Redstate

My unit took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom at the beginning. When our tour was up and we were a bout to come home, we had a celebration with all the folks at the base we were at. There were Americans, Brits, and Aussies there. One of the Brit Colonels made a statement I found pretty cool. It was actually just a quote. He said the "While the rest of the world made problems and discussed & debated problems, The English-speaking people of the world SOLVED the problems." I thought that was pretty awesome, and definately not very PC. Granted that he was a Brit, but I hear things like that all the time when there are no cameras or observers around.

In fact, I can trace most of our military/foreign policy shortcomings to cameras. Does anyone really beleive that we don't have the ABILITY to irradicate the terrorists from Iraq? Ofcourse not. We just won't do it because the MSM would make us out to be SO HORRBLE if we did.

"Life is too short, can't we all just eat pork and kill some terrorists?"

These the same that said "Come back with your shields or on them[as a stretcher.]"

Let there be no surrender.

"Any love letter is incomplete without a Ronald Reagan quote"
--my sophomore year roommate

Bunyan's Pilgrim's progress?

www.race42008.com
http://theminorityreportblog.blogspot.com/
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson - http://gamecock.townhall.com

That book has no equals among uninspired writ on many levels, not least the seamless congruence between its message and its author's life--both unashamed testimonies to the doctrines of sovereign grace--but I don't recall it using that line.

soli Deo gloria

I missed that

www.race42008.com
http://theminorityreportblog.blogspot.com/
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson http://gamecock.townhall.com

Even Bunyan wasn't that good.

soli Deo gloria

Of course, in the LOTR universe, the monsters are all ugly, malformed, personally distasteful, and visually identifiable - there weren't a lot of people claiming that the Orcs were simply misunderstood, and it's a safe bet that cells of Orcs were not living and hiding amongst the citizenry of Minas Tirith. Theoden didn't have to deal with a vocal Orc minority looking for any opportunity to claim that it's rights had been trampled.

The problem we face (and that Europe faced when Tolkein was writing) is that it's not always clear exactly who is the enemy and how evil he really is. It's been said that evil needs darkness to grow, but in the age of the internet-enabled camera phone, ambiguity seems to be the next best thing.

I know that there are people who will say that this clip is a glamorization of warfare, that it ignores the horrible reality of war and wallows in the spectacle. Those people are wrong. I have a son who's planning a carrer in the military, and every time we discuss it, I can't help but see the face of the father of a Marine our town lost to the war in Iraq. I find myself watching this sequence and thinking about all of the sons and fathers who won't come home, and the families left behind.

Of course, none of that changes the fact that eventually evil must be confronted, or it will consume the world. And it doesn't change the fact that the the last (and at the end of the day, our ONLY) line of defense is the valor of the fighting men, women, and occasional Hobbit.

"Talking in Basil's garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil's, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry's world view. Espousing a new kind of hedonism, Lord Henry suggests that the only thing worth pursuing in life is beauty, and the fulfillment of the senses. Realising that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian cries out, wishing that the portrait Basil has painted of him would age rather than himself. Dorian's wish is fulfilled, subsequently plunging him into a sequence of debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, each sin being displayed as a new sign of ageing on the portrait."

http://gamecock.townhall.com/g/8d56302d-8992-4136-b40a-c92d6f52e6bd

www.race42008.com
http://theminorityreportblog.blogspot.com/
"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson http://gamecock.townhall.com

...is the demise of the Witch King as incredibly lame as it is in the movie?

I knew almost nothing about Lord of the Rings before seeing the movies, so I'd like to know if that scene was PC'ed up for the film. Overall, the series is great, but I couldn't help but feel cheated when the movie all but promised some epic showdown between the Witch King and the good guy wizard, but then it never happened.

Still, aside from the movie's high quality as films, one also has to respect the fact that there was seemingly very little pandering to modern diversity-obsessed sensibilities.

But it was no orc-chieftain or brigand that led the assault upon Gondor. The darkness was breaking too soon, before the date that his Master had set for it: fortune had betrayed him for the moment, and the world had turned against him; victory was slipping from his grasp even as he stretched out his hand to seize it. But his arm was long. He was still in command, wielding great powers. King, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazgûl, he had many weapons. He left the Gate and vanished.

Théoden King of the Mark had reached the road from the Gate to the River, and he turned towards the City that was now less than a mile distant. He slackened his speed a little, seeking new foes, and his knights came about him, and Dernhelm was with them. Ahead nearer the walls Elfhelm's men were among the siege-engines, hewing, slaying, driving their foes into the fire-pits. Well nigh all the northern half of the Pelennor was overrun, and there camps were blazing, orcs were flying towards the River like herds before the hunters; and the Rohirrim went hither and thither at their will. But they had not yet overthrown the siege, nor won the Gate. Many foes stood before it, and on the further half of the plain were other hosts still unfought. Southward beyond the road lay the main force of the Haradrim, and there their horsemen were gathered about the standard of their chieftain. And he looked out, and in the growing light he saw the banner of the king, and that it was far ahead of the battle with few men about it. Then he was filled with a red wrath and shouted aloud, and displaying his standard, black serpent upon scarlet, he came against the white horse and the green with great press of men; and the drawing of the scimitars of the Southrons was like a glitter of stars.

Then Théoden was aware of him, and would not wait for his onset, but crying to Snowmane he charged headlong to greet him. Great was the clash of their meeting. But the white fury of the Northmen burned the hotter, and more skilled was their knighthood with long spears and bitter. Fewer were they but they clove through the Southrons like a fire-bolt in a forest. Right through the press drove Théoden Thengel's son, and his spear was shivered as he threw down their chieftain. Out swept his sword, and he spurred to the standard, hewed staff and bearer; and the black serpent foundered. Then all that was left unslain of their cavalry turned and fled far away.

But lo! suddenly in the midst of the glory of the king his golden shield was dimmed. The new morning was blotted from the sky. Dark fell about him. Horses reared and screamed. Men cast from the saddle lay grovelling on the ground.

"To me! To me!" cried Théoden. "Up Eorlingas! Fear no darkness!" But Snowmane wild with terror stood up on high, fighting with the air, and then with a great scream he crashed upon his side: a black dart had pierced him. The king fell beneath him.

The great shadow descended like a falling cloud. And behold! it was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank. A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, fingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil. And the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with fell meats, until it grew beyond the measure of all other things that fly; and he gave it to his servant to be his steed. Down, down it came, and then, folding its fingered webs, it gave a croaking cry, and settled upon the body of Snowmane, digging in its claws, stooping its long naked neck.

Upon it sat a shape, black-mantled, huge and threatening. A crown of steel he bore, but between rim and robe naught was there to see, save only a deadly gleam of eyes: the Lord of the Nazgûl. To the air he had returned, summoning his steed ere the darkness failed, and now he was come again, bringing ruin, turning hope to despair, and victory to death. A great black mace he wielded.

But Théoden was not utterly forsaken. The knights of his house lay slain about him, or else mastered by the madness of their steeds were borne far away. Yet one stood there still: Dernhelm the young, faithful beyond fear; and he wept, for he had loved his lord as a father. Right through the charge Merry had been borne unharmed behind him, until the Shadow came; and then Windfola had thrown them in his terror, and now ran wild upon the plain. Merry crawled on all fours like a dazed beast, and such a horror was on him that he was blind and sick.

"King's man! King's man!" his heart cried within him. "You must stay by him. As a father you shall be to me, you said." But his will made no answer, and his body shook. He dared not open his eyes or look up.

Then out of the blackness in his mind he thought that he heard Dernhelm speaking; yet now the voice seemed strange, recalling some other voice that he had known.

"Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!"

A cold voice answered: "Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye."

A sword rang as it was drawn. "Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may."

"Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!"

Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. "But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him."

The winged creature screamed at her, but the Ringwraith made no answer, and was silent, as if in sudden doubt. Very amazement for a moment conquered Merry's fear. He opened his eyes and the blackness was lifted from them. There some paces from him sat the great beast, and all seemed dark about it, and above it loomed the Nazgûl Lord like a shadow of despair. A little to the left facing them stood she whom he had called Dernhelm. But the helm of her secrecy, had fallen from her, and her bright hair, released from its bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders. Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell, and yet tears were on her cheek. A sword was in her hand, and she raised her shield against the horror of her enemy's eyes.

Éowyn it was, and Dernhelm also. For into Merry's mind flashed the memory of the face that he saw at the riding from Dunharrow: the face of one that goes seeking death, having no hope. Pity filled his heart and great wonder, and suddenly the slow-kindled courage of his race awoke. He clenched his hand. She should not die, so fair, so desperate At least she should not die alone, unaided.

The face of their enemy was not turned towards him, but still he hardly dared to move, dreading lest the deadly eyes should fall on him. Slowly, slowly he began to crawl aside; but the Black Captain, in doubt and malice intent upon the woman before him, heeded him no more than a worm in the mud.

Suddenly the great beast beat its hideous wings, and the wind of them was foul. Again it leaped into the air, and then swiftly fell down upon Éowyn, shrieking, striking with beak and claw.

Still she did not blench: maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings, slender but as a steel-blade, fair but terrible. A swift stroke she dealt, skilled and deadly. The outstretched neck she clove asunder, and the hewn head fell like a stone. Backward she sprang as the huge shape crashed to ruin, vast wings outspread, crumpled on the earth; and with its fall the shadow passed away. A light fell about her, and her hair shone in the sunrise.

Out of the wreck rose the Black Rider, tall and threatening, towering above her. With a cry of hatred that stung the very ears like venom he let fall his mace. Her shield was shivered in many pieces, and her arm was broken; she stumbled to her knees. He bent over her like a cloud, and his eyes glittered; he raised his mace to kill.

But suddenly he too stumbled forward with a cry of bitter pain, and his stroke went wide, driving into the ground. Merry's sword had stabbed him from behind, shearing through the black mantle, and passing up beneath the hauberk had pierced the sinew behind his mighty knee.

"Éowyn! Éowyn!" cried Merry. Then tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her. The sword broke sparkling into many shards. The crown rolled away with a clang. Éowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe. But lo! the mantle and hauberk were empty. Shapeless they lay now on the ground, torn and tumbled; and a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up, and was never heard again in that age of this world.

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Run like Reagan!

I appreciate that. Its a good read, but unfortunately it seems the ignominious defeat of the Witch King as presented in the film is faithful to the book. Peter Jackson moved Eowyn's "I am a woman" moment in the movie, giving it more of an 'I am woman hear me roar' type feel. It worked too, as I think there was quite a bit of applause for that line.

It still strikes me as a bit strange that in the movie there is a scene where one of the Witch-King's subordinates asks him how they'll handle the wizard, and the WK replies "I will break him", yet there is no confrontation at all between them. I mean, why would Jackson put that line in there about breaking the wizard if they weren't going to fight? I wonder if it was in the book too? Needless to say, I was very disappointed, and sort of stunned when the WK was taken down by a hobbit. I guess there is some sort of message in there about the weak defeating the mighty, but I would have thought Tolkien would have had something more epic and impressive in mind for the death of such a villain. I would have thought he would meet his end against a more worthy opponent.

Sauron was THE arch-villain of the movie, far greater than the witch king, and he was taken down by a hobbit, or hobbits.

the WK was the battlefield commander of Sauron's army, and if memory serves, it was stated that he was the mightiest of those 9 black-robed villains (are they called nazgul???). In addition to the "I will break him" scene, there was an earlier moment where the wizard is telling one of the hobbits about the WK, and he does so with a powerful sense of dread.

So to me, it just seemed a bit of a let down when he finally gets into the action. Eowyn was no match for him, and he easily dispatched of her before the hobbit stabbed him in the knee. And even that stabbing made the WK look a bit weak, as it left him completely defenseless.

I just wanted a bit more is all I'm saying, especially considering how the main villain spends the entire series as a flaming eye.

Rarely come to epic and/or impressive ends. They almost unerringly come to ignominious defeats.

Take Hitler, one of the great evils of modern times. He didn't die defending the 3rd Reich. Killed in battle crushing his foes before him even as their great numbers eventually swarmed him under. He took poison and shot himself and had his body burned...
Stories like that Abound about evil men the world wide...

"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal comfort... has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stuart Mill

I get what you're saying -- and let me state one more time that I think the series rates as genuinely great -- but unlike Hitler, the WK did die on the battlefield. I just wanted it to be against a more worthy opponent, or at least to not be the result of a single stab to the knee. As it is, the WK comes across as a bit of a chump to go down so easily.

A huge theme in the books, mostly undeveloped in the films, is the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, especially by characters acting in accordance with both their own nature and the predestinated ultimate triumph of righteousness. With few exceptions the characters themselves are unaware of the significance of their roles during their part in the fulfillment sequence.

The Witch-King's arrogance is bolstered by his overly broad interpretation of the prophecy "no living man shall slay thee" to imply that no person at all could kill him, rather than the literal, which would allow for ... a woman and a hobbit, perhaps, working in conjunction, and both having no prior insight into the prophecy to influence them, but merely acting in accordance with their own nature. The book also adds an epilogue to the smiting scene, in which we learn that Merry's sword, which came into his possession most bizarrely in the 1st book, had actually been forged and empowered centuries earlier by ones in contemporary combat with the same Witch-King, in hope that someday it would be efficacious.

So the real conflict is not between relative skill or strength of arms, but between boastful pride favored with overwhelming odds, and the meek favored with being on the right side of the cosmic conflict and unwittingly equipped to triumph. The fact that that conflict is not a mere literary invention but a reflection of inescapable truth in the real world is what makes the scene so powerful.

soli Deo gloria

A big part of being the kind of person the Witch King was is that eventually you run into the little person that you dismiss as no thret and he then drops you like a bad habit. Like those 80 year old ladies and their home invaders over the past year...

"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal comfort... has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stuart Mill

Too many particulates in the air; my eyes are watering.

The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.

Once I heard that they were enhancing the role of Arwen, and erasing the Scouring of the Shire, then I knew I could never stand to watch the movies.

I'm too much a fan of the actual story to be able to stand it. I mean, I've read the Silmarillion twice (large chunks of it are easily forgotten, as DENSE as that unfinished book is, but I've read it). I'm one of those picky kinds, heh.
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Run like Reagan!

The recent LotR movies follow the story very closely as far as movies based on books go. And it's a Vast improvement over the original animated version...

"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal comfort... has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stuart Mill

"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill

Arwen's role was expanded (she rides Frodo to Rivendell), but all of her other footage were flashbacks or exposition from the Appendices that were shown as flashbacks. Some things were rightly taken out of the movie, even though they worked in the book (The Old Forest, Tom Bombadil). The Scouring of the Shire is my favorite chapter from all the books, but I still loved the movies (and thought that to add more movie after the ring was destroyed would be too much). The thing that I liked the least about the movies was Faramir and Frodo's meeting... and the tacked on battle in Osgiliath. I think Peter Jackson really missed a great opportunity to show the difference between men of Numenor and normal men.

As for your HTML needs, see my basic HTML for Red Staters diary.

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Run like Reagan!

You didn't happen to play in Kesmai's beta did you ?

I don't know what BT is, so I doubt I played it.
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Run like Reagan!

NT

Could you point me to this site that had my picture? Thanks, heh
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Run like Reagan!

It was ravens Al Gore card. I posted to your post instead of his.

Well time to make an appointment with the optometrist.

Not as much as I would like, though. No, I don't know of Kesmai's whatever. And I posted the link to the BT site copy of the card because I don't know how to load an image from my computer to this site, so I posted elsewhere first...

"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal comfort... has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
--John Stuart Mill