[The Saucepan Man]

First a quick observation:

Before them in the West the world lay still, formless and grey; but even as they looked, the shadows of the night melted, the colours of the waking earth returned: green flowed over the wide meads of Rohan; the white mists shimmered in the watervales ...

Our first proper view of Rohan is described in terms of green and white - it's symbolic colours. And, although it becomes apparent that things are amiss in the realm, it is described throughout the Chapter in terms of its greenery and freshness. To my mind, this conveys the impression that, whatever might be wrong, it is essentially a "good" place. Consider the description of the plains, and the words of Legolas, as the Three Hunters descend from the Emyn Muil:

They seemed to have left the winter clinging to the hills behind. Here the air was softer and warmer, and faintly scented, as if spring was already stirring and the sap was flowing again in herb and leaf. Legolas took a deep breath, like one that drinks a great draught after long thirst in barren places.

"Ah! The green smell!" he said. "It is better than much sleep. Let us run!"

And so to Aragorn, concerning whom I have a little admission to make. As I read the book this time round, I am coming to appreciate him much more as a character. By which I mean his development as a character as the story progresses.

In last week's discussion, I indicated my view that, in the previous Chapter, he reached a low point with Boromir's death, and seemed to almost lose hope. But that Chapter left him with renewed determination and decisiveness. And now we see him in his element - using his formidable tracking skills to follow the trail of the Orcs and pick up the clues that have been left in their wake. Just as the need for these skills in the previous Chapter allowed him to make the choices that were required, so his confidence builds in this Chapter as he relies on those skills which, through many years in the wild, now come almost naturally to him and in which he has complete confidence. And, in turn, he comes to have increased confidence in himself generally. No more is he grappling with hard choices. His actions throughout this Chapter are quick and decisive.

He is momentarily at a loss when the Orcs' trail is lost in the valley but he is able to find the evidence that he needs to point the way and, once found, is swift in his resolve to follow. When the time comes to make a the choice between resting and continuing, Legolas and Gimli, accepting him as their leader, look to him for a decision (having presented the opposing arguments). It is, as he says, a "hard choice" since resting will allow the Orcs to get further away while continuing risks missing clues in the darkness and wearing themselves (or Aragorn and Gimli at least) out. But Aragorn makes his decision and sticks with it. He is still not entirely sure of himself. But he is making choices - and it seems to me that he is making the right ones.

But it is in the encounter with Eomer and his Men that Aragorn really proves his mettle. Whereas Legolas and Gimli risk bringing the wrath of the Riders on them with their words, Aragorn handles the situation perfectly. Although, after stepping in to prevent things "going ill", his first words are conciliatory, he is no less confrontational than his companions in insisting that Eomer declares where his allegiance lies. But he speaks with authority and has the confidence to declare his heritage. His challenge to Eomer is, given their situation, breathtaking in its audacity:

Will you aid me or thwart me? Choose swiftly!

Indeed, it might be considered foolhardy were it not for the fact that Aragorn now has the confidence (not to mention the bearing and the pedigree) to pull it off. And so, rather than being enraged, Eomer is taken aback in awe and "cast[s] down his proud eyes". I would hazard a guess that, had this encounter occurred a few days earlier at Amon Hen, Aragorn would not have had the confidence in himself to pull it off. But, as Rimbaud said, he is developing as a leader. He is, as davem has pointed out, as much on a journey as Frodo (although a different one). Not at all the "flat" character that I had previously perceived.

As to whether he has a “divine right” to rule, I must say that the point seems rather moot to me. If he had not gained the support of the people of Gondor, then divine right would have counted for little. And it is through his words and action that he gains their trust and support, just as he does in this Chapter with Eomer (and it is also notable, in this regard, that Legolas and Gimli accept him as their leader without question or even comment).

I find the reaction of Eomer and his Men to the tales with which they are confronted very interesting indeed:

"These are indeed strange days," [Eomer] muttered. "Dreams and legends spring to life out of the grass".

[Eomer] looked at them with renewed wonder, but his eyes hardened. "Then there is a Lady in the Golden Wood, as old tales tell!" he said. "Few escape her nets, they say. These are strange days! But if you have her favour, then you also are net-weavers and sorcerers, maybe."

"Halflings!" laughed the Rider that stood beside Eomer. "Halflings! But they are only a little people in old songs and children's tales out of the North. Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?"

It seems to me to be a measure of Tolkien's confidence in his own skills as a story-teller that he feels able to have his "historic" (Anglo-Saxon) characters dismiss the "fantastical" elements of his story (Aragorn's heritage, the Lady of the Wood, Hobbits) as dreams and legends in the confidence that his readers will side with the fantastic. And of course we do, because these fantasy elements have become real and credible to us.

And this in itself enhances the credibility of the fantasy. It is the realisation (subconsciously perhaps) of our complete acceptance of the fantasy that affirms it as "reality" for us in the context of the story. Whether this was intentional on Tolkien's part I cannot say for sure, but the way in which he has the Rohirrim regard Hobbits as the stuff of legends persuades me that it was, since they are the characters with whom we have from the start been led to identify most closely with.