It has been a while since I last read the book, but there is something that I think bothered me at the time. Did I lose the plot?
As I recall from the books, at the battle of the Pelenor fields, the good guys are much upset by the arrival of ships with black sails. Of course it all turns out for the best in the end for it is non other than Aragorn himself.
But Aragorn and who? Under the circumstances, the good people of Gondor are hardly going to quail at the sight of just one ship, but if there were many ships, Aragorn must have been accompanied by an army of some sort. What did I miss?
He was accompanied by the Grey Company as well as the army of the dead that he gathered on the Paths of the Dead. They were traitors, men who had been seduced by Sauron in the last conflict, breaking their promises to the alliance of free people. In order to be free of their obligation and rest peacefully, they had to fulfill their promise to Isildur’s heir (Aragorn).
I remember the paths of the dead etc. That is how Aragorn ended up on the other side of the mountains and came to (that city) from the south whereas the riders of Rohan came from the North.
Like Alessan, I thought that the Grey Company discharged their debt by defeating the Corsairs - leaving Aragorn with a fleet, but where did the crew come from?
The crew were the peoples who could not go to fight for Gondor because there were too scared to leave their own borders unprotected - remember how disapointing the turn out was when Pippin and that boy (I’m working from memory here) saw Gondors’ allies ride into the city?
The army on the boats were the rest of those allies, who had stayed behind to protect their own lands; which now that Aragorn and the Dead had gotten rid of the Corsairs they didn’t have to do.
The ships that Aragorn captured were manned by slaves-no doubt some of them volunteered to sail with Aragorn once they were freed. Plus, after Aragorn and the Dead had done all the dirty work of fighting the battle, various allies came out of the woodwork.
“…there were many captives set free, and many slaves released who had been men of Gondor taken in raids; and soon also there was a great gathering of men [from the area] … Now that the fear of the Dead was removed they came to aid us …”
Well, I think it’s quite understandable that you would be a bit hazy on details of events during the War of the Ring – that must have been quite traumatic for you!
That would have been Angborn the Fearless (so named because he was the only man that would approach Aragorn while he had the army of the dead with him)…he arrives after the battle with all of the men he had guarding against the Corsairs. They, in turn, relieve the guards of the city and reinforce Gandalf’s ‘last gambit’ army that marches to the Black Gate.
Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, was already at the city, and was, I believe, the only captain to bring all of his strength of men with him. All of the others had left almost everything they had on the coasts to watch for the Black Fleet.
btw- anyone else ever read the online novel ‘Isildur’? it was quite good, totally unauthorized, and told of Isildur, the Last Alliance, the Corsairs, and gave a pretty good (in my mind) account of how Sauron was drawn out and defeated.
And don’t forget each of the ships are commanded by one of the remaining Dunedain of Arnor. In the movie I would guess the Dunedain will bring not only the Standard of Arwen, but Arwen herself.
The Arrival of Aragorn at the Battle of Pelennor Fields is my absolute favorite part of the book. Jackson had better not screw up this scene.
i thought that it was very good…not perfect, but captures the spirit of Tolien’s world. i’m sure it’s not ‘canon’ but he tried to make all of the pieces fit together…so when i try to re-create it in my head, this is the version that I see.
I am about to burst waiting for RoK… the great speeches by Gandalf (the las debate) and Pippin ( to Dethenor), the bettle of the Pelennor, the undoing of the Witch-King, the ride of the Rohirrim, and the opening of the Black Gate…visibly trembling
Oh, Jeez…I forgot that Shelob will be in this one too! (The choices of Master Samwise is one of my favorite chapters of any book)
