So they laid them apart from their foes and the fell beast and
set spears about them. And afterwards when all was over men
returned
and made a fire there and burned the carcase of the beast;
but for
Snowmane they dug a grave and set up a stone upon which
was carved
in the tongues of Gondor and the Mark:
Faithful servant yet master’s bane,
Lightfoot’s foal, swift Snowmane.
Green and long grew the grass on Snowmane’s Howe,
but ever black
and bare was the ground where the beast was burned.
We've spoken about this previously, how the beast is so foul even its destruction cannot fully undo its damage. It's a powerful metaphor about the need for swiftness. The longer evil persists, the more irreparable harm it might do.
But reading the text this time - 10 years later - I was struck by a different question. What ruined the ground, the beast or the burning? If Snowmane had been burned, would the ground also be "ever black and bare"?
These are not the intended results. Snowmane wasn't buried to enrich (enchant?) the ground, and the beast wasn't burned to desecrate (curse?) the ground. Snowmane was buried out of respect. Snowmane fought on the winning side - which we also know to be the right side. Respecting the body is an opportunity to show to everyone else that, if they fall in battle, even their animals will be treated with respect. It will inspire them.
Similarly the beast is burned out of disdain, and perhaps confusion. Text describes them as:
And behold! it
was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds,
and
it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast
pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank.
A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, lingering in
forgotten mountains cold
beneath the Moon, outstayed their day,
and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood,
apt to evil. And
the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with fell meats, until
it grew
beyond the measure of all other things that fly;
and he gave it to his servant to be his steed.
They're not sure what to do with it, and in the battle Eowyn beheaded it. So they decide to burn it. This is what we see the Riders of Rohan do with the Orcs they slew outside Fanghorn Forest. It's their custom - a way to get rid of the bodies of the enemy.
But we know if we saw Orcs or any other servant of Sauron or Saruman burn the bodies of any Free Peoples we would be horrified. They should be buried! The text, too, would disapprove. Whenever fire is used, it is usually a negative. "Fire!" is what is called out when the Shire is under attack (we hear it in the story of the encroaching Old Forest, and we'll hear it again during the scouring). The Rings, of course, were made by a great fire. Saruman's explosives are ignited by fire.
Fire of course can have positive uses, like campfires, torches, the beacons of Gondor. But it is generally a negative, which makes sense given the medieval setting of Middle Earth. The dangers far outweigh the positives. Even campfires can give away one's location. And fire is very dangerous if it gets out of control.
The men who bury and burn make their choices intentionally. Snowmane is to be honored, the beast is to be destroyed. The ground is forever impacted by their choices. But what if it was their choice, not the animal, which creates these diverging paths?
The Creative Wizard suggests the beast is "apt to evil," but this describes only a tendency. It could be raised to be good. We know Mordor takes horses from the Rohirrim for its own use, and while those horses are used for evil, they obviously aren't inherently so. Burning the beast suggests something about the beast, itself, is irredeemable.
Of course, it is dead. It's deeds are done and, if we were to count them, its evil would outweigh its good, even if we agree "bearing the Witch King" is a relatively minor form of evil, and one the beast may do without any awareness of the evil. Sauron nursed the beast - how is the beast to know its master was evil? It is possible for something to be "apt to evil" through ignorance.
Fire may be an analogy here for power. Occasionally useful but usually ruinous. We'd all be better off if we could minimize its use.
I think the men of Gondor and Rohan bear responsibility for the results of these last rites. By using fire, they make the evil of the beast permanent. Worse, they don't even mark the site. Snowmane's grave is given a tombstone. But they could at least make a sign like "The ground here, ever ruined by those the Dark Lord tamed, so we may never forget the cost of obeying evil." Even if fire is the cause of the ruin, it would then be done with intention.
The lush grass and the dead earth are not signs of two beasts of different temperaments, but of responses to the end of the conflict. If we try to purge the world of evil, and punish it even when it is already defeated, we will find many things wanting. In a democratic society, if we determine some of our fellow citizens - or immigrants wishing to become citizens - are inherently evil or broken, or even if they simply have a dark aptitude, we'll soon become a democracy of the survivors. And the winner gets to rule over the ashes.
This is especially important when deciding what to do when you win. If an opponent is actively fighting against you and your values, fight back - but cleanly. But if they surrender, or change their minds, or want to stop fighting and talk it over, we have an obligation to do the right thing, and not the thing that feels good. "All men are created equal" does not mean, at their defeat, that equality evaporates. We must punish cautiously and with purpose instead of passion. Otherwise we risk stoking the flames of another round of the fight we only just won!
It would make for an ugly country for some patches of grass to be lush and yet for some to be barren. Scars may tell us the past is real, but they are not the only way to record history. And anyway, we must allow for the growth of a lush, green future, despite everything.
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