Jan. 2nd, 2004 09:07 am
Many good Returns
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muckefuckStanding on the platform with a copy of Return of the king in hand, I felt like such a posseur. I don't suppose it would've helped matters to explain to passersby that I was only re-reading the appendices.
Seeing the other LOTR movies did not motivate me to go back to the source literature--rather the opposite, since I want the depictions in the films to fade more before I reread what Tolkien originally penned. That's the only way I have a chance of reviving a bit of what I visualised when I read them for the first time twenty years ago this year. I'm not sure what's different this time. Perhaps the knowledge that this is the last installment. (At least for several years--after all, with Jackson's blockbuster success, can an adaption of The Silmarillion be far behind? Perhaps the general public will never be ready for that, but I'd be amazed if a new version of The Hobbit weren't already being storyboarded.) Any more answers to the puzzles on screen will have to be sought in interviews with the cast and crew or the original novels.
Top of the list is, What's the deal with Denegoth? As![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
monshu asks, "Is he just mad with grief or what?" In the appendix, Tolkien calls him "more kingly than any man that had appeared in Gondor for many lives of men; and he was wise also, and far-sighted, and learned in lore." Is Jackson's depiction more character assassination à la what was supposedly done to Faramir in Two Towers? There do seem to be some mitigating circumstances: Like poor Faramir, Denegoth is neglected by his father in favour of another--who isn't even his other son, but some complete stranger who pops up to lead fantastically successful expeditions. This turns out to be none other than Aragorn, so it should be no surprise that Denegoth ends up resenting him and his right-hand man Gandalf. But did he really neglect preparations for war or are he and Gandalf just having a difference of opinion? After all, his premature aging is the result of a lot of palantir-gazing, so he's probably at least as well informed on the situation as the Grey Pilgrim.
Of all the novels, the third is probably the one that I remember least clearly. This was good when watching the film, since it meant many surprises, but it doesn't help when trying to comprehend Tolkien's œuvre. Now I'm reading parts that I know I never read before--I skipped right over the king lists to get to the linguistic notes--and have answered at least one nagging question: Why, if Aragorn is the heir, is there a steward in Gondor in the first place? Turns out that Isildur's sons divided the West into two realms; the Southern Line died out and was replaced by stewards, but Aragorn is the last scion of the Northern Line and claims the entire West as his inheritance. It's rather as if someone from the direct line of Charlemagne who'd been mucking about in Eastern Europe for 3,000 years showed up in Paris demanding the crown. No wonder Denegoth isn't happy to see him.
Seeing the other LOTR movies did not motivate me to go back to the source literature--rather the opposite, since I want the depictions in the films to fade more before I reread what Tolkien originally penned. That's the only way I have a chance of reviving a bit of what I visualised when I read them for the first time twenty years ago this year. I'm not sure what's different this time. Perhaps the knowledge that this is the last installment. (At least for several years--after all, with Jackson's blockbuster success, can an adaption of The Silmarillion be far behind? Perhaps the general public will never be ready for that, but I'd be amazed if a new version of The Hobbit weren't already being storyboarded.) Any more answers to the puzzles on screen will have to be sought in interviews with the cast and crew or the original novels.
Top of the list is, What's the deal with Denegoth? As
monshu asks, "Is he just mad with grief or what?" In the appendix, Tolkien calls him "more kingly than any man that had appeared in Gondor for many lives of men; and he was wise also, and far-sighted, and learned in lore." Is Jackson's depiction more character assassination à la what was supposedly done to Faramir in Two Towers? There do seem to be some mitigating circumstances: Like poor Faramir, Denegoth is neglected by his father in favour of another--who isn't even his other son, but some complete stranger who pops up to lead fantastically successful expeditions. This turns out to be none other than Aragorn, so it should be no surprise that Denegoth ends up resenting him and his right-hand man Gandalf. But did he really neglect preparations for war or are he and Gandalf just having a difference of opinion? After all, his premature aging is the result of a lot of palantir-gazing, so he's probably at least as well informed on the situation as the Grey Pilgrim.Of all the novels, the third is probably the one that I remember least clearly. This was good when watching the film, since it meant many surprises, but it doesn't help when trying to comprehend Tolkien's œuvre. Now I'm reading parts that I know I never read before--I skipped right over the king lists to get to the linguistic notes--and have answered at least one nagging question: Why, if Aragorn is the heir, is there a steward in Gondor in the first place? Turns out that Isildur's sons divided the West into two realms; the Southern Line died out and was replaced by stewards, but Aragorn is the last scion of the Northern Line and claims the entire West as his inheritance. It's rather as if someone from the direct line of Charlemagne who'd been mucking about in Eastern Europe for 3,000 years showed up in Paris demanding the crown. No wonder Denegoth isn't happy to see him.
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Anything that transpired between Arwen and Aragorn, I've already forgotten--especially if I last saw it two years ago. I'm at least relieved to see that some of it is interpolated from the Tale of Arwen and Aragorn rather than made up out of whole cloth.
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But I agree that Aragorn seemed pretty happy to be crowned by the time of the actual coronation.
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Or at least Gondor-- I don't remember their mentioning Arnor in the movies.
--even if he does pause to give mad props to the Periannath.
Because he's made his decision by then. The key moment in his personal struggle in the movie is his conversation with Elrond. At Arwen's insistence, Elrond has brought him the sword of the king (which the movie Aragorn quite deliberately left behind when the fellowship set out) and Aragorn doesn't want to take it. Elrond tells him that the only hope is to command the Dead as the King and Aragorn is still reluctant. Only when Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying, and that her only hope lies in their victory (something that's never really explained, but whatever) and more or less demands that Aragorn do what he was born to do does Aragorn take the sword and embrace his destiny.
He then demonstrates this in his confrontation with the king of the Dead. Further reluctance after that is pointless: he's asserted himself as the king, as signified by the fact that he flies the royal banner on his flagship. (Made for him in the book by Arwen-- I don't know if that detail will show up in the extended version of the movie.) The confrontation with the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate, which I understand will be in the extended edition, will probably also have him identify himself as the king of Gondor, and he's certainly acting in that role with his St. Crispin's Day speech. Presumably Jackson wanted Aragorn to be conflicted, not wishy-washy, so once he's made his decision it stays made. Besides, he didn't fail as he feared he would-- the Ring was destroyed and Gondor saved, due in large part to his actions. (And even if he still had inner doubts, his public coronation wouldn't be the time to display them.)