56 pages • 1 hour read
J. R. R. TolkienReturn of the King
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1955A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 5, Chapters 8-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 5, Chapter 8 Summary: “The Houses of Healing”
Merry walks through the city, following the men carrying the bodies of Théoden and Éowyn. He falls into a depressive trance, fixating on the grief and death he has just seen. However, his thoughts are interrupted by Pippin, who finds him and leads him toward the Houses of Healing when he realizes that Merry’s arm has been corrupted by stabbing the Nazgûl. At the Houses of Healing, a wise old woman named Ioreth tells Gandalf that many people are drying of a strange despair, growing cold without any wound after being in contact with the Nazgûl. She remembers an old rhyme that claims the hands of the true king are able to heal people.
Outside of the city, Aragorn plans to remain camped before the gate until he has permission to enter from the steward. However, Gandalf comes and summons him to the Houses of Healing so that he can tend to Faramir, Éowyn, and Merry. Aragorn comes and asks Ioreth if they have the herb athelas, also called kingsfoil. She does not believe that the herb has medicinal properties other than freshening the air with its scent, but she sends the herbalists to find some. Aragorn sits with Faramir first, calling his came and placing a hand on his forehead. When the healers find athelas, he crushes some into a bowl of hot water and a fresh scent pervades the room. Faramir wakes up, looking at Aragorn with joy and saying that he came because he heard the king calling to him.
Aragorn goes to Éowyn next and does the same thing. Gandalf is worried that Éowyn’s despair began before she ever rode to war, claiming that being trapped in Edoras when Wormtongue had control of Théoden had made her bitter about her station as a woman. When Éomer is brought to her bedside, his calls combined with Aragorn’s bring Éowyn back to consciousness.
Finally, Aragorn goes to Merry and revives him with the athelas. Pippin stays to talk and smoke his pipe with Merry to cheer him up. Merry reflects that he is glad that he has learned about the world beyond the Shire because it has taught him to love things that are deeper and more meaningful than he ever would have learned about at home. While the healers are amazed and begin to spread the rumor that the true king has returned to Gondor, Aragorn slips back out of the city to his camp at the gates.
Book 5, Chapter 9 Summary: “The Last Debate”
Legolas and Gimli enter Minas Tirith in search of Merry and Pippin. As they walk through the streets, Gimli admires the stonework, but critiques its lack of finish. They discuss how men often fail before they complete great works and are prone to flaws and problems. Legolas reminds Gimli, however, that humans will always spring back up and regrow after catastrophe, speculating that the race of humans will outlast both of their peoples as a result.
Legolas and Gimli find Merry and Pippin and share the story of how they passed through the Paths of the Dead and how Aragorn gained control of an army of wraiths. They explain how the army marched to the river where Legolas heard seagulls for the first time and began to feel tempted by the idea of crossing the sea and returning to the West. Gimli recounts how the army of wraiths was so terrifying that the Corsairs of Umbar, who were sailing to attack Minas Tirith, all jumped off of their boats and fled or drowned.
Gandalf calls Aragorn, Éomer, and Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth to a council to discuss what they should do next. While Gandalf says it would be prudent to withdraw and shore up their defenses before Mordor’s next assault, he then explains that they will never be able to achieve victory against Mordor through military might. He suggests that the only hope of victory lies in Frodo destroying the Ring, and so the best plan is to try to distract Sauron and keep his Eye focused on Aragorn to give Frodo a better chance. Gandalf proposes that they march all of their remaining men to the Black Gate to fight Sauron, even though this might result in all of their deaths. Aragorn decides to follow this plan with any soldier willing to volunteer, realizing that this is the end of a long game and that hope and despair begin to look very similar.
Book 5, Chapter 10 Summary: “The Black Gate Opens”
Aragorn’s army departs from Minas Tirith. Merry is left behind and finds that the pain in his arm returns as he loses his companions. Bergil, the son of Beregond, comes to keep him company and cheer him up since his father is also away with the army.
Aragorn’s forces ride to Osgiliath and then to the crossroads, where they replace the king’s head upon the statue and cast down the eye. They have heralds ride out and announce the coming of the King Elessar (Aragorn), trying to provoke Sauron. After a debate, Gandalf persuades them not to attack the unoccupied Minas Morgul because he warns that the corruption of the valley might cause their perception to break from reality and that since Frodo likely traveled in that direction, it would not be good to focus Sauron’s attention there. They journey toward the Black Gate, and the soldiers grow fearful as they see the desolate landscape.
At the Black Gate, Aragorn rides forth with Gandalf, Éomer, Imrahil, Legolas, Gimli, and Pippin—representing all of the peoples who oppose Sauron. Aragorn demands that Sauron come out and surrender to them. The gate opens and an ambassador called the Mouth of Sauron rides out. He is likely one of the Black Númenoreans, of the same lineage as the men of Gondor but long ago tempted into serving Sauron to obtain evil knowledge. He shows them Sam’s scabbard and cloak as well as Frodo’s mithril shirt. Pippin realizes that all hope is lost, and he sees Gandalf give in to despair as well. The Mouth of Sauron offers a treaty where Sauron will rule all the lands east of the Anduin, and all nations to the west will be forced to pay tribute to him and submit to a new lord in Isengard. Pippin believes that Gandalf will accept the terms, but Gandalf surprisingly draws his weapons instead.
Orcs ambush them from the hills on either side of the gate and trolls rush across the marshes to attack. Pippin decides that he will probably die but that it is better to die fighting. After a troll throws down Beregond beside him, Pippin stabs it and then is knocked down when it falls on top of him. His last conscious thought is that he hears someone calling “the Eagles are coming!” (874). Believing that he is simply remembering one of Bilbo’s old stories, Pippin loses consciousness.
Book 5, Chapters 8-10 Analysis
The aftermath of the battle against Mordor demonstrates how Good Prevails Over Evil. Despite their victory at the Pelennor Fields, the forces of good are exhausted, traumatized, and grieving, and they have no logical reason to expect further victory. However, Aragorn’s presence in the Houses of Healing reveals a way for love of a higher purpose to overcome despair. By drawing upon this love, the forces of good are able to achieve a miraculous and unexpected victory over a more powerful enemy.
Merry’s condition after his contact with the Nazgûl lord mirrors the effects of trauma and depression, showing how Sauron uses mental and emotional forces as well as physical attacks. Although Merry is not wounded from the fight, the arm which touched the Nazgûl becomes cold, and he gets lost on the way to the Houses of Healing because “the ascent seemed agelong, a meaningless journey in a hateful dream, going on and on to some dim ending that memory cannot seize” (840). Likewise, Faramir and Éowyn seem to be giving up on life even though their physical wounds are being treated successfully. It is only when Aragorn calls them back, reminding them of their duty to serve the king and filling the room with the fresh scent of athelas, that they wake. Their temporary withdrawal from duty again deepens Tolkien’s discussion of The Need for Sacrifice. This is depicted as an improper decision on Faramir and Éowyn’s part, whereas later in this section, sacrifice is a form of honor and dedication to goodness. An ancient rhyme suggests that the power of athelas is not related to its medicinal properties, but rather in its ability to remind a traumatized person that there is hope:
When the black breath blows
And death’s shadow grows
And all lights pass,
Come athelas! Come athelas! (847).
After Aragorn helps to heal Merry, he wakes up and explains to Pippin what he has learned as a result of his experiences. While he originally set out on the quest because he wanted to save his homeland, Merry realizes that there are higher forces of good that he has learned to love even more:
It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not. I am glad that I know about them, a little (852).
Tolkien suggests that this greater and more meaningful form of love is necessary for the Fellowship to continue to fight against Sauron without succumbing to despair because they have very little chance of succeeding.
The attack on the Black Gate demonstrates The Need for Sacrifice as Aragorn decides that it is better to risk his life in a battle he cannot win than to retreat and survive for a while longer. Aragorn does not want to die or lead his men to their deaths; he and Gandalf have both realized that the only chance of long-term victory lies in distracting Sauron so that Frodo has an opportunity to destroy the Ring. By offering themselves up as a sacrifice, they can preserve hope rather than surviving for longer with no hope. However, when the Mouth of Sauron shows them Frodo’s mithril shirt, implying that he has been captured and killed, even Aragorn and Gandalf give in to Sauron’s influence as “a blackness came before their eyes, and it seemed to them in a moment of silence that the world stood still, but their hearts were dead and their last hope gone” (871). Even Gandalf, who has been the organizer of the entire quest, seems broken by this, and for the first time “he seemed an old and wizened man, crushed, defeated at last” (872). However, even in the moment of total defeat, Gandalf and Aragorn refuse to give in to Sauron’s offer of a treaty. While they know that this will likely lead to death in battle, their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of good provides an opening for a miraculous and unexpected success. This sudden and almost impossible victory over Sauron is heralded by the arrival of the Eagles, a call-back to a similar moment of unexpected success in Tolkien’s earlier novel The Hobbit. While the end of this book leaves it uncertain as to whether or not Frodo will successfully destroy the Ring, the sight of the eagles coming to fight in the battle foreshadows that all is not actually lost and that good still has a small chance of winning.
Related Titles
By J. R. R. Tolkien
