Sunday, March 06, 2016

Tolkien and the lost king


what does Bonnie Prince Charlie have in common with Aragorn?

a long essay bookmarked for later reading.

In the struggle between Tradition and Modernity, three famous monarchs lost their lives: Charles I, Louis XVI, and Nicholas II. While the first and last were not officially Catholics, they were at least culturally so. ...Each owed their deaths to two items: a desire to uphold the Traditional constitution of Church and State in their respective realms, and a personal weakness or flaw which reduced their effectiveness in so doing. They also shared heroic deaths which, to great degree, redeemed their mistakes in the eyes of many of their subjects.

Just like Braveheart revived the story of a lost Scootland,  will the Outlander cycle remind people about Bonnie Prince Charlie?

As Robert Burns observed:
The Church is in ruins, the State is in jars,delusions, oppressions, and murderous wars.We dare nae well say it, but we ken wha's to blame,There'll never be peace 'till Jamie comes hame. As it became apparent that Jamie would not come home, nor would Don Carlos, nor Dom Miguel, nor the Comte de Chambord, many looked for less regal saviours. From such desires emerged (and emerge) such men as Franco, Pilsudski, and many of the better Latin American Caudillos. In a sense, this Catholic political messianism is even present in the careers of such diverse figures as Kennedy and Castro.
Aragorn succeeds where Bonnie Prince Charlie and the others failed. Instead of the field of Culloden's defeat and mourning, we have the field of Cormallen's victory and rejoicing. In Middle Earth, the "good old cause" triumphs. The Dunedain, so like the Jacobites, Carlists, and Legitimists for most of their history, gain at last the victory.

headsup TeaAtTrianon

I'll have to think about this...but this impulse may be behind the revolt of the Trumpettes in the USA.

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