Now is the hour come… for us to read one of our favorite passages in all of The Lord of the Rings! Need brooks no delay, so join Alan and Marcel now as the time has come for Théoden and Rohan to ride to the rescue of Minas Tirith in the second half of The Ride of the Rohirrim! The wind is changing for the better, Théoden gives the best pre-game speech, and we talk about the ‘noble savage’ trope as best we can. Alan interviews Marcel, who’s been talking Tolkien on the internet for a very long time indeed. And Alan gamely tries to read part of the Völuspá – in Old Norse.
Recommended Reading
The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Silmarillion
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Mariner Books, paperback)
The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Mariner Books, paperback)
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) (Mariner Books, paperback)
The J.R.R.Tolkien Audio Collection
(Caedmon, abridged)
OUR OWN BOOK:Why We Love Middle-earth (pre-orders available now on this link)
Sisto, Alan & Marchese, Shawn (Mango, paperback)
Regarding the discussion of whether or not the Witch-King or other of the Nazgûl were affecting Theoden–I don’t think they really factor in at all.
I think he (and Merry, and the rest of his host except maybe Dernhelm) are encountering the twin effects of Phobos and Deimos. No, not the moons of Mars. The Greek personae. Deimos embodied the terror or dread that you feel before a battle. When Pippin and Gandalf are talking and Pip mentions not wanting to be in a battle, but waiting on the edge of one is worse? That’s all Deimos. Phobos, on the other hand, represents the blinding fear and panic you feel once the battle is imminent.
For Theoden, Merry, and the rest, this moment is where both of those feelings are combining to have their strongest cumulative effects. Also, Theoden has fought in many wars, per his own account, and he knows these feelings very well.
You can counter Deimos with morale, but Phobos requires tight cohesion to resist. Tolkien, of course, would have been steeped in Classical education, and been well familiar with both of Ares’ sons emotional effects from his time in the Great War.
Cheers!
That’s a great observation! I’d honestly not thought of that at all, but I wish I had. LOL!