How can hope and despair be akin?

[Esgallhugwen]

Now I havn't read the books for a long while (more then I would like to admit). But I believe he said that line when they were nearing Mordor, were they not?

In any case, I believe this is what he meant. Or at least my take on it which might be less eloquent then what I'm going for.

*Ahem*

"We come now to the very brink, where hope and despair are akin."

Now if your dissertation is about the meaning of life I'll stick to that as close as I can.

In my personal experience, and here I go opening up to you weird people that I love, when I've come closest to despair that's when I hope the most. I hope long and hard that everything will turn out ok. I have no doubt that most people do the same, that when the darkest hours seem to be hanging over their head that's when they realize what kind of person they are. The one that hopes or the one that despairs, the one that fights or the one that flees.

Hope and despair are constants throughout our lives, which I suppose is a huge flaming "Duh!", but I felt like saying it just to spite those people.

What it all comes down to is this. Death. When all our life is summed up in one final moment, when the burdens of our lives are weighed by whichever deity we put our faith in in life (unless you're atheist). Death is one interpretation of the "brink" and what are we to do when the end is upon us? Hope knowing that you'll be safe in either death or that you'll live through it, or despair because you know of the inevitable.

And in a place like Mordor it's no wonder these two traits of humanity are akin. The hearts and souls of the men of Gondor and of the Mark soar at times with hope in their future and at other times are crushed by the futility of despair. It's the beauty and the curse of life.

Life in itself is meaningless until ones deeds are measured at the time of death by the power's that be. Death is what makes life mean something, it gives us the hope to carry on for something better after our existance (or until our next life) but it also gives rise to despair and the questions such as "what's the point of it all?".

Now before I become even more like Gandalf with my long windedness (and perhaps I've left nothing to be gained from this post) I digress. Perhaps someone can put it into words better then I can.