[Farael]

Can I still answer if I'm not a 'prettie'?

I've always read that sentence as an explanation of the 'hope beyond hope' the characters had. After hope there is despair (for I hope we all agree that once hope is completely gone, the strife is as good as lost) yet sometimes after 'logic' says there should be no hope, there is hope nonetheless. I can't recall where I heard it, but there is a saying that goes "As long as there is life, there is also hope" and it applies to this 'akin-ness' of hope and despair. The situation is really grim, odds are so against them that there is really no realistic reason to believe in anything but a -probably very painful- death. Yet they still have hope, even if it is the only thing they have in their favour. That's where hope and despair are akin, because despair is so terrible that some people choose to hope against hope. And sometimes (as in LoTR) it works out well for those who never despaired.