Enemies

[davem]

Originally Posted by Raynor

These people were eating, breathing and living in hate; they were at war; they were stirred by Saruman. I could only expect that their "alien" language, as described in the appendices, would sound rather harsh under these circumstances. I find French to be very melodic, but I have no doubt a person can "bark" in French. While some people find Russian or German less than pleasant, to be polite, I don't presume they demonise the russians or the germans. Anyway, the dunlendings being savage is consistent with Gamling description of them.

Yes, but... (& here I think I may be arguing against my own theory, but I'll throw it in anyway)

The folk of Rohan were hardly a tolerant bunch - we know they hunted the Woses for sport, which is a clear denial of their humanity. It wouldn't surprise me to find that they saw the Dunlendings in the same way. The Dunlendings may have been 'stirred by Saruman', but I doubt it took much effort on his part to get them to turn on the Horselords. If they hated the folk of Rohan it was hardly without cause. The Rohirrim were clearly a folk in awe of their more 'advanced' neighbours to the south & looked with contempt on both the Woses & the Dunlendings.

Gamling's words are significant:

"Not in half a thousand years have they forgotten their grievance that the lords of Gondor gave the Mark to Eorl the Young and made alliance with him. That old hatred Saruman has inflamed. They are fierce folk when roused. They will not give way now for dusk or dawn, until Theoden is taken, or they themselves are slain."

He acknowledges that his own people drove the Dunlendings out of their ancestral lands & that they are 'fierce folk' who will fight to the death, rather than turn & run.

What I take from this is that Eomer is equivalent to a junior officer who has a pretty self satisfied view of his own superiority over the 'savages'. He is like the upper class Victorian young man who graduates from Sandhurst or West Point with a head full of military knowledge but with so little practical experience that he's likely to get himself & his men killed in their first combat due to his underestimating the enemy. Gamling is the veteran sergeant who knows his enemy through experience, doesn't underestimate them, & is prepared to acknowledge their reckless bravery, & thus manages to prevent the 'h'officer' from leading his men to their deaths. And I wonder if we find an echo of Tida & Totta in this incident?

In fact, I can imagine Gamling speaking the words of Kipling I quoted at the start of this thread in regards to the Dunlendings:

’E rushes at the smoke when we let drive,
An’, before we know, ’e’s ’ackin’ at our ’ead;
’E’s all ’ot sand an’ ginger when alive,
An’ ’e’s generally shammin’ when ’e’s dead.
’E’s a daisy, ’e’s a ducky, ’e’s a lamb!
’E’s a injia-rubber idiot on the spree,
’E’s the on’y thing that doesn’t give a d**n
For a Regiment o’ Rohan Cavalree