Characters:
Gandalf
Saruman and the White Council
Sauron
King Dáin II Ironfoot
King Brand
Gimli
Text:
In the late summer of that same year (2941) Gandalf had at last prevailed upon
Saruman and the White Council to attack Dol Guldur, and Sauron retreated and
went to Mordor, there to be secure, as he thought, from all his enemies. So it
was that when the War came at last the main assault was turned southwards; yet
even so with his far-stretched right hand Sauron might have done great evil in
the North, if King Dáin and King Brand had not stood in his path. Even as
Gandalf said afterwards to Frodo and Gimli, when they dwelt together for a time
in Minas Tirith. Not long before news had come to Gondor of events far away.
‘I grieved at the fall of Thorin,’ said Gandalf; ‘and now we hear that Dáin
has fallen, fighting in Dale again, even while we fought here. I should call
that a heavy loss, if it was not a wonder rather that in his great age he could
still wield his axe as mightily as they say that he did, standing over the body
of King Brand before the Gate of Erebor until the darkness fell. . . . .’
[continued below]
Questions:
1. Attack on Dol Guldur "… Gandalf had at last prevailed upon Saruman and the
White Council to attack Dol Guldur". Q: Did Gandalf try before to convince the
Saruman and the White Council to attack Dol Guldur? Why did it take so long to
decide to attack?
2. Secure in Mordor: "went to Mordor, there to be secure, as he thought, from
all his enemies.". Secure from whom? What about Mordor, besides the obvious
mountains, would provide security for him? Isn’t he closer to his enemies?
3. Sauron’s Right Hand: far-stretched right hand Sauron might have done great
evil in the North. Q: What evil? What would the North look like with Sauron in
Power of it?
4. Brand and Dáin: "if King Dáin and King Brand had not stood in his path" How
good of allies were they at this time? Was this an alliance of necessity or
true friendship? How was the relationship of the Dwarves of Erebor and Men of
Dale by the time of the War of the Ring?
5. Go King Dáin!: "It was not a wonder rather that in his great age he could
still wield his axe as mightily as they say that he did, standing over
the body of King Brand before the Gate of Erebor until the darkness
fell." A dwarf defending the body of a dead man to the death! Any thoughts on
this image? He has become my favorite Dwarf after Gimli! Do you see him as a
mighty hero?
6. Gandalf: "… now we hear that Dáin has fallen, fighting in Dale again, even
while we fought here. I should call that a heavy loss" Me too!. How heavy is
it: to Dwarves, to Men, to middle-earth?
General thoughts and questions about Sauron:
7. Sauron: Chicken or the Egg: (These thoughts and questions have been
following me around that I don’t have a conclusion for yet.)
According to the myth Sauron is a being unto himself more or less. A being to
fear as an enemy. An enemy that periodically gets defeated, but never really
goes away.
Questions for consideration: Does he regain power because evil is growing
within the beings of Middle-earth? Another way to put it might be: is he a sort
of ‘out-growth’ of Middle-earth inhabitants evil choices and actions (evil as
Tolkien uses it)? Or, at the least, perhaps, he is allowed to be and flourish
due through neglect and vigilance against the forces of evil within
themselves as well as without!? I have come to believe that it is not just a
force of evil outside but within as well. That it was not just Sauron creating
all the trouble as some ‘force over there’ but also the choices and
actions of the inhabitants of middle-earth that allow for the ‘spirit of Sauron
to endure’. Like the Ring, it is both at the same time. Not just one or the
other. That it is not so black & white as good versus evil in such extreme
terms. Any thoughts or UUTs of similar or thought or of opposing thought
regarding Sauron and the source of evil?
Links:
Battle of Dale
(Encyclopedia of Arda)
White Council
(AoE)
* * * * * * * * * * *
Mightier than Estë is Nienna, sister of Fëanturi; she dwells alone. She is acquainted with grief, and mourns for every wound that Arda suffered in the marring of Melkor. So great was her sorrow, as the Music unfolded that her song turned to lamentation long before its end, and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the World before it began. But she does not weep for herself; and those who hearken to her learn pity, and endurance in hope. . . . All those who wait in Mandos cry to her, for she brings strength to the spirit and turns sorrow to wisdom.
Valaquenta
