[davem]

Victory cannot be achieved by arms, whether you sit here to endure siege after siege, or march out to be overwhelmed beyond the River. You have only a choice of evils; and prudence would counsel you to strengthen such strong places as you have, and there await the onset; for so shall the time before your end be made a little longer.'

Gandalf sums up the situation pretty starkly. They are fighting without any real hope. the most logical reaction would be to run & gather what strength they could to hold out as long as possible. The only 'hope' of victory is no real hope at all - that somehow Frodo will find a way to destroy the Ring. What hope Gandalf himself has of that happening is not made explicit. What he is doing here though is to confront Imrahil in particular, & through him the rest of the commanders, with what they actually have been doing for so long - he says the 'wisest' course is to run & hole up. Imrahil responds by condemning that policy & Gandalf comes back with 'Well, if its such a bad idea, why have you been doing exactly that all this time. It has to be said. The Captains of the West need to have a mirror held up to themselves.

Have you not done this and little more in all the days of Denethor? But no! I said this would be prudent. I do not counsel prudence. I said victory could not be achieved by arms. I still hope for victory, but not by arms.

Exactly what 'hope' Gandalf has is not clear - is it hope that Frodo will succeed, or that in some way Eru will make everything well? Yet he is not so full of 'hope' that he has lost touch with reality:

'Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary. Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wberein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.

In short, he is reiterating the advice he gave to Frodo: 'All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.' Life is a battleground - 'sin is behovely' as Julian put it. All one can do is one's best, & live in hope.

Again, we see Aragorn's pro-active defiance of Sauron - he declares that he has shown himself to Sauron in the Palantir. Basically, he is telling his fellow leaders that he has thrown down the gauntlet to Sauron. In Frodo's words he is saying 'I purpose to enter Mordor - I do not ask anyone to go with me.' Or in his own words to Eomer: 'I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn: willl you aid me, or thwart me?' Everything about Aragorn's behaviour seems to be an attempt to make Sauron believe he has the Ring.

'As Aragorn has begun, so we must go on. We must push Sauron to his last throw. We must call out his hidden strength, so that he shall empty his land. We must march out to meet him at once. We must make ourselves the bait, though his jaws should close on us. He will take that bait, in hope and in greed, for he will think that in such rashness he sees the pride of the new Ringlord: and he will say: "So! he pushes out his neck too soon and too far. Let him come on, and behold I will have him in a trap from which he cannot escape. There I will crush him, and what he has taken in his insolence shall be mine again for ever."

We see again that claiming the Ring is not the same thing as mastering it. Even if Aragorn has the Ring he can still be defeated & the Ring wrested back.

Again, Gandalf reiterates the hopelessness of their position:

'We must walk open-eyed into that trap, with courage, but small hope for ourselves. For, my lords, it may well prove that we ourselves shall perish utterly in a black battle far from the living lands; so that even if Barad-dur be thrown down, we shall not live to see a new age. But this, I deem, is our duty. And better so than to perish nonetheless--as we surely shall, If we sit here--and know as we die that no new age shall be.

Not only is he now telling them that there is little hope of survival in their confrontation, but that it would be better not to survive it if it means that Sauron gains the victory. They must do everything they can because its better to die doing what's right than to live as slaves. This is a difficult idea - because the Captains have not only to make that decision for themselves but also for those who serve them.

At length Aragorn spoke. 'As I have begun, so I will go on. We come now to the very brink, where hope and despair are akin. To waver is to fall. Let none now reject the counsels of Gandalf, whose long labours against Sauron come at last to their test. But for him all would long ago have been lost. Nonetheless I do not yet claim to command any man. Let others choose as they will.'

Hope & despair are now 'akin'. To 'waver is to fall' - or as Galadriel said 'The quest stands on the edge of a knife: stray but a little & it will fail, to the ruin of all.'

Eomer's response is simple & to the point:

'As for myself,' said Eomer, 'I have little knowledge of these deep matters; but I need it not. This I know, and it is enough, that as my friend Aragorn succoured me and my people, so I will aid him when he calls. I will go.'

He will trust Aragorn, & repay the 'debt' he owes him. This sums up the attitude of his folk. Eomer, interestingly, refers to Aragorn not as his 'king' but as his friend. His friend is in need so he will do whatever is necessary to aid him. Imrahil's position is diferent. Aragorn is his 'liege-lord', & he will obey his command.

'As for me,' said Imrahil, 'the Lord Aragorn I hold to be my liege-lord, whether he claim it or no. His wish is to me a command. I will go also.

I wonder which attitude Aragorn preferred? His last words sum up again his own position:

'If this be jest, then it is too bitter for laughter. Nay, it is the last move in a great jeopardy, and for one side or the other it will bring the end of the game.'

He has fixed upon his goal, & nothing will now deter him from it. Hope & despair are truly akin, & like Frodo on Amon Hen caught between the Voice & the Eye he too must have 'writhed' - yet, also like Frodo, he was able to seperate himself from those two 'powers' & make his choice:

Then he drew Anduril and held it up glittering in the sun. 'You shall not be sheathed again until the last battle is fought,' he said.