Walter White, Walt Whitman, and Pharazon

 I've been in Philadelphia for most of this week for a hockey tournament my oldest son is playing in.

The hotel we are staying at is by the airport in Philadelphia (and thus in Pennsylvania), but all of the hockey rinks he has been playing at are on the New Jersey side.  Consequently, I have become well acquainted with the Walt Whitman bridge over the last several days, as this has served as our primary artery in commuting back and forth.

I have never been to Philadelphia before, and wasn't even aware there was a bridge named after Walt Whitman.

I first noticed the bridge's name because here we had yet another WW name, and this has come up before with Walter White and Willy Wonka.  I then remembered that Walt Whitman had actually come up before in my earlier posts about Walter White (from Breaking Bad).

In my second post discussing the analogy and character of Walter White (who I likened to Saruman in that instance - though I am going to expand our analogy for this character, as you will see in just a minute), I included a video clip from Breaking Bad, where Walter's brother in law is trying to figure out just who the WW is that is written in the notebook of they guy they caught who everyone thinks is the criminal by the pseudonym Heisenberg.  Here is the clip again:

So, Walter White here suggests that the WW stands for Walt Whitman, and interestingly the poem in question deals with stars.

I didn't realize until now (although this is apparently common knowledge to fans of Breaking Bad), that Walter White and Walt Whitman are essentially the same names.  Whitman means "White Man".  Walter White Man and Walter White.  Same name, but two different people, obviously.

Recall also that White, as I have used it many times on this blog, can mean "Shiny, Radiant, or Bright", which is how it was commonly used archaically.  This has been in the context of both Stones (White, or shiny, Stones), as well as people (Nephi describing people as "White" likely meaning more having to do with Light than color).

Here we have two Walters who are White.  Walter, as discussed in my earlier post on Bald Men and where Walter White was introduced here, "Breaking Bald and Omuruc", means "Power, Ruler, or Commander of the Army".  Using our more archaic meaning of White, we have "Bright or Radiant Commander".

In those past posts, I limited the analogy and comparison of Walter White as an imposter (a drug dealing criminal) with Saruman.  I believe this still holds very well, given Saruman's obsession and desire for power and to be the Chosen One, whatever that means.  He even admitted to Gandalf when he lured him into his trap, that he foresaw the coming age of Men, and that it was his intent to be the one that ruled and managed their affairs.  He would of course get his wish, in my story, being now our Devil on this world, but in a different form than he envisioned (as a result of his death and the ensuing blockage and expulsion of his Being from the West).

But this analogy also extends to Pharazon, who has entered into my story and sights in a big way as of late.  In my earlier post comparing Pharazon with Humpty Dumpty, I used a quote from Words of the Faithful to emphasize his belt.  I will use it again below to emphasize something else about him:

Martalion he was called in songs of praise, a Foretold One like unto the mighty men of old, of Turambar and Tuor his sire over the long years.  In gold finery he covered his nakedness, gilded in sunlight so none could withstand him at mid-day, and girded in true-silver of Mithril, an emblem it was said of the portended Noble that would restore the land and its people to the glory that was sung of the gods in yesteryears, when the magic sun and the silver Silpion gave light and truth to all the Fair Folk.  Indeed, among that people it was held out in a final hope that in the exceeding vanity of this "Chosen one" (for that title was carved into the belt of silver) - though the wise said in whispers that the belt alone had been chosen - in him some new relations of Man and Eldar might unfold, as indeed came up them in Eressea.

So, the imagery here is that Pharazon dressed in such a way as to appear as bright as the Sun, and implies that others could not look at him due to the light the came from him (or more accurately, was reflected off of him - he was not actually a source of light, but relied on his clothes and armor to reflect the Sun).  The comparison to the Sun itself is obvious.

El-Anor, the Sun Stone, has been a prominent Stone featured in my writings here, as well as the Being who I associate with that Stone:  Faramir-Eonwe.   Thus, the comparison between Pharazon and Faramir-Eonwe here is completely unmistakable.

As I have articulated in earlier posts, Faramir-Eonwe would have been the Being, at a much earlier time, who was 'chosen' by Eru.  Here, however, we have yet another example of a character, in this case Pharazon, who desired to be that chosen Being.

And not just desired, but actually ended up acting as if he were him.  I suggested earlier that this was aided by a combination of true prophecy and the influence of Sauron.  Meaning, that there really is a Being that is spoken of in this way.  Jesus seems to be referring to this Being, for example, in referring to his servant who will be exalted when he spoke to those at Bountiful.   The "Sun of Righteousness" will in fact lead some Beings away from this world and home to Aman, like calves to the stall.

At some point, Sauron's whisperings were likely successful in convincing Pharazon that he, in fact, was this chosen one, and that his leading the Numenoreans to Aman was the fulfillment of prophecy.  If the Valar or Gods would not give Eternal Life and a place for Men on Aman willingly, then it was Pharazon's destiny to give it to Men, so the reasoning would have gone.   Pharazon's own journey to Aman was a complete perversion of this prophecy, however, resulting in death, destruction, suffering, and a breaking of the world.  And I suppose that in fact he did usher in a new relationship between the Eldar and Men, but not in a good way.

But Pharazon definitely dressed the part, girding himself in gold and silver, and becoming bright and shiny.  Perhaps it was even pointed out that his name could mean Great Hunter in Elvish, and he looked up at Orion and assumed that was him, complete with the belt.

But where there are imposters - whether Saruman, Pharazon, Brigham Young, or whoever - there may still be the real deal.  Eonwe, in a previous age, was also a Bright Commander of the Army of Heaven, which he led to Middle-earth and defeated Melkor and his forces, and is the one, I believe, that Orion likely symbolizes.

Getting back to the Walt Whitman bridge, there are two points of symbolism relative to it that I have been thinking on it the last few days that I want to quickly mention.   

First, bridges as a means to bridge a gap over which people can go from one place to another.   We used the example of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and its collapse, in past posts to perhaps reflect Saruman's intent and objective, which is to cut of or destroy and such attempt at bridging a gap that would allow some Beings to escape to a place of Freedom.

Second, the interstate that runs over the Walt Whitman bridge is Interstate 76.  '76 is short for 1776, the year the Declaration of Independence was signed, which was actually done here in Philadelphia.  Independence or freedom is what is promised as Beings would journey across the Bridge that will be established, I believe, and the Declaration of Independence, as a symbol of this story element, has come up quite a bit on my blog, including the day it was signed, the 4th of July, being the first day that my strange Elvish words started.  Recall that on that day Gim Guru's name was invoked, and I have associated that name and Being with Faramir-Eonwe, who apparently will have some task in building that bridge and leading others across it.  Independence will be found in crossing that bridge.

In between hockey games yesterday, my son and I took a few minutes to go see the Liberty Bell.  It was pretty underwhelming, honestly.  I am not sure what I was expecting in seeing a bell, I guess.  Anyway, for those not familiar with it, the bell was hung in Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was written.  Tradition has it that it rang out at the first public reading of the Declaration, but the bell is also famous for its massive crack, and it isn't certain that it actually rang that day due to the condition it was in.

It was permanently retired in the 1800s due to the crack damage making it impossible to recover its tone.  So, now you can stand in a line and go shuffle past it and listen to its deafening silence.

On the bell is inscribed a scripture from Leviticus:

Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof

The bell is quiet, as is liberty on this Earth for all who live here, being subject to all sorts of Beings, those we see and believe in and those that we don't.

But my view is that the bell of liberty rings again at some point, and a proclamation that freedom can once again be available for all those who will make the journey.  This calls to my mind Joseph's own words regarding the dead, and which I have brought up before:

Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

Redemption and freedom was the vision that Joseph has, and it remains unrealized.  We are the Dead, here, in my opinion.

To conclude these last thoughts, and to tie into my own story, there was a short phrase from back in very early 2022 which dealt with the sound of a 'ring' (as one would hear from a bell) and with redemption.  That short phrase was:

I was there for your birth

And heard in it the ring of the power of redemption

There was a second meaning I would later realize regarding these words, having likely to do with Amazon's show "Rings of Power".  I haven't seen the show.  It would air later that year in the fall, and I had not heard of the show's name until sometime well after this words.  I understand it was intended to have something to do with the 2nd age and the history of Numenor (though I hear it is not good if you are a Tolkien fan and may as well be a fictional story).  But I find the reference interesting given that some many things in my writing are touching on Numenor, and lately with Pharazon.

I also now assume the speaker of those words is addressing Faramir-Eonwe, and the the redemption spoken of will in some manner involve restoring what was lost and broken in what occurred as a result of Pharazon's actions.