The Battles of Tolkien
Page 5
So in The Lord of the Rings Tolkien did indeed devise such a setting. And certainly, in his own March of the Ents, the fundamental opposition between spirits of the forest and of the mountain was revealed and portrayed in a way that lends power and dignity to the archetypal miracle of a wood marching on a hill.
To find beings of myth who do correspond directly to the Ents, Tolkien had only to look back into English folklore, where the Green Man plays a distinctive part. Green Man stories and carvings were common in Tolkien’s beloved West Midlands and the Welsh Marches just beyond. He was a Celtic nature spirit and tree god who represented the coming of new growth in victory over the powers of ice and frost. Essentially benevolent, he could also be powerful and destructive.
The semi-sentient Huorns, who inspire such terror in Saruman’s Orcs, represent the wilder, more dangerous aspect of the Green Man: an inhuman power tapping the deepest sources of the natural world where fowls, animals and even children were sacrificed to placate the demonic spirit of certain trees.
The appearance of Huorns brought terror to their foes. They may have been Ents who in time had grown treeish, or perhaps trees that had grown Entish, but they were certainly wrathful, dangerous and merciless. In the Huorns, we have a dramatization of an avenging army of ‘Green Men’ making an attack on all creatures who are hostile to the spirits of forests. Tolkien’s trees really do march towards the citadel of their enemy, Saruman, whose servants have been despoiling the forest to feed the furnaces of Isengard.
MAP OF THE BATTLE
The map on pages 176–177 is an artist’s impression of the March of the Ents on Isengard. For Tolkien’s account of the fall of Isengard, see The Lord of the Rings, Book III, Chapters IX and X.
The tower of Orthanc
The Ents attack Isengard
THE
BATTLE
OF THE
PELENNOR
FIELDS
DATE: 15 MARCH 3019 THIRD AGE
LOCATION: PELENNOR FIELDS
The city of Minas Tirith
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields is the most richly described conflict in the annals of Middle-earth, and the most dramatic, if not the final, battle of the War of the Ring. As such, it draws on many aspects of real-world military history, ranging over a thousand years of European warfare.
In his chronicles of Gondor and Arnor, Tolkien links the history of the Dúnedain kingdoms to many comparable aspects in the history of the ancient Roman Empire. However, by the time of the War of the Ring, in Aragorn’s attempt at restoration of the Reunited Dúnedain Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor, Tolkien has drawn on the historical precedent of the warrior king Charlemagne, who reunited and restored the Roman Empire to its former glory in the form of the Holy Roman Empire in the 8th century.
In a letter to a publisher, Tolkien makes direct reference to this Carolingian motif in The Lord of the Rings: ‘The progress of the tale ends in what is far more like the reestablishment of an effective Holy Roman Empire with its seat in Rome.’
And certainly, in its physical geography, Tolkien saw the Reunited Kingdom as an expanse of land comparable to Charlemagne’s empire. The action of The Lord of the Rings takes place in the northwest of Middle-earth, in a region roughly equivalent to the Western European landmass. Hobbiton and Rivendell, as Tolkien often acknowledged, were roughly intended to be at the latitude of Oxford.
Warriors of Gondor
Gandalf strikes at the Witch-king at the gate of Minas Tirith
By his own estimation, this put Gondor and Minas Tirith some 600 miles (1,000 km) to the south in a location that might be equivalent to Florence. This would suggest that Mordor might be approximately comparable to the mountainous regions of Romania or Bulgaria and the basin of the Black Sea.
In terms of enemies as well as allies, Charlemagne and Aragorn have much in common. At the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, the Gondor and Rohan cavalry encounters an enemy in the form of the Southron cavalry of Harad. This is comparable to battles in which Charlemagne’s cavalry fought their historic enemies: the Moors of Spain and the Saracens of North Africa. Other foes of Gondor and Rohan were the ancient, rebellious Dunlending tribesmen who had their historical counterparts in the rebellious Basque tribesmen who ambushed Charlemagne’s chevalier Roland in Roncesvalles Pass in the Pyrenees.
MAP OF THE SIEGE OF MINAS TIRITH
The map on pages 186–187 is an artist’s impression of the Siege of Minas Tirith. For Tolkien’s account of the siege, see The Lord of the Rings, Book V, Chapter IV.
However, with the appearance on the Pelennor Fields of the warriors mounted on Mûmakil – equivalent to Hannibal’s Carthagian war elephants – and companies of Easterlings bearded like Dwarves and armed with great two-handed axes – equivalent to the late Byzantine axe-bearing infantries – Tolkien introduces troops and weaponry drawn from both much earlier (3rd century BC) and much later periods (12th century AD) of European warfare.
And, as already noted, Tolkien’s dramatic charge of the Rohirrim in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields has parallels with the 5th-century Roman account of an historical Gothic cavalry action in the Battle of Châlons in AD 451. This was an alliance between the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Gothic King Theodoric that proved to be the salvation of Western Europe from the seemingly unstoppable invading hordes of Attila the Hun.
Similarly, among earlier allies of Mordor, we are told, there were the Easterlings of Rhûn who were perhaps inspired by the 12th-century Seljuk Turks of Rhum (Anatolia). Meanwhile, among those fighting on Gondor’s eastern borders were the Variags of Khand; these were perhaps inspired by the 10th- or 11th-century Variangians of the Khanate of Kiev, who were also known as the Rus – and, later, the Russians.
The charge of the Rohirrim
MAP OF THE BATTLE
The map on pages 196–197 is an artist’s impression of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. For Tolkien’s account of the event, see The Lord of the Rings, Book V, Chapters V and VI.
Éowyn of Rohan
THE SHIELD MAIDEN
AND THE NAZGÛL
For Tolkien’s inspiration for the death of the Witch-king we must once again look to the plays of William Shakespeare. First, there is Tolkien’s choice of date for the Witch-king’s imminent death on 15 March: the Ides of March, the first day of the old Roman calendar that was also the fatal date of Julius Caesar’s assassination. The Witch-king, as he turns from Gandalf and the gate to join battle on Pelennor Fields, would have been well advised by Shakespeare’s soothsayer to ‘Beware the Ides of March.’ And second, in Tolkien’s portrayal of the Black Captain and Lord of the Ringwraiths, we have a mortal man who has sold his immortal soul to Sauron for a ring of power and the illusion of earthly dominion. This tragic exchange, set within the context of his epic fantasy world, was exactly comparable to Shakespeare’s Macbeth: the tale of a king who has lost his doomed and blasted soul.
The life of the Witch-king is protected by a prophecy that is almost identical to the final one that safeguards Macbeth. Tolkien’s Witch-king ‘cannot be slain by the hand of man’, while the similarly deluded Macbeth ‘cannot be slain by man of woman born’.
The Witch-king is, of course, not slain by the hand of man but by the shieldmaiden Éowyn of Rohan. Here again, Tolkien draws on ancient historical and mythological traditions that feature warrior maidens.
Aragorn sails to Minas Tirith
The Dead Men of Dunharrow come to the aid of Aragorn
Éowyn slays the Witch-king
THE
BATTLE
OF THE
BLACK GATE
DATE: 25 MARCH 3019 THIRD AGE
LOCATION: THE PLAIN OF DAGORLAD, BEFORE MORDOR,
MIDDLE-EARTH
The Dark Tower of Mordor
A Mûmak – a war elephant of the armies of Harad (who fought with Sauron), bearing war towers upon their backs
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings has much in common with legends in many cultures throughout the
world, in which heroes or villains possess ‘external souls’ that are kept hidden within objects outside the body. The legends spring from a number of sources. However, when the soul is kept in a metal object such as a ring, one can be certain that the source of the legend is the tradition of the magician-smith.
Tibet’s epic hero Gesar of Ling is a remarkable example of this tradition. Gesar was a warrior, magician, smith and king who ruled the greatest mountain kingdom in Tibet. The epic events of Gesar’s life demonstrate the ancient belief that not only can individual souls or lives be kept in a ring or metal talisman, but so can the souls or lives of entire dynasties and whole nations. This certainly parallels Tolkien’s epic adventure, where Sauron the Dark Lord’s entire evil empire collapses with the One Ring’s destruction.
The multi-skilled hero Gesar becomes the King of Ling by virtue of many feats of heroism and magic. His confirmation as king comes when the supernatural guardians of the kingdom allow him entry into a crystal mountain where the treasures of Ling are kept. Without doubt, the most important is the emblematic throne of the realm, on which rests a huge gold mandala ring that is known as the ‘Life of Ling’ with a crystal vessel at its centre, from which flow the shining ‘waters of immortality’.
One of the Olog-hai, a race of gigantic intelligent trolls
MAP OF THE BATTLE
The map on pages 206–207 is an artist’s impression of the Battle of the Black Gate. For Tolkien’s account of the conflict, see The Lord of the Rings, Book VI, Chapter X.
Although born a royal prince, while he is still a child his parents are slain by Kurkar, an evil sorcerer and the King of Hor. With his inherited powers of sorcery, the orphaned Gesar becomes an extraordinary smith. He forges an unbreakable sword from celestial (meteoric) iron.
Gesar prepares himself for his ultimate duel with his great enemy, the King of Hor. However, he knows that Kurkar cannot be slain until a huge iron mandala ring is destroyed. This huge iron ring contains the ‘life’ or ‘soul’ of Kurkar and all his ancestors: ‘It is the “life” of my ancestors. Sometimes it speaks.’ However, Kurkar believes he is safe because the iron ring cannot be melted or forged by any known means. The fire of the furnace does not even redden the sacred iron.
But Gesar is no ordinary smith, and he summons his supernatural brothers and a multitude of spirits to work in a huge volcanic forge. Gesar and his supernatural brothers strike the iron mandala with hammer blows that sound like thunder. At last the iron ‘life of the Kings of Hor’ is broken, although we are told that ‘the three worlds shook’ with its destruction. Once this has been achieved, Gesar of Ling takes up his sword of celestial iron and, with a single stroke, cuts off the sorcerer’s head.
The Nazgûl in flight
In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Sauron the Ring Lord shares many characteristics with both Gesar of Ling and Kurkar of Hor. Like Gesar of Ling, Sauron is both a supernaturally gifted smith capable of creating unmatched wonders in his forge, and a magician capable of terrifying acts of sorcery. Both have mountain strongholds and both must keep safe the golden rings by whose powers they rule their kingdoms.
At this point, the comparison between Gesar of Ling and Sauron of Mordor largely ceases. Sauron the Dark Lord is much more closely allied in values to the evil King of Hor. Kurkar, like both Gesar and Sauron, also has a ring or talisman that must be kept safe and by whose power he rules his kingdom. However, Kurkar’s iron talisman is much more like Sauron’s One Ring because both are inherently evil, and the sorcerers’ lives depend on the survival of the rings. Kurkar’s iron ring of Hor also shares the One Ring’s characteristic of being almost indestructible. Normal fires do not even cause the metal in them to redden. Both require supernatural fires of volcanic intensity to melt them down.
The Battle of the Black Gate
The destruction of Kurkar’s iron ring of Hor in Gesar’s volcanic forge-room causes a cataclysm in which ‘the three worlds shook’. Not to be outdone, this is matched by the climax of The Lord of the Rings, when the destruction of Sauron’s One Ring in Mount Doom’s volcanic forge-room causes a comparable cataclysm in which ‘the earth shook, the plain heaved and cracked, and… the skies burst into thunder seared with lightning’.
Gesar is a warrior-king who is both a smith and a magician. To such a hero, all things are possible. He assumes many forms, creates invulnerable weapons, conjures up phantom armies and creates wealth and prosperity for his people.
In Asian myth and history, the connection between alchemy or metallurgy and the power of kings and heroes is often more obviously stated than it is in Europe. Tradition insists, for instance, that the great historic Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan, was descended from a family of smiths. So, too, was the legendary Tartar hero Kok Chan, who possessed a ring that – like Sauron’s One Ring – hugely increased his already formidable powers.
Legolas Greenleaf
The Mountains of Mordor
The destruction of Mordor
The idea is suggested or implied in European ring quest epics like the Volsunga Saga and the Nibelungenlied, but the point is more often made explicit in Asian epic tales. Perhaps this is because Eastern religions or philosophies, such as Buddhism, are not in conflict with their shamanistic traditions. Nor do they appear to have a Christian tendency to vilify or eliminate these traditions.
This ancient magician-smith tradition was nonetheless powerfully influential in Northern Europe. Its strongest manifestation is found in the mythology of the Finno-Ugric people of Finland and Estonia. The supreme manifestation of their culture is the national epic of Finland, known as the Kalevala: a book that Tolkien discovered in his youth and acknowledged had had a profound influence on him in the shaping of his own cosmology.
THE BATTLE OF
BYWATER
DATE: 3 NOVEMBER 3019 THIRD AGE
LOCATION: BYWATER, THE SHIRE
The Lord of the Rings began as the fairytale sequel to The Hobbit and evolved into high chivalric romance on an epic scale. However, the difference between the traditional tale of chivalric romance and that of The Lord of the Rings is its perspective and its choice of hero.
Traditionally, Frodo Baggins would simply have been a foil to Aragorn. The Hobbit would have been considered too frail – and all too human – to be a likely candidate for the role of the questing hero. Aragorn is large, strong and almost superhuman in his fearlessness and virtue.
In the end, however, it is the ‘ordinary’ human qualities of compassion and humility in the Hobbit that are finally what is required to prevail in this particular quest. The deep wisdom of compassion found in the human (or Hobbit) heart succeeds where heroic strength cannot.
A Hobbit bowman
In the chronicles of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age, it soon becomes apparent that the acts of greatest courage were achieved by the smallest of protagonists. Time and again, almost unnoticed, Hobbits perform acts of bravery that prove critical to the turning of the tide of great events in Middle-earth. This can be seen, for instance, in Bilbo Baggins’s role in the slaying of Smaug the Dragon, in Meriadoc Brandybuck’s acts in the slaying of the Witch-king, and in Samwise Gamgee’s mortal wounding of Shelob the Great Spider.
In the end, it is the humble Frodo Baggins, not the noble Aragorn, who achieves the Ring Quest. Frodo’s moral courage is as remarkable as his endurance.
In the penultimate chapter of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien draws a clear link between petty tyranny, exploitation and bullying, and the larger forms of evil of the world. After Saruman is defeated and ruined as the all-powerful wizard of the White Hand of Isengard, he is humbled and deprived of his supernatural powers, but retains his evil desire to dominate, hurt and destroy on a very petty level. And the author allows him to inflict this evil upon the place nearest to his own heart in the Hobbit lands of the Shire.
Farmer Cotton and the Chief’s Men
Tolkien once claimed to be a Hobbit in everything but height. His Shire was modelled on
an idealized rural West Midlands of his early childhood years that remained among his most cherished memories. Tolkien wrote of the importance of his heritage both in his imaginative fiction and his academic work: ‘I am indeed in English terms a West Midlander at home only in the counties upon the Welsh Marches; and it is, I believe, as much due to descent as to opportunity that Anglo-Saxon and Western Middle English and alliterative verse have been a childhood attraction and my main professional sphere.’
In the Shire we have something akin to an Edwardian ideal of rural ‘Merry Old England’ that in the wake of war has been ruined by greed and petty tyranny. The Shire’s largely passive rural folk are betrayed by one of their own in collaboration with the enemy: the ruin of the Shire is as intrinsic to Tolkien’s story as any other episode. ‘The Scouring of the Shire’ brings the message home to the reader that no place is safe from the disasters of war – and that the moral failures which allow evil to exist in everyday places like the Shire are the same that allow evil to prevail in the wider worlds. In both, it takes courage and conviction to resist and overthrow them.