|
At that moment there was a twang of bowstrings: several arrows
whistled over
them, and some fell among them. One smote Frodo between the shoulders
and he
lurched forward with a cry, letting go his paddle: but the arrow fell
back,
foiled by his hidden coat of mail. Another passed through Aragorn's
hood;
and a third stood fast in the gunwale of the second boat, close by
Merry's
hand.
When we compare these two passages, several conundrums present
themselves.
Let us, to begin with, acknowledge that the Orcs obviously are
excellent
archers. They aim for the same targets both times, and hit them too.
But
after that, the plot thickens.
 |
1. The Orcs try to kill Frodo both times, and they hit him straight on
but
are foiled by his mithril coat. How did they know that Frodo was the
most
important target in the group?
|
|
2. They are not really interested in killing anybody else in the
group.
Since they managed to hit Frodo square on both times, they could
obviously
have hit everybody else too. Note that the Orcs fired several arrows
on both
occasions, but did not hit anyone except him - with one exception that
I'm
coming to. The arrow that hit "the gunwale of the second boat,
close to
Merry's hand" is obviously some kind of camouflage intended to
lull any
suspicions. Only a master marksman could hit the gunwale of that boat
(a
small, moving target) instead of somewhere in the boat where somebody
might
get hurt - these were crack troops! Who gave them the instructions not
to
hurt anybody except Frodo - or were they acting on their own?
|
|
3. On the first occasion, an arrow "pierced Gandalf's hat and
stuck there
like a black feather." (It sounds like an old Scrooge McDuck
adventure;
arrow-shooting natives and bandits with guns loved shooting at his hat
too.)
On the second occasion, an arrow "passed through Aragorn's
hood" - another
clean hit. The puzzle is why the Orcs are so keen to hit the headgear
of
whoever is in charge of the group. Does it satisfy some kind of Orkish
superstition? Do they think that an arrow through the leader's
headgear will
be enough to vanquish the whole group? Or are they simply collecting
"coups", like the Plains Indians of old?
|
|
4. How could the Orcs know that the Fellowship was led by Gandalf on
the
first occasion and by Aragorn on the second? The fact that those
fantastic
marksmen aimed for their headgear, while ignoring that of everybody
else,
shows that they possessed some kind of information about it. Did
Gollum tip
them off about it? And if so, why didn't they just try to kill the
person in
charge of the Fellowship?
|
|
5. Why did the Orcs try (in an admittedly clumsy way; they were less
adept
at psychology than at archery) to make the Fellowship believe that
they
wanted to kill them all, when they obviously took great care not to
hurt
anybody except Frodo? Note that when the Balrog turns up in the first
incident, they become silent and dismayed. They had not counted on
this!
Their intention was never to hurt Gandalf!
|
|
6. Finally, were they really trying to kill even Frodo, or was that
window-dressing too? After the first incident, the news was very likely
disseminated to all Orcs that Frodo wore a coat of mail that protected
him
against arrows. Perhaps they knew it all the time? What was their real
agenda?
|
These are deep, mysterious questions.
Öjevind Lång
|
