Tolkien Tuesday: "Reading "The Lord of the Rings": The Ride of the Rohirrim"
As Merry continues to journey with the men of Rohan toward Gondor, they all encounter the Wild Men of the Woods, who express some striking criticism of the characters we've come to see as the heroes.
Hello, dear reader! Do you like what you read here at Omnivorous? Do you like reading fun but insightful takes on all things pop culture? Do you like supporting indie writers? If so, then please consider becoming a subscriber and get the newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. There are a number of paid options, but you can also sign up for free! Every little bit helps. Thanks for reading and now, on with the show!
Welcome to Tolkien Tuesdays, where I talk about various things that I love about the lore and writings of Tolkien, whether in a chapter reading or a character study or an essay. I hope you enjoy reading these ruminations as much as I enjoy writing them and, if you have a moment, I’d love it if you’d subscribe to this newsletter. It’s free, but there are paid options, as well, if you’re of a mind to support a struggling writer. Either way, thank you for joining me!
We resume our reading of The Lord of the Rings with the chapter “The Ride of the Rohirrim” which, as its title suggests, focuses on the Riders of Rohan as they continue to make their way toward the besieged city of Minas Tirith. They are given invaluable aid in this effort by the Wild Men, particularly by their leader Ghân-buri-Ghân. In return, however, he makes a demand of King Théoden that the men of Rohan should never hunt the Wild Men again. This done, he leads them through a back way into Mordor and, as the chapter concludes, the men of Rohan prepare to ride to the aid of their allies.
The revealing of the Wild Men of the Woods–also known as Woses–is one of those things that reveals just how deep the history of Middle-earth really is. Just as the hobbits managed to exist on the periphery of the affairs of the great and powerful, largely unremarked upon as the Third Age went on and the great kingdoms became ever more beleaguered, so the Wild Men have likewise existed on the margins. Even though we are given only a brief glimpse into their lives, it’s nevertheless clear that they have their own culture, traditions, and communities. However, like Tom Bombadil, they choose to stay out of the affairs of the wider world until and unless something threatens their own existence, and so great is the stifling presence of Mordor and its minions that they see no other choice than to help their the Rohirrim, their old enemy. Their abrupt eruption into the events of the present evokes the distant corners of this world, many of which remain unexplored other than these brief glimpses.
There’s something also a little disturbing about the fact that Ghân-buri-Ghân even has to go so far as to mandate that the Rohirrim not hunt his people as a condition for helping them make their way to Gondor. Of course, by this point we know that the men of Rohan aren’t as polished or as civilized as their counterparts in Gondor, but even so, the revelation that they actually would hunt the Woses is…well, it’s quite disturbing. It forces us to think differently about them, recognizing that, for all that they are heroic and certainly vital to the final victory over Mordor, their holding onto old ways means that they are more than capable of inflicting pain on those they deem inferior to themselves. One gets the sense that this is one of the things that will have to change as the Fourth Age dawns and a new order arises.
While I would never go so far as to say that The Lord of the Rings is an anti-colonial text, there are still strains within it that reveal the complexity and nuance of Tolkien’s thinking on the matter. Yes, the Wild Men do exhibit some traits of the “noble savage” stereotype, but this is hardly surprising, given Tolkien’s own upbringing and the cultural milieu in which he was writing. It’s still quite remarkable the extent to which the novel gives a member of a subaltern class the chance to speak truth to power and, just as importantly, to use his own unique knowledge to gain a concession. Yes, he shouldn’t have had to seek it in the first place, but he still manages to notch a significant victory. Given that the text goes on to say that the Rohirrim never saw the Wild Men again, I think it’s safe to say that they were allowed to live their own lives in peace, far away in their distant redoubts in the woods.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that, while The Lord of the Rings is remarkably insensitive when it comes to issues of race at some points, it’s too simplistic to say that it’s racist and let it go at that. As Sam’s encounter in Ithilien makes clear, Tolkien was clearly wrestling with some heavy moral and racial questions, particularly when it came to the way those issues intersect with war and with the vagaries between right and wrong. Obviously he doesn’t get it right all the time, and there are some very grievous depictions of people of color–which we’ll get to next week–but I do think it’s perilous to throw the baby out with the bathwater. As such, Ghân-buri-Ghân is a voice from below, reminding both the King of Rohan and the reader that there are other voices in The Lord of the Rings other than the ones that are the most visible.
The end of the chapter brings the men of Rohan to the very cusp of battle, where they can see the poor city of Minas Tirith surrounded by darkness and almost certain to fall to the relentless assault from Mordor. As always, Tolkien has an exquisite sense of timing and, though there is a brief moment where Merry–who, as he has for quite some time, provides the reader with a hobbit’s-eye perspective on the events–thinks that Théoden will end up slinking away from the battle, in the end the old king gathers his courage and pronounces that they will ride forth, even if it’s to their deaths.
If I didn’t already love Théoden by this point, the fact that the old king once again overcomes his fear and the uncertainty of the future to do the right thing, even in the face of defeat, would make me do so. I don’t know about anyone else, but I find this whole segment tremendously rousing. By this point we’ve seen just how much Théoden has had to overcome as he sets out on this journey. He knows as well as anyone that there is every possibility that he will never return from this battle, that he will fall beneath the blades of Mordor and its allies. Nevertheless, so great is his spirit, and so proud his temper, that he is willing to put it all on the line. It’s all very stirring stuff.
I’ll conclude by pointing out that Merry, like Pippin, finds himself borne aloft on the tides of history. He’s not exactly lacking in agency–as he will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields–but still, for the moment he is somehow both a spectator and a participant in the great events of the Third Age. He gives us the viewpoint of history written from below and, as the events of the next chapter will make clear, his actions, and those of the warrior Dernhelm, will have consequences that reshape the destinies of many in Middle-earth.