d6d3558c
XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien
On Mar 2, 3:58 pm, Steuard Jensen wrote:
> In message , Stan
>
> Brown wrote:
> > This does feel like a fairly gaping plot hole. I can't really accept
> > that Gandalf and Aragorn would start a suicidal battle just on the
> > off chance that it _might_ give Frodo time to reach the Sammath Naur
> > undetected.
>
> Yeah, that's bugged me for quite some time. You'd think that Aragorn
> could have presented nearly as tempting of a target by taking his dear
> sweet time marching toward the Black Gate. Make a big production of
> recapturing Osgiliath, for instance, complete with self-aggrandizing
> celebrations. Stage a grand festival taunting Sauron at the
> crossroads to Minas Morgul (well... maybe that would have drawn
> Sauron's armies the wrong direction). Celebrate every minor historical
> site in Ithilien that they "liberated". Wait for the troops sent to
> Cair Andros to send back word of their victory there. There were
> clearly limits: the whole point was to make Sauron feel an imminent
> threat, and to make him empty Mordor toward Udun as quickly as
> possible (and without giving him *too* much time to think). But every
> day that they could stall would be one more day for Frodo, and one
> less chance that they'd throw thousands of lives away for nothing (and
> possibly give away the game in the process).
>
Yeah, but that's the theme of the books and one that Gandalf, in
particular, had a conscious will about: It was IMPOSSIBLE for them to
defeat Sauron. It didn't matter how great their cunning, how well-
laid their plans - without assistance from "God" (Fate/chance/etc),
they were going to lose.
So then we recast their actions. Gandalf for one, knows the score.
Aragorn and the wisest of the leaders of the Free have a dim,
intuitive perception of it. They will "make a heap of all their
winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch and toss" (as Kipling would
say), signifying that they intend to fight and sacrifice to the limits
of possibility, whilst acknowledging that they are dependant on
'help'.
Given that - that they were willing to sacrifice themselves for
freedom and the light, without dragging their feet, dawdling, and
hoping that Frodo would actually find the impossible possible and
relying on that as a plan - given that, the conditions for Eru to
intervene by the use of a small thumb on the cosmic scales of
probability and happenstance were met. It just so happened that Frodo
reached the destination of his quest at the right moment. It just so
happened that the mercy he had shown came back at the right moment and
in such a way that the Ring was destroyed _accidentally_, when its
deliberate destruction was actively and completely impossible (the
mooted suggestion that a big Elf warrior could just chuck Frodo into
the flames Ring and all would doubtless fail - the warrior would
instead seize the Ring from Frodo for his own use). And it just so
happened because the Allies submitted to the will of "Fate" (or God,
or Eru, or whatever you want to call it).
Put in context that Gandalf, Elrond and the Wise _knew_ that it was
impossible to deliberately destroy the Ring and that Boromir's stance
that it was simply sending the Ring back to Sauron was correct (he
just didn't see the subtle desperation), the fact that they were
relying on the fact that only divine intervention at the right moment
could save them - they were simply setting up the conditions where
such divine intervention would be the most possible and symbolise
their submission to its will. This move was simply an extension of
that. It relied on divine intervention to save the day.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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