Enemies

[Lalwendë]

The Orcses who run off go under the trees, but not all of 'em. What happened to 'em?

Originally Posted by Raynor

I don't see your point. As Pengolodh states in Quendi and Eldar about the audio impact language of the valar, 'plainly the effect of Valarin upon Elvish ears was not pleasing'. Which is not to say that the Eldar had a low opinion of the valar.

The 'point' is that Eomer is saying the Dunlendings sound like animals, worse, like 'beasts'. He doesn't just say he cannot understand them (as Gamling patiently points out it is an ancient language), he equates their language and them with 'beasts'. There's a definite point here as Tolkien was a skilled linguist and will have known not only the importance and inherent beauty of old languages but will have known the 'politics' involved with language, that no language is the sound of 'beasts'. The sound of 'Dunlendish' is not merely 'unpleasing' to Eomer, it sounds savage.