Oaths & Oathbreaking

[Aiwendil]

Davem wrote:

But Theoden does release him from his service - I had to check this because It surprised me in the light of this thread:

Ah - I'd quite forgotten that quote.

Frodo attempts to leave Sam at Parth Galen.

But Frodo had not accepted Sam's oath, as I recall. Sam made that oath to Gandalf, not to Frodo (i.e. not to lose Frodo). That's quite a different scenario from the reciprocated covenants between Merry and Theoden or Pippin and Denethor. Or am I again forgetting a relevant passage from the book?

Incidentally, isn't Frodo an oath breaker - he breaks his oath to the council when he offers the Ring to Galadriel?

A good point. For that matter, he breaks the oath again at Mount Doom.

It's interesting that of the oaths taken in LotR most have happy outcomes, broken or unbroken. Only Gollum's and Theoden's lead them to their deaths. Merry and Pippin not only come off relatively unscathed by their oaths; they also do quite a lot of good as a result of having taken their oaths - the Witch-king is defeated partially as a result of Merry's and Faramir is saved as a result of Pippin's. Even Eowyn's apparently broken oath leads to a good result. Aragorn does save the Hobbits and goes on to become king just as he wanted. Sam survives the trip to Mordor and wins great renown thereby, as well as playing a critical part in the success of the quest.

Compare this with the Silmarillion. Take the oaths in "Beren and Luthien" as examples. Gorlim breaks his oath and earns death and disgrace. Thingol swears an oath (not to slay Beren) but breaks it in spirit by sending him to get a Silmaril; the result is the eventual ruin of Doriath. Finrod's oath to aid the folk of Barahir leads him to his death in Tol-in-Gaurhoth and political trouble in Nargothrond. Only Beren's oath has a happy ending - and that only for him and for Luthien; for Finrod and his companions, and for Huan, his oath leads to death. And then of course there's the oath of Feanor.

I'm not sure what the whole significance of this difference is. Perhaps it just reflects the very different tones of the two works. But it is striking.