Denethor

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This article is about the Steward of Gondor in the time of the War of the Ring. For the king of the Laiquendi, see Denethor (First Age). For the first Steward of Gondor of this name, see Denethor I.

Denethor II is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Return of the King, which is the third and final part of his novel The Lord of the Rings. In the novel, he is the 26th and penultimate ruling Steward of Gondor.

Appearances

Literature

As stated in the early chapters and the Appendices of The Return of the King, Denethor, son of Ecthelion II, was widely considered a man of great will, foresight, and strength. However, he failed to reach out to his people, who flocked instead to Thorongil, an outsider who served Denethor's father with great renown. Thorongil vanished from Gondor four years before Denethor would succeed his father as Ruling Steward. Thorongil (who was secretly Aragorn, Chieftain of the Dúnedain of the North and hence a claimant to Gondor's throne) had advised Ecthelion to put faith in the wizard Gandalf, whom Denethor distrusted.

He married Finduilas, daughter of Prince Adrahil of Dol Amroth. She gave birth to two sons: Boromir and Faramir, before dying young. Denethor never remarried after his wife's death, and became more grim and silent than before.

Unlike Saruman, Denethor was too strong to be corrupted by Sauron's lies. In the novel, he began secretly using a palantír to probe Sauron's strength, though he incorrectly insisted he was able to control it. The effort aged him quickly, and the knowledge of Sauron's overwhelming force depressed him greatly, mostly due to deliberately biased visions from the palantír on the part of Sauron. Boromir's death depressed Denethor further, and he became ever more grim. Nonetheless he continued to fight Sauron with every resource at his disposal until the forces of Mordor arrived at the gates of the White City, at which point he lost all hope.

Near the novel's climactic battle, Denethor ordered the warning beacons of Gondor to be lit, and forces were called in from all of Gondor's provinces. The civilian population of Minas Tirith was sent away to safety. As invasion seemed imminent, Denethor sent the Red Arrow to the Rohirrim. The Council decided that Gondor could make no stroke of its own but Denethor ordered Gondor's forces to the outer defences of Osgiliath and the great wall of the Rammas Echor. He wanted to make a stand, since the defences had been built at great expense and not yet been overrun. His son Faramir and the other commanders objected due to the Enemy's overwhelming numbers and preferred instead to defend the city itself, but Faramir nonetheless obeyed out of respect for his father and late brother. Faramir's body, apparently mortally wounded, was returned during the retreat, as the capital city was under siege by vastly superior forces.

This last loss finally broke Denethor's spirit. Denethor committed suicide, having ordered his men to burn him alive on a pyre prepared for himself and Faramir. He took the white rod of his office and broke it over his knee, casting the pieces into the flames. He laid himself down on the pyre and so died, clasping the palantír in his hands. He also attempted to take the grievously injured and apparently dying Faramir with him, but was thwarted by the timely intervention of Peregrin Took, with help from Gandalf and the guard Beregond.

The Stewardship passed to Faramir, who remained in the Houses of Healing for a time and was later made Prince of Ithilien by Aragorn.

Adaptations

Denethor was voiced by William Conrad in Rankin/Bass's 1980 animated adaptation of The Return of the King, and by Peter Vaughan in BBC Radio's 1981 serialization.

Denethor (John Noble) in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In Peter Jackson's live-action movie trilogy, Denethor was played by John Noble, and was portrayed in a substantially more negative light than the novel. Instead of a strong-willed, embattled ruler, worn and driven mad by struggling daily with Sauron over the control of the Palantír, and driven to desperation due to the overwhelming might of the enemy he can see in the seeing-stone, Denethor is portrayed as an incompetent, weak, vengeful, and malevolent person, an uncaring father and poor strategist who passively (and even actively) works against his kingdom's defense - as opposed to the novel, where he is described as being chiefly responsible for successfully defending Gondor for decades and gathering what strength it can muster, and at great personal cost and sacrifice.

He first appears in a deleted scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, but does not have a major role until the next movie. In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the DVD commentary describes Denethor as a sort of Shakespearean tragic character. He refuses to light the beacons of Gondor to call for the aid of Rohan (Gandalf has to send Pippin to light the city's beacon), while in the novel he has already lit the beacons before Gandalf even entered Gondor. He sends his remaining son Faramir and all of his cavalry on a suicidal mission to enemy-captured Osgiliath. In the novel, Denethor's carefully timed cavalry charge is targeted against the advancing enemy in the open terrain near Minas Tirith, and actually rescues Faramir and his forces that were defending the Pellenor fields outside the city (Faramir was struck down by a "Southron chieftain" and was about to be finished off when the cavalry arrived). Apparently shocked by the size of Sauron's army (which in the novel he has already seen in his Palantír), he calls for the city's defenders to flee; whereas in the novel he states it is senseless to run from the enemy as there is no hope of escape ("why do the fools fly?").

In the movie, Gandalf incapacitates Denethor before taking command of the defence. This does not occur in the book, and Gandalf is generally far more respectful of Denethor, indeed it is difficult to imagine Gandalf in the novel would be able (or allowed) to physically attack and throw down the ruler in his own citadel, within full sight of his guards and men, with impunity. In the book Gandalf, though critical, is depicted as more compassionate towards Denethor when the latter goes insane (rather than being disgusted and angry as in the movie), understanding that the source of the madness is Sauron and the Palantír Denethor was using at great risk and difficulty to facilitate Gondor's efforts against the Enemy. Rather than being in opposition to Gandalf's command of the defense, in the book Denethor is indifferent, and tells his men to follow whom they will "even the grey fool". In the movie Denethor is also shown as self-indulgent, eating and drinking gluttonously while listening to Pippin's songs as the besiegers approach the city, whereas in the book he is sternly ascetic in his habits, wearing armour and a sword day and night.

In the movie, Denethor's death is significantly altered. After going insane Denethor attempts to burn himself and his son Faramir to death in the domed Stewards' tomb in the city's graveyards. Gandalf then arrives on his horse Shadowfax, and Denethor in defiance lights the pyre. Gandalf then knocks Denethor of the quickly igniting pyre with his staff, while Pippin saves Faramir. As Pippin is trying to put out the hem of Faramir's tunic, he is attacked by the insane Denethor. At that moment, Gandalf in anger rears Shadowfax on his hind legs, and (either purposely or no) knocks Denethor into the burning funeral pyre. Denethor then, in a final glance among the flames, realizes his son may not be dying. Completely ignited due to being covered in oil, Denethor then runs from the houses of the dead all the way to the tip of the promontory of Minas Tirith and casts himself from it. In the book (and possibly in the movie as well), the houses of the dead, the graveyards of Minas Tirith, are described as being located in the mountains behind the sixth circle of the city. In order to reach the promontory, Denethor seems to have ran, fully on fire, through the Silent Street (the graveyards), into the sixth circle, up the stairways to the seventh, and then all the way along the promontory to cast himself off the very tip.
In the novel, however, Denethor stands by while Gandalf (without his horse) carries Faramir off the unlit pyre. Seeing that Pippin brought him there, Denethor reveals his suspicion that Gandalf has purposely brought Pippin to Minas Tirith in order to spy on him, but that he accepted his service in order to gain information from Pippin in turn (in the book, Gandalf is openly supportive of Pippin entering Denethor's service). Denethor then displays his Palantír that he hid in his pyre, as the source of his vast knowledge of world events. Denethor then chastises Gandalf for attempting to control his actions as a free ruler, and for conspiring to supplant his rule with an "upstart from the North" (Aragorn), disputing the legitimacy of his claim ("even were it proven to him") - on the grounds that the kings of Gondor are of the House of Anárion and not Isildur. In an act of defiance, refusing to be the "dotard chamberlain of an upstart", Denethor then ends his life by igniting the pyre "ere Gandalf could prevent him" from doing so. Denethor then burns to death on the spot.

In the extended edition of the film, after Denethor's death, Aragorn is seen using a palantír next to his throne. The film only hints at Denethor's use of the palantír which drives him mad, information revealed in the Pyre scene, which is more violent than the book. Jackson also has Denethor jump off the Citadel in addition to burning himself on the Pyre, one of the earliest changes.

References

• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 519647821.

See also

• House of Húrin
• Stewards of Gondor

External links

• Template:Imdb character

• Denethor at The Thain's Book

Preceded by Ecthelion II

Stewards of Gondor

Succeeded by Faramir