LotR Feats of Endurance

[Balrog]

A little study I thought I might share with the rest of the board, concerning a specific event: the capture of Merry and Pippin by the Orcs and their pursuit by the Three Hunters: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli.

The Three Hunters
The Orcs had captured Merry and Pippin sometime around midday on February 26, however the trio spent the afternoon preparing Boromir’s burial and deciding whether to follow them or go after Frodo before finally deciding. By then it was dusk, and the whole night was spent traveling over the highlands of the Emyn Muil. They took a brief rest once and discovered the aftermath of the Orcs’ skirmish [see more below].

By dawn of the 27th they had reached the East Wall of Rohan, a sheer cliff marking the end of the Emyn Muil and beginning of the wide plains of Rohan. Legolas also spots the Orcs in the distance:

‘“It is a great company on foot; but I cannot say more, nor see what kind of folk they may be. They are many leagues away: twelve, I guess; but the flatness of the plain is hard to measure.”’

By Tolkien’s reckoning a league was about three miles, so the Orcs had a thirty-six mile head start. The Three Hunters took off due west after them, finding Pippin’s dropped broach about a mile from the cliff, and finally stop at dusk:

‘As nightshade was closing about them Aragorn halted. Only twice in the day’s march had they rested a brief while, and twelve leagues now lay between them and the eastern wall where they had stood at dawn.’

At this point a debate begins. Apart from a few breaks the trio had been traveling nonstop the previous night and all of today, covering at least thirty-six miles. Gimli wished to rest, while Legolas argued they should keep going. Finally Aragorn decided they would sleep the night, in part for fear of missing the tracks of any escape attempts by the Hobbits.

Aragorn woke up before dawn of the 28th to find Legolas already awake complaining that the Orcs traveled throughout the night. The Three Hunters took off again along the Orc trail, which is now heading northwest, and marched throughout the day “hardly pausing.” By dusk they had again covered twelve leagues, and came to a rest where the trail turned north towards a series of downs along the river Entwash.

By dawn of the 29th they woke again (Gimli and Aragorn at least, Legolas was again already awake) and began marching north, reaching the downs about an hour before noon. It is here that they find the first and only signs that the Orcs had made camp [more on that below] and Aragorn recalls that the downs run eight leagues north before stopping, then another fifteen leagues to the mouth of the Entwash (which exits south out of Fangorn). They reached the end of the downs by dusk. The total length of this day’s journey is not given, however considering their previous record of twelve leagues a day, and that they covered eight from an hour before noon to dusk, an assumption of another twelve would be appropriate.

We are also given a description of the journey’s effects on the trio:

’They were going slowly now, and Gimli’s back was bent. Stone-hard are the Dwarves in labour or journey, but this endless chase began to tell on him, as all hope failed in his heart. Aragorn walked behind him, grim and silent, stooping now and then to scan some print or mark upon the ground. Only Legolas still stepped as lightly as ever, his feet hardly seeming to press the grass, leaving no footprints as he passed; but in the waybread of the Elves he found all the sustenance that he needed, and he could sleep, if sleep it could be called by Men, resting his mind in the strange paths of elvish dreams, even as he walked open-eyed in the light of this world.’

The implications are pretty clear. After three days and one night of constant travel, having covered at least one hundred and eight miles, Gimli is starting to feel the burn. Aragorn seems to be in better shape, and we get a neat little bit of continuity: Those who remember the Númenóreans know that their knights and soldiers were expected to cover twelve leagues in a day via ‘forced march’ for a short while at least; which Aragorn matches easily, being a descendant of that race. Meanwhile Legolas is not only doing just fine, the passage raises doubts about whether he’s actually slept at all during the trip, or at least slept in the normal way we think about it. Indeed all during the night of the 29th whenever Gimli or Aragorn wake up they find the Elf walking around singing songs to himself.

Sunrise on February 30 finds Aragorn and Gimli waking up, with the comment that they were now ten leagues from the “eaves of Fangorn.” This seems to contradict the earlier statement that it was fifteen to the mouth of the Entwash, but the river does exit further west from where forest ends properly. It’s also this time that Legolas spots Éomer’s éored at a distance of five leagues (with enough accuracy to count one hundred and five of them, no less), and they decide to wait for them. They meet, there’s some discussion, yadda yadda, and then:

‘“It is now the fourth day since [Boromir] was slain,” answered Aragorn; “and since the evening of that day we have journeyed from the shadow of Tol Brandir.”
“On foot? Cried Éomer.
“Yes, even as you see us.”
Wide wonder came into Éomer’s eyes. “Strider is too poor a name, son of Arathorn,” he said. “Wingfoot I name you. This deed of the three friends should be sung in many a hall. Fourty leagues and five you have measured ere the fourth day is ended! Hardy is the race of Elendil!”

Now we can account for about thirty-six of those leagues, which means that their original night journey across the Emyn Muil was nine leagues, or twenty-seven miles. Either way, as Éomer said, covering one hundred and thirty-five miles in just three and a half days is indeed quite a feat

Orcs

‘“No other folk make such a trampling,” said Legolas. “It seems their delight to slash and beat down growing things that are not even in their way.”
“But they go with great speed for all that,” said Aragorn, “and they do not tire.”’

The Orcs captured Merry and Pippin sometime around midday on the 26th, with Pippin coming to around dusk. This is the spot where the Orcs stopped briefly to argue about what to do now that they had the prisoners. The Uruk-hai led by Uglúk, which Pippin describes as large and black, obviously wanted to return to Isengard. The Orcs from Mordor led by Grishnákh, the small traditional kind with crooked legs and arms that reach almost to the ground, obviously want to go back across the River. And the Orcs from Moria, described as being even smaller than the Mordor kind, just want to kill them and go home. You can guess who won the argument, and whose heads were rolling on the ground.

‘“Put up your weapons!” shouted Uglúk. “And let’s have no more nonsense! We go straight west from here, and down the stair. From there straight to the downs, then along the river to the forest. And we march day and night. That clear?”’

After this the Hobbits are carried off as Pippin falls back asleep. When he woke up it was still “early night” and they had reached the East Wall of Rohan. Scouts had come back reporting they’d been spotted by a Rohirrim scout. Annoyed, Uglúk forced Pippin to drink some Orcish draught that burned his throat but made his pain and weariness go away, then applied some Orcish medicine to Merry’s injury and gave him some drink too to wake up:

‘“Now straight on!” shouted Uglúk. “West and a little north. Follow Lugdush.”
“But what are we going to do at sunrise?” said some of the Northerners.
“Go on running,” said Uglúk. “What do you think? Sit on the grass and wait for the Whiteskins to join the picnic?”
“But we can’t run in the sunlight.”
“You’ll run with me behind you,” said Uglúk. “Run! Or you’ll never see your beloved holes again. By the White Hand! What’s the use of sending out mountain-maggots on a trip, only half trained. Run, curse you! Run while night lasts!”

The Hobbits are forced to run as well, ‘encouraged’ by whips and their guards, and it’s at this point that Pippin runs off to drop his broach a mile from the East Wall before being captured again.

After this Pippin loses track of time, and ends up being carried at some point, before the Orcs come to a rest at their camp. Exactly when is not given, but Aragorn gives a clue when he comes upon it:

‘“They rested here awhile,” [Aragorn] said, “but even the outward trail is already old. I fear your heart spoke truly, Legolas: it is thrice twelve hours, I guess, since the Orcs stood where we now stand. If they held to their pace, then at sundown yesterday they would reach the borders of Fangorn.”’

That guess was given on February 29, which means the Orcs camped around 11pm on the 27th, and made it to Fangorn on the 28th. Now of course Aragorn could be wrong, but as we’ll see later he’s not far off.

Now at this time the Northerners had been bitching about traveling for so long, so Uglúk told them to go piss off, and their group started heading north. Also at this time Grishnákh’s group came back, having left sometime earlier, saying he had to make sure his orders were fulfilled (meaning make sure the Ring goes back to Mordor), and they too set off ahead of the Uruk-hai. Then the Uruks took off, carrying the Hobbits on their backs, and Pippin again loses track of time.

When he comes too it’s afternoon, the Uruks have already overtaken the Mordor Orcs and are gaining on the Moria Orcs. Pippin also realizes that the Rohirrim are gaining on them, but with a final “terrific spurt” the Orcs just make it to the eaves of Fangorn by dusk and are surrounded by Riders. When this happens also isn’t given, except when Éomer talks to Aragorn on February 30:

‘“…I led forth my éored, men of my own household; and we overtook the Orcs at nightfall two days ago, near to the borders of the Entwood. There we surrounded them, and gave battle yesterday at dawn.”’

This actually agrees with Aragorn’s guess that the Orcs had reached Fangorn by sundown on the 28th, giving some weight to his guess that they’d camped around midnight. In any case, the distance and speed involved is even more impressive than the Three Hunters. The Orcs had traveled fifty-five leagues (fourty-five leagues between Tol Brandir and where Aragorn and Éomer meet, plus ten more between that point and Fangorn), or one hundred sixty-five miles, in two and a half days. That’s an average of about sixty-six miles a day, traveling day and night and making camp only once.

There is, however, a bit of a catch. Sometime during their journey the Three Hunters comment on their weariness:

‘“We shall not turn back here. Yet I am weary.” He gazed back along the way that they had come towards the night gathering in the East. “There is something strange at work in this land. I distrust the silence. I distrust even the pale Moon. The stars are faint; and I am weary as I have seldom been before, weary as no Ranger should be with a clear trail to follow. There is some will that lends speed to our foes and sets an unseen barrier before us: a weariness that is in the heart more than in limb.”

“Truly!” said Legolas. “That I have known since first we came down from the Emyn Muil. For the will is not behind us but before us.” He pointed away over the land of Rohan into the darkling West under the sickle moon.

“Saruman!” muttered Aragorn.’

The idea of mental manipulation is not very far off; after all, Sauron basically mind-controls most of his minions to make sure they do what he wants. And despite the distance Saruman does have means to look over such distances and know where to direct his spells, least of all by using his palantír. If so, this would actually be a lower limit of what the Three Hunters could do given the negative influence, and an upper limit of Orcish endurance given the assistance. Of course it could just be Tolkien’s usual use of flowery language, but by the wording I don’t believe that to be the case. In any case, they both stand as impressive feats of endurance, magical assistance/hindrance or not.

[Murazor]

I'd point, however, that Grishnakh and his fellows managed to keep pace with Ugluk's troops, unlike the shorter Moria goblins. It is possible that Saruman was using some kind of generic "Ork-B-Kwik" spell with a wide area of effect, but the ability of the Mordorian orcs to run as fast as the Isengardians suggests that there is more of natural ability than supernatural boosting in this (it is extremely unlikely that Saruman would have given troops from Mordor the benefit of his magic).

Also, for those who aren't familiar with this, the Orcs run these distances while wearing armour (chain mail) and their personal weaponry... No matter how one puts it, this is a fairly impressive showing for the orcs.

[Balrog]

You have a point, but then Saruman might not care if the Mordorian Orcs were also given a boost; the Isengarders still outnumbered them, and the closer they got to Isengard the easier it would be for him to take it. This at least is all there is about the difference:

Either because they were quicker and hardier, or because of some plan of Grishnákh's, the Isengarders gradually passed through the Orcs of Mordor, and Grishnákh's folk closed in behind. Soon they were gaining also on the Northerners ahead. The forest began to draw nearer.

And the Moria goblins were the worst for wear:

In the afternoon Uglúk's troop overtook the Northerners. They were flagging in the rays of the bright sun, winter sun shining in a pale cool sky though it was; their heads were down and their tongues lolling out.