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Originally Posted by Lalwendė
I noticed the maritime images in this chapter as being quite curious. Does this hark back to the maritime Numenorean heritage of Gondor? Minas Tirith seems to be described as though it is a great ship, moored to Mindolluin. There is no sea for it to sail off into, and its inhabitants do not have the urge to leave it, but it seems as though one of their ancestors' great ships has been moored here for the future generations to dwell in.
Even the ringing of the hourly bell echoes maritime tradition and the uniforms of the guards include sea bird emblems. Is this tradition intentional, to remind them of their past? We even get a hint here of the shape of Numenorean ships; they are not swan-prowed like Elven ships, but are of the shape we are more used to.
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I think that the tradition is intended to remind them of their past. To step back a few chapters to
The Window on the West, Faramir refers to Minas Tirith as "The City of the Men of Numenor" and loves the memory and ancientry of the city. This passage from that chapter is also interesting:
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"Yet now, if the Rohirrim are grown in some ways more like to us, enhanced in arts and gentleness, we too have become more like to them, and can scarce claim aymore the title High. We are become Middle Men of the Twlight, but with memory of other things."
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It seems that there is a longing for the past glory of Numenor, and so it would make sense that the traditions were started as a way to keep the memory alive.