What's in a Helmet?

This week we read "Minas Tirith."  Minas Tirith is the capital of Gondor, the seat of the throne and the home of Denethor, Boromir's father.  Gandalf and Pippin arrive here having left Isengard previously.  When they arrive, Pippin is questioned by one and all - they've never seen a hobbit, what they call a halfling.  Pippin quickly becomes famous around the city.

When they arrive, Gandalf and Pippin first go to see Denethor.  Denethor is the Steward of Gondor - his job is to lead Gondor until the king returns.  This is the first chapter of "The Return of the King."  You don't need to have read the other two volumes to know that Denethor's time is at an end.  As we will see, he is unhappy about it.

Before entering the throne room (Where Denethor sits, somewhat comically, next to the throne), they pass through a courtyard.  This courtyard is home to the White Tree, which holds great symbolic value to Gondor, though we have not dealt with it much in our story.  For such a special place, special guards and garments are appointed.  We are told:

The Guards of the gate were robed in black, and their helms were of strange shape,
high-crowned, with long cheek-guards close-fitting to the face, and above the cheek-guards were set
the white wings of sea-birds; but the helms gleamed with a flame of silver, for they were
indeed wrought of mithril, heirlooms from the glory of old days. Upon the black surcoats were embroidered
in white a tree blossoming like snow beneath a silver crown and many-pointed stars. This was the livery of
 the heirs of Elendil, and none wore it now in all Gondor, save the Guards of the Citadel before the Court of
the Fountain where the White Tree once had grown.

What can we learn anything from analyzing these outfits?

The armor hearkens constantly back to former days, which the characters view as noble (though, as we've seen on closer analysis, this is not the only reading of the text).  The sea-birds wings recall both the island of Numenor (from which many of the most noble of Gondor are trace their lineange) and The Undying Lands over the sea, where the Elves, the best of all the races of Middle Earth, are destined to live forever.  We are told the helmet is made of mithril, a mineral mined and made into armor by Dwarves.  So already we have a connection to the three major races of Middle Earth.

On their chest is the White Tree, another connection to Numenor.  White Trees (I don't know if they can be pluralized like that...) do not grow naturally in Gondor.  The White Tree  is from Numenor - a sapling of it was brought when that realm fell.  A new White Tree was planted in the courtyard of Minas Tirith.  However, that tree died.  No new sapling has yet been found, so the decision has been made to guard the dead tree, since it represents such an important connection.  Hence why the passage ends "where the White Tree once had grown" but not "where the White Tree once had stood."  The White Tree does not grow any more, but it still remains.

And so we have this armor whose decorations mostly represents the past.  What of it?

The past is what drives us.  Whether our personal past, or an understanding of what has happened to others (Sometimes this is called "history"), it is impossible to make an informed decision without a past to reflect on.  Those who don't know the past are doomed to repeat it, yada yada.  Only by knowing the past can we improve our future.

Of course, the past can only do so much.  I said the past drives us, but maybe it's better to say the past informs us.  After all, we're the driver.  And we drive forward, not back.  In this sense, I think the tradition of Minas Tirith respects the past too much.  I mean, they guard a dead tree from a destroyed realm.  They are not guarding something that can provide for them, but instead only setting watch to its inevitable decay.  At a certain point, the past must be left behind.  You can learn its lessons without dragging it wholesale everywhere you go.

I asked at the top of the post "What's in a Helmet?" On the one hand, the answer is: The parts of your life and history you choose to highlight.  Gondor chooses Numenor and the connection between Humans, Dwarves, and Elves.  But, really, what's in a helmet?  The answer is you.  Your head.  What gives you strength and inspires you to greatness is less important than the follow through.  The future is bright and uncertain and unmolded.  Go make it your own!

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