last thing I was thinking about, and Iām not gonna hunt down quotes for this now but theyāre somewhere, is those wars of conquest that are started by Aragorn after the war of the Ring, when he is king. and like the thing is, heās a dude who gives the DrĆŗedain back their lands, for their exclusive use so you canāt make any easy arguments about expansionism and imperialism. and thereās also that quote, which is the one I wonāt hunt down because idk where it is, but Iām reasonably convinced itās in the Letters, which says that Denethor was treating the peoples in the service of Sauron as political enemies, and after Sauronās defeat would have pursued their defeat as political enemies of Gondor, as he was acting with Sauron (which... aight...). and this is where I donāt precisely recall if I read this (in the same text) or if Iām working by inference, but like, I recall it says Aragorn doesnāt do that same mistake.
but. Aragorn definitely attacks, right? with Ćomerās help, yes? but Iām to understand that heās not treating these countries as political enemies, and therefore heās supposedly not acting in retaliation or even as like, theoretically, in pre-emptive defense against neighbouring enemies that have military forces. and I mean, itās not necessarily a bad political move, trying to gain a full victory against your military enemies! but itās specifically remembering that this is not the Denethor treatment that throws me. now that text iirc is talking about how the southern and eastern countries fell under Sauronās sway in a religious sense, where he was being worshipped instead of Eru.Ā
so itās like... not unreasonable to assume that this is meant to be read under a religious lens? read under the lens of theĀ āliberationā of these countries from the remnants of Sauronās heretical claims, or the squashing out of these cults. which... again, Iām thinking and musing aloud and not seeking out the text because overall this isnāt my area of interest, but I donāt recall that note about Aragorn and Ćomer starting those wars as being narratively condemned. so Iām left with something that I recall Jirt writing pretty uncritically, and perhaps the expansionist-imperialist angle isnāt the right one, but if the religious fight angle IS the right one, it isnāt really any better.Ā
cause like, ontologically, in Arda, thereās no way to argue that worshipping Sauron is fine actually. like... itās Sauron. you canāt spin it in a good sense unless you ultimately uproot the entire narrative conception of the story and the essence of who Sauron is and does. and granted, in fanfic you certainly can, but you are uprooting it consciously and intentionally. but in the realm of plain analysis, a literal evil deity with heretical claims is what Iām dealing with. so Jirt is sending his hero character, with no political intentions, to fight against southern and eastern countries potentially on religious grounds, to uproot the literally actually evil cult they adopted. like heās got this trope and heās playing it straight.Ā
and if I havenāt missed something crucial... idk how Jirt can come out of this one looking any good tbh. which hey, heās dead, he doesnāt have to. but oh my god.
