LotR -- Book 5 - Chapter 06 - The Battle of Pelennor Fields

[Formendacil]

Structurally, "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" starts with a fairly wide focus, following the Rohirrim into battle. It zooms in like a camera on a helicopter (or a Fell Beast) to Theoden as he is felled by the Witch-king. The encounter with Eowyn is almost intimate: it's two figures on the stage; Merry is almost an eavesdropper.

And then, slowly, after Merry and Eowyn have won their surprsing victory, the camera pulls away again. I still agree with much-younger Formendacil that the eucatastrophic arrival of Aragorn is a favourite part--though I would narrow down my specific moment of joy not to the fact that it is Aragorn (though, of course, it is) but the unveiling of Elendil's standard. We were told in "Minas Tirith" that only the Guard of the Citadel still bear the black and silver with the Tree of Gondor--a last ceremonial memory. Here that memory (and it's a High Priestly one) arrives at the most desperate hour in the flesh.

On a far more minor note, the emergence of Aragorn, Eomer, and Imrahil as a Three Musketeers-esque trio pleases me.