These scenes often crop up when all else seems lost, and the heroes are in the midst of despair. But one such scene that has stirred many questions among fans of both the films and the books is the scene that takes place between Frodo and Sam as they make their way to Mordor. They have had weeks of desolate landscapes and dark mirky skies, when suddenly the sun breaks through the clouds and comes shining down on the statue of a king sat proudly in the fields. But, much to the shock of Frodo and Sam, the statue has lost its head, and in its place sits a spiked boulder and orc graffiti.

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The statue reminds the two hobbits of the Argonath, the two immense figures that stand guard at the entrance to Gondor on either side of the river Anduin. The famous statues in Middle Earth often come in two’s like this, and the Argonath seem almost as polar opposites to the Silent Watchers, the dark and terrible figures that keep guard over the tower of Minas Morgul, who are imbued with evil will by the dark lord. But the fallen king whom Frodo and Sam spot on their way to the crossroads, is a single and solitary monument of days gone by.

It’s a terrible sight to see such a statue reduced by the sickening sport of the enemy. But as the sun shines down, Sam spots the statue’s head a little ways off, and ‘about the high stern forehead, there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like small white stars had bound itself across the brows in reverence of the fallen king, and in the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed.’

The flowers themselves are symbolic of springtime, of rebirth and regrowth, and of the beginning anew of the world after a long cold winter. The small white buds are thought to be Simbelmyne, which are the flowers that grow around the graves of kings. They are otherwise found on the tombs of the Rohirrim in the great halls of Edoras, and are seen in the film adaptation of the Two Towers, when Eowyn sings at her cousin Theodred’s funeral.

Sam cries “Look Mr. Frodo, the king has got his crown again!” though in the book this line is attributed to Frodo. It is such a good metaphor for the later returning of Aragorn to his rightful place as the king of Gondor and is full of hopeful symbolism that all will turn out okay with their quest. But many fans have questioned which king from the past this mighty statue depicts?

There are plenty of theories. It must be a king of Gondor, to lie on the road so close to the path to Minas Ithil. Therefore, many believe that it might be a statue of Isildur, who made the famous city of Minas Ithil in the first place. But it could potentially be any of the 30 kings of Gondor between Elendil (the first of his line) and Aragorn (the current heir to the throne at the time). It could also have been a king named Ondoher, who was a brave and valiant warrior that dies along the road to Minas Ithil when he was ambushed by the enemy. This would make sense, as the statue could then have been erected near the site of his demise as a show of respect by his people.

The truth is that along his journey to writing the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien never actually reveals the identity of this long ago king, it is one of the many mysteries within the story, alongside the truth about who Tom Bombadil is. But regardless of who the king was, Aragorn makes sure he is shown proper care. When he creates the Reunited Kingdom in the Fourth Age of Middle Earth, he finds the statue and helps to clean it of the orc filth that has been painted around its edges. He also has the head placed back upon the shoulders, flower crown and all, and has it preserved as one of the many great statues of his mighty lands.

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