Ah, Tolkien...
Did I mention I've been taking an elective English course on Tolkien this spring? I didn't? Ah, well...
My beloved school chaplain and English teacher is a very big Tolkien fan. He said the Lord's Prayer in Elvish. He also attended the medieval congress out in Kalamazoo, Michigan last week, where he kindly took my copy of The Road to Middle-Earth to get autographed by Mr. Tom Shippey. Yay!
So anyways, I'm reading Children of Hurin for said course, when this line in the chapter on the Nirnaeth Arnoediad catches my eye: "...Huor fell pierced with a venomed arrow in the eye, ..."
And I think to myself, "This sounds familiar. Where have we heard this before...?"
Oh. Right. Arathorn. Don't think that arrow was poisoned, though, but whatever. It still got him in the eye. And I could've sworn that Eomund died the same way, though now that I look I can only find reference to him being killed by orcs; nothing specific like getting an arrow through the eye.
Still, it's an interesting theme--if you're the father of a hero-to-be and you're not a main character and you need to die, you'll get shot through the eye. Granted, I can't really call it a theme, seeing as it's only happened to two people (that I know of), but still...interesting coincidence. Perhaps it stems from childhood experiences ("Ronald! Put that stick down! You'll poke someone's eye out!"). That's where the whole "giant spider" theme came from, at least...
Or maybe it runs in the family. XD Huor, Tuor, Earendil, Elros...and on down to Arathorn. Wonder how many Dunedain chieftans died with orc arrows through their eyes...
Okay, I should really go do homework now... XD
My beloved school chaplain and English teacher is a very big Tolkien fan. He said the Lord's Prayer in Elvish. He also attended the medieval congress out in Kalamazoo, Michigan last week, where he kindly took my copy of The Road to Middle-Earth to get autographed by Mr. Tom Shippey. Yay!
So anyways, I'm reading Children of Hurin for said course, when this line in the chapter on the Nirnaeth Arnoediad catches my eye: "...Huor fell pierced with a venomed arrow in the eye, ..."
And I think to myself, "This sounds familiar. Where have we heard this before...?"
Oh. Right. Arathorn. Don't think that arrow was poisoned, though, but whatever. It still got him in the eye. And I could've sworn that Eomund died the same way, though now that I look I can only find reference to him being killed by orcs; nothing specific like getting an arrow through the eye.
Still, it's an interesting theme--if you're the father of a hero-to-be and you're not a main character and you need to die, you'll get shot through the eye. Granted, I can't really call it a theme, seeing as it's only happened to two people (that I know of), but still...interesting coincidence. Perhaps it stems from childhood experiences ("Ronald! Put that stick down! You'll poke someone's eye out!"). That's where the whole "giant spider" theme came from, at least...
Or maybe it runs in the family. XD Huor, Tuor, Earendil, Elros...and on down to Arathorn. Wonder how many Dunedain chieftans died with orc arrows through their eyes...
Okay, I should really go do homework now... XD