Merry and the Nazgul

[Mirkgirl]

I've seen a lot of polls and threads arguing who actually killed the Witch King. I won't go into that 'murki' water, my goal is simply to emphasize on the link between Merry and the Nazgul through the whole book.

First of all we have the vital role of Merry in the beginning, he basically saved the absolutely unprepared journey (walk is the word maybe).

In the book we have three grand evils - Sauron, Saruman and the Nazgul, or the Witch-King in particular. If we link Sauron to Frodo and Saruman to Gandalf as direct oppositions, we have the Nazgul and?
Aragorn - that would spoil the idea of him as the one who must gather all the men and lead them against the dark lord.
Boromir is out of the game, Legolas and Gimli are representing their people and this task would overburden the character.
Eowyn is a good choice, but after all we need a fellowship member.
And so Merry is the perfect choice.

Merry and the Nazgul are deeply bounded throughout the book - first he is mistaken for one, which represents them as poles. Then he has a close encounter with a Nazgul in Bree. Also he's the first one to notice the Nazgul from Weathertop, but that's not so important.

And the amusing play with prophecy - first, not man but woman, second not man but hobbit, third not one but two...

(A bit pointless maybe, but that was written in Literature class - the inspiration :naughty: )

[Pil]

AHHHHHHH! I loooove you! A whole post bout merry! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! OK...ok...breathe :embarras: I agree with everything that you sed above... I LOOOVE THE BATTLE OF THE PELENNOR FIELDS! You get me started bout merry and i will NEVER stop! NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEVER!

veryhappy

[Beregond]

Please, calm yourself.

Seems like you did some thinking there. I agree with it.

[Illuvatar]

Very well done Mirky!!

I believe that Tolkien's accociations were very much intentional, ESPECIALLY after reading the SIL.

I have no doubt that your not very far off from his actual intentions. :thumbs:

[Mirkgirl]

Hehe Pil, stange reactions I cause

Thanks Beregond, Illu and I'd be glad if I'm not extremely far off (:

[Falmon]

Good points, though I'm not sure I really agree with the associations. The enemy of Sauron in one respect was Gandalf, and in another Aragorn, or so said Tolkien in a letter once. (Gandalf actually sums himself up for Aragorn: "I was the enemy of Sauron").

[A! Elbereth]

I must say Pil.... you have a liking for merry as i do frodo...

[Mirkgirl]

I agree, Gandalf is the wisdom that defeats Sauron, Aragorn is the one who gathers the armies of men against him (the Palantir and so on), but Frodo is the closest pole I think (obvious reasons)

Any of the three, or the three together maybe, which draws Merry even more ahead as the one against the third evil.

[PrinceImrahil]

Great thoughts Mirky!

[RingWench]

If Merry's the one (and I see what you're saying), then why have Eowen there? A strong female with a prominent role to play? A love-interest for Faramir (Hope this isn't it)?

--Jess

[Gil-Galad]

Very nice, mirky!

[Mirkgirl]

Originally posted by Mirkgirl
I've seen a lot of polls and threads arguing who actually killed the Witch King. I won't go into that 'murki' water, my goal is simply to emphasize on the link between Merry and the Nazgul through the whole book.

If I try to say everything about every single character in the book my entire life wouldn't be long enough, for the topic, from the point of view I follow Eowyn is not the main one.

[Algamesh]

Another interesting thing about this part of the story to which you are referring is the duality of Fate for both Merry and Pippin. While Merry was out innoculating Nazguls, Pippin was playing a very important role as well. Without Pippin, Faramir would have definitely been toast and this event could have broken the Will of Gondor. He was their beloved son.

So, why did Tolkien pick the exact same moment in the story to exhibit the monumental importance of these two? And why did he feel compelled to grant them "monumental importance"? The whole Theoden death sequence seems built to bring Merry to that moment doesn't it? So does the Denethor death sequence. Lots of duality in this area of the book.

By the way, did anyone get the feeling that they were the "Fili and Kili" of LOTR, you knew that Pippin may have been a bit more mischevious but there wasn't a great deal of development to separate the characters.

[Mirkgirl]

Yes, I see a lot of duality in these two. The way I see it that the two other hobbits represented the adventurous spirit of hobbits - Merry for the more mature and responsible one and Pippin for the touching enthusiasm, that is so appealing in the young ones. So there was no need IMO to separate the characters who are just the two sides of the same coin.

Yes, like you said we have the two rulers death and especially they are the rulers of two strongly connected countries. The two fellow countries as we see from UT where is the tale where Cirion gives Eorl land to establish his country in new, better land paying back for his aid against the Colessairs(sp).

Here we have something which is strange at first glance - the older country, the main as we might say has a secretly mad ruler, who is discovered in public just when he crosses the line. While the new one has a ruler whose insanity is well seen and able to cover. I'm not forgetting that Gondor does not have its rightful ruler, but a Steward but that's not something that important as the only thing that holds the rulers being still Stewards after all those years is the single fact that this is Gondor (and maybe someone wise, name Galadriel, Gandalf?) and even Cirion is a Steward, the twelft ruling. So this is a way to show how the older the established country is better in everything, even in covering the problems, which makes it harder to be helped.

The old and the new country have something to do with Merry and Pippin, I'm haven't lost the main as you might think. Pippin being the representative of young is in the old country, in Gondor and, as we see, he's the one who saves the country from the ruler, who suffers from the side effects of the established ruler whose problems are ignored because they cannot exist. So the old has something to study from the young one, even though for Pippin for the young one, the encounter is a lesson which he learns, and not teaches.

We cannot say that Merry, the most mature from the four hobbits (sorry all, it's not Frodo) has exctly the same relationship with the younger country, Rohan taken with the opposite sign. He just has the proper environment for him not be burdened with the country's (ruler's) troubles more than being... a friend. So infront of him lies the oportunity to be a hero in the actual battle.

Now I'd like just to say one more thing on this, though the post is way too long already and thought I have a lot more to say at the same time. Merry and Pippin are the actual representatives of the hobbits, of the hobbits' spirit - the spirit of friendship mainly. Because Frodo is burdened with a responsibility, which demands a lot of character but it is not so evident for the hobbits as whole. And Sam is the servent, other feelings trigger his actions. Merry and Pippin are the friends, who'd go anywhere for the frienship (and this was so neglacted in the movie btw. I can't go without a critic to the movie, you know) and for the inner lust for adventures too. That's what explains their growth in height too - they are the next evolution step of hobbits, they are the selected ones who have to improve the species (way too biological I know).

About Fili and Kili... I'm strongly against this assosiation, but I'm not an expert. Anyway I see Fili and Kili as the same character duplicated for two reasons: the first is to make them 13 and the second is because Tolkien wanted to emphase that that is the face of the young, of all of them, not only one random youngster. And this duplicated character IMO is close to the implication of Pippin - the young ones have something to say to the old, but the end of this is quite sad in The Hobbit, they can't do anything to change the opinion of the established one/s and in the end they die... quite sad and IMO in this way Tolkien explains the fates of men and dwarves.

[Algamesh]

MirkGirl!

What a wonderful response! I really enjoy your analysis. I was also thinking of the duality surrounding the two hobbits (i.e. the kingdoms). You really explained my thought thoroughly (better than I could have done ... hehe). I didn't actually mean to associate the Hobbits with the Dwarves ... I was actually trying to present them as "twins". I can only believe the Fili and Kili were twins ... why else would you name your kids that way ... hahaha

[Mirkgirl]

Oh, no problem I'm just happy someone actually reads those long ramblings of mine ;)

I entirely agree for the "twins".

[Tinuviel]

Mirkgirl, really enjoyed your analysis. So much, that I cut and pasted it, and saved it as a document in my C drive.... :grin:

[Algamesh]

That's an excellent point Tinuviel!

Eventually, all the posts become buried and sometimes we lose some really great analyses in the haystack. I remember a couple of individuals from the online Barnes & Noble class this past Winter who, in my opinion, were experts at analyzing Tolkien. Every post that they made, I immediately saved to my local drive and in some cases ... printed them off. I have a ringbinder with some really great opinions and observations in it!

These boards ARE an educational resource for all of us. Feel free to use them as such ...

Algamesh"He rides from the North ... like swift wind upon the grass ..."

[Mirkgirl]

Tin, you made my day!!! :grin:
entdraught

[Pil]

Awwww.... :)

[HobbitFriend]

wow... am i in a chat or English class? lol but really i liked your analysis of the book Mirkgirl. And i do agree that it was Merry who killed the Nazgul even though both he and Eowyn had something to do with it. Without Merry, the Nazgul would have killed Eowyn and probably still lived (btw, can the Nazgul actually die... i thought they weren't really living to begin with?).
So Merry actually did 2 good things at once... saved Eowyn and helped kill the Nazgul! Go Merry!:gofatty:

[A! Elbereth]

Yes I absolutely agree with everything said here. I also would like to say, Mirkgirl, that I too enjoyed your analysis. I think I'll start saving these.....