Rohan rides to Gondor's aid — and Gondor's own Steward has already given up.
In this episode, Dan and Alex walk through Book V of The Lord of the Rings (the first half of The Return of the King), tracing Pippin's oath to Denethor and Merry's to Théoden, Aragorn's challenge to Sauron in the palantír and his ride down the Paths of the Dead, the siege of Minas Tirith, the pyre, the charge of the Rohirrim onto the Pelennor, and the feint at the Black Gate.
Along the way: amdir and estel, Tolkien's two words for hope, and why Aragorn was raised under the second one as a name; Denethor and Faramir as the same mind turned to opposite uses, and what logic becomes when it isn't aimed at virtue; the Paths of the Dead as a study in decisiveness, with Gimli bargaining himself all the way to the rear of the company; Théoden's deliberately unglorious death and the shame he says he has escaped; the palantír as a machine for telling the truth in exactly the place it will do the most harm; and Éowyn, who wins everything she rode to the Pelennor for and finds it doesn't satisfy her.
They also touch on Lewis on the sorrows of all the world arriving every morning, the Oyarsa's diagnosis of Weston in Out of the Silent Planet, Puddleglum against the Green Witch, Ghân-buri-Ghân and the trust that plain speech buys in a single conversation, a recording of Tolkien himself reading the charge of the Rohirrim, and what it means that the hands of the king are the hands of a healer.
The last stretch is the one Alex spends the whole episode talking himself into: whether Éowyn's arc is a story about a woman escaping her role, or a story about a soul refusing its allotment, and what that reading asks of men and women now.
Next episode: Book VI of The Lord of the Rings, the second half of The Return of the King.
Got comments, criticism, or corrections? Email or send a voice memo to bookclub@mountainair.media.
Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
00:04 — Housekeeping: listener mail on Lewis, Tolkien, pleasure and suffering
00:07 — Obliquity: why happiness has to be a byproduct
00:09 — Arwen, Éowyn, and how a good story commandeers your sympathies
00:14 — Book V summary
00:17 — Themes: what is greatness, and the traditions of our fathers
00:21 — Lewis on vulnerability and on the sorrows of all the world
00:24 — Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and going to bed with death
00:26 — Break / The Theo Show
00:29 — Pippin as our way in, and Tolkien's digressions
00:32 — Merry among the Rohirrim: conspicuously not useful
00:35 — Denethor and Faramir: logic without virtue
00:38 — Pippin and Bergil: talking to children as peers
00:41 — Aragorn and the palantír: identity and what it's for
00:43 — The Paths of the Dead: decisiveness, and Gimli at the rear
00:49 — Ghân-buri-Ghân and the trust of plain speech
00:52 — Everyone you meet has their own epic
00:54 — "It's all just...": labels, and Saruman of Many Colours
00:58 — Morning counsels are best
01:02 — Break / Losing Like a Winner
01:04 — Tolkien reads the charge of the Rohirrim
01:08 — The joy of battle and the right use of truth
01:12 — Amdir and estel: the Athrabeth
01:17 — The Ring of Barahir
01:19 — Stewardship that looks backward
01:21 — The hands of the king are the hands of a healer
01:24 — Théoden's unglorious death
01:30 — The palantír, half-truths, and the modern news
01:33 — Which way, Western woman?
01:39 — Allotment, family, and speaking in ideals
01:46 — Outro
