#theoden

[autistook]

Happy heavenly birthday Bernard Hill 🤍🕊

17.12.1944 - 5.5.2024

[lukedanger]

I have some thoughts on Héra's "death" line at the climax of War of the Rohirrim and how it relates to Rohan's story during the War of the Ring.

Spoilers below for the movie!

When Héra tells Wulf that she was promised to death on the siege tower, I think that she was genuinely expecting to die there. Even if the plan went perfectly, she would be isolated from the Hornburg (as the siege tower's gangplank burned down) surrounded by an enemy army. Even if Fréaláf showed up, which to her is still a big if on timing if nothing else, that is not a situation one can reasonably expect to survive.

Yet, it's the only hope her people have to escape. She might die, but the rest would live if she could keep enough attention on her. Is this not what Théoden would do centuries later, first on the ramp of the Hornburg drawing the attention of the Uruk-Hai? Then again at Pelennor Fields, one probably last charge to try and win survival for their people. Failing that, at least choosing to die on their own terms instead of waiting for their turn to fall.

Is that not why Théoden's riders cheered "death!" at the enemy as they charged, throwing back the fear Mordor sought to spread back at its hosts? That they had accepted it and were ready to meet it? Is that not what the ideal of a warrior is so often touted as, fighting because they love what stands behind their aegis?

Héra may not have been fighting the same kind of existential war that Théoden was, but the same kind of courage was needed. Even if it all went well, I doubt she had any expectations of surviving that night. She nearly didn't, even with Fréaláf arriving and utterly terrorizing the Dunlending host into such a panicked rout. Yet, it was the way she could save those under her charge.

The moment she rode out onto the tower's gangplank, Héra truly promised herself to death.

[gnomescarfcomics]

Middle-earth shots of the week

[the-eclectic-penguin]

[rohirriiim]

And no more despair.

REST IN PEACE BERNARD HILL (1944–2024)

[dindjarism]

REST IN PEACE, BERNARD HILL (1944–2024) THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003)

[glorf1ndel]

When you overhear an interesting conversation and want to listen in but don’t want to be noticed

[ahobbitstale]

Today, we mourn Bernard Hill (King Theoden). May he rest among the halls of his father 😔

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Bernard Hill said once that he came up with the line, “No parent should have to bury their child.” And, no, it’s not canonical, but it’s absolutely what the story needed. It’s what the character needed. Hell, it’s what we needed. It’s a better and more compelling and more relatable and more moving and more empathetic film for having that emotion expressed. It was such a simple idea, but such an important one. And we needed him to get it. May the simbelmynë always bloom on your place of rest, Mr. Hill.

[torchwood-99]

Bernard Hill was a legend. He infused Theoden with so much warmth and strength. His kindness to Merry, his love for Eowyn, his grief for his son, his guilt over his failures of king, yet his aura of power, his commanding presence, and his undeniable might as a warrior, made Theoden a compelling and beautiful character.

[artbyleav]

"I go now to my fathers, in whose mighty presence I shall not now feel ashamed."

One of my favorite characters and he is such an underrated one, honestly the films would not have been half as good without his iconic moments.

[autistook]

Rest in Peace, Bernard Hill 🤍🕊

[hail-theoden-king]

King Théoden 101 🥰

[the-books-we-travel]

“For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning.” -J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

Bernard Hill (1944-2024)

Rest in Peace

[missmargaretcarter]

Can I just say how much I enjoy that almost everyone in Lord of the Rings is an adult. Like a grown ass adult. I do realize the hobbits are relatively young for their species, but there’s no chosen one teenagers, they’re not a group of random twenty something’s who also happen to somehow be geniuses, no childlike drama or super honed abilities that have somehow only been developed before high school. Just a bunch of old, weary adults getting shit done, honing their craft after years and years and being badass regardless of age.

Editing for the new folks reblogging: Pippin is the exception this. I mentioned the hobbits are young for their species, with Pippin being the youngest. Still, the main idea is that overall, this isn’t a YA novel with all twenty-something protagonists.

[rohirriiim]

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING 2003 | dir. Peter Jackson