LotR -- Book 5 - Chapter 05 - The Ride of the Rohirrim

[davem]

There seemed to be some understanding between Dernhelm and Elfhelm, the marshal who commanded the eored in which they were riding. He and all his men ignored Merry and pretended not to hear if he spoke....A tall figure loomed up and stumbled over him, cursing the tree-roots. He recognized the voice of the marshal, Elfhelm.

I think this is significant - not just Elfhelm, but his men also, studiously ignored the presence of Merry, even when they know he is there without the permission of Theoden - in fact that Theoden has forbidden his to accompany the Riders to Minas Tirith. Of course, it could be argued that this is a ‘dispute’ between Theoden & Merry & none of their concern, but it does make one question Theoden’s absolute control over his men. Maybe they believe Theoden is wrong. They know of Merry’s sworn oath of service to the King. They will, it seems, help him to serve out his oath. I think we see here a contrast between Rohan under Theoden & Gondor under Denethor - In Gondor Denethor’s rule is absolute & his word is law: to defy the command of the Steward is treachery. In Rohan there is a ‘higher’ law, & it has its roots in the Oath.

'I am not a tree-root, Sir,' he said, 'nor a bag, but a bruised hobbit. The least you can do in amends is to tell me what is afoot.'
'Anything that can keep so in this devil's mirk,' answered Elfhelm. 'But my lord sends word that we must set ourselves in readiness: orders may come for a sudden move.'

Elfhelm’s use of devil here is interesting - ‘devil’ comes from ‘deo falsus’ - ‘false god’. This ‘mirk’ is supernatural in origin & the Rohirrim know it well. They are caught up in a supernatural battle, of course, but they ride to it nonetheless. Sauron is a ‘false god’ to them - so does this imply that they have a knowledge (& if so, how detailed) of the real God? Theoden is later compared to Orome - by whom? Frodo who wrote the Red Book, Findegil, the King’s Copyist, Tolkien the ‘translator’, or by the storyteller of Rohan who must have supplied this account (unless that was Merry - which begs a greater question, about the Hobbit’s theological knowledge).

So we come to Ghan-buri-ghan:

Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as the beasts. They go not to war with Gondor or the Mark; but now they are troubled by the darkness and the coming of the orcs: they fear lest the Dark Years be returning, as seems likely enough. Let us be thankful that they are not hunting us: for they use poisoned arrows, it is said, and they are woodcrafty beyond compare.

Elfhelm’s words here ‘wild & wary as beasts’ are again interesting for what they half-hide, half-reveal, about the Rohirrim. Elfhelm comppares the wild men to ‘beasts’. A little later we hear Ghan-buri-ghan’s plea to Theoden:

'But if you live after the Darkness, then leave Wild Men alone in the woods and do not hunt them like beasts any more.

So, the Rohirrim don’t only think of the Wild Men as ‘beasts’, they hunt them like beasts also! This recalls the Elves’ hunting of Dwarves in the First Age. We see that the Wild Men are in many ways more decent & compassionate than our ‘heroes’. The Rohirrim are in trouble & the Wild Men come to their aid, though it would seem that they have so far recieved from them little better than they could expect from Orcs. It seems that Ghan-buri-ghan is a leader of a people on the edge of extinction, hunted by both sides, desperately looking to ensure the survival of his people - so desperate is he, in fact, that he will offer to help those who may well have hunted his own loved ones down like ‘beasts’. One cannot avoid a sense that Theoden’s attitude to his ‘(& the West’s) saviours in their darkest hour is a little condescending....

There sat Theoden and Eomer, and before them on the ground sat a strange squat shape of a man, gnarled as an old stone, and the hairs of his scanty beard straggled on his lumpy chin like dry moss. He was short-legged and fat-armed, thick and stumpy, and clad only with grass about his waist. Merry felt that he had seen him before somewhere, and suddenly he remembered the Pukel-men of Dunharrow. Here was one of those old images brought to life, or maybe a creature descended in true line through endless years from the models used by the forgotten craftsmen long ago.

To step outside the story for a moment, what we have here is something along the lines of what Tolkien did with ‘Ents’. Ents appear in anglo-Saxon peoms as ‘giants’ & are associated with ancient ruins. Tolkien knew they had once been part of English mythology, & so ‘knew’ that they belonged in Middle earth. Same with ‘Woses’. They too were part of English mythology & so belonged in Middle-earth too. Tom Shippey in the documentary ‘JRRT A Film Portrait of Tolkien’ mentions a road in Leeds, near the University where Tolkien taught, called ‘Woodhouse Road’. the usual interpretation of ‘Woodhouse’ is ‘House in the Woods’ but Shippey says that Tolkien, taking the local pronunciation of the name - ‘Wood’oose’ would very likely have interpreted it as referring to Woodwose (‘wudu-wassan’). The wild man of the woods is a common figure in medieval (& earlier) legend, & crops up in the Arthurian legend.

'Let Ghan-buri-Ghan finish!' said the Wild Man. 'More than one road he knows. He will lead you by road where no pits are, no gorgun walk, only Wild Men and beasts. Many paths were made when Stonehouse-folk were stronger. They carved hills as hunters carve beast-flesh. Wild Men think they ate stone for food. They went through Druadan to Rimmon with great wains. They go no longer. Road is forgotten, but not by Wild Men. Over hill and behind hill it lies still under grass and tree, there behind Rimmon and down to Din, and back at the end to Horse-men's road. Wild Men will show you that road. Then you will kill gorgun and drive away bad dark with bright iron, and Wild Men can go back to sleep in the wild woods.'

Putting aside Ghan’s (ironic?) reference to ‘Wild Men & beasts here, we have an example of folk memory - he is recalling times long past, when the Numenoreans came into Middle earth & began the building of Gondor. These ‘Stonehouse-folk’ were seen as more than human - they carved hills & ate stone. They were either monsters or divine - either way they were ‘unnatural’ beings, who shaped the earth to their own ends, rather than, as the Wild Men, living in harmony with it.

Many busy there. Walls stand up no longer: gorgun knock them down with earth-thunder and with clubs of black iron.
'But if you live after the Darkness, then leave Wild Men alone in the woods and do not hunt them like beasts any more.

Ghan knows about ‘gunpowder’ - he calls it ‘earth-thunder’. And it does come from the earth - Salt Peter, charcoal & sulphur make gunpowder. To him it is a thunder that comes from the earth not the sky & the gorgun control it - it serves them. Also interesting is his comparison of the ‘bright iron’ used by the Rohirrim with the ‘black iron’ used by the Orcs.

The final scene, of Theoden leading the charge, is pure ‘poetry’.

Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury
of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins,
and he was borne up on Snowmane
like a god of old, even as Orome the Great
in the battle of the Valar when the world was young.
His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone
like an image of the Sun, and the gr*** flamed into green
about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning
and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed,
and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them,
and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them.
And then all the host of Rohan burst into song,
and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them,
and the sound of their singing
that was fair and terrible came even to the City.

(Now, has anyone noticed how, because I bolded the 'gr' in 'grass' the censorship programme here in the Downs has turned the last three letters into asterisks - funny, or just sad?)

[Kuruharan]

Do the descriptions of "joy of battle" and singing that was "fair and terrible" strike you as paradox? Can you feel a connection between battling and singing, or does that seem irreconcilable to you?

Historically speaking this type of thing is rather common. Lots of peoples had customs of singing when they were going into battle. I am personally a little skeptical about how much singing took place during actual scrapping. Fighting is hard work. I wouldn't think one would have the energy (or air) to do much else during those moments. In spite of this, the idea for this was certainly present in many places.

[Lalwendë]

There seemed to be some understanding between Dernhelm and Elfhelm, the marshal who commanded the eored in which they were riding.

I noticed this 'understanding' too, but drew something different from it. Rather than reading it as some kind of insubordination towards Theoden, I took it to mean that perhaps 'Dernhelm' had exerted some kind of influence over Elfhelm. Wouldn't a Marshall such as Elfhelm be aware of all the men he had in his command? So I wonder how Eowyn got away with her disguise. Either she took the place of a man she knew had not turned up to join the party of riders, or Elfhelm had not done a proper 'head-count' due to the rush to leave Rohan, though I think the latter might be unlikely as the Riders seem to be organised. I think it is quite possible that Elfhelm knew full well who Dernhelm really was, and if so this leaves open interesting possibilities.

before them on the ground sat a strange squat shape of a man, gnarled as an old stone, and the hairs of his scanty beard straggled on his lumpy chin like dry moss. He was short-legged and fat-armed, thick and stumpy, and clad only with grass about his waist. Merry felt that he had seen him before somewhere, and suddenly he remembered the Pukel-men of Dunharrow. Here was one of those old images brought to life, or maybe a creature descended in true line through endless years from the models used by the forgotten craftsmen long ago.

I'm very fond of the Woses as they are such intriguing people. They seem to have a quality of older cultures from our own world, and I'm sure others have wondered if this is what Tolkien was drawing upon.

Wild Men live here before Stone-houses; before Tall Men come up out of Water.

They have existed in Middle-earth before the Numenoreans returned, presumably in the wild lands east of Beleriand, and whereas we are told that many Men turned to the ways of Morgoth, these Men did not, which also makes me wonder what other cultures are still undiscovered in Middle-earth.

In the passage where Ghan-buri-Ghan is described, he somehow reminds me of a Hobbit - "short-legged and fat-armed, thick and stumpy" - and if having a beard is quite rare amongst their people, as Firefoot says, then this is another similarity. I wonder if they were also related to the 'river-folk' who numbered Gollum amongst their kin? Maybe Merry was seeing himself reflected in the older, wilder face of Ghan-buri-Ghan?

In any case, they are certainly enigmatic. I do like the way Tolkien has included these 'glimpses' of other cultures in Middle-earth, but has not explained them thoroughly. As in our world, we cannot hope to do more than speculate about them, and this adds to how fascinating they are.

Originally Posted by dancing spawn of ungoliant

I have always wondered what was so special in the wind changing. The Wild Men and Rohirrim weren't aware of Aragorn sailing up Anduin so what did it matter where the wind blew?

Why is the wind changing? Is it to do with the arrival of Aragorn and the dead Men? Is it Eru intervening? Or can Sauron only sustain the mirk for so long (I wonder if he has got the Mithril shirt by this time, as this might distract him)?

The effect is clear though, as a change in the wind would blow away that mirk, and part of the purpose of it is to protect/support the Mordor Orcs. Without the gloom the Orcs may be less effective, and therefore it would be an excellent sign for it to disperse.

Originally Posted by Esty

Do the descriptions of "joy of battle" and singing that was "fair and terrible" strike you as paradox? Can you feel a connection between battling and singing, or does that seem irreconcilable to you?

This has troubled me in the past, but singing and chanting into battle has been used through history as a morale booster, so it is not quite as incongruous as it might seem against the message that war is ultimately a destructive act. I think that playing music into battle is still used to this day by US troops, and while it may seem brutal to us that soldiers sing and are 'entertained' as they kill, it is an age-old method of raising both morale and adrenalin. I don't know if Tolkien had any experience of this himself in WWI.

[Dimturiel]

The description of the attack of the Rohirrim and of their "fair and terrible " singing is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful images from LOTR. I doubt that there has been any reader that has not been moved by that scene. And it seems to fit very well with the way the Rohirrims are described by Aragorn, in "The Two Towers" , chapter two, "The Riders of Rohan":

...singing many songs after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years.

I like the fact that they are compared to the children of Men. Maybe this gives them a way of thinking which is different from that of the Men of Gondor, they see things in a much more simple manner, as the first Men used to. More simple, true, but maybe also wiser, who can tell? And maybe that is why they sing during the attack and feel such a joy and a desire to fight. These things are inside them, as they were inside their ancestors. Who knows, maybe they are inside us too, we have never been faced with the situation to see how we would react. Even I, when I watch the charge of the Rohirrim from ROTK the movie for the twentieth time, feel my mind go blank and I start trembling and clenching my fists.