#AND LIKE PIPPIN SWEARING FEALTY TO DENETHOR OVER IT??? that's a whole other can of worms but AUGH. pippin..........

[garden-ghoul]

RETURN OF THE BLOG, part 1!

“doesn’t return of the blog sound like a horror movie sequel”

Well everyone, we made it, finally! We made it to sunny

MINAS TIRITH

In the first paragraph of this, book 5 of lord of the rings, we realize that Pippin has been enchanted with some kind of, I guess, dissociation spell during the ride with Gandalf. IDK what is up with Middle Earth honestly, people are constantly going in and out of altered states of consciousness and it’s pretty scary. He gets super scared to see some fire, which Gandalf explains is not a dragon but rather a beacon; Gondor is using it to signal for aid.

Okay what. In the movie there was this whole huge deal over how Gondor wouldn’t light the beacons and Pippin almost died illegally setting one on fire. And it’s literally our first introduction to Gondor: the beacons! It’s nice to see that they still trust people to come to their aid, and that Denethor isn’t a complete fool for pride. He’s like, a pretty decent ruler in this chapter actually.. Haha Gandalf also knows the names of All the beacons, and shares them, which is really endearingly unnecessary.

They make it to the gate and the guard is like “hey what’s up Mithrandir. Who’s this guy. they better be AMAZING at killing people.” Gandalf sniffily tells the guard that Pippin has been through twice as many battles and tough situations as him. Which... the number of battles and tough situations Pippin has gone through on this quest can’t be more than, like, 10. I guess this guy has never been off of guard duty. And Pippin almost immediately blurts out “sorry Boromir is dead, everyone,” like a guy with zero social skills and not a rich socialite. No, no, he’s just nervous, I’m sure. It has been a WEIRD couple of weeks for him.

We also get a much more satisfying explanation of the Pelennor Fields, which is that it’s farmland. Like, OBVIOUSLY. Minas Tirith was originally a largeish fortress that sort of fungally grew a city around it, it needs to support itself. I’m mad about how in the movie it was just like, idk there’s this city and then fields everywhere for 500 miles around. Everyone eats grass. Anyway there are also other cities in Gondor, besides Minas Tirith! They even have different kinds of people in them, it’s very exciting! In the part of Gondor that is on the coast they have a PRINCE. I have no idea what significance a Gondorian prince has if he’s not going to, like, be king. Highlights of this section: “tilth,” “builded.” Okay I love the description of the keel of Minas Tirith that makes it look like an enormous ship facing east. The city is half-empty, though. Maybe people haven’t been having as many children lately. Maybe they’ve been moving out to cities that are less right next to Mordor. Maybe Denethor’s crappy stewardship has just caused people to vanish. Truly having a Rightful King will make everyone fertile and fill the city with strong warriors or something.

As they walk into the hall of Denethor, Gandalf warns Pippin specifically and exactly what not to talk about, and that Denethor will try to get secrets out of him because he’ll think he’s stupider than Gandalf. There’s some good imagery about how there are no decorations in this hall, cold stone only and statues of dead kings. Pippin looks up at the beautiful throne... and then to the side, where Denethor is sitting in a plain chair, staring at Boromir’s broken horn in his lap. Pippin thinks he looks a lot like Aragorn, which along with the description of Denethor CONFIRMS that Aragorn has a beautiful hooked nose. Hoorah! Pippin is so miffed at Denethor’s cool treatment of him that he... immediately swears fealty. For the sake of his pride. Okay dude.

Pippin spaces out, and then tunes back in to find that Gandalf and Denethor are still having a staring contest that might burst into flame at any moment. Then Denethor uses his only free hour to mercilessly question Pippin about his son. Then Gandalf says some very rude things to Denethor (I think? It’s more in the tone than what he actually says, all of which are just plain old facts) and he and Pippin go to the house that has been prepared for them as guest quarters. Yep, they get an entire house. Because Gondor has empty houses in surfeit. Gandalf tells Pippin he did a good job, and laughs. How shocking... and then he is OFF once again on his unending wizard errands. As for Pippin, he goes outside and starts asking people where he can get some food. I love him.

He has a picnic with this guy Beregond, a very nice fellow, and they talk about all the incredible shit that has happened to him. Beregond is like “dang that is some INCREDIBLE SHIT.” And Pippin is like “well I’m only a tween.” He’s only a tween, guys. He’s like 18, 19 in human years. Just a baby. Also there’s a lot of good war-building stuff that I can’t really relate concisely; it’s more of a milieu, if I’m using that right. Bunch of unimportant facts that come together to create a feeling of impending doom, a thunderstorm about to break. Beregond takes Pippin to meet the other people in his company, who are SO SURE that Pippin is a halfling prince and when the Rohirrim come they’ll each bring a halfling warrior who despite his size will own the fuck out of some orcs. Pippin, embarrassed, has to squash their dreams. After a while they have to go do guard stuff so Pippin goes down to one of the lower rings to hang out with Beregond’s nine-year-old son, who immediately tries to fight him, exactly as you’d expect of the kind of kid who’s still in Minas Tirith after evacuation.

Pippin and Beregond’s son have a great time, and then go hang out by the gate where soldiers are coming in from all over Gondor to aid in the fight against the Enemy. This is disquietingly patriotic, honestly. Lots of people show up, there’s a list, very Epic I’m sure. Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth shows up! He’s a kinsman of Denethor I guess, and his device is the Ship and the Silver Swan. For once I want Tolkien to explain MORE about this guy. Why is he a prince? Why does he wear the sign of Earendil and Elwing? Anyway, the boy tells Pippin to come back soon, he’s lonely. Almost makes him wish there weren’t a war on. What the fuck.

okay just the one chapter tonight, I’m pretty tired.

#blog of the rings