Battle tactics of Mordor

[Narkalui]

@Boaz I always know I'm in for a terrific little read whenever you chuck in your two cents

 

[Boaz]

Just my opinion... Hope you and yours are well, Narky.

 

[Narkalui]

We are, thank you Ser. And you and yours?

 

[Aldarion]

@Aldarion Interesting topic. I'll toss in my two cents....

I believe Tolkien took great pride in presenting the big picture. His vision for Middle-earth was grand. He sought to present major themes regarding culture, government, and theology and then delve only into specifics in certain areas. For example, Tolkien presented us with the major themes of friendship, family, and language... and in the area of language he gave details (hundreds of words and working alphabets) on the workings of Quenya, Sindarin, and Adunaic.... while only teasing us regarding Hobbit-ish (Hobbit-ese... if there is a real name, it has escaped me), Khuzdul, The Black Tongue, and Rohirr -ish (Is that a word?). He gave us no information on the wedding and funeral rites of the Shire, but gave us more than enough information on birthdays.

Obviously, he was greatly intrigued by alphabets, calendars, birthdays, and songs/poetry.

It is Rohirric. And I believe that the only reason why he did not create it was that he ran out of time.

And yeah, one of reasons why his world works is that he started from the languages, then moved onto culture and history. So it actually makes sense.

In the area of government, he did not go into great detail... but he was very concerned with justice. I think his opinion was that the only reason for war is to establish justice and peace for the people. Overall strategy was necessary to discuss, but he really enjoyed presenting individuals fighting to do justice. Sam vs Shelob. Theoden's charge. Gandalf vs the Balrog. Beregond vs Denethor's servants. I can't find my books, but doesn't Aragorn say something to Eowyn like, "Your place is here. If we fall, you will still have to fight. That fight will be no less honorable though there will be none left to sing of it." I think that shows that Tolkien does not really care about the tactics... and that the strategy is included because it has to be... but what is of vital importance is that the effort is made. Boromir's defence of Merry and Pippin is not descibed... only it's aftermath... but the attempt was undertaken, the sacrifice was made is not any less for failing.

Agreed. Although what he did describe shows that he had a solid idea on how governments of Gondor, Rohan, Numenor and Mordor worked... interestingly enough, there are no defined legal limits on power of monarch in any of those, yet only Mordor can truly be called an absolute monarchy - Tolkien clearly believed that customary limitations are enough (perhaps influence of him being Brit, or maybe influence of Byzantine Empire?).

 

[Boaz]

@Narkalui I'm good, brother.

@Aldarion Also thanks for taking my posts in the intended spirit. Too much time on my hands and little human contact leads to me making multiple of topic posts.

 

[Aldarion]

Sorry for semi-necro, but I just remembered these excellent posts by Bret Deveraux, which also go some way to comparing Sauron's and Saruman's tactics and strategy:

Collections: The Siege of Gondor, Part I: Professionals Talk Logistics

(Note: Thanks to the effort of a kind reader, this post is now available in audio format! The playlist for the entire series may be found here.) This is the first part of a six-part (II, III, IV, V…

acoup.blog

Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part I: Bargaining for Goods at Helm’s Gate

This is the long-awaited first part of a series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII) taking a historian’s look at the Battle of Helm’s Deep from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers…

acoup.blog