[davem]

I suppose the thing that stands out for me in this episode is the portrayal of Faramir. I don't know whether the adaptors went through the same kind of trauma the movie makers did (apparently) over how to make him 'believable', but you have to admire their skill in doing so - as opposed to the 'struggles' the movie writers apparently went through. Andrew Seear gets across the complexity of Tolkien's character (once again, I don't know whether he was familiar with the book beforehand) simply by using Tolkien's dialogue. I found this Faramir far more believable than movie Faramir. This is clearly a man who is prepared to sacrifice himself for what he believes in, but not to sacrifice his ideals - because he actually has ideals, rather than being a bit of a beardy-wierdy with a daddy complex..... anyway... You can certainly see how such a man could inspire loyalty in his troops. He's wise. He knows that in order to have any chance of victory over the Enemy one has to reject all the methods of the Enemy. As has been pointed up already, Ian Holm's performance as Frodo is spot on - his self-sacrificial journey (both inner & outer) to his own death, increasingly focussed on his goal to the exclusion of all else, doing what he knows is the morally right thing, while accepting that he himself will not get anything out of doing it, is heartbreaking - to the point that it is difficult to listen to his performance. William Nighy's Sam, clearly struggling to know how to cope with the dawning realisation of what's happening to his master, & Woodthorpe's Gollum, fighting against his inner fragmentation, because on some level he realises that he must get to that state of one-pointed meditation on his Precious to the exclusion of all else if he is ever to get it back, both bring out elements of the characters which many readers miss.

And Peter Vaughn's Denethor (shades of Olivier's Richard III - or is that just me?). I love this portrayal - subtle, driven, power-hungry, snide, but we cannot help but feel his loss. He may, as Gandalf says, be using his grief as a cloak, but we never doubt that that grief is real. And, again, its nice to be spared the scenery chewing .....

Briefly to the Grey Company. Nice to have an Aragorn who is in command - he tellls the Dead what they're going to do, & they get right down to it. This is another example of how the limitations of the medium actually work in favour of the story - radio doesn't allow you to go in for Indiana Jones style action sequences, so you don't get them, & such sequences aren't in the spirit of Tolkien. And jumping back to the scene with Eowyn - they way her voice breaks slightly when she says "Neither have those others that go with thee. They go only because they would not be parted from thee - because they love thee." is perfect.

Finally, Merry's failure to recognise that Dernhelm is a bird - very difficult to do, I suppose (bit like the voice of the resurrected Gandalf in Fangorn) - as soon as you hear the actor speaking the surprise is ruined - as readers we don't know Dernhelm is Eowyn till the confrontation with the Witch King on Pelenor Fields. Here, we know as soon as 'he' says "You wish to go whither the Lord of the Mark goes. I see it in your face." But that's a problem you'd have in any dramatisation, & at least this one attempts it, unlike the movie, where they simply don't bother.

Appendix - a couple of things that occurred to me while listening, first, the Red Arrow. This is a traditional summons to war. I've mentioned a couple of examples of it in another thread:

King Audbjorn sent around an arrow of war as a signal to call men to arms throughout his kingdom & dispatched messengers to powerful men asking them to meet him. (Egil's Saga)

The king split up a war-arrow, which he sent off in all directions, and by that token a number of men was collected in all haste. (Hakon the Good's Saga)

but I've recently come across another example in Saxo Grammaticus' Danish History:

But if any man, from a contumacious spirit, were slack in fulfilling the orders of the king, he should be punished with exile. For, on all occasion of any sudden and urgent war, an arrow of wood, looking like iron, used to be passed on everywhere from man to man as a messenger.

So, clearly another example of Tolkien drawing on traditional lore to add historicity to his stories.

Oh, & while on the subject - 'Shield-maidens'. Saxo also has a good few examples:

Alfhild

Thus Alfhild was led to despise the young Dane; whereupon she exchanged woman's for man's attire, and, no longer the most modest of maidens, began the life of a warlike rover.

Enrolling in her service many maidens who were of the same mind, she happened to come to a spot where a band of rovers were lamenting the death of their captain, who had been lost in war; they made her their rover captain for her beauty, and she did deeds beyond the valour of woman.

Wisna:

a woman, filled with sternness, and a skilled warrior,

Rusla

At the same time the amazon Rusla, whose prowess in warfare exceeded the spirit of a woman, had many fights in Norway with her brother, Thrond, for the sovereignty. She could not endure that Omund rule over the Norwegians, and she had declared war against all the subjects of the Danes. Omund, when he heard of this, commissioned his most active men to suppress the rising. Rusla conquered them, and, waxing haughty on her triumph, was seized with overweening hopes, and bent her mind upon actually acquiring the sovereignty of Denmark. She began her attack on the region of Halland, but was met by Homod and Thode, whom the king had sent over. Beaten, she retreated to her fleet, of which only thirty ships managed to escape, the rest being taken by the enemy. Thrond encountered his sister as she was eluding the Danes, but was conquered by her and stripped of his entire army; he fled over the Dovrefjeld without a single companion. Thus she, who had first yielded before the Danes, soon overcame her brother, and turned her flight into a victory. When Omund heard of this, he went back to Norway with a great fleet, first sending Homod and Thole by a short and secret way to rouse the people of Tellemark against the rule of Rusla. The end was that she was driven out of her kingdom by the commons, fled to the isles for safety, and turned her back, without a blow, upon the Danes as they came up. The king pursued her hotly, caught up her fleet on the sea, and utterly destroyed it, the enemy suffered mightily, and he won a bloodless victory and splendid spoils. But Rusla escaped with a very few ships, and rowed ploughing the waves furiously; but, while she was avoiding the Danes, she met her brother and was killed.

& Ladgerda

Among them was Ladgerda, a skilled amazon, who, though a maiden, had the courage of a man, and fought in front among the bravest with her hair loose over her shoulders. All-marvelled at her matchless deeds, for her locks flying down her back betrayed that she was a woman....

Her second husband didn't fare so well

Ladgerda, who had a matchless spirit though a delicate frame, covered by her splendid bravery the inclination of the soldiers to waver. For she made a sally about, and flew round to the rear of the enemy, taking them unawares, and thus turned the panic of her friends into the camp of the enemy. At last the lines of HARALD became slack, and HARALD himself was routed with a great slaughter of his men. LADGERDA, when she had gone home after the battle, murdered her husband.... in the night with a spear-head, which she had hid in her gown. Then she usurped the whole of his name and sovereignty; for this most presumptuous dame thought it pleasanter to rule without her husband than to share the throne with him.

& this got me thinking - as the term 'Shieldmaiden' seems common in Rohan (both Eowyn & Eomer use it in this episode) could there have been others in the Rohirrim?