[davem]

Originally Posted by Kransha

If one is more lenient with the term 'oath' one can get much more out of of it.

I think this is the right approach. Oaths, vows, promises run right through the Legendarium. I've already discussed Merry's oath of service to Theoden in the Chapter by Chapter thread. Merry seems to put a higher value on his oath than Theoden. Theoden attempts to release Merry from his obligation of service, but Merry will not accept this - an oath is a 'covenant', & cannot be simply set aside by one or other party. Merry, technically doesn't disobey Theoden by going into battle - Theoden has set the oath aside, & from that point Merry is a free agent, free to go into battle if he will. Merry, on the other hand, is in a strange position - if he considers himself still bound by his oath he should obey Theoden & remain behind. But his oath was an oath of service to his lord to fight with him if it came to it - why offer his sword to Theoden otherwise. Merry is attempting to fulfil the oath he swore.

Pippin is in a similar position. He swears an oath to Denethor. Denethor at the end releases him

'Farewell!' he said. 'Farewell, Peregrin son of Paladin! Your service has been short, & noww it os drawing to an end. I release you from the little that remains. Go now & die in what way seems best to you'

but Pippin won't accept:

..from my word & your service I do not wish to be released while you live. And if they come at last to the Citadel, I hope to be here & stand beside you & earn perhaps the arms that you have given me'.

An oath is a two way agreement, & cannot be broken by one party. Aragorn accepts this, telling Pippin at their parting:

'For do not forget, Peregrin Took, that you are a knight of Gondor, & I do not release you from your service. You are going on leave, but I may recall you'

Another example arises at the same time - Treebeard informing Gandalf that he has let Saruman go free:

'Now do not tell me, Gandalf, that I promised to keep him safe; for I know it. But things have changed since then. And I kept him till he was safe, safe from doing any more harm. You should know that above all i hate the caging of wild things.

And it gets interesting with Faramir's words to Frodo concerning the Ring:

'Not if I found it on the highway would I take it I said. Even were I such a man as to desire this thing, & even though I knew not clearly what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow, & be held by them'

Faramir considers the words he spoke to be a vow - yet he didn't speak them as a vow! He's making himself into an oath taker after the fact. He takes his words so seriously that, apparently, anything he says he considers to be a vow. 'We are truth speakers, we men of Gondor' - ie our words are 'vows'.

But Tolkien doesn't seem to have a simplistic view of vows. He explores every aspect of oath taking & breaking. Some vows are right to take, some are wrong, but all oaths will work through, & cannot be escaped. Its almost as if, in Middle earth, once an oath is sworn (or a promise made), some 'force' is activated which will see it is held to - even Gollum knows that his oath of service, sworn on the Ring cannot simply be set aside, so he must tie himself up in mental knots in order to find a way to stick to the letter of it, while escaping the spirit. He must realise that once sworn an oath is a 'fact of life'.