Happy February, my peeps! To celebrate the start of a new month, let’s post an Inklings…from last month.
The Inklings link-up for January (check out Heidi’s post here for rules to link up!) is a scene at sunrise. I’ve been in a very Lord of the Rings mindset recently, since we just watched through the extended editions of the movies for the first time (which I may post about, though I have Mixed and Probably Unpopular Opinions on this front). I’ve always loved Aragorn’s little parley scene at Helm’s Deep, and that certainly fits this prompt, so I thought I would share that today!
At last Aragorn stood above the great gates, heedless of the darts of the enemy. As he looked forth he saw the eastern sky grow pale. Then he raised his empty hand, palm outward in token of parley.
The Orcs yelled and jeered. “Come down! Come down!” they cried. “If you wish to speak to us, come down! Bring out your king! We are the fighting Uruk-hai. We will fetch him from his hole, if he does not come. Bring out your skulking king!”
“The king stays or comes at his own will,” said Aragorn.
“Then what are you doing here?” they answered. “Why do you look out? Do you wish to see the greatness of our army? We are the fighting Uruk-hai.”
“I looked out to see the dawn,” said Aragorn.
“What of the dawn?” they jeered. “We are the Uruk-hai: we do not stop the fight for night or day, for fair weather or for storm. We come to kill, by sun or moon. What of the dawn?”
“None knows what the new day shall bring him,” said Aragorn. “Get you gone, ere it turn to your evil.”
“Get down or we will shoot you from the wall,” they cried. “This is no parley. You have nothing to say.”
“I have still this to say,” answered Aragorn. “No enemy has yet taken the Hornburg. Depart, or not one you will be spared. Not one will be left alive to take back tidings to the North. You do not know your peril.”
So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as he stood there alone above the ruined gates before the host of his enemies, that many of the wild men paused, and looked back over their shoulders to the valley, and some looked doubtfully at the sky. But the Orcs laughed with loud voices; and a hail of darts and arrows whistled over the wall, as Aragorn leaped down.
What are some of your favorite scenes in The Lord of the Rings? Who are your favorite characters?
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Confession: I’ve never read Lord of the Rings. I’ve read The Hobbit and The Silmarillion (the latter, for an Inklings course). But, the excerpt you shared gives me a delightful stirring sensation inside, like reading allegory. I know Tolkien was not writing with the intent of allegory, but it gave me that feeling 🙂
Good for you on reading The Silmarillion! I’ve yet to read it myself, but it’s on my TBR. And I see what you mean! I really love the sort of simple yet forceful style that Tolkien uses in LOTR – I think it fits the story so well. I know Tolkien was adamant that his stories were not allegories, but they do seem like a similar genre in some ways, don’t they?
Ah, this is such a lovely scene! I always thought Aragorn’s calm, unflappable-ness in the face of such mockery is both beautiful and a little funny (he himself seems amused by the Orcish shenanigans ;P)
Thanks for sharing!!
It’s wonderful. Aragorn is so awesome. 😀 Heh, and though they are quite a serious threat, the Orcs are a little ridiculous, aren’t they? (Like, we get it, my dudes, you are the fighting Uruk-hai. :P) I’m sure that choice was deliberate – at the end of the day evil is just shallower than good, and I think Tolkien makes that very clear in his stories!
Yay Aragorn 😀 (Also I want to know alllll your Thoughts on the movies O.o I myself have mixed feelings.)
Yay indeed ;D I will have to formulate my thoughts into something sort of coherent and make an unwield-ily long post about it…but the short version is that I’m glad I was really familiar with the books on their own terms before I was introduced to the movies.
Oh, yes yes yes. I know the movies introduced lots of people to Middle-earth, and that’s neat, but I almost wish there was a rule that you had to read the books first. You just *can’t* fully understand/appreciate Lord of the Rings from the movies alone. It just doesn’t work like that. I certainly respect the artistry and dedication that went into them, but they’re … like a supplement. They’re not THE Lord of the Rings.
Yes, exactly! I very much appreciate all the enthusiasm and talent behind the movies, but they just can’t take the place of the books. (There, that’s my review of the movies in a nutshell. The finished review will probably say pretty much that but take a few thousand more words to say it. :P)
Such an excellent moment! I love LOTR — movies and book both. I probably have too many favorite moments to list here, but my favorite characters are Boromir, Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf, and Eomer, in that order 😀
Those are all such great characters! (Though somehow Eomer never quite clicked as much for me; I’m not sure why.) I know Boromir isn’t perfect, but I do love his character and his arc. <3
Boromir’s arc is such a beautiful depiction of the struggle with temptation, falling, repenting, and being forgiven. I love it. (And I just love him — we don’t get to spend tons of time with him, but what a great example he is of using your strength in service of others!) After his fall, every single person the Fellowship members encounter who had ever known or heard of Boromir, when they hear he’s gone, lament him. What a testimony.
Absolutely! Such a wonderful (and such a well-written!) character.
Happy February to you too!! This part of the Lord of the Rings is amazing. I like Boromir, Eowyn, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn and Gimli best, though I don’t really like Legolas that much, and I have to say the same about Merry too…though the films have rather spoiled these characters for me. And, while we’re talking about the films, I’m watching the extended editions of them too at the moment…I feel like they go on for a little too long at some points. I mean, you get more character development, but there’s less cohesion, if that makes sense!
Thank you for sharing! (And another long comment from me!)
Isn’t it? Ah, that’s such a great line-up! But aw, I’m sorry Legolas and Merry were spoiled for you. I do think Legolas was sadly flat in the movies, though truth be told I think he was one of the least-developed characters in the books as well.
That’s kind of funny, actually, because I wished that there were *more* character development in the movies! I don’t find them too long per se, but I think there are bits where the time could have been used better.
Thank you for reading and commenting! 😀