[Lalwendë]

There was another interesting narrative point which I noticed as I read of the discussion between Theoden and Gandalf. It almost seemed as if in this conversation Tolkien was 'stepping out of the text' to tell us something about the nature of the story, where we have been, and what we are about to face, yet he does this via two of the characters. He also seems to be telling us something of the nature and history of myth and folklore. Taking the conversation bit by bit, several thoughts struck me as interesting:

"They are the shepherds of the trees," answered Gandalf. "Is it so long since you listened to tales by the fireside? There are children in your land who, out of the twisted threads of story, could pick the answer to your question. You have seen Ents, O King, Ents of Fangorn Forest, which in your tongue you call the Entwood. Did you think that the name was given only in idle fancy? Nay, Theoden, it is otherwise: to them you are but the passing tale; all the years from Eorl the Young to Theoden the Old are of little count to them; and all the deeds of your house but a small matter."

Here we have Gandalf/Tolkien telling us about the nature and the origins of story-telling, 'tales by the fireside', and finding an answer hidden within many threads and plot twists. Gandalf/Tolkien also tells us how names are not merely plucked from thin air but are carefully chosen to reflect the nature of things in this story. He also lets us know that in comparison to this story, we are comparatively small, we are just a 'small matter' in contrast to the great deeds here related to us.

The king was silent. 'Ents!" he said at length. 'Out of the shadows of legend I begin a little to understand the marvel of the trees, I think. I have lived to see strange days. Long we have tended our beasts and our fields, built our houses, wrought our tools, or ridden away to help in the wars of Minas Tirith. And that we called the life of Men, the way of the world. We cared little for what lay beyond the borders of our land. Songs we have that tell of these things, but we are forgetting them, teaching them only to children, as a careless custom. And now the songs have come down among us out of strange places, and walk visible under the Sun."

And now we have Tolkien writing of how we have suddenly been confronted with these weird and wonderful tales, stories we know so well that we can tell them to children, but that as adults we have 'forgotten' that they could have a basis in fact, that they really could be true. We are concerned, like the Rohirrim, with our daily lives, yet these stories and these other realities exists on the very borders of our lives, and when we finally hear such tales we are transfixed.

'You should be glad, Theoden King," said Gandalf. "For not only the little life of Men is now endangered, but the life also of those things which you have deemed the matter of legend. You are not without allies, even if you know them not."

This seems to be Tolkien telling us that these ancient tales (and maybe other ancient things) are actually in danger of being lost, and yet we should be careful as they are valuable to us, as valuable as allies.

'Yet also I should be sad," said Theoden 'for however the fortune of war shall go, may it not so end that much that was fair and wonderful shall pass forever out of Middle-earth?"

Theoden's response reflects our own feelings, that despite what we may do, many of the 'old tales' will inevitably be lost. And perhaps the fact that some will invariably be lost should make us particularly careful with those that we still have? Also, here Tolkien seems to some up much of what we have already read about, the loss of the Elves and the decline of the Ents, aspects of the life in Middle Earth that will inevitably be lost to some extent as the story concludes.

"It may," said Gandalf. "The evil of Sauron cannot be wholly cured, nor made as if it had not been. But to such days we are doomed. Let us now go on with the journey we have begun!"

Finally the voice of Gandalf/Tolkien tells us that the evils of the world will never be wholly eradicated, in both our world and in Middle Earth, and that this is our 'doom' which we must accept before we can continue, both in our own lives and within the story. A great battle has taken place and much of Middle Earth has been turned upside down, we must here take a breath and take stock, in the middle of the story, before we can carry on.