Speaking of hope and hopelessness: Something which touched me deeply are those lines about Sam (in "The Black Gate is closed")
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And after all, he never had any real hope in the affair from the beginning; but beeing a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed. Now they were come to the bitter end. But he had stuck to his master all the way; that was what he had chiefly come for, and he would still stick to him.
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How is it possible to be "cheerful" and without hope at the same time? Tom Shippey in his book "Tolkien,Author of the Century" writes something interesting about this, which he calls "The theory of courage" from the Norse mythology.
About Frodo (in "The Land of Shadow")
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"Look here, Sam, dear lad" said Frodo: "I am tired , weary, I haven't a hope left. But I have to go on trying to get to the mountain, as long as I can move."
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It is something stronger then than hope that moves them to go on, a sense of duty, of comittment.
And when Sam sits watching over Frodo's sleep in Mordor:
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There, peeping among the cloud-wrack (...), Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing; there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's, ceased to trouble him.
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This feeling that they are part of something bigger that comforts Sam, is that what the Elves call "Estel" (whereas what we generally call hope is Admir)?
What do you think of these 3 examples ? They move me deeply, but I am no good at expressing my thoughts.
[ September 07, 2003: Message edited by: Guinevere ]