Puns by Tolkien

[Bêthberry]

Not punning but some linguistic jousting between Boromir and Aragorn, from the chapter "A Journey in the Dark".

Originally Posted by Boromir

'Then let us start as soon as it is light tomorrow, if we can,' said Boromir. 'The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears.'

Originally Posted by Aragorn

'True!' said Aragorn, loosening his sword in its sheath. 'But where the warg howls, there also the orc prowls.'

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Not punning but some linguistic jousting between Boromir and Aragorn, from the chapter "A Journey in the Dark".

This passage always seemed a bit cheery to me, considering they are in mortal danger.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

This passage always seemed a bit cheery to me, considering they are in mortal danger.

I agree. It appears to come out of nowhere, the seeming camaraderie of two in competition to make the most unlikely thing to say.

I think Tom Shippey put his finger on what Tolkien might be doing here when he told the story of how his fellow team mates competed to make the greatest joke about his broken tibia and fibula after an accident in a rugby game. (One offered a very low price for his ticket to the evening dance. The other berated him for not passing the ball as he went down.) A school boy attempt to make him laugh in the moment of pain. (These were all boys at Tolkien's King Edward School and it struck me very much as schoolboy humour, which misses the modern programming not to laugh at other's or even one's own pain.) (This is in Shippey's Forward to Laughter in Middle-earth,p. 4. He is not discussing this passage, but the orcs' humour.)

To require this kind of external context seems to me to reflect a problem with the original text. I suppose there are several examples of competing egos between Boromir and Aragorn, particularly with their historical roles of Steward heir apparent and king, but I think Tolkien could have done a better job making this a more fitting competition between the two.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

I agree. It appears to come out of nowhere, the seeming camaraderie of two in competition to make the most unlikely thing to say.

...

To require this kind of external context seems to me to reflect a problem with the original text. I suppose there are several examples of competing egos between Boromir and Aragorn, particularly with their historical roles of Steward heir apparent and king, but I think Tolkien could have done a better job making this a more fitting competition between the two.

I can defintley see interchange as this sort gallows humor competetion between friends/rivals, but I did need it pointed out.