LoTR discussion project: Book III, Chapters 8 and 9:

[Forkbeard]

The Road to Isengard

I love this chapter. It opens with victory, pulled from the very jaws of defeat and death by means unlooked for. And of course, as will happen again later, and the symbolism is rife, it occurs at dawn with the coming of the White Rider, a new forest, and Erkenbrand of Westfold who relieve the defenders of the Hornburg. I love the name "hornburg": in Germanic languages "horn" in addition to meaning the thing sticking out of certain beasties' heads, means a projection, a pinnacle, a peak and "burg" which many will recognize originally indicated a fort or fortress. Hornburg=hill fort, but sounds so much cooler! And over the Dike, the extending wall protecting the fort from being surrounded, come Eomer and Gimli and Gamling the Old, something of a joke too. Gamling comes from gamol, old, hoary, so literally in that paragraph Tolkien calls him The Old One the Old. As an aside, note also the emphasis on AGE in Tolkien: Bombadill and Fangorn as the oldest of living things, Gandalf and the other Istari appearing as aged men who grew older slowly, but still are aged, the ancient elves (where do we see a young elf? An elf child?). Those we meet and get to know are very old: Arwen at a mere 2700, Galadriel around since the First Age as was Elrond; even Legolas isn't a young pup. Frodo is 50, and while young for a hobbit yet, is equivalent to a man in his 30s for us. And so on. I don't know that anyone has really explored this before, but maybe they have and the assembled here can fill me in.

Moving off the first page....this chapter is somewhat frustrating the first time through. At least I remember being frustrated. Gandalf knows or at least suspects much. But he reveals NOTHING to Theoden or to us. We know what Gandalf knows: the trees and the Ents, what's happened at Isengard, and so on. But Gandalf tells nothing of this to Theoden and Aragorn, but simply says, "I'm going to Isengard, you can come if you want. Otherwise I'll see you in a couple days at Edoras. Toodles." Even as we approach Isengard later in the chapter, Gandalf doesn't reveal the mound for the riders but lets them assume that the Rohirrim dead at the Battle of the Fords were lieing scattered for the orcs and wolves to scavange: not until the Riders see the mound is there any mention. They don't sleep well the night in the Gap: its foggy, the river starts to flow again in the middle of the night, and again though Gandalf knows that Treebeard is up to something, he says nothing to calm the anxiety of Theoden and Co.

Two other things to mention quickly: Gimli's count is one ahead of Legolas. This is both a grim and yet amusing part of the story, this "competition" between friends. I never know whether to be somewhat grossed out or to feel like I'm part of the comraderie. I usually choose the latter.

The other thing to mention here is the fair treatment of the Dunlendings: their weapons removed, an oath of non-violence against the Rohirrim exacted, and forced labor in burying the dead and repairing the fort, then freedom.

Ok, a third thing: Hama, the door warden, died before the gate, the door warden doing his duty to death. That fact always saddens me, I very much like Hama though he appears for so little.

As they go through the new forest, a pathway is provided for them. Here Legolas expresses his wish to walk among the trees. But the surprsing thing is that Gimli the dwarf rhapsodizes in beautiful prose about the Glittering Caves of the Hornburg, a moving passage. My own inclination is for the trees, but almost Gimli makes a believer of me. The bargain is struck that Gimli will visit Fangorn with Legolas if Legolas comes to the Caves with Gimli.

These characters see the ents for the first time, and Theoden not for the first time remarks on the legends of the deep past walk in the grass of the present. The company reaches the Fords and begins to enter the results of the Ents work on Isengard. Ent, as you no doubt know, is an Old English word meaning "giant", but Tolkien in LoTR gives it such a special meaning. I can not read "ent" in any other context without thinking of Treebeard.

As the company finally reach the gates of Isengard and realize that Saruman has been overthrown, they spy two figures on the wreck about the gates. Tolkien gives us a detailed description of Isengard and its environs and a little of its history. We then return to the company, Merry's on his best manners welcomes them, the reunion of the Fellowship, or at least some of them (a scene that no matter how many rereadings I give LoTR never ceases to make me both laugh and cry). And Theoden, and the author's, brief foray not only into ancient Rohirrim legend of the hobylta, but of the word and the development of pipe weed and so on never cease to make me smile. Its one of the elements that keep me coming back time and again. Gandalf and Theoden and the Riders go off to find Treebeard. Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Merry, and Pippin prepare to sit down, eat, and exchange stories.

And a brief foray into philology: Isengard, were it a Germanic language, would simply be "Guard of the Isen", which since the tower is located with a view of the Gap of Rohan and is near the fords of the Isen, is an apt name. But in Old English, the language used to represent the language of Rohan, it means "iron fort", isen=iron, gard, or geard (ancestor of modern yard) is an encloruse, a fort, a dwelling. In Sindarin it was named Angrenost, iron fortress, from angen=iron, ost=fortress. Ah, that Tolkien.

The tower in the midst of the vale was named Orthanc. In Old English, the adjective orthanc means "clever, mechanical ingenuity" among other things and Tolkien tells us in this chapter that the name in Rhohirric mean "Cunning Mind" (similar by the way to Saruman, from searo man, cunning man, man of skill), but that in "elvish speech" it meant Mount Fang, undoubtedly for it stuck up from the plain below some 500 feet like a single fang or tooth.

End Chapter Summary. I'll post the summary of Flotsam and Jetsam with discussion points later today or this evening. But hopefully this will keep you wolves at bay for a bit.