Gondor and Ancient Rome

The parallel between Gondor and Rome is hardly worth bringing up - it is just so obvious. But there is one feature of them that is particularly striking and on which a key plot feature of the Lord of the Rings hinges. Gondor was the southern branch of the much larger realm of the exiled Numenoreans. This split of an empire into two related ones which nonetheless maintain a connection is one that sounds like a piece of pure fiction. Emperors don't often split their empires up, not willingly at any rate. Any half decent ruler wants to ruler a bigger area not a smaller one. So you will have to look hard into history to find a precedent. But there is one. And it is in that most Gondor-like of empires, Rome. The emperor Theodosius was the last to rule both halves of the empire. He had many qualities that Tolkien would have approved of. He sorted out religious dissent firmly and established the Church with a set of standards based on the Nicene creed. He made Christianity the official religion of the empire. I can imagine that the catholic JRR would have been quite happy under Theodosius. On his death he split it between his two sons Arcadius and Honorius. From then on the split become permanent until the final extinction of the Western Empire at the hands of the Goths. The Eastern Roman Empire continued for another thousand years in Constantinople. Greek became the language of the empire and the culture drifted away from its latin roots. But right up until the end the emporers continued to think of themselves as and call themselves Romans. I imagine that a descendant of Julius Ceaser who turned up in the fifteenth century when the empire was basically just the city of Constinople, might well have been welcomed as a saviour in the same way as Aragorn at Minas Tirith.

The Boy stood on the Burning Deck

The Boy stood on the Burning Deck is a Victorian poem by Elizabeth Bishop. To modern ears it is cheesy and melodramatic but was incredibly popular for at least 100 years after it was written in 1950. It commemorates the destruction of the french flagship L'Orient in the battle of the Nile. L'Orient was a huge ship by the standards of the day and was much bigger and better armed than anything in Nelson's fleet. It could only be tackled by two warships from either side with any chance of success. The French sailors were skillful and experienced and there is no reason to doubt that they were the equal of the English so this duel was both deadly and key to the outcome of the battle. In the event, the English succeeded in setting alight to it. Hence the burning deck from which all had to flee. But despite the flames the French gunners heroically stayed at their posts to continue firing. Amongst the officers in charge below decks at this moment was a Captain Casabianca, whose 9 year old son was also part of the crew. But despite the bravery of the crew, a magazine deep in the ship was ignited causing a huge explosion. The noise was so loud it was heard in Alexandria 25 miles away. The shock was so great the battle paused for 30 minutes while the very few survivors were rescued. The hardened sailors of the two fleets were hardly mild mannered men so this shows just how huge a calamity it was. The story grew up that the English sailors had seen a small boy on the burning deck of the doomed vessel shortly before it blew up. From these facts the story of a boy refusing to abandon his post without the permission of his father grew up. From this story the poem was written. Tolkien would certainly have known the poem well when he was growing up. The interesting thing is just how Tolkienesque the theme of this poem is. The boy prefers death in the flames to disobeying his father. Think of Beregond and his cruel dilemma when Denethor wanted to be burnt along with Faramir. There is the conflict between obeying orders and common sense. And there is the fire playing a prominent part. It doesn't seem too far fetched to think that Tolkien had this poem somewhere in the back of his mind when he was writing this bit of the Lord of the Rings?