Welkom!
Ik ben Martijn, software-ontwikkelaar bij DGMR Software, vader van drie bloedjes van kinders, liefhebber van taal, fantasy en science-fiction.
Recente blogposts en reblogs
The Butterfly Boy: a Fairytale.
A fairytale about the feeling of waiting on the edge of massive existential societal tragedies you are powerless to prevent, the way that we scapegoat the victims of broader societal failures as if they were the Cause, and the way that we treat children who will never grow into a “conventional” adulthood.
Thank you to everyone who followed along as I was sharing the pages for these past couple months! <3 :_:
The Butterfly Boy: a Fairytale.
A fairytale about the feeling of waiting on the edge of massive existential societal tragedies you are powerless to prevent, the way that we scapegoat the victims of broader societal failures as if they were the Cause, and the way that we treat children who will never grow into a “conventional” adulthood.
Thank you to everyone who followed along as I was sharing the pages for these past couple months! <3 :_:
iamfitzwilliamdarcy:iamfitzwilliamdarcy:the narrative implies more than once...
iamfitzwilliamdarcy: iamfitzwilliamdarcy:
iamfitzwilliamdarcy: the narrative implies more than once that if not for the madness of Denethor, Gandalf may have saved Theoden
“For a moment, the thought flitted through Merry’s mind: ‘Where is Gandalf? Is he not here? Could he have not saved the king and Eowyn?”
and later-
Pippin comes to Gandalf and tells him he’s afraid Denethor might kill himself and Faramir with him and Gandalf says at first “I must go…the Black Rider is abroad, and he will yet bring ruin on us. I have no time”
Pippin explains further and pleads, “Can’t you save Faramir?” And Gandalf’s response is- “Maybe I can…but if I do, others will die, I fear.”
And after the Dark Rider has died and he brings Faramir to the Hall of Healing and sees Eowyn, Gandalf says:
“… Things of great sorrow and renown have come to pass. Shall we weep or be glad? Beyond hope the Captain of our foes has been destroyed, and you have learned the echo of his last despair. But he has not gone without woe and bitter lost. And that I might have averted but for the madness of Denethor!”
just gonna add real quick that - Theoden is out doing his duty and fighting on the battlefield– here he falls
Denethor not only is not doing his duty, he is preventing others from being where they are most needed
#Could have gone differently but possibly not better #Theoden was intent on dying #going out in a blaze of glory #so honestly saving Theoden would not have improved Theoden’s circumstances #but other people less prominent in the narrative could have been saved who maybe were intent on getting to Theoden’s age before dying #Denethor definitely wasted everyone’s time #if only he hadn’t dragged faramir into his death in the first place #but that would have to have involved Faramir disregarding orders earlier on so already you’re getting quite a different story (via @thinkinginquenya)
I hope you don’t mind me lifting your tags because I’m going to disagree with them and my disagreement I think is fundamental to understanding Theoden vs Denethor -
Theoden is not chasing death in a blaze of glory. He is going to war and accepts that he may die. Eomer suggests he stay behind until the war is over, and Theoden likens him to Wormtongue – not because Eomer’s motives are the same but because the temptation to be old and hideaway is– instead, Theoden responds– “If I the war is lost, what good will be my hiding in the hills? And if it is won, what grief will it be, even if I fall, spending my last strength.” and later “For say to Denethor that in this hour the King of the Mark himself will come down to the land of Gondor, though he may not come back.”
Emphasis mine. He also speaks frequently of hearing Merry’s tales if he returns and smoking pipe together. These are not the words of a man seeking death or glory. He is going to War and he knows he cannot control what happens from there– “Doom hung over them, but they faced it silently.”
Contrast to Eowyn, who is said to have eyes of “one with no hope who goes to seek death” . Later, even, when they arrive at the battle, it seems things are too late, and there is this line– “Pheraps Theoden would quail, bow his old head, turn, slink away to hide in the hills” – that’s the temptation Theoden battles– but it is here he is revived and he gives his rousing cry that is famous.
Theoden’s ride to Battle brings heart and strength to his people. He does his duty and he faces his death with dignity. The reason this matters is because it’s so different from Denethor–
Denethor has slunk away– he refuses to leave his son’s sickbed (his son who needs help not a deathbed– and as a sidenote, I think Faramir did not need to change his earlier course for Denethor to change his own here– it matters very much that Denethor had a Choice many times over) and gives no “heed to any defence”– when his men call upon him, he turns them away. When men tell him the city is burning, he tells them to go back and burn with it. Denethor despairs. Gandalf admonishes him to do his Duty, to fight for Gondor as Theoden even then is fighting for Rohan and against Evil, but Denethor says “Battle is vain”– if he is going to die why can he not die with his son. And as Gandalf adjures him, “Authority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of your own death” – and Denethor does not submit– “But in this at least thou shalt not defy my will: to rule my own end”
His own death was selfish– it served only the Enemy– and it’s even more striking in contrast to Theoden’s Noble death.
The fact is, all men must die. We only have a choice in how we will face it. Denethor dies in pride and despair– of his death comes no good. Theoden dies in glory, not because he sought it, but because he did what was asked of him and faced it when the time came.
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