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Old 12-06-2004, 02:50 AM   #1
Estelyn Telcontar
Princess of Skwerlz
 
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
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Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!
White-Hand LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 03 - The Uruk-Hai

We readers experience the events of this chapter through Pippin’s eyes, even beginning with his closed eyes! Dream and reality are almost one, and the situation brings on self-doubt comparable to Aragorn’s in the previous chapters. He feels useless, and the comparison to baggage makes me smile, with his hope that someone will come to claim them. He does wonder whether that would fit into the mission of the Fellowship, which indicates that he is thinking further than just his (and Merry’s) own good.

We get to know individual orcs in this chapter, both by their deeds and by their conversation. The theme of division among the foe shows up, something that will weaken both Saruman's and Sauron's forces throughout the story. Orc food and drink contrasts sharply with Elven lembas - and perhaps in advance with Ent draught.

Pippin is the active hobbit in this chapter, with seemingly small heroic actions that save them in the end, with the unbidden vision of Strider prompting him to drop his Elven brooch, and with the idea of hinting to Grishnįkh about the Ring. Merry, who was the planner at the beginning of their journey, is fairly passive. Their humorous conversation upon entering the forest is not only typically hobbitish, I think it is a typically British attitude they display there, and it continues to show up later, especially at Orthanc.

The last two paragraphs are a narrative insertion, adding information that the two hobbits no longer saw.

There are many interesting themes to be discussed here – the orcs, of course, with their various characters and races; the obvious conflict in loyalty between the ones belonging to Saruman and to Sauron; the interaction between the hobbits and them, and between Pippin and Merry as well. Obviously, we see from Pippin’s point of view, as he is the active one, but why did Tolkien choose him, not Merry, for that role? What can we recognize about his development?
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'
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