Roheryn
Tol Eressea
Feb 19 2013, 11:01am
Views: 525
|
So the issue of Dain's right to the Mountain becomes less of a factor to us I think than if, in some way, we can feel good about the outcome. One possibility is that, in Hamlet fashion, Thorin's version of the DS will be so intense and harmful that only a heroic death will suffice to provide the charactar's moral redemption. I love Thorin and this will be exquisitely painful to watch, but would make Dain's sucession more palatable and necessary perhaps. I have called Dain "the Fortinbras of ME" but it's I realize it is not an exact parallel as Dain did not actively work towards any usurption and is merely an inheritor. I do not know for sure how the writers will work this out. Interesting that you mention Hamlet. I was watching a movie version of Hamlet (starring Kenneth Branagh) the other night (okay, the other *three* nights, as it was too long for me to stay awake and watch in one go), and I had vaguely in the back of my mind while watching that Richard Armitage had found some inspiration in this and a couple other of Shakespeare's works. But in scenes between Horatio and Hamlet, I was really struck by the parallels between their relationship and that of Thorin and Balin. Granted, Balin (at least in the movie) is quite a bit older than Thorin, and a bit fatherly, while Horatio is around the same age and so more of a peer, but in both cases, Balin and Horatio love their respective king-in-waiting and have a close relationship with him; understand and support (though not necessarily agree with) his need to follow his chosen course of action; represent him well to everyone around them; and ultimately suffer the grief of watching him die untimely. Thinking of Balin saying something on Thorin's deathbed like: "Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of Valar sing thee to thy rest" brought tears to my eyes. I'm not yet convinced that Thorin's moral redemption can come only through a heroic death. I'm really wanting him to manage redemption at some point earlier! Still musing on this. I posted in the Balin thread that I think his grief will be terrible, the loss of a lifetime. Dain may well be the legal, moral and ethical King Under the Mountain, but I do believe that Balin's great heart will simply be broken. Erebor will not have been saved for him. Moria becomes not so much a quest as a refuge from bittersweet memory. For Balin, I think of Frodo's line in ROTK "How do you pick up the threads of an old life?...there is no going back." How could Balin walk the halls under the Mountain, see anyone but Thorin in Thror's seat, walk along the terrace where Thorin pulled him to safety...and though we haven't seen it, where Balin might have walked and laughed with the little Prince? Too many ghosts. So indeed, with others of like mind (like Oin and Ori, perhaps others, which I hope means that we will see more of their emotional journey) I think he must depart, not needing to feel any ill-will towards Dain to make him leave (though not ruling that out) but not being able to face him as King. Balin is aleady beloved to so many of us, and watching his pain and his story unfold will be another mirror of grief. Another hero, so true to the Tolkien tradition, denied the ultimate victory, and who receives the ultimate gift of mortals to ease his pain - death. Yes, *this* is what I really wanted to get at with my original post. I keep coming back to Frodo's line about the Shire: "It has been saved, but not for me." That's certainly true of Erebor for Thorin, but also I suspect for Balin too. Too many ghosts indeed. And not just Thorin's, but those of Fili and Kili too. Surely Balin is pretty close to those two too, though we haven't seen much of that relationship yet. Good point about Balin being another hero true to the Tolkien tradition being denied the ultimate victory. He will have achieved what they set out to do, but the loss he suffers is too great for him to have any joy in that victory.
|