Here's an old one I didn't have anything to say about before, but upon randomly selecting it for reading this afternoon (a long story, involving two card decks, a dark green felt pen, and a calculator...), I noticed a detail about this chapter that had eluded me in past readings.
It's not a big theological, philosophical, or sociological insight, merely a detail of the battleground's terrain that I had never noticed before. I present, therefore, a couple of quotes:
Quote:
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Therefore Aragorn now set the host in such array as could best be contrived; and they were drawn up on two great hills of blasted stone and earth that orcs had piled in years of labour. Before them towards Mordor lay like a moat a great mire of reeking mud and foul-smelling pools. When all was ordered, the Captains rode forth towards the Black Gate with a great guard of horsemen and the banner and heralds and trumpeters.
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Quote:
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Then even as he thought these things the first assault crashed into them. The orcs hindered by the mires that lay before the hills halted and poured their arrows into the defending ranks. But through them there came striding up, roaring like beasts, a great company of hill-trolls out of Gorgoroth. Taller and broader than Men they were, and they were clad only in close-fitting mesh of horny scales, or maybe that was their hideous hide; but they bore round bucklers huge and black and wielded heavy hammers in their knotted hands. Reckless they sprang into the pools and waded across, bellowing as they came. Like a storm they broke upon the line of the men of Gondor, and beat upon helm and head, and arm and shield, as smiths hewing the hot bending iron. At Pippin's side Beregond was stunned and overborne, and he fell; and the great troll-chief that smote him down bent over him, reaching out a clutching claw; for these fell creatures would bite the throats of those that they threw down.
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emphasis mine
A small detail, perhaps, but one of those details that I didn't notice in my dozen-odd previous readings, and one that totally changes my mind's-eye view of the battle. (And, incidentally, something totally absent from PJ's version.)
It raises a couple of small questions, however, that I'll mention. The first is where did the water come from to make the pools and mud? The rest of this region seems quite waterless. But that's really a minor question.
My second question is a minor one as well, but it deals with the movement of the embassies: on which side of the pools and mud did the meeting between Gandalf, Aragorn, et al, with the Mouth of Sauron take place? My assumption would be on the outer side. If so, how did the Mouth and his escort go through? The description seems to be that these were pretty deep pools if TROLLS were wading through them.
Again, these are minor questions, and I can think of any number of possible answers, but I thought I'd toss them out and see what other people think. Assuming they deign to revisit this old thread...