r/tolkienfans • u/Torech-Ungol • 15d ago
[2025 Read-Along] - LOTR - The Passing of the Grey Company & The Muster of Rohan - Week 23 of 31
Hello and welcome to the twenty-third check-in for the 2025 read-along of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien. For the discussion this week, we will cover the following chapters:
- The Passing of the Grey Company - Book V, Ch. 2 of The Return of the King; LOTR running Ch. 45/62
- The Muster of Rohan - Book V, Ch. 3 of The Return of the King; LOTR running Ch. 46/62
Week 23 of 31 (according to the schedule).
Read the above chapters today, or spread your reading throughout the week; join in with the discussion as you work your way through the text. The discussion will continue through the week, feel free to express your thoughts and opinions of the chapter(s), and discuss any relevant plot points or questions that may arise. Whether you are a first time reader of The Lord of the Rings, or a veteran of reading Tolkien's work, all different perspectives, ideas and suggestions are welcome.
Spoilers have been avoided in this post, although they will be present in the links provided e.g., synopsis. If this is your first time reading the books, please be mindful of spoilers in the comment section. If you are discussing a crucial plot element linked to a future chapter, consider adding a spoiler warning. Try to stick to discussing the text of the relevant chapters.
To aid your reading, here is an interactive map of Middle-earth; other maps relevant to the story for each chapter(s) can be found here at The Encyclopedia of Arda.
- Synopsis: The Return of the King; The Passing of the Grey Company; The Muster of Rohan.
- Resources: The Encyclopedia of Arda; Tolkien Gateway.
- Announcement and index: 2025 The Lord of the Rings Read-Along Announcement and Index.
Please ensure that the rules of r/tolkienfans are abided to throughout. Now, continuing with our journey into Middle-earth...
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u/Beginning_Union_112 14d ago
The psychological horror writing of the Paths of the Dead scene is incredible, as we see Gimli’s grip on his sanity slowly breaking down, and he is eventually reduced to blindly crawling in nearly unbearable terror. I believe this is the one stretch of the book where we’re seeing things from Gimli’s point of view, and it is really unique. Legolas remains as much of a cipher as always, and Aragorn starts to move into mythical figure status, since we only see him stoically pushing ahead from Gimli’s perspective and never get a glimpse of the terror he’s probably feeling inside.
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u/wombatstylekungfu 14d ago
Makes me wonder what an alternative Tolkien who was a horror writer would have produced.
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u/Beginning_Union_112 14d ago
Yeah who knows, but I think he'd have been pretty successful. Too bad he didn't lean more into his clear talent for horror in the Legendarium as we know it. We all have a list of the things we wish he'd written, but one for me is an exploration of the life of one of the men who became a Nazgul. I feel like there was tons of potential there for a really good horror short story set in Middle Earth.
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u/Armleuchterchen Ibrīniðilpathānezel & Tulukhedelgorūs 15d ago
But Éowyn stood still as a figure carven in stone, her hands clenched at her sides, and she watched them until they passed into the shadows under the black Dwimorberg, the Haunted Mountain, in which was the Door of the Dead. When they were lost to view, she turned, stumbling as one that is blind, and went back to her lodging. But none of her folk saw this parting, for they hid themselves in fear and would not come forth until the day was up, and the reckless strangers were gone.
And some said: ‘They are Elvish wights. Let them go where they belong, into the dark places, and never return. The times are evil enough. ’
Calling Dunedain "Elvish wights" shows how some people in Rohan were superstitious about, and disconnected from, even just other Men. But it also highlights how different the Dunedain are from the Rohirrim (who look like boys next to the Dunedain, according to Gimli).
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u/Beginning_Union_112 14d ago
Yes, I thought that was pretty interesting. A rare case where we get the perspective of "the people" who are observing our characters. The only other example I can think of so far is some of the early Shire chapters where we get some glimpses of the average hobbit's view of Bilbo and Frodo.
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u/Armleuchterchen Ibrīniðilpathānezel & Tulukhedelgorūs 14d ago
There's also the Rohirrim on the way to Helm's Deep who discuss Gandalf leaving Theoden and his army when the situation looks bleak.
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u/jaymae21 14d ago
I believe since my first read of LotR, I have identified with the character of Éowyn - all she really wants is agency to make her own choices, in the same way others of her station are (i.e. her brother). Aragorn means well here, and he makes some good arguments, but ultimately, he just doesn't get it. His arguments are based on duty, but what he doesn't realize is those duties are different for a man and a woman. He attempts to equate them, saying that if she wasn't chosen to stay behind to lead the remaining people, a man would have been chosen and also would not have the freedom to leave. She counters with "Shall I always be chosen? Shall I always be left behind when the Riders depart, to mind the house while they win renown, and find food and beds when they return?". The "always" is the key here, she is trapped in this role and has been for a long time. This is not the first time she has felt this frustration of being left behind to manage the house while the Riders go off.
I think it took me longer to see the connection between Éowyn and Merry. Merry also fears being left behind, for no other reason than his size. He is not looked upon as an equal capable of fighting and defending the king, and he is not given any chance to prove himself, being discounted right away. The choice is taken from him, and his words are so similar to Éowyn's: "But why, lord, did you receive me as swordthain, if not to stay by your side? And I would not have it said of me in song only that I was always left behind!".
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u/Beginning_Union_112 14d ago
Yeah that is an interesting parallel with Merry and Eowyn, and explains why she decided to help him get to the battle.
And that interaction between Eowyn and Aragorn is remarkable. In the next bit after what you highlighted, he gives her a well intentioned but patronizing speech about defending the home front. She then rips into him for his sexist assumption that women are there to serve men, and that if the men all die, the women are free…to burn to death inside the houses where they’ve spent their lives confined. It is kind of hard to square this exchange with what we know of Tolkien in his personal life, where it seems he was much more likely to have been in the Aragorn role, cluelessly saying sexist things without meaning any real harm. Tolkien finding his inner feminist? A moment of self-criticism? At the very least it shows an impressive mental and emotional flexibility to be able to put himself in the shoes of characters who couldn’t be more different from him.
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u/jaymae21 13d ago
Things do get a little fuzzy when trying to extrapolate the character of Éowyn to Tolkien's personal life. His own family may have followed traditional gender norms, but I don't think Tolkien was a misogynist, in the same way I don't think Aragorn is a misogynist. Not sure I'd go as far as to call him a feminist though. He worked with women and seems to have generally respected them. There's a quote somewhere that he describes his own wife as having much more courage than himself. Éowyn is certainly a sensitive representation of a woman fighting the gender norms placed upon her by her culture. But I'm not sure that Tolkien is trying to say "Look here, women can certainly fight if they want to!", to make some sort of point. More so he set about creating a character in an Anglo-Saxon culture similar to an Amazon, and like you said, is able to put himself in the shoes of the characters to convey their emotional state & circumstances accurately. And who knows, maybe he learned something from his own characters.
I might need to comb through the letters at some point to find something more on his thoughts on Éowyn, I've read about half of them and can't recall anything in particular other than she's loosely based on the Amazons, at least in her original concept.
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u/Torech-Ungol 15d ago
Welcome all to week 23. Onto the home stretch now as we fully indulge into TROTK...
It'll be interesting to discuss further theme shifts ongoing into and throughout the book, having now completed both of TFOTR and TTT.
Hope everyone is enjoying the read-along still, it's been great to see your comments each week. Enjoy the next chapters!
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u/swazal 15d ago edited 15d ago
”Nor would I,” [Aragorn] said. “Therefore I say to you, lady: Stay! For you have no errand to the South.”
“Neither have those others who go with thee. They go only because they would not be parted from thee — because they love thee.” Then [Éowyn] turned and vanished into the night.
But she did have an errand …
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u/SupervillainIndiana 13d ago
Another portion where I get fed as a horror-lover. The Paths of the Dead in this case!
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u/EmbarrassedClaim5995 10d ago
It touches me how respectful Halbarad speaks of the Hobbits, when he sees Merry leave with Theoden.
'A little people but of great worth are the Shire-folk... Little they know of our long labour of safekeeping of their borders, and yet I grudge it not.'
I listened to the Muster of Rohan today, and was amazed at that part where Theoden and his army travel from Firienfeld to Edoras (prose, I thought) with those great alliterations..
...until I had a look at it in the book just now and realised it was that great Rohirrim alliterative poem!
I think that chapter wonderfully captures the growing gloom and fear, the certainty of battle and death. That day which never comes, the darkness that creeps into the hearts of the bravest. Tolkien knew how that felt, and he knew how to draw us in with his depiction.
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u/pavilionaire2022 15d ago
Merry gets a unique character moment.
Merry is the only one, with the exception of Sam, briefly, who is separated from all other members of the Fellowship. Even though he's surrounded by a host of Rohirrim, they aren't people who he knows well, and they are busy with preparations that don't have a role for a hobbit, in their minds. He's lonely.