Another LOTR Read-Along: The Pyre of Denethor (ROTK 5, 7)

This is such a creepy and horrible chapter. I have a great fear of dying in a fire, so yeah... ugh. Not pleased at all by Denethor here. That whole image of him lying down in the middle of the fire, and the fact that anyone who ever looked at the palantir after that would see "only two aged hands withering in flame" (p. 836) -- that is one of the creepiest images I've ever encountered. Blech.

A big theme here is how The Enemy is working even in the midst of The Good Guys. Beregond has to slay...