The Wrath of Saruman-Khan and Free Willy!

Yesterday late afternoon I started to have an overwhelming desire to watch Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan.  I don't know why, but it was just a strong feeling like I should watch this movie.

So, late last night, with work done and kids all in bed, I went ahead and watched it.  Watching movies on weekdays or nights isn't really a typical thing for me, but it has happened a few times now in the course of writing on this blog, which is interesting.

Anyway, although I was not going in to the movie to try and watch for little things (treating it as 'homework') there were quite a few things that just jumped out regardless and I couldn't help but take note (and even a few pictures as you will see).  So, I am going to go down that path here, and it will also bring us to another movie, Free Willy, which I watched a long time ago as a kid, but have not recently.  Xanadu is even going to tie in to Star Trek in an odd way.

In any case, based on what I noticed, and the connections made, I don't think my sudden desire to watch the movie was disconnected from everything else here on this blog.

So, here we go.

The Wrath of Khan

Spoilers ahead.

The name Khan has come up, of course, in the context of Xanadu, with the poem by Samuel Coleridge first showing up over on William Tychonievich's blog.  That poem served to launch into the larger Xanadu theme over here on my blog, as after I read the poem, I googled Xanadu, found the movie, and the rest is history.

We'll get to Khan the character in just a second, but first I want to point out a few other things.

I knew I was in trouble, actually, when I noticed some things during the opening credits.  Captain Kirk is played by William Shatner.  His name came up first, and then we had Leonard Nimoy, as Spock.  William and Leonard = Willy and Leon, Willy Wonka and Thomas B. Bucket... you get the idea.  We have the two characters I have been writing a bit about on this blog the last little while represented in the names of the actors that first appear on the credits.

Actually, it would turn out the Leonard Nimoy isn't the only Lion.  I forgot that Dr. McCoy (Bones) has the first name of Leonard, as well.  The actor that played him is named DeForest Kelley.  De-foresting, however, is something Saruman was known for, so at first I was a bit concerned, but then I remembered that "De" in this sense means "Of"... so "Of the forest".  This was also a good one!  Orome, one of the Valar from Tolkien's stories, also goes by the name of "Aldaron", which means literally "Of Trees", and also "Lord of the Forests".

Recall that my guess is that JRR Tolkien himself is Orome, and that this Being also is known as Frodo, and importantly for our purposes here, Elijah.  Elijah's work is among the Dead, and as Tolkien he himself is currently dead, obviously, and thus "Bones" as a nickname works pretty well here, also, on a few different fronts.

OK, so at this point, we have Faramir, Thomas B. Marsh-Peter, and Orome-Elijah being represented by Kirk, Spock and McCoy in just the names that appear in the opening credits of the movie.  I sense big things!  And when I say 'represented', I mean by little hints and winks, not that the characters themselves are meant to be full representations of these other Beings, nor their stories have to sync up perfectly or even well, at a character level.  I am not looking that closely, or trying to make those types of inferences.

The movie starts with a simulation of a 'no-win scenario' - the Kobayashi Maru.  For those wondering if the Kobayashi Maru, a strange name that seems to stick out, might mean something in Elvish - it indeed does! 

Let's write Kobayashi Maru as Kob-yasse Maru (which is a pretty direct hit, if you ask me), we get something like this:

Kob = Gather

Yasse = Once upon a time, ago (or even far away, there)

Mar(u) = Home

The -u ending actually works out perfectly as signifying home (mar) as a noun - a place.  So we have "Gather once upon a time home".  Or, as I would then read it, "Gather to Home from long ago".  Again, a pretty direct hit with the main theme of gathering Beings to their home (Xanadu), which is what this story I have been exploring parts of is all about at the moment.

If you look online, you'll find out that Kobayashi Maru is actually Japanese... but now you know better, or at least you know it isn't just Japanese

Furthermore, the Kobayashi Maru is the name of the distressed ship.  Its crew is in need of a rescue, just as this whole gathering home in my story is part of a massive search and rescue mission, or will be.

Anyway, in the simulation, the Kobayashi Maru lies in the Neutral Zone, which is off limits.  It is also an ambush.  The captain can't in good conscience not go in and leave the distressed ship to perish, but if they do, they will lose.  Every time.  It is an unwinnable game.

Except for one person.  The only cadet who beat the simulation was a young Captain Kirk, whose solution, we find out, was to reprogram the simulation itself.  He changed the rules of the game.    Saying he does not believe in the 'no-win scenario', he found a way to win.  In fact, he flipped the scenario on is head, in creating a 'can't lose scenario'.

This solution reminded my of my commentary of the Man in Black (who I also posited represented this Faramir-type character) from Princess Bride.  I will link that post here if you want to go back and watch that clip, but in his confrontation with Vizzini, he at first admits that they are at an "impasse".  An impasse is by definition an unwinnable scenario, as it means no progress can be made.  However, to break the impasse he introduces a game in which he cannot lose, which is the wine-poison game with Iocane powder.  He changed up the situation or the rules of their confrontation.

Captain Kirk makes an appearance following the simulation, and he is seen holding a book.  The book, a birthday present from Spock, turns out to be A Tale of Two Cities.  We know this because Kirk reads the opening lines "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".  The movie will also end with Kirk citing the last lines of A Tale of Two Cities as they launch Spock off to space, dead now but soon to be resurrected in Star Trek 3 (so don't worry!).

Anyway, if you have been paying attention to my theme of Xanadu, you will understand that this story I am exploring here is indeed a tale of Two Cities:  Jerusalem and New Jerusalem.  So, a pretty relevant book title, I believe.  As an aside, the plot of the book itself also influences the plot of the movie, with Spock's sacrifice at the end reminiscent of Sydney Carton sacrificing himself in the place of Charles Darnay, and Kirk's quote of that ending passage from Dicken's book kind of hitting you over the head making sure you understand the analogy.

Classic books and their narratives matter in this plot, and to Star Trek overall, which brings me to Khan.  When we first are introduced to Khan's digs, we get a really nice close-up of his bookshelf, which looks like this:

I will get into a few of these in just a bit.  They are relevant, and probably in more ways than I will get into here.

Khan is a genetically-altered super-man, with extreme strength and vast intelligence, who is actually very old (having been cryogenically frozen for hundreds of years).  Spock mentions to Kirk several times over the course of their encounter with Khan that Khan is "very intelligent".  High praise coming from a Vulcan.  He also has tools at his disposal that include controlling people's minds, as he did through his 'ear worms' with Chekov and Terrel (literally, ear worms, folks . . . think about that).

Importantly, he has been exiled to a lifeless desert world, and plotting revenge over this exile for a long period of time.  He blames Kirk for this Exile, and this is where both Paradise Lost and Moby Dick, from Khan's bookshelf, come into play.  In Paradise Lost, we have an account of the Fall of Man.  Satan (Lucifer) is banished out to Hell after his defeat.  In Milton's poem, Lucifer is a master of rhetoric - it is how he gains his followers, and how he tricks Eve.

You know based on past posts that I have likened the Satan-Lucifer of the traditional story of the Fall with none other than Saruman.  The Saruman we know of from LOTR, with the power of his Voice and his own exile from "Paradise", is a fairly strong fit with Milton's Lucifer and with Khan from Star Trek. I actually believe in the TV episode of Star Trek, Paradise Lost was invoked or cited by Khan, though I am not 100% sure.

What is curious, though, for our purposes, is the vendetta against Kirk.  If Kirk is meant to have some allusion (even if limited) to Faramir in this story, then Faramir had no direct hand in Saruman's demise.  What gives?  Well, two potential answers.

First, I have positioned Faramir and Saruman as the two Beings from which God (Eru) chose Faramir as being the 'chosen' one who would be sent in some capacity.  Saruman, at that time and in whatever guise he was in, would have the departed from Heaven in a sort of banishment.  Every bad thing that befell Saruman, including frustrations in his desire to rule Men (a desire he admitted to Gandalf at Orthanc, as recounted by Gandalf at Elrond's Council), he could cite back to having been passed over for Eonwe-Faramir. 

Even note that in the movie, Khan wants to get his hands on "Genesis", which is a not-too-subtle nod to the creation myth from the Bible (also on his bookshelf), but I would note that this might also mean that Saruman wants to get his hands on the story of creation itself - the story where he was passed over, and creation went on despite him, and another was chosen in his stead as part of that story.

Second, there is the matter that Eonwe-Faramir was directly responsible for the banishment and exile of Melkor at the end of the 1st age.  It is Eonwe who led the Host of Heaven against Melkor and referenced as overthrowing him.   And thus Melkor might want revenge or vengeance for his banishment and exile.

In an earlier post, 'ben', in a comment, mentioned his belief that Saruman might be Melkor as a subsequent incarnation.  I don't have a strong view of whether that could be or not at this point, but this second answer I mentioned - the view that Eonwe (also known as Michael) defeated and banished the 'dragon' (is this Melkor or Saruman, or both?), and that this dragon might want revenge for this - seems to play into the plot of Wrath of Khan.  Thus, I am thinking a bit more about ben's comment, and whether it is in fact possible that Saruman is Melkor.  I don't know, but can't rule it out at this point.

In any case, Khan's character can represent both Saruman and Melkor's motivation - one of vengeance against the one who they feel has wronged them - whether those Beings are one entity or two in the real story.  They would both have a grievance and desire for revenge against Eonwe.

This vengeance theme is where Moby Dick comes into play from Khan's bookshelf.  Khan liberally quotes variations of Moby Dick several times throughout the film, as he takes on the role of Ahab, and Kirk becomes his White Whale.  For example, at the end of the movie, as Khan is going to blow his ship up to also blow up the Enterprise (using Genesis), he says:

From Hell's heart I stab at thee; For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee

This is a direct quote from Moby Dick, and are a part of Ahab's last words as the Whale destroys the Pequod  (Pequod, incidentally, is said to be a Native American name meaning "Men of the Swamp", which also seems relevant given recent Swamp terminology).  Ahab is fully defiant and unrepentant to the end, just as Khan is, and just as Saruman, Melkor, Wormtongue, and all of their type will prove to be, I believe.

I have alluded to Faramir being the White (and Black) Rabbit, the White Stag, and now we have an allusion to the White Whale.  At least 3 different 'white' (remember how I would define 'white' in these cases as 'radiant' and 'shining', perhaps) animals that this character plays.

Khan's vengeance-seeking and obsession over the White Whale is his undoing, just as it was Ahab's, and, thus it seems, just as it will be Saruman's, I believe.  

Anyway, this is going to get really long if I don't sharpen this up and get to a few interesting highlights.  We can talk about classic book tie-ins all day, and yes those will also matter for this story, but let's get to some weird stuff, shall we?

The Enterprise on the side of Xanadu?

With both ships damaged, Kirk takes the Enterprise into the Mutara Nebula.  He goads on Khan to follow him there, where they will both be equally disadvantaged in their damaged ships.  Poor visuals, no shields, etc.  A cat and mouse game ensues.  

By the way, the ship Khan ends up commandeering for himself is called the "Reliant".  In Elvish, we would spell that perhaps as "Ril-liant" (the "i" makes and "ee" sound here).  That would translate to "Spider light" or "Spider glitter".  Which was interesting to see, because in a comment on one of my recent posts, I highlight that a song that WJT mentioned in that same comment section by They Must Be Giants seemed (to me) to be all about a Spider's Light.  The post and the comment are linked here.

Anyway, there is a scene where the Enterprise ends up going down in 'altitude' (a 3D chess move), in order to then pop up being Khan's ship.  The scene shows the Enterprise from the top, and when I saw it, I had the strangest feeling like I had seen this shape before in Xanadu.  Specifically, in the graffiti on the side of the building that would become Xanadu.   Here is a picture of the scene I am talking about from Khan, followed by a shot of the graffiti in Xanadu (highlighted by the red box):

I mean, yes, it looks like a caveman drawing of the Enterprise, but the graffiti on the side of the building isn't of the highest quality, anyway.  What was surprising to me is just how forcefully the thought came to me, like "You have seen this shape before in Xanadu".  And here it was on the side of the building as Sonny roller skates up to the building.

I then noticed a few other things about the building, including the trespassing sign and other graffiti.

The trespassing sign has the name Edmund D. Edelman.  This apparently is a real name, and a real sign on the building (i.e., Edelman was an LA Council Member in real life).  The building itself was a famous landmark in LA, that had been closed since the early 70's (and has since burned to the ground - it is no longer), so the graffiti was all real as well - it wasn't a movie prop or anything.

What made me notice Edelman's name first off was that Sonny was positioned right next to the name, and seemed associated with him in some way, at least to my probably-over-sensitive eye.  I also noticed it because it looks like the film crew realized they should hide the name, since it was a real person, and so in some scenes you will have the name covered.  Here are two different stills, one with the name visible, and then a close-up shot with the name covered:

In the zoomed out shots, you can also see the large "EL" above the sign, with the rest of the graffiti below not legible and hidden behind the sign.  El has come up before as "star" in Elvish, and even as "god" or "angelic being" in Hebrew.

Looking at the name, though, it is pretty interesting, and gives us some things in both English and Elvish.

In English, Edmund means "wealthy protector" - or Rich William... Rich Willy?  As in Willy Wonka?  Probably, I'd say.  I could have sworn I have used the phrase wealthy protector on my blog or WJT's before, but I couldn't find it.  

Edelman means 'nobleman', which has come up just in this past week in the context of Faramir.  Given that the name Sonny itself means "son" but is also a play on words for "sun or sunny", I think this all comes together pretty well, and so it is interesting to see Sonny standing there next to this name of Edmund Edelman, with both likely referring to Willy Wonka Faramir.

In Elvish, starting from the last name, Edelman literally means "Elf-man" or "Star-man", which is pretty hilarious to me.  My story involves Beings, including Elves, being born as Men in our day, with Faramir having once played the role of one of these Star-Beings/ Elves, but who is now, I believe, a Man here on this world right now.

Edmund can be something like "Out/ forth Bull" in Elvish, with "ed" meaning "out/ forth" and "mund" meaning "bull or ox".  Which is also amazing, I think!  Recall, that Asenath faced down a Being known as the Son of Baal-ox (a representation of a Bull), implying there is a Being simply known as Baal-Ox, who seems to be kind of a lead Demon or Balrog.  Part of Faramir's job is to help all that will come escape out from underneath this "Bull", I believe.  Almost a bit like in the Last Unicorn, setting free the Unicorns that have been captured and imprisoned by King Haggard and the Red Bull.  I don't know, I am just flowing with things here, people - take what you want out of it.  

I guess "Ox" doesn't have to be bad, either, I suppose, as I think about it.  The original meaning of "Trek", if you look it up on Etymonline, is "travel by ox wagon".  So, "forth ox" could literally be "Trek", based on this definition.  And Edelman would still be "star-men or elf-men".  Thus, we would get "Trek of the star-men".  Actually, I think I like this one even better than that first guess above, given the tie in to Star Trek, but I will leave both in.  Maybe they both apply.

I like those games when they work out like that.

The Undiscovered Country?

Looking at the other graffiti, there is a 3 letter word "STS" repeated all over the structure.  This was a bit of a mystery, and I thought that it probably didn't mean anything, but I stumbled upon a Star Trek thread this morning where commentators were referring to Star Trek episodes by "ST2" or "ST4", for example.  I then became aware that this is fairly common among Trekkies in how they refer to the original cast movies.  "S", however, isn't a number but a letter.  Two solutions:  Either the "S" is really a 5, or it is an S that stand for Six:  So ST5, or ST6 (Six).   It is clearly an S, though, so if it means anything (it might not, to be honest), I go with STS(ix).

The title for the film is "The Undiscovered Country".  Given that I currently view Tirion as hidden and needing to be found or re-discovered (X marks the spot), having STS as potentially representing that title literally plastered all over the outside of the building that will become Xanadu seems promising.  Further, there are several instances where the STS is actually written as either StS (with a small cross for the t), or SxS, with the X standing in for the T.  You can actually see such an instance in the picture above, with STS in black, as well as the SXS in red.  Either case would seem to further suggest we are on the right path, as I have the symbol of the X or cross relating to the door to and location of Tirion-Xanadu.

Further, the original use of the phrase "undiscovered country" is from William Shakespeare, and used in the context of death (death being the undiscovered country).  However, the Star Trek movie goes a different direction with that phrase.  It is not death, but Peace, that is the undiscovered country.  The Klingons want peace with the Federation, and a universe without warring factions is what the movie is referring to with this phrase.  This fits very well with Xanadu (and even my words "Find Peace" that I reviewed in one of my posts as a location - Tirion, representing Peace) as a place or dream where there is no war or evil.  Only Peace and Joy.

Is this making sense, in a fairly crazy sort of way?  I am not sure myself, honestly, but these are some of the things I see.

The Whale

OK, we are going to end with Whales.  I mentioned above that Captain Kirk becomes Khan's Moby Dick - the White Whale, and that this ties into other symbolism of Faramir.

Two days ago, on Wednesday, the song from the movie "Free Willy", called "Will you be there", just came pounding into my mind.  I have no memory of hearing it on the radio or anything - suddenly it was just playing in my head, and I couldn't get it out.  I didn't know the name of it other than it was the song from Free Willy.  I saw the movie as a teenager when it came out, but I don't believe I have watched it since.  I had to look up the plot to remind myself of the broad strokes of the story.

Free Willy is about a killer whale (orca) in captivity who a kid is ultimately trying to help free.  So, again, we have "Willy" here (as in Willy Wonka), and he is a whale.  And whereas I have associated Faramir as both the White and Black Rabbit, we have in the form of Willy, a Black and White Whale.  Here he is going airborne on the movie poster, in all of his black and white glory:

Obviously some symbolism in the movie premise itself, with Willy needing to escape out of captivity and to freedom, but I don't know much more about the plot than that.  I do know, however, based on the video of the song I will post at the end that there is graffiti in this movie, as the boy first finds Willy when he goes to the aquarium at night to spray some graffiti on the walls.

So I have this Free Willy song running through my head all afternoon.  Later that night, the kids did not have any night activities (very rare for us, let me tell you), so I barbequed hamburgers and we just hung around the house (it was another unseasonably warm February day).  My youngest son was already in his PJs by dinner, and was sitting in such a way as to expose that he had a fairly large hole in his crotch area that let's just say revealed he was going commando-style (no underwear).  My wife saw it, laughed, and said "You need to go upstairs and change your pants, it looks like you are trying to free willy or something!"

Just as a reminder on timeline, this is the day before I sat down and watched Wrath of Khan, not knowing or remembering that there was any Moby Dick or whale theme to the movie.

Anyway, and that is how we have Wrath of Khan, Xanadu, and Free Willy all tied up together.  With that, I will pass it over to Michael (who also has come up in connection with Faramir) to end with his song.  I actually just noticed right now that "Will" could be a name in the title of this song, so you could get something like "Will, you be there", as in addressing a person, rather than asking a question.

Oh, actually last thing as a bonus Easter Egg for our Zelda fans (since Zelda also ties into all of this as well, didn't you know).  Below is a picture from the scene where Spock dies.  He is in the room with the Warp Core, which is what enables the ship to travel at Warp speed.  On the wall, over Spock's right shoulder, you can clearly see the Triforce symbol.  After noticing it, I also saw it earlier on the door entrance to the room.  Wrath of Khan predates the first Zelda by about 4 years or so, I think.  I believe this symbol is also seen in other Star Trek movies and shows as part of the Warp or Engine Rooms.  Given that it is the warp drive is the means of travel over vast distances, maybe relevant to our story.