[davem]

'Since when has the Lord of Gondor been answerable to thee?' said Denethor. 'Or may I not command my own servants?'

Denethor again shows that he believes himself to be absolute monarch of Gondor - or perhaps something more. He seems to believe that his position gives him power of life & death over his servants, There is no room on their part for moral choices. Whatever Denethor says is Law & his servants must obey. Power has gone to his head. The slaves of the Dark Lord slay themselves at the command of the WK, & it seems that Denethor demands no less. The oath sworn by Pippin (& one assumes by the others in the service of Gondor/Denethor) is very precise:

'Here do I swear fealty and service to Gondor, and to the Lord and Steward of the realm, to speak and to be silent, to do and to let be, to come and to go, in need or plenty, in peace or war, in living or dying, from this hour henceforth, until my lord release me, or death take me, or the world end.

In Denethor’s mind at least this oath is little better than an ‘oath’ of slavery. Once sworn it gives Denethor power to command whatever he will & obliges (as far as he is concerned) his servants to obey his will without question. He cannot seem to get free of this idea - even when his ‘power’ extends to the life & death of his son. He simply cannot understand how anyone in his service could question any of his commands.

The interesting thing is that when he is confronted with the outcome of his command to Faramir he is broken by it. He commanded his son to undertake what was effectively a suicide mission, but when his son is apparently mortally wounded as a result of his order, he snaps. He claims the power of life & death over others, but he cannot accept the consequences. Shockingly, he still cannot break himself of using that power. He has seen the result of its use first hand & yet he is still driven by his pride to command his servants to commit murder. Like Saruman, he has looked into the Palantir & striven with Sauron. Saruman surrendered, Denethor did not, but it seems that in some way both of them ended up by ‘imitating’ Sauron in the way they treat their servants.

What’s interesting in this context is the way Denethor’s servants seem to accept this power. They don’t seem (apart from Beregond) to question Denethor’s will. They seem little better than robots, apparently feeling that the oath they swore removes their own moral responsibility & they can claim that whatever they do they we’re ‘only obeying orders’. We see how far Gondor has fallen.

Finally, Denethor’s comment is interesting:

'Hope on then!' laughed Denethor. 'Do I not know thee, Mithrandir? Thy hope is to rule in my stead, to stand behind every throne, north, south, or west.

Denethor accuses Gandalf of desiring to replace him and to ‘stand behind every throne’. Denethor betrays his true sense of himself here - he, Denethor, should rightfully stand behind every throne - not Gandalf. He can only think in terms of rule, power, control. In his mind Gandalf can desire no more than to replace him - what higher aim could he have? Saruman has accused Gandalf of the same desire & no doubt Sauron believes the same thing. Once exposed to the mind & will of Sauron it seems that the individual is infected by his mindset - whether they surrender & offer fealty or not.