For example, the epic Beowulf consists of 3,182 alliterative lines. Old English was the language that Tolkien studied and taught, and alliterative verse was the predominant form of Old English poetry. “Ride to Minas Tirith!” would put a fifth stress into the last line, spoiling the rhythm at what should be the climax of the speech. I’ve marked the alliterating consonsants in bold, and the other (non-alliterating) stresses in italic.

Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,Ī sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!Īlliterative verse has four stresses per line. The speech consists of five lines of alliterative verse:

The reason for choosing “Gondor” over “Minas Tirith” is that the former fits the rhythm and the latter does not. “Gondor” standing for “Minas Tirith” is a synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole, or (as in this case) the whole of something stands for a part. The 'Ride to Gondor!' part partially ruins the rest of his speech for me, but perhaps this is another case of archaic English being misinterpreted by me. It would've made sense if he had shouted: 'For Gondor!', 'Ride for Gondor!' or 'Fight for Gondor!', because that implies/says that they are coming to Gondor's rescue/aid, as in the nation/people, by defending their main city Minas Tirith. They aren't synonyms or words used by different peoples/species. However, I'm pretty sure that Minas Tirith is the city and Gondor is the country where the former is located. The multiple different names for everything and everyone has repeatedly confused me throughout the books, as well as in Silmarillion, and led to an enormous amount of confusion in my head. He should be saying: 'To Minas Tirith! Attack!' or something like that. they are right there? They already are in Gondor. So why does Théoden say things which suggest that the city is called 'Gondor'?Īrise, arise, Riders of Theoden! Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!īut. Minas Tirith, with its series of walls going in circles, is simply the main city of Gondor. As I understand it, Gondor is the big country where a lot of important stuff happens.

Arise arise riders of theoden