Sale

19 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by Ollamh in Economics in Middle-earth, Fairy Tales and Myths, J.R.R. Tolkien

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Tags

Alice in Wonderland, Baggins, Bilbo, Contract, Dragon, Dwarves, Economics, Elves, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Goblins, Hoard, Laketown, Middle-earth, Mirkwood, Odysseus, On Fairy Stories, Smaug, The Hobbit, The Odyssey, Tolkien

Dear Readers,

Welcome, as always!

Recently, when we discussed the economics of Middle-earth, Tolkien told us that he was not entirely ignorant about such matters, saying “…the situations are so devised that economic likelihood is there and could be worked out”. LT, 296

So that’s what we’ve set out to do in this posting, working out something of those economics in a modest way.

The Hobbit, as everyone knows, began as a story for his children, set in a fairytale world of elves, goblins, dwarves, and a dragon—the sorts of things which, in Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy Stories”, are derived from fantasy, which is “a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason,” but enhances it, lest fantasy become mere “Morbid Delusion” (which, later in the essay, Tolkien links with a work like Alice in Wonderland).

But something begins to happen, even early on, when Bilbo signs a contract before setting out for his adventure—an odd start for a fairytale hero who, traditionally, has to prove himself.  The story proceeds for some time in fairy tale mode, but then, when the party loses everything in Mirkwood, it’s necessary for Bilbo and Company to resupply and here the story moves seriously from a fairytale world to capitalism, as the fairy tale quest evolves into a commercial venture.

To replace lost materiel, the company turns to the people of Laketown,

Laketown

who provide it–and clearly do so on speculation, since the Dwarves have nothing to offer but promises.

The fairytale then seems to resume.  The party reaches the mountain, gets in, the dragon wakes–but then things go very wrong, at least for the investors, as Smaug, easily putting together that two and two equal Laketown, sets off to destroy it and is destroyed himself, in the process.  And then the fairy tale comes apart completely in a potential war over economic resources and compensation for damage caused during the investment:  Laketowners versus Dwarves, which escalates when Elves stake a claim and then Dwarves come to reenforce Dwarves and then, just to keep things in flux, a goblin army arrives. One almost wonders whether the Eagles, when they arrived, have invested in Laketown bonds and are expecting to cash them in, with interest!

When all of this is resolved, we might think that we’ve returned to the fairy tale world once more:  Bilbo, with his share of the hoard, sets off for home, where happily ever after lies–or does it?

OdysseusSuitors

In The Odyssey, Odysseus comes home to find his house in the hands of suitors, and must deal with them with the help of a goddess—very much a folktale. Bilbo comes home to find that his house and goods have just been auctioned off, and has to retrieve his happy ending by buying back his own things. That initial contract seems to have haunted the story, even to this moment.

Fantasy for Tolkien was, “founded on the harsh recognition that things are so in the world as they appear under the sun”—one of those things was economics, something which Bilbo may have found almost as unavoidable as a vengeful dragon.

What do you think, dear readers?

As always, thank you for reading,

MTCIDC,

CD

Dead Ringers?

01 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Ollamh in Fairy Tales and Myths, J.R.R. Tolkien, Narrative Methods, Poetry

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Tags

Daydreaming, Dragon, Eagles, Ford of Bruinen, Frigates, Frodo, Kites, Nazgul, Pterodactyl, Red-Tailed Hawk, Ring Wraiths, Robert Burns, Shire, Tam O'Shanter, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien, Washington Irving, Witches' Sabbath

Welcome! In this posting, we plan to talk about the Ring Wraiths (probably in hushed voices).

This entry was initially inspired by looking out the window (and no, we weren’t daydreaming—really!).

There was a harsh call from the sky.

Red-Tailed Hawk Scream (YouTube)

Peering out, we saw the local hawks, who are nesting on a tall building across the road, circling, balancing high on a thermal in that amazing way, something like a kite

Ancient-China-kites-2

combined with the nimbleness of an 18th-c. frigate.

l'hermione

Red-Tailed Hawks Circling (YouTube)

And suddenly we were looking up at something completely different—

7affeea5ca3551eddd3ae8bc4abd7b47

Nazgul!

In contrast to those very convenient Tolkien eagles, traditionally admired as a fierce and noble bird

tumblr_inline_mvvy21Tf9e1rnrk68

the Wraiths appear to be riding a cross between a flying dragon

Fantasy_In_the_clouds_flying_dragon_067388_

and a pterodactyl.

Pterodactyl_2_(PSF)

nazgul_by_daroz-d5hdnn9

Of course, we first encounter the Nazgul on the ground

nazgul_by_jarrettonions-d47wvdd

in their invasion of the Shire and their subsequent pursuit of Frodo.

And here, at the final moment, at the Ford of Bruinen, where the Wraiths are swept away,

ford

perhaps we can catch a glimpse of one of the origins of a very dramatic scene.

The Scots poet, Robert Burns

burnshead1

wrote “Tam O’Shanter” in 1790 and published it the following year.

Tam O’Shanter Poem and Translation

It’s the story in verse of a farmer who stays too late at his local.

Tam_o'_Shanter_and_Souter_Johnny_at_Kirkton_Jean's

Then, on the way home, he is attracted by light in a local abandoned (and, of course, haunted) church

Alloway_Kirk

where a witches’ Sabbath is going on.

(c) City of Edinburgh Council; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Still quite tipsy, he cheers it on and, of course, the witches and other otherworldly creatures are immediately in hot pursuit.

(c) Cutty Sark Trust; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Tam can escape, but only if he can reach the nearby river Doon and cross its bridge.

bridgeofdoune

He just manages to do this, but his poor horse, Meg, loses her tail.

four

If this plot has a familiar ring, it’s because the American author, Washington Irving,

Portrait of Washington Irving

used the poem as a major source for his short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (published in 1820). We begin with a very different story: in 1790, a poor schoolmaster with the poetic name of Ichabod Crane comes to the Hudson River valley town of Sleepy Hollow and, in the course of his stay, becomes such an annoyance to the local bravo, that he uses the local legend of a headless horseman to frighten Crane off.

keller_sleepyhollow

To do this, he convinces Crane that, should he be pursued by such a creature, he can only escape it by crossing running water. (And here we can see the strong influence of Burns.) In the subsequent narrative, as the horseman, the bravo chases Crane to a bridge, and there the story stops. Crane disappears, never to be seen in Sleepy Hollow again. Irving_Sleepy 

John_Quidor_-_The_Headless_Horseman_Pursuing_Ichabod_Crane_-_Google_Art_Project

Unfortunately, neither the Carpenter letters nor the Hammond/Scull volumes provides any reference to Burns or Irving, but the idea that crossing the ford might stop the unearthly has, to us, a definite suggestion that, somewhere in the leaf mould, there may have been a tiny acorn of memory…

Thanks, as ever, for reading!

MTCIDC

CD

ps

You might know “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” from this–

legendofsleepyhollow-chase

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