The importance of Tolkien's minor characters

[Essex]

Guinevere, I just noticed your reply when hunting for this particular thread for a reply in the chapters section.

The scene you mention with the two orcs also shows us another piece of the woven thread of Tolkien's plot. Imagine the scene. Merry/Eoywn do not defeat the Witch King. Let's forget what consequences that has for Minas Tirith. That would be inconsequential compared to the failure of the Quest.

I say this because, no death of the Witch King, no escalation of the argument the orcs were having into a fight and death for one of the orcs. Remember that the orc who survived was a tracker, so therefore without him running off after killing the other orc, Frodo and Sam would no doubt have been tracked and caught. Bye bye Middle-earth as we know it.......

[Mithalwen]

Imrahil probably saved Eowyn's life as well as Faramir's - or at least gave them a chance to be healed by Aragorn.... all though he is minor and his existence is probably mainly plot driven, he has always been a very clear character to me ..... he is more than a cipher and it can be surmised that many of Faramir's finest qualities may have been a legacy of his mother's side....

Another unsung hero is Gildor ...... it was his messages that alerted Rivendell to Frodo's peril and so Glorfindel et al were sent out..... as well as providing a black rider deterrent......

[Encaitare]

Mithalwen's mention of Imrahil brings another minor character to mind: Furlong "the Fat" who brings some soldiers to Minas Tirith. Remember him? He's got about a paragraph or two to his name, poor guy.

And speaking of Minas Tirith, let's not forget Bergil, who shows Pippin around the city, but not until jokingly threatening to stand Pippin on his head.

I love minor characters.

[Mithalwen]

Forlong did get a line in the lament for the fallen of the Pellenor though... It is odd how even very minor characters (minor compared to Imrahil and Glorfindel even) are vivid ... like Derufin and Duilin, the archer brothers slain fighting the Mumakil...a few almost throwaway references only but you remember them....

[Saurreg]

I think almost all the minor characters with some form of importance or another have been listed. But if we are to expand the scope of this thread to include other characters in the expanded LoTR universe, I would say King Brand and Dain ironfoot are two minor characters that played important roles in the War of The Ring. Without their staunch defence of Dale/Erebor, the armies of Sauron could have entered Eriador and caused untold mayhem and destruction. Gandalf said that there could have been "no queen of Gondor", that must have meant that even Rivendell would be threatened.

Dain standing over the body of Brand, defending it from enemy hands until he himself expires, whatta dwarf...

[Mithalwen]

Yes .... I always wondered exactly what he meant by that but now I realise that although the one ring was destroyed there would have still have been a lot of orcs in the Misty Mountains and Rivendell might have been vulnerable - Elrond's power would have been diminished by the failing of Vilya and although mighty warriors dwellt at Imladris, I doubt it could have mustered a large force at that point.

[Saurreg]

And to add to my previous post, I would like to include Théodred, Grimbold and Elfhelm for their exploits during the First Battle of Isen.

Had Théodred not defended the approaches to the Westfold prior to the events in TTT, there would not have been the battle of Helmsdeep and there certainly would not have been the mustering of the Rohirrm and their subsequent relief of Minas Tirith.

Théodred bought time not just for Rohan, but for all the free nations of Middle Earth and ultimately, he sacrificed his life in doing so. Truely a valiant prince...