# Taunting enemies



## Hisoka Morrow (Jul 27, 2020)

Taunting enemies is a effective strategy on all kinds of aspects. Yet JRRT seems seldom provide specific taunting words.

Post everything you know or think about JRRT's taunting words^^


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Jul 27, 2020)

Thing is, we have a policy about that here. It would be a good idea for anyone to read it, before posting.


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## Hisoka Morrow (Jul 27, 2020)

Alright, alright, now is such thread allowed?The rules didn't claim specific forbidden stuff.









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## Olorgando (Jul 27, 2020)

Just off the cuff, I have the impression that JRRT only shows the baddies as taunting. The Wargs and Orcs after having treed Gandalf, Thorin and his Dwarven companions and (just barely) Bilbo, just before the Eagles arrived for the rescue. Or the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate (in Book Five) just before Gollum plunges into the Cracks of Doom (in Book Six). In my opinion the Witch-king in the book at the broken gate of Minas Tirith when confronted by Gandalf the White, vastly enhanced in power in comparison to his Grey incarnation in which he held off all nine of the Nazgûl at Weathertop (and killed the Moria Balrog), and not just armed with a Cardolan dagger from the Barrow-downs like Merry, but with an Elven sword from Gondolin. Good recipe for Witch-king salami slices as an outcome.


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## Deleted member 12094 (Jul 27, 2020)

Olorgando said:


> I have the impression that JRRT only shows the baddies as taunting.



True.

As regards the "goodies", maybe the following comes to mind, when Aragorn was confronting the Uruk-hai at Helm's Deep:

_‘None knows what the new day shall bring him,’ said Aragorn. ‘Get you gone, ere it turn to your evil.’_​_‘Get down or we will shoot you from the wall,’ they cried. ‘This is no parley. You have nothing to say.’_​_‘I have still this to say,’ answered Aragorn. ‘No enemy has yet taken the Hornburg. Depart, or not one of you will be spared. Not one will be left alive to take back tidings to the North. You do not know your peril.’_​_So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as he stood there alone above the ruined gates before the host of his enemies, that many of the wild men paused, and looked back over their shoulders to the valley, and some looked up doubtfully at the sky. But the Orcs laughed with loud voices; and a hail of darts and arrows whistled over the wall, as Aragorn leaped down._​
Not sure if that really qualifies as "taunting", but yes it's provocative, isn't it?


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## Deleted member 12094 (Jul 27, 2020)

Among stupid taunting statements in the movies, I love this one, because of its utter anti-book nonsense. 😰


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## Olorgando (Jul 27, 2020)

Merroe said:


> ...
> Not sure if that really qualifies as "taunting", but yes it's provocative, isn't it?


Mumble.
Scratching my head here.
I see taunting as something that makes the taunted do something rash, and ultimately bad for them.
JRRT wrote "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son", which I have in my 2001 paperback edition of "Tree and Leaf" (expanded, obviously), a sort of "coda" (so named by Tom Shippey, I believe) to the Old English poem "The Battle of Maldon" (the real battle between English and Vikings having taken place in 991). JRRT's story is also a severe *refutation* of one aspect of the "Northern Courage" that he otherwise approved of, an arrogant rashness. The real-life Beorhtnoth faced an invading force of Vikings which would have had to cross an extremely narrow passage surrounded by water on both sides, which Beorhtnoth could have defended with his (inferior forces) to the total destruction of the Viking forces. Instead, the _ofermod_ lunatic, whose opposing commander apparently was quite good at psychology, allowed the superior forces of the Vikings to pass this meat-grinder unopposed, leading not only to the total destruction of his own forces, but also exposing helpless civilians, now unprotected, to the ravages of the Vikings.

Aragorn's "taunt" was of a different sort. Yes, Gandalf had gone off to do "something", and Aragorn knew that such somethings could be surprising. But I would doubt that he had any inkling of the intrusion of the Huorns led by Ents, which turned the Orcs / Uruks into mulch (or so one must suppose). More along the lines (imperfect) of Clint Eastwood's Harry Callaghan character snarling "make my day!"


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## Deleted member 12094 (Jul 27, 2020)

Olorgando said:


> I would doubt that he had any inkling of the intrusion of the Huorns led by Ents, which turned the Orcs / Uruks into mulch (or so one must suppose).



I do not disagree with you Olorgando, but then what made Aragorn risk such action? The way I read it, it sounds rather reckless, or not? Besides - read the next phrase:

_There was a roar and a blast of fire. The archway of the gate above which he had stood a moment before crumbled and crashed in smoke and dust. The barricade was scattered as if by a thunderbolt._​


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## Olorgando (Jul 27, 2020)

Volume II "The Two Towers". Book Three, chapter VII "Helm's Deep", when Gandalf leaves the forces heading from Edoras to Helm's Deep:
'Ride, Théoden!' he said. 'Ride to Helm's Deep! Go not to the Fords of Isen, and do not tarry in the plain! I must leave you for a while. Shadowfax must bear me now on a swift errand.' Turning to Aragorn and Éomer and the men of the king's household. he cried 'Keep well the Lord of the Mark, till I return. Await me at Helm's Gate! Farewell!'
No mention of time of day (next morning). But at least also none of PJ's faulty arithmetic, He has Gandalf say "300 lives of men bla bla bla". 300 times 70 years is 21,000 years, moron. Duh!
Aragorn did not know when Gandalf would return, or how. This attack on the attackers would then have been, my guess, what JRRT considered a positive aspect of the "Northern Courage", going against the foe despite the high probability of failure. Failure does not mean not being right.


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## Halasían (Jul 27, 2020)

Merroe said:


> I do not disagree with you Olorgando, but then what made Aragorn risk such action? The way I read it, it sounds rather reckless, or not? Besides - read the next phrase:
> 
> _There was a roar and a blast of fire. The archway of the gate above which he had stood a moment before crumbled and crashed in smoke and dust. The barricade was scattered as if by a thunderbolt._​


Yes, Aragorn nearly gets blown off the wall with the gunpowder/conjoured blast (take your pick) so it was a bit reckless.

And... I just can't help myself...


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