Excellent thread,
Corwyn.
Quote:
|
Hmm... most of these are about the Rohirrim, especially at war, especially the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. I wonder why?
|
I think that the whole idea of
painful beauty, of heroic deaths, of suffering with a purpose, is something that comes down to us from a past age. I don't know much about the history of the Anglo-Saxons, Goths, Norsemen, etcetera, but it seems to me that these kind of feelings were really a part of their warrior nature. One of the most touching lines for me is Aragorn's final farewell to Théoden (especially after we know what Théoden's fate will be):
Quote:
|
Farewell, lord! Ride unto great renown!
|
Rohan is very much a society where a Valhalla could exist; a separate, glorious heaven which rewarded those who died in battle. Gondor in sharp contrast (at least the Gondor that Faramir believes in, if not the Gondor that Boromir would have had) is a society where the wisdom of healers is greatly revered, and life revolves around battle only through unfortunate necessity.
Our own modern society is much more like Gondor than Rohan, and in my opinion
painful beauty has much less clout than it used to, at least in western society. I have heard
Lush hint on another thread that this may not be completely so in Eastern European or Slavic cultures, and that death is treated quite differently to how it is in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia and I presume other western states such as the USA, Britain and Canada (sorry if I left anyone out, that's not an exhaustive list!).
Whether we're enlightened or just plain boring, the fact remains that a death in battle, or battle in general is not what it once was. I was reading an article yesterday in
Time magazine about soldiers maimed in the recent Gulf War; about the terrible cost in terms of injury. The point was made that the dead are reported more frequently than the wounded. It is more acceptable (from a political point of view) for a death to be reported. Then we may hope to keep alive some of this
painful beauty for those who supposedly fell valiantly defending our ideals. It is infinitely harder to look at the pain-drawn face of a recent amputee and find beauty in it. Which is why
The Lord of the Rings, for better or for worse, makes no mention of the grisly casualties involved in a medieval style war. Tolkien has tried to convey to us the glorified vision of righteous warfare, and gives us less of the other side of the coin, the human suffering (a notable exception is Théoden's proud and stirring rebuke to Saruman).