#sauron found out what was going on and he sent the nazgul to stop sam before he could reach the mountain and take the ring?

[tathrin]

Ahh, fuck. Just saw this post cross my dash and my brain absolutely vomited this fucking thing out in response and I do not have any idea what the FUCK to do with this weird unhinged Dark LotR AU that I just spontaneously generated. Help.

"Not like this."

The words slipped from Gimli's lips as a broken whisper, torn free from the very depths of his soul before his conscious wits could stop them. He swallowed, as though he would call them back to him; but there was no calling them back, any more than there was undoing the dreadful deeds that had led to Gimli standing here, in this place, feeling as though his heart were being ripped from his chest at the sight before him: a fair golden head bowed low, heavy shackles weighing down lithesome elvish limbs.

Gimli swallowed again, and held his tongue. The words still beat themselves against the inside of his skull: Not like this, not like this.

How was it they all now found themselves here? It had not seemed easy, so many months ago in Rivendell, when the Free Peoples of Middle-earth had taken desperate council together in hopes of defying Sauron, no; nothing of what they had set out to do had seemed easy. But still, to have fallen so far that they were here…

Gimli closed his eyes against the sharp and bitter sting of tears, but only for a moment. A moment was all he could allow himself. Any more than that would be seen, would be noted; would be marked down against him, against Erebor, as a weakness that they could not afford.

As treason, treason against the Dark Lord.

The Lonely Mountain could not afford such a thing, not if any dwarf was going to be left breathing beneath its strong stone walls by this time tomorrow.

So Gimli took a deep breath, and opened his eyes, and struggled to wipe the pain and horror from his face. He nodded, doing his best to ignore the hot bite of metal against his hand; doing his best to ignore the way his heart was shattering like untempered steel suddenly flash-frozen at the sight of Legolas kneeling as a captive before him.

"A fine tribute," Gimli said, hating himself for the words; hating himself even more for the dark twist of pleasure that threaded through his mind as he spoke. He clenched his fist tighter around the hard gold he held; it did not help. The row of kneeling elves before him did not move; the sharp blades of the axes hanging over their necks did not soften.

The Ring on his finger did not loose its deadly grip.

"Tell the Men of Dale that they have earned their people four months of triple rations in addition to the gold-price on the heads of these elves," Gimli continued. Such a paltry amount to pay, for elvish lives; yet it would keep the Men of Dale from starving, and would earn them favor in the Dark Lord's eyes. He saw the bedraggled Dalish representative straighten in gratitude and joy and he grimaced into his beard.

Gimli did not care to think how many Men must have died to take four elves alive anymore than he cared to think about how long said elves would endure in hard labor and dark cages under the mountain. He knew that no matter how quickly they let go of their hopes and let themselves Fade, it would be far far longer than it should be. Elves were too strong, and the elves of Mirkwood far too defiant, for their own good. They would last a long time, in the mines and the smithies, before finally giving up their souls to the call of Mandos.

It would not be a mercy, to last so long.

There was no mercy that Gimli could show to these elves, either—no, not even to the one whose face he had spent all these bitter, terrible months longing to see above all other faces. How Gimli had wept, wishing to see Legolas again; now, he yearned only to take all those wishes back and bury them where nothing, least of all the wretched, wonderful Thing on his hand, could hear them. Yes, he had longed to see Legolas; but not like this, never like this.

Not like this.

The Dalish Man bowed low, and murmured praise for Gimli's generosity in a voice made ragged and hoarse by want and misery, and let himself be led away to receive his payment. The elves waited in motionless silence, their heads bowed and their chains heavy. The dwarves watched their lord with tight, shadowed eyes.

Gimli cleared his throat, and spoke again: "Have the elves taken to the cages. Except—"  He could not tell if the words that followed were his own, or those of the Ring. "Except for the golden-haired one. Take him to my chambers; I will see to his breaking personally. Oh," he added, almost as though it was an afterthought, making his lips curl in a cruel smile as he said it even as his own heart twisted against him, "and send water for a bath as well; he is all over filthy with blood, and I will not have him defiling my rooms anymore than he can help, noisome creature that he is."

There were chuckles, some weak and some sincere; Gimli did not look to see which was which, because he did not wish to know which of his people had learned to find amusement in the suffering of other creatures and which had merely learned to feign it.

He could not be sure, some days, where his own pretenses ended either.

He smiled anyway, because that was what he had to do. He smiled, and he watched the elves be dragged away into the dark of his mountain, and he kept smiling even as he felt blood trickling down his palm from where the Ring that wrapped cold around his finger had bitten through the skin beneath the tightness of his grip and made him bleed.

It was hardly the worst thing that Durin's Ring had made him do since Gondor's Rise, after all.

NEXT

#seriously what the FUCK brain #what even is this? did boromir take the ring from frodo then? or aragorn? #or maybe faramir did not show his quality and brought the ring home to denethor and this was the result? #maybe sam didn't stay long enough to hear that frodo still lived and went straight to mordor and when frodo was interrogated #sauron found out what was going on and he sent the nazgul to stop sam before he could reach the mountain and take the ring? #i don't know I DON'T KNOW fuck #what is HAPPENING you don't have ANY WORLD BUILDING to back you up WHY #what are we even supposed to DO WITH THIS BRAIN? DID YOU THINK OF THAT? HUH!? #lotr au #gimli #lotr #legolas #gigolas #my writing #my stuff #gimli dark lord of erebor au #gimleaf

[paradoxcase]

I was mistaken earlier: Dunharrow is important later in the story, but not in the Two Towers - it’s the place where the Dimholt, the entrance to the Paths of the Dead, is.

From what I remember of the movie, the chronology for Theoden et. al. in Return of the King is that they travel from wherever they were when Pippin looked in the Palantir (which I think was not the same place they were in the book at this point, because in the movie this scene happens in some sort of fortified stone building, but in the book they were camped out in the open) to Dunharrow to marshal the troops, and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are all with them.  Then Elrond shows up out of nowhere with Anduril and tells Aragorn that corsairs are going to be attacking on ships and he needs to go through the Paths of the Dead to stop them, and also he should recruit the dead to join him, which he can do because he has this fancy sword now.  Aragorn seems to know what happened with the Paths of the Dead because when Elrond mentions them he refers to them as cowards and traitors, but it’s Legolas who actually gives the history of it and recites the poem that foretold Aragorn’s coming to recruit the dead to fulfill their broken oath.  This is kind of odd, because Legolas is not really the party member I’d expect to have a deep knowledge of the history of Gondor.  When they get to the Dimholt, Legolas reads “The way is shut.  It was made by those who are dead.  The way is shut.” in some sort of what looks like hieroglyphics above the door, and then their horses get spooked and leave, which was sort of foreshadowed by all of the horses at Dunharrow getting spooked just from being in the general vicinity of the Dimholt.

In the book, when they realize they need to start preparing for war, they all go back to Helm’s Deep first.  On the way, they are met by a bunch of Dunedain on horses, one of which is carrying a gift from Arwen, which is not Anduril, since Aragorn has by this point by carrying Anduril for the past several months, but is instead a standard that is later used to call upon the dead to fulfill their oath.  Elladan and Elrohir, Elrond’s sons, are also with them.  It is at this point that the Paths of the Dead are mentioned for the first time, and the prophetic poem is recited by Aragorn - it may be that Elrond appearing at Dunharrow was meant to be the movie’s version of this, since it doesn’t really make sense to introduce three new characters (Elladan and Elrohir, plus the guy bearing the standard) who are not really important again in the story.  It’s a little mysterious why these guys are here, though - they claim that a message was delivered to Rivendell saying that Aragorn was in need of his Dunedain friends in Rohan, and they just randomly happened to bump into the group of people containing Aragorn while they were looking for Rohan (they did not even know they had found Rohan until Theoden confirmed that yes, this is Rohan).  It’s not clear who sent this message.  The characters seem to suspect that Galadriel sent it, and somehow read Aragorn’s mind that he wanted them to come when he was in Lothlorien, except when the company was in Lothlorien they were still on a mission of secrecy to destroy the ring, for which thirty guys on horseback is not really useful, and also they were not really headed to Rohan, as opposed to how Aragorn is now in the middle of preparing for a big war, for which thirty guys on horseback is in fact quite useful.  So some sort of other Galadriel magic happened, or something.  I don’t think this is ever actually cleared up.

Anyway, they return to Helm’s Deep and Theoden and Merry do some bonding.  Gandalf had given Aragorn the Palantir after Pippin looked at it, on the basis that Isengard did at one point used to be a vassal of Gondor, so therefore the Palantir at Isengard technically belongs to the king of Gondor, which is Aragorn as far as Gandalf is concerned.  Anyway, while they are at Helm’s Deep, Aragorn looks into the Palantir and reveals himself to Sauron as the heir of Elendil, etc. and while doing this, perceives from Sauron’s mind that the corsairs will be coming from the south during the battle.  I believe Aragorn looks into the Palantir in the movie, but not until the end of the Return of the King, after the major battle has been fought.  The companion notes that this happens on the same night that Frodo and Sam spend climbing Cirith Ungol, where they are detected by the Nazgul in Minas Morgul.  But Sauron is distracted by Aragorn using the Palantir and doesn’t respond to the Nazgul reporting this, which allows Frodo and Sam to escape without alerting Sauron.  Anyway, after this, Theoden decides to travel to Edoras via hidden mountain roads that go through Dunharrow, and muster the troops there.  But Gandalf, who left already, has figured out that the muster needs to happen sooner, so on his way to Gondor he sends all of the Rohirrim to muster at Dunharrow, and they are all there to meet Theoden when he arrives.  Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and the Dunedain (+Elladan and Elrohir) see everyone off, have a discussion, and decide that they need to travel to Dunharrow as quickly as possible and then take the Paths of the Dead.  They actually beat Theoden there by a day, because they are not going through the mountains.

At Dunharrow is Eowyn, who has (in the book) been out of the action for some time now.  When Aragorn arrives, she begs him to take her with him, as she wants to do important things and be part of the story and also be close to Aragorn while doing it, etc., and she’s been sort of shunted off for a while now.  Book!Eowyn honestly has a lot more reason to think she’s been locked in a cage than movie!Eowyn, who went to Helm’s Deep and I believe was by Theoden’s side for most of this part of the plot.  The movie is much more direct about Aragorn rejecting her, but he also lets her down softer.  The book does something that I’m sure no modern English speaker would immediately understand unless they’ve been immersed in older varieties of English, where Eowyn uses thou/thee (familiar “you”) to address Aragorn while Aragorn uses you (formal “you”) to address Eowyn, reflecting their differing opinions about the intimacy of their relationship.

When they get to the Dimholt, the horses do not bolt - the Dunedain’s horses are said to love their masters so much that they are willing to go in with them, and the one Rohan horse, the one that Legolas and Gimli are riding, is calmed by Legolas’s magic elf powers.  This is important, because in the book, they actually do need the horses to get where they’re going after they leave the Paths of the Dead - in the movie the Paths of the Dead let out right where the corsairs are docking, really convenient.  “The way is shut...” does not appear at this point in the book - it’s part of a story that Theoden tells about some of his ancestors who poked around up there when he later hears that Aragorn has gone that way.  Also, this part of the story is told from Gimli’s perspective - the companion points out that the viewpoint character is always a hobbit when hobbits are present, but since no hobbits are present here it uses Gimli instead.  This fits with Gimli being the junior member of this particular group.  This is relevant because Gimli cannot actually see the ghosts, he only feels intense fear and horror in proximity to the ghosts and thus guesses that they are there.  Legolas, Elladan, and Elrohir can all see the ghosts and describe them to Gimli, it’s not clear whether or not Aragorn and the Dunedain, who are of “pure” Numenorean blood, can see them or not.  They actually find the skeleton of the ancestor from Theoden’s story, who eventually went into the Dimholt and was never seen again, which is kind of cool.  Aragorn only mentions off-hand that he can hold the ghosts’ oath fulfilled when he is in the Paths - he then leads the ghosts out of the Paths and up to the rock that Isildur actually used to curse them in order to officially call on them to fulfill their oaths.  Meanwhile the people in the nearby town sense the ghosts and react sort of like the people in Corpse Bride initially reacted.

An interesting bit of history about the ghosts that isn’t present in the movie is that the reason why they didn’t come when called to war against Sauron the first time wasn’t so much because they were cowards as that they had been worshipping Sauron in the intervening time between then and when they had made the oath.  So they had actually changed sides, and apparently there are temples dedicated to Sauron in the Paths of the Dead that Aragorn, etc. did not explore.

#lord of the rings #lotr #aragorn #eowyn #the paths of the dead

[garden-ghoul]

return of the blog, part.... uhhhh

“that’s right, I can’t even reliably count to three. or maybe I can and it’s four I can’t reliably count to?”

That aside, something horrible is about to happen.

THE SIEGE OF GONDOR

Gandalf wakes up Pippin at “the second hour,” which is either 2am or like 9am, depending on where they’re counting from. Pippin stares at his bread butter & milk breakfast miserably and says, “Why did you bring me here?” 

“You know quite well,” said Gandalf. “To keep you out of mischief; and if you do not like being here, you can remember that you brought it on yourself.”

Dude. He’s a teen and he was cursed. Give him a break.

He has to go see Denethor, who treats him rather rudely and then says he’ll be the lord’s esquire for today. Does he know any songs? Well, um, not many that are fitting here... Pippin does not want to sing comic songs or lewd songs to the Steward of Gondor. I just can’t get over this teen thing, he is like a college freshman who got out for the summer after a socially productive semester and now he works for the president. It’s fucking ridiculous. Well, he goes and gets some fancy livery so he’ll look regal enough for Denethor, and it only makes him gloomier. I love all the descriptions of Merry and Pippin being gloomy about being treated like ornaments.

Near sunset he’s finally released from his service (both boring and arduous, though I’ll wager he’s been doing a lot of good eavesdropping) and goes to hang out with Beregond and bemoan the fact that Faramir isn’t here. Oh! How convenient! There’s Faramir’s company right there (what’s left of it), being attacked by Nazgul! LUCKILY Gandalf, who vanished a while ago, seems to have foreseen this; he chases them away with light magic. Pippin runs to the gates to see Faramir coming home, and immediately gets a crush on him. He’s so noble! So tired! Yet so approachable!

Denethor does not really think so. He finds the smallest crack in Faramir’s demeanor as he’s making his report, and verbally eviscerates him in front of the guests. Y’know, for letting the Ring go into Mordor, and also for being alive even though Denethor is the one who told Boromir to go questing. Denethor and Gandalf yell at each other for a while, it’s rather frightening. As Pippin and Gandalf are leaving (Faramir has gone off to get some sleep, thank goodness!) Gandalf says he is filled with foreboding that Sam and Frodo are going via Cirith Ungol. How would YOU have gone, Gandalf? Through the front door? Secret tunnel?

The next morning everyone is gloomy again. They WERE excited about Faramir coming back--the text sort of implies that everyone in the city is a little in love with him--

But now Faramir was gone again. ‘They give him no rest,’ some murmured. ‘The Lord drives his son too hard, and now he must do the duty of two, for himself and for the one that will not return.’ And ever men looked northward, asking: ‘Where are the Riders of Rohan?’

Restless, restless, restless. Electric air. That Good Stuff. Faramir has been sent to Osgiliath to strengthen the garrison:

‘Then farewell!’ said Faramir. ‘But if I should return, think better of me!’

‘That depends on the manner of your return,’ said Denethor.

Ouch. Why do I get the feeling that Denethor will only think better of him if he returns in a coffin? As Faramir leaves, Gandalf tells him that his father loves him. Umm okay but how does that mitigate his awful treatment of Faramir. Doesn’t that make it worse? Right now I’m thinking about how Faramir is probably going to have to fight the Witch King since he’s leading the attack on Osgiliath, and thinking about how Eowyn is the one who kills him, and just being really excited for them to meet. Weary guy who hates to fight but must; frustrated enby who is chomping at the bit to murder some dudes. Honestly doesn’t that describe ALL the best Tolkien ships. Sometimes he does ladies right and it’s so #aesthetic. Wait I think the aesthetic I’m describing is just classic Jewish gender roles. Gentle studious men and women alight with the fire of direct action. I’m gay for both of these genders.

Anyway the next day the Black Host or whatever comes through the wall of the Pelennor Fields, despite the fact that Faramir is still doing his best to hold the rearguard off in Osgiliath. Including, yep, the Witch King. Actually they never refer to him as the Witch King in these books and I’m not sure where I heard it, but it’s an amazing title. Anyway mounted sorties start going out into Pelennor, with Gandalf at Prince Whoever of Amroth at their head. Denethor at least doesn’t let them overextend themselves; he calls them in very promptly so they won’t get trapped or too tired. I get the impression that for quick strikes they have the advantage because all of Sauron’s people are on foot. Oh, except a full third of them died anyway, because Sauron’s forces MASSIVELY outnumber them. Faramir has come back dead or wounded, and EVERYONE is crying. They bring him back to Denethor, who goes up into his tower and people see a strange flashing light and he comes down even more dead-looking than his dead son. I am beginning to suspect that the reason the text has alluded so many times to how far-sighted and well-informed Denethor is, is that he has a palantir. And this is some kind of secret, maybe?

The very last companies who can make it come back in through the gates, and they report that there is no way the Rohirrim can possibly make it in to help them now. The enemy is throwing fire over the walls. They’re throwing severed heads over the walls. Nazgul are circling. Denethor is weeping by Faramir’s body. Gandalf and the prince of Amroth have taken command of the city. There’s an aside here with Gondorians whispering about how elvish the people of Dol Amroth are--the people of Nimrodel. I’m glad there’s at least one version of the story where they found each other again and settled down, even if “the coast” probably wasn’t the land Nimrodel dreamed of that had never heard of war.

Hey, let’s check in on Denethor! Oh, uh, the palantir broke his will and he’s planning to set himself on fire in his despair. That’s cool I guess. Pippin goes to fetch Gandalf, as if he couldn’t possibly have anything more important to do than save one rude old man’s life. Or no, Pippin suspects he is going to kill Faramir as well. He passes Beregond and tells him to stop anything awful from happening.

OMG SORRY I FORGOT EVERYTHING I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PAYING ATTENTION TO BECAUSE WE HAVE FINALLY CONFIRMED THAT THE BATTERING RAM GROND IS INDEED NAMED FOR MORGOTH’S HAMMER. I CAN STOP READING NOW THIS IS ALL I WANTED TO KNOW.

No no jk I will keep reading. I’m extremely pleased though. I have “Grond! Grond! Grond!” echoing in my head nonstop some days. Um anyway the Witch King is there, casting an evil spell to help Grond along, and on the third go it BURSTS the gates open!

‘You cannot enter here,’ said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. ‘Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!’

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set.

Fuck yes.

Somewhere in the city, a cock crows, because having half of Gondor on fire in no way disrupted this chicken’s daily routine. Dawn. And with it, the horns of Rohan.

THE RIDE OF THE ROHIRRIM

The beginning of this chapter has a lot of fun sense description, since Merry is lying awake in complete darkness listening to the distant sounds of the Enemy’s hosts. Smelling the horses. All that. He thinks about how weird it is that everyone is just ignoring him because they know he’s not supposed to be here; Dernhelm seems to have some kind of “understanding” with Elfhelm, the marshal of their company. Sorry. Elfhelm? Elf? Helm? Is that a guy’s actual name? Elfhelm trips over Merry in the dark, and Merry asks What Is Up. As it turns out what is up is Woses, and what will soon be up is all the Rohirrim. I was gonna explain what Woses are but I think it’s way funnier if I don’t.

A Wose has come to offer help to Theoden, since he hates orcs as much as the next guy. Woses, he says, have “long ears and long eyes,” which isn’t especially relevant as far as I can tell but it’s delightful. The leader of the Woses, Ghan-buri-Ghan, knows a secret road! All he wants as a reward is... for the Rohirrim to stop hunting his people like beasts. What the fuck. I can’t believe Ghan-buri-Ghan actually prefers the Rohirrim to orcs. They go through the forest, and it takes all day, but the next morning before dawn they are ready to go do murders. Merry is upset again because he’s actually zero good at fighting and is just going to get himself and others killed.

The king sat upon Snowmane, motionless, gazing upon the agony of Minas Tirith, as if stricken suddenly by anguish, or by dread. He seemed to shrink down, cowed by age. Merry himself felt as if a great weight of horror and doubt had settled on him. His heart beat slowly. Time seemed poised in uncertainty. They were too late! Too late was worse than never! Perhaps Théoden would quail, bow his old head, turn, slink away to hide in the hills.

Then suddenly Merry felt it at last, beyond doubt: a change. Wind was in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far away, in the South the clouds could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: morning lay beyond them.

Nice nice nice nice nice that’s some top notch metaphor. Tolkien is sooo good at environmental metaphors and foreshadowing. IDK there’s just something about the way the whole world seems to get in on the narrative, it’s really good. Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered; a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Theoden grabs a horn from someone and blows on it so hard it EXPLODES. AND THEY’RE OFF!! Join us next time for

THE BATTLE OF THE PELENNOR FIELDS

#blog of the rings