Saturday, March 22, 2008

Army from Cirith Ungol

I don't know if anyone else was a little confused when reading the section about the Stair to Cirith Ungol, but I can't seem to get my head around how the three were not seen by he army. I guess I understand that the Elven Cloaks give them some protection, but I was still a little lost at how an entire army could march by, including the King Wraith, and not see him. Anyone able to shed some light on this please?

3 comments:

Just A Knit Wit said...

Honestly, I've never understood that either. I think it's one of those convenient plot holes that readers are supposed to take in stride along with talking tree-people and furry footed heroes.

Jason Fisher said...

What you may be forgetting is that a) it’s very gloomy, with the reek and smoke of Mordor, b) night had fallen, so it was getting dark, and c) they had left the road and were climbing up out of the valley through the scrub and brush. We read things like “Gollum [...] was already vanishing into the gloom”, to show how difficult it would have been to spot somebody.

I don’t think the Hobbits and Gollum are in any position where they could be easily seen. The Witch-king senses the presence of the Ring, of course, but do not forget that Frodo turns aside his probing thought when he touches the Phial of Galadriel.

And to Just A Knit Wit, since when are “talking tree-people and furry footed heroes” holes in the plot?

joe donaldson said...

Maybe it's all those helmets, narrow vision and all- or maybe we just always miss the things that are right under our noses.