I just realized that the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (aka the Battle of Minas Tirith) occurs on March 15th, or the infamous "Ides of March". The Ides of March was originally nothing more than a day on which several religious observances in Ancient Rome occurred, but it is now famous primarily as the day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated. Shakespeare later coined the famous phrase "Beware the Ides of March" in his play Julius Caesar.
I am wondering whether the date of the battle was mere coincidence (I tend to doubt it) or intentional, and if the latter, whether Tolkien ever revealed the reason he chose to make the battle occur on this date. It could be as simple as "It is a date people commonly associate with bad stuff happening", but I certainly hope he had a better reason than that.
Did he ever comment on this topic?
No comments:
Post a Comment