Chapter 3- The Muster of Rohan and Chapter 4 The Siege of Gondor
I decided to pair the discussion of these two chapters together, they deserve to be compared.
The distinction between Theoden and Denethor is stark in these paired chapters. We've known Theoden for several chapters, and seen how he moved from puppet to King. He is a king who rides hard, charges from the front, leads by example. We know nothing of his intellect, his skill at justice, or anything beyond his charisma and his martial skill, which are highly praised. Denethor we learn wears a mail coat and sword at all times to make him accustomed to its use. He is crafty, canny and incredibly smart. Multiple times in this and his previous chapter he shows he has intuited vast amounts of information from little to be said. Between Pippin and Gandalf and Faramir, he gets that Isildur's bane has gone into Mordor. He and Gandalf have a great back and forth about what they should have done, but its culmination is Denethor's ending the discussion, and is again, so damn smart: " 'If I had! If you had!' he said. 'Such words and ifs are vain. It has gone into the Shadow, and only time will show what doom awaits it, and us. The time will not be long."
Seeing these two leaders, both who have lost their favored son, and how similar they both handle it. As a reminder, Theodred, Theoden's sole son, died defending the fords of Isen against Saruman's forces. Theoden rides to his death, Denethor leads his people into a doomed defense, accurately predicting where defense will be needed and directing his Captains there. That he sends even his own son to do so is irrelevant to him.
At the time. We see how loosing his son drives him to such deep despair that he lies down and waits for death on the bonfire. As Jane Chance (tolkien scholar) points out, their names are anagrams of each other.
In the movies, they are portrayed very differently, but so far in the books I seem that as quite similar, both marching down the road to death, one cantering on a horse, one broken by the death of his second son.
We also see Merry and Pippin effectively released from their vows of service after only a short time, as both rulers recognize the death that comes for them. Theoden, having the benefit of distance from battle, encourages Merry to help serve Eowyn, but only as a friend. Denethor, having the siege called down upon him, releases Pippin, to, as the movie and book say together, "Go now, and die in whatever way seems best to you."
The interesting thing to me is that both hobbits reject this call. I liken it to a portion on the heroe's journey, but in reverse. Both are offered the call to non-adventure, and both reject it, and from there both enter into war, which to hobbits would be as different from their lives as anything. (ignoring the shadow legion of Hobbit stealth snipers who participated in the war of Angmar).
Speaking of things unsaid, Prince Imrahil and his knights. Totally cut from the movies, these guys are given the job of protecting the gate, and helping get Faramir back from Osgiliath (which isn't as clearly a doomed fight as the movies make it out to be). I read up a little more about them, and they basically have a Knights of Rhodes fortress peninsula going on. I would love to learn more about them.
Next week is supposed to be chatpers 5-8, but lets do it as 5-6 and 7-8 in two separate weeks.
@Nazgoose

 

Chapter 3: The Muster of Rohan

• Merry waking up to not seeing the sun reminds me of the fires we had in 2020 where the sky was clouded in ash and it never quite felt like the sun had actually risen. It's a weird feeling, it's light out, but not really somehow.
• Éowyn preparing Merry's armaments the best she can at Aragorn's request is one of those nice small touches that help it feel more real. Thoughtfulness and prep, not just "randomly found this for you with no heads up"
• I wonder if I'd have pieced together Dernhelm being Éowyn from the "idk you"/"do you not?" exchange. I watched the movies first and it's very clear in those. Bit harder to hide in a visual medium.

Chapter 4: The Siege of Gondor

• TIL where the phrase "jet-black" comes from: used to be "black as jet" and jet is a deep black stone (source)
• I really like the descriptions of Gandalf's magic in the Nazgûl chase, it's always somewhat veiled. The first mention isn't explicit light but more a feeling of lessened darkness around him. The second one is more explicit: "it seemed to Pippin that he raised his hand, and from it a shaft of white light stabbed upwards." but the "seemed to Pippin" at the start still makes it seem like he's not entirely sure what he's seeing.
• God the talk between Faramir and Denethor is painful. It gets bad fast and keeps going south, even onto the follow up convo where he's basically sent to die. It's hard to understand a father losing a son and then spending the second so carelessly.
  
• The mentions of the other places where a crossing might be forced and the distances involved are another small way of making the world feel large and messy that's necessarily lost in the movies.
• Huh, Denethor says this "The fool’s hope has failed. The Enemy has found it, and now his power waxes; he sees our very thoughts, and all we do is ruinous." I think Sauron got word of Frodo's original capture, and though he didn't guess at the true purpose, he used that in his mental battle with Denethor to break him. Don't think I've caught that on previous reads, and it's very telling that even after that Sauron still can't fathom that anyone would seek the Ring's destruction.
• I like Denethor drowning in despair and just letting Gandalf take over better than the movie version, though I get why it was compressed into a single moment of breakdown as the city itself comes under siege in those. Much more time efficient for the same effective result. Still, it does Denethor a disservice I think.
• Ugh ending with the horns of the Rohirrim is such a tease.

Other Thoughts
I think the main thing for me is that I love Merry and Pippin's perspective on these great events. They let us experience them more as we probably would if we were there, just folks doing the best they can in the situation they find themselves in. Because lets be honest, most (if not all) of us wouldn't be Gandalf or Aragorn, Denethor or Théoden, Faramir or Éomer. Out of everyone we've met, Merry and Pippin best represent the average person just trying to get by and figure out the next right thing they can do.

 

double ditto on the Merry and Pippin as POV characters, and Sam for his part as well. Just overall good things.