Unfinished Tales - Part Three - II - Cirion and Eorl

[Formendacil]

Woot! I am caught up (well, until Esty posts the next thread, anyway).

Lots of thoughts about Cirion and Eorl...

First of all, I love this piece because, like "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields" before it, it fleshes out a significant chunk of Appendix A/Tale of the Years. Even more so than "Gladden Fields," however, I really felt like Tolkien had the Appendices open in front of him while he wrote this. The connection to "Gladden Fields" felt even closer with Part IV, where Isildur and Meneldil tour the realm and bury Elendil--I assume Elendur was along for this tour, as Heir of the North-Realm? The text doesn't say, but that's the sort of speculation that comes up...

The four different Parts each seemed to start as if Tolkien were taking a fresh stab at telling the story, from the Long History background of Wainriders, Northmen, and Gondor, to the Actual Ride of Eorl, to the Taking of the Oath, to the Backstory of Amon Anwar. They certainly all fit together, but the way they start, I felt as if any of them could have been intended to stand alone. In some respects, I think this helps illustrate that this isn't just the story of Cirion and Eorl, or even of Gondor's friendship with Rohan, but the story of the whole history of the Northmen, how the presence of Gondor ultimately destroyed their civilization in Rhovanion, drove a single remnant north along the Anduin, and eventually caused their resurrection as the Kingdom of Rohan. Looked at that way, it's also the story of Gondor's redemption--remember that they looked in suspicion on the Northmen and had a bloody civil war, the Kinslaying, over them--as they come to accept the Rohirrim as their allies and friends.

Part 1 is my favourite (at least until I read the other three...). Telling the tale of King Narmacil II and King Calimehtar's wars with the Wainriders and ending with the death of Ondoher and the ascension of Eärnil II to the throne, it fits in nicely with the story of Arvedui, Pelendur, and Prince Eärnur: the story of the succession crisis, the fall of Arnor, and the end of the Line of Anárion, which probably gets the most attention in Appendix A of all the stories. Perhaps my favourite aspect of this story is the name of Ondoher's sister-son, Minohtar. The simple fact of his existence--and death in the wake of Ondoher's slaughter--gives a bit more background to rejection of Arvedui's claim, which was made on the basis of his wife, Ondoher's daughter. Although Pelendur and the council decided against succession to the throne through the female line, one wonders if they would still have handed the throne to Eärnil if Minohtar had been claiming the throne.

And then there's his name. I realise that it contains "Ohtar" (another connection to "Gladden Fields"), but I can't help wondering it was the result of some etymological whimsy whereby Tolkien worked a "minotaur" into Middle-earth.

One other thing that intrigued me was the legal system of the Gondorian state, which shines through quite a bit whenever Tolkien addresses how the Stewards wield royal power and perform royal functions. The following sums it up best:

Originally Posted by Cirion and Eorl

As for the worlds "as long as the Kingdom endures," they said that Gondor remained a "kingdom," ruled by a vice-regent, and that the words must therefore mean "as long as the state of Gondor endures."

Although this comes in the clear context of the Stewards being painted as good guys: the ones who held Gondor together, the shift from the "the Kingdom of Gondor" to "the state of Gondor" helps illuminate Denethor's mentality about the realm.

I also wondered if Denethor ever visited Elendil's tomb in Rath Dínen with Boromir. Obviously, with the removal of Elendil's casket, the tradition of visiting Amon Anwar was no longer binding, but I wonder if a version of it was retained with the removed body.