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Old 02-03-2005, 12:06 PM   #27
Lalwendë
A Mere Boggart
 
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Join Date: Mar 2004
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Lalwendë is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Lalwendë is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpM
Finally, this Chapter contains one of the most (unintentionally) funny lines in the book:

Quote:
Aragorn and Legolas went now with Éomer in the van.

I wonder who was driving?
Who was driving? Depends if it was a black van; in which case, probably Mr T.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpM
As far as the depiction of the battle is concerned, I do think that Aiwendil hit the nail on the head when he described it as a series of linked dramatic events (see his post #6 above). It is portrayed as a series of incidents, each involving the principal characters, linked by a general description of the battle's progress, in particular the development of the Orcs' assault. It struck me that this is similar to the way that a battle might be portrayed on film - as a series of encounters/incidents linked by overview shots of the battle. Tolkien's skill as a story-teller enables him to deploy this technique to marvellous effect in this Chapter.
That's a very good point about the same technique being used in films. It brings to mind war films, where the action of a battle is often best portrayed via the experiences of various combatants; we can 'see' the battle as those involved see it, from the point of view of those who die or are injured, and from those who survive, which enables us not only to follow the 'story' of the battle but also to gain something of how it might have felt to be involved.

Strangely enough, this film technique could almost be applied to LotR in general, as we 'see' Middle Earth through various eyes. We are never in one place for very long (the chapters are shorter than you might expect for an 'epic' novel), and successive chapters with a lot of exposition are often linked by others which take us along on a journey to the next part of the story. It is an episodic novel in this respect, yet with a strong underlying feature in that we are taking the journey and discovering the landscape of Middle Earth along with the characters.
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