The Pyre of Denethor

The Pyre of Denethor marks the tragic climax of the Steward's long decline into pride and despair. Denethor II, Lord of Minas Tirith, had for years secretly used the palantír of the White Tower to spy on Sauron, but the contest broke his will and fed his hopelessness. When his beloved elder son Boromir died and his younger son Faramir was brought back from the Pelennor Fields with a mortal wound, Denethor's mind finally gave way. Convinced that the West had failed and that all resistance was futile, he resolved to die on his own terms, taking Faramir with him rather than face defeat or the return of a king he refused to acknowledge.

The Descent into Madness

After the retreat from Osgiliath, Faramir lay in a fever in the Houses of Healing, but Denethor would not leave his side. He sat in the high chamber of the White Tower, refusing all calls to command the defence, and spoke only of burning. When messengers reported that the first circle of the City was ablaze and that men were fleeing the walls, he replied: "Better to burn sooner than late, for burn we must. Go back to your bonfire! And I? I will go now to my pyre. To my pyre! No tomb for Denethor and Faramir. No tomb! No long slow sleep of death embalmed. We will burn like heathen kings before ever a ship sailed hither from the West. The West has failed." He ordered his servants to prepare a pyre in the House of the Stewards in Rath Dínen, the Silent Street of the dead kings.

The Rescue of Faramir

Pippin, who had been sworn to Denethor's service, fled in terror to find Gandalf. The wizard, who had just ridden from the Gate where the Witch-king had broken it, turned Shadowfax and raced up through the City. At the door of the tomb they found Beregond of the Guard holding off Denethor's servants with his sword, having already slain two of them. Gandalf sprang up the steps and with a word of command broke Denethor's sword and forced him back. He then leaped onto the pyre, lifted the unconscious Faramir from the fuel, and bore him out. Denethor, momentarily softened, wept and begged not to have his son taken, but Gandalf told him his duty lay in the battle, not in self-slaughter.

The Self-Immolation

Denethor's pride reasserted itself. He snatched a torch and thrust it into the oil-soaked wood, then stood upon the pyre, broke the white rod of his stewardship across his knee, and cast the pieces into the flames. Clasping the palantír to his breast with both hands, he laid himself on the table and perished in the fire. The dome of the House of the Stewards cracked and fell, and the flames consumed him. Gandalf, closing the door, said: "So passes Denethor, son of Ecthelion. And so pass also the days of Gondor that you have known; for good or evil they are ended." The palantír was never recovered from the pyre; it was said that thereafter any who looked into that Stone saw only two aged hands withering in flame.

Thematic Significance

Denethor's suicide is the ultimate act of despair and pride. He had been a wise and powerful ruler, but his secret use of the palantír allowed Sauron to feed his hopelessness, and his refusal to accept Aragorn's claim to the kingship drove him to reject all hope of salvation. His death mirrors the fall of Saruman: both were great men who, through pride and the desire for control, became tools of the Enemy. Yet where Saruman's end was petty and mean, Denethor's is grand and terrible, a kingly figure choosing a kingly death. His pyre also serves as a foil to the self-sacrifice of Gandalf and Frodo: Denethor dies in despair, refusing to endure; the heroes endure in hope, even when hope seems lost. The rescue of Faramir, meanwhile, preserves the line of the Stewards and allows for the eventual union of Gondor and Rohan through Faramir's marriage to Éowyn.