What's the Worst Thing Characters had to Face in Middle Earth?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Tolkien didn't have a nice picture in mind for Denethor, noting that he became corrupted by politics and in many cases compared him to Saruman. That may be because of all this thrust upon him. However, Theoden is faced with the exact same dilemmas and was able to triumph.

Tolkien does however leave us with enough information to figure out that Denethor is not an evil Man, just one who chooses the wrong way of dealing with his problems; in the appendices he make a point of telling us about the early death of his wife and from that we can draw our own conclusions.

Comparing Denethor to Theoden is a good comparison to make. The different reactions of each to grief and to a threatened realm demonstrate how people can react in very different ways in similar situations and it does make a point that perhaps the stronger person tackles their grief rather than retreating into it. It might be useful to compare two Ringbearers - Sam and Frodo; the former (although not long a Ringbearer) manages to integrate the experience while the latter simply cannot cope. Bilbo was also a Ringbearer and like Sam he too is much more able to cope than Frodo.

I'm not sure that Tolkien is telling us that it is absolutely wrong to react in a certain way to a situation, more that he shows us what causes people to react in certain ways, and then the consequences of their reactions. We can then make our own minds up, and the characters become more tragic for not simply being there to represent a moral lesson.