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Old 12-13-2006, 09:33 AM   #1
alatar
Doubting Dwimmerlaik
 
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Heaven's basement
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alatar is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.alatar is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
LotR3-RotK-Seq16

Thou wast all that to me, love,
For which my soul did pine-
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.

Ah, dream too bright to last!
Ah, starry Hope! that didst arise
But to be overcast!
A voice from out the Future cries,
"On! on!"- but o'er the Past
(Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies
Mute, motionless, aghast!

For, alas! alas! me
The light of Life is o'er!
"No more- no more- no more-"
(Such language holds the solemn sea
To the sands upon the shore)
Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree
Or the stricken eagle soar!

And all my days are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy grey eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams-
In what ethereal dances,
By what eternal streams.
- To One in Paradise by Edgar Allan Poe


Sauron’s army continues the attack in the upper levels of Minas Tirith. A Nazgûl flies by, but in the light doesn’t seem as scary. A troll batters away at the door of another gate, while soldiers of Gondor await on the other side with every long sharp pointy stick that they can find. Not many soldiers defend this door, and I wonder, like at the end of the Battle for Helm’s Deep, is this all that remain? Or is this all that happen to be stuck in this part of the city?

Note to Sauron: get one of your screechers to drop a troll on the other side of the Gate.

Pip, looking tired, dirty, and if he’s had too much of the wrong kind of smoke in his eyes, begins to talk about the end. But he’s with Gandalf, who now is much more like the one that we saw way back in bag End. Gandalf tells the poor hobbit that even death is but another beginning. He speaks of the white shores of the far green country, and I like the thought (though I may argue about going quietly into the night, and exactly where the night is) and love Ian McKellen’s work here. This is the Gandalf that sells the movie for me.

By the by, watch the throbbing/pulsing of Billy Boyd’s carotid artery - icky.

Pippin is soothed by the words, and so accepts his fate, whatever that may be. The troll continues to bang at the door, and a curt nod by Gandalf to Pip signals that, well, this may be the time, and so let’s get on our feet. “You first, Pip…I got your back.”

Back in the real battle, Théoden’s men (you know what I mean, as many of these actors could be female) are doing what they can against the larger mûmakil. The King tries to gather the Rohirrim together again, to concentrate their efforts. Suddenly, screeching is heard, and it gets louder. Théoden turns and sees the Nazgûl that tolls for he. You see Bernard Hill’s face, and he sees his death approaching, and the look seems to say, “Oh pickles! The party’s over.”

The Fell Beast grabs Snowmane and takes both horse and rider for a whipping ride. Éowyn looks on in horror. Snowmane and Théoden are thrown to the ground, and in this case, the horse was not exactly its master’s bane. Think that something else may have helped. All flee and leave the fallen King were he lay. Where are all of the King’s Men? The Witch-King tells his stead to enjoy a little snack, and Théoden realizes what meat’s on the table. He weakly shakes his hands as if he were saying, no, not me, the horse is much tastier. But before a bite can be taken, a young soldier - okay, we all know that it’s Éowyn - stands between the Nazgûl and its din-din. Éowyn threatens the beast and, I guess, the Fell Rider with death, and the Witch-King spurs the Fell Beast on. Éowyn gets quickly to its side and hacks the creature’s head clear off like so much wood.

The creature dies. Now, not to take anything away from Éowyn, but that did look quite easy. Now only if there were others so skilled with a sword, like the West once boasted. Note that there’s just something about the helmet that Éowyn wears that makes her ‘wide-eyed’ look look weird - not sure how else to explain it.

The Witch-King dismounts and decides to face this young warrior in single combat. No flaming sword, no magical spell to break the shield or sword in its opponent’s hands, but the old tried-and-true of smashing the person to pieces with a large spiky weight of metal.

Think that, in the past, I’d already remarked in the size of the Witch-King’s morning star flail, and think that in the Appendices the exaggerated size was thought by the creators to be too big and would be rejected by moreMoreMORE PJ, but when PJ saw it, he said to make it even bigger. It’s amazing the strength in the wraithy Witch-King, as the flail end seems to weigh a good bit - wait till he gets it swinging (which would increase its apparent weight), but don’t worry. The Lord of the Nazgûl’s feet are firmly planted in the sandy soil (that's the reason for the spiky shoes), and so he won’t fall over like a drunken fool. Also interesting note with the swinging is, when the spiky weight fails to contact its target and continues to spin, just where does it go? The Witch-King seems to swing it, miss, and the morning star must then pause in mid-air until he chooses to redirect it.

Finally the Witch-King connects, and Eowyn’s shield is riven. Her arm may be broken as well. To me, from the force of the spiky ball (F=ma), she should have been knocked backwards, but she seems more to fall. Quibble. Éowyn lies across the dead Snowmane (does it lay across Théoden as well? Talk about piling on!)

The Witch-King has Éowyn now at his mercy…and we know that he has none.
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