Thread: Dumbing it down
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Old 02-07-2005, 10:18 AM   #12
tar-ancalime
Shade of Carn Dûm
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: abaft the beam
Posts: 303
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Shield theodred was rolling in his grave

Quote:
It's a small thing I know, but something that rankled with me was Theoden's weeping at Theodred's grave, "no parent should have to bury their child."
I was just watching TTT last night, and this line struck me too, but for a slightly different reason. It made sense to me that Theoden should grieve openly--a king losing his only heir has wider repercussions than an ordinary death, and especially a king who's already been weakened by an outside influence should rightly be concerned about the future of his kingdom and about succession.

What bothered me was the clunky, ungrammatical, and anachronistic language Theoden used: Why not "No father should have to bury his son." Or "No king." The insertion of gender-equal language in this situation rings a little false to me, not to mention the lack or agreement between "parent" and "their."
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