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Originally Posted by davem
The other way Bergil is interesting is as part of a father-son pair. This pairing runs through the whole of the Legendarium & plays a central role in the two time travel tales Tolkien wrote. Yet within Middle earth we find this relationship repeatedly recurring. Sometimes it manifests positively, sometimes negatively - Tuor/Earendel, Barahir/Beren, Hurin/Turin, Elendil/Isildur, even the Bilbo/Frodo relationship is prety much father/son, & its interesting that in an early version of the Hobbit sequel the hero of the story was to be Bilbo’s son.
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You have to wonder WHY this is...
The thought came to me that maybe this has to do with a deficiency in Tolkien's own life. We know that he never really knew his father. His mother may have died young, but he knew her and remembered her. His father is just more a vague influence, the "A.R. Tolkien" on the trunk.
Curious...
As to the chapter itself, this is one of my stated favourites. The "Homeric" procession of allies marching into the city is one of my favourite parts of the entire epic, ending with the magnificient Knights of Dol Amroth and their prince.
Even though Minas Tirith has seen no actual fighting as yet, I got a much clearer feeling that this is an entire country at war that I ever did with Rohan. The regular populace seems a great deal closer and more real. Was it that Tolkien had a greater understanding of the way a major war in a city would be than of a fortress-based battle like Helm's Deep? Or does he understand the mentality of a city population better than that of a more rural Rohirric one?