“I am da Law”

[Boromir88]

Oooh nice posts throughout the thread. I've enjoyed this discussion so far...

Durelin,

I imagine oath-breaking, and particularly breaking the oath of fealty given to your lord, was of highest importance, as it also served as an oath to abide by his law.

Oath-breaking can be a serious thing, as I said in another thread just ask the Men of Dunharrow.

There seems to be a strong power over words (especially oaths) in Middle-earth...if not, then they would simply be words with no meaning behind them. When Eorl made the oath to Cirion to come to Gondor's aid anytime they were called upon and in return 'finding' Rohan he sealed the choices of all the kings to follow. I'm sure Theoden was a good man and played a part in him aiding Gondor; but I do not doubt also the oath he was bound to played a part (if not bigger). Had Theoden not answered to Gondor's call for aid, Theoden would be in trouble. And trouble that could arguably much worse than being executed. It would effect him spiritually and be a great torment on him...again just ask the Men of Dunharrow.

I love the part in the Ring Goes South and Gimli wants an oath to bind the Fellowship together, but Elrond tells him no and warns him why:

'You may tarry, or come back, or turn aside into other paths, as chance allows. The further you go, the less easy will it be to withdraw; yet no oath or bond is laid on you to go further than you will. For you do not yet know the strength of your hearts, and you cannot foresee what each may meet upon the road.'
'Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens,' said Gimli.
'Maybe,' said Elrond, `but let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.'
'Yet sworn word may strengthen quaking heart,' said Gimli.
'Or break it,' said Elrond. `Look not too far ahead! But go now with good hearts! Farewell, and may the blessing of Elves and Men and all Free Folk go with you. May the stars shine upon your faces!'~The Ring goes South

Oaths kind of have two sides to them. Gimli sees the positive side in that an oath may keep a person to his word and therefor not give in. However, Elrond sees the negative side in that a person may not be strong enough to live up to their oath and therefor it could also break his heart.

Oath-breaking is arguably the worst 'crime' in LOTR; and your punishment isn't death, it's lifelong torture and misfortune...far worse than execution.

The question is what makes Beregond and Hama not obeying orders and 'breaking their oaths' different from say the Men of Dunharrow. I think it all depends upon the situation. The Men of Dunharrow pledged to Isildur they would fight for Gondor; but they turned to worshipping Sauron and than fled. Doesn't sound very 'good' and they are slapped with a curse.

Hama and Beregond's were different in the sense that arguably it was better to actually not obey. What I love about Hama and Beregond is that they are guards, yet they do not act like what we would expect guards to act like. They don't act like mindless robots of 'Yes, sir...I'll do whatever you say sir.' They are able to make their own judgements for themselves and reach their own decisions about what's 'right and wrong.' I can't put it any better than from the words of Hama:

'The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age,' said Hama. He looked hard at the ash-staff on which Gandalf leaned. 'Yet in doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom. I believe you are friends and folk worthy of honour, who have no evil purpose. You may go in.'~The King of the Golden Hall

Hama reaches his own conclusion about what to do and he decides by his own will that what's right is to disobey.

Beregond felt like the best thing to do was save Faramir's life and he went through any costs to do it. Afterall Gandalf does say Denethor did not have the right to take Faramir's life, let a lone he didn't even have the 'right' to take his own. Denethor acted like he had the right of the Numenorean Kings to decide when their own death was and as Gandalf points this out to him, he does not have this right.

Or even perhaps it depends upon the person who had the oath broken against them. There are two parties involved in oaths, if one party breaks it, then perhaps it's up to the other party to decide if they should be punished for breaking their oath or not. If we look at the Men of Dunharrow again, they broke their oath to Isildur and it is Isildur who comes and decides to curse them. He was the person the Men of Dunharrow swore to, so he is the one that makes the decision on whether they should be punished for going against their word.

If we look at Beregond and Hama, they did break their oaths to their Lords, however you could argue that their Lords absolved them (at least partially) of their oath-breaking. Theoden called out Hama as an 'inept doorward' yet he realized what Hama did was try to make the best decision for his lord. Theoden had the oath broken against him, so it is Theoden who decides whether the oath-breaker be punished or not...and luckily he decided no...except to have him run as an 'errand boy' for a little while.

Now technically Beregond broke his oath to Denethor...however Denethor is dead and his new lords (for a short time atleast) becomes Aragorn...until Aragorn expels him from the Tower Guard. Nevertheless for a short time it is Aragorn that is his new Lord and it is he that is faced with the decision of Beregond's punishment. And Aragorn absolves Beregond from all of his crimes. Aragorn does feel like he must do some justice and punish Beregond, however as seen he does absolve Beregond from his crimes.

Would you know it's kind of like the Men of Dunharrow. In order to 'break the curse' they had to fulfill their oath to Gondor. Well, it's kind of hard now that Isildur's dead, so it would be Isildur's heirs that would be passed a long with the decision on whether to hold their oaths fulfilled. And it is Aragorn who does this as well.

So, I think it's whether one is punished or not for breaking an oath comes down to the situation. Was it for the 'best' that the oath was broken? Or, perhaps even more important is it up to the 'other party' to decide whether you are punished for breaking the oath or not. Well technically Beregond and Hama did get punished for breaking their oaths, it just wasn't to the extent that the Men of Dunharrow were punished. And seeing as the 'victims' absolved the 'pertetrators' of their oath-breaking than the oath was essentially fulfilled and absolved as well.

I'd also like to point out Tolkien also uses the concept of 'weregild.' The punishment isn't execution for the criminal, however it was a form of punishment for those who committed murder (or injury) against a person's family/property. Weregild is an Old English word that means 'man-price' and it was an idea originating in Germanic societies. The idea was to stop family feuds from happening and about keeping family honor without having to resort to 'capital punishment' or 'physical revenge'. If somebody killed one of your family members (or injury to any sort of property) in order to compensate for the crime, the perpetrator must give some sort of payment.

In Germanic societies the payment was based upon rank. If someone killed a slave of yours the compensation payment wouldn't be all that much. However the murder of a King and his son the payment would be absolutely astronomical. Isildur lays the claim of 'weregild' on taking the ring for the death of his father and brother (caused by Sauron):

'This I will have as weregild for my father, and my brother'~The Council of Elrond

Of course, Elendil was the King and Anarion was his son, two very high ranking people in society...so by the right of weregild Isildur could have taken Sauron's most valuable possession for compensation...and he does so. Now one may question Isildur's motives (after all Anarion wasn't technically killed by Sauron...he was smashed by a boulder flying off Barad-dur). However he lays the perfectly legal claim of weregild upon the Ring and despite Elrond and Cirdan advising against Isildur taking the Ring they do accept the claim. So, I think we can see that there is the idea of 'weregild' also in Middle-earth...or at least there was at one time.