Prince Imrahil and Moses

Prince Imrahil started running through my mind a little this afternoon and evening, and doing so in connection with Moses.

I think it was the imagery of Elias (Faramir) and Moses standing with Jesus that strangely brought this on, which I will explain in just a moment.

Imrahil himself is not a new thought.  Ever since the character of Faramir has taken a larger presence on this blog, I've wondered off and on if and how Imrahil might factor into this Story.  Even for those very familiar with the Lord of the Rings, Imrahil has somewhat of an understated role in the tale that can get lost somewhat.   One reason is that we don't meet him until the Return of the King, when events shift to Gondor and Minas Tirith and after we've become interested in the fates of other characters.  Another is he didn't make Peter Jackson's movie cut.

Imrahil is Faramir's uncle from his mother's side, being Finduilas' brother.  He will play a critical role in the defense of Minas Tirith, which includes saving the lives of both Faramir and Eowyn, actually.  Faramir's rescue was more direct.  Denethor had sent him off to retake Osgiliath.  As expected, the counter-offensive failed, and the troops were routed.  Imrahil and his Knights had been held back as a sortie, and they rode out to rescue or save as many of the retreating men as possible.  Gandalf rode with them and chased off the Nazgul who were involved in the fight.  This is actually when we get our first glimpse at Imrahil's bravery:

Now they [the sortie] sprang forward, formed, quickened to a gallop, and charged with a great shout.  And from the walls and answering shout went up; for foremost on the field rode the swan-knights of Dol Amroth with their Prince [Imrahil] and his blue banner at their head.

"Amroth for Gondor!" they cried.  "Amroth to Faramir!"

The cavalry would return to Minas Tirith, with Imrahil himself carrying Faramir's body, and Tolkien writes "only the charge of Dol Amroth had saved him from the red southland swords that would have hewed him as he lay".  Imrahil will carry Faramir directly to Denethor, and it is upon seeing his son in that state that the final straw breaks in Denethor's mind.

So, Imrahil saved Faramir's life on the field.  

During the course of the battle, Imrahil and his men will play almost a magical role that complements that of Gandalf.  Gandalf took command of the city when Denethor lost his mind, and it is Imrahil that basically became his co-commander:

So it was that Gandalf took command of the last defence of the City of Gondor.  Wherever he came men's hearts would lift again, and the winged shadows pass from memory.  Tirelessly he strode from Citadel to Gate, from north to south about the wall; and with him went the Prince of Dol Amroth [Imrahil] in his shining mail.  For he and his knights still held themselves like lords in whom the race of Numenor ran true.  Men that saw them whispered saying: 'Belike the old tales speak well; there is Elvish blood in the veins of that folk, for the people of Nimrodel dwelt in that land once long ago".... and yet - when they had gone, the shadows closed on men again, and their hearts went cold, and the valour of Gondor withered into ash.

Legolas would later also acknowledge something special about him when they met following the battle:

At length they [Legolas and Gimli] came to the Prince Imrahil, and Legolas looked at him and bowed low; for he saw that here indeed was one who had elven-blood in his veins...

"That is a fair lord and a great captain [speaking of Imrahil]," said Legolas.  "If Gondor has such men still in these days of fading, great must have been its glory in the days of its rising."

I include the above excerpts to just show that there is obviously something unique and special about Prince Imrahil.  Does this mean he had to be Moses?  Of course not, but I am not trying to show that specifically here, only that there is something about him that keeps getting called out and mentioned, both explicitly and implicitly.

He would also play a part in saving Eowyn's life during the battle.  As he met the funeral procession of Theoden, he noticed Eowyn, who was also being carried back presumed dead.  He would then be the one to notice, upon closer observation, that she was not dead.  He even fashioned a small test or evidence to show she was still alive in holding up his vambrace to her lips to show a slight mist that formed from her breath.  He then sent a rider to the city to come and bring aid, before he rode back into the battle that was still ongoing.

Aragorn, Eomer, and Imrahil would ride back to the Gate together following the battle, and all three were unharmed:  "These three were unscathed, for such was their fortune and the skill and might of their arms, and few indeed had dared to abide them or look on their faces in the hour of their wrath".

There are several specific mentions of Imrahil's bright and shining mail, and here we have a reference to his face (along with Aragorn and Eomer), and how no wished to look on their faces.   It is a small point, and not convincing at all, but it reminded me of something Leo had brought up relative to Moses, in that he had to shroud his face when he spoke with the Israelites, in that they feared his countenance after coming back from the Mountain.

At the conclusion of the war, Aragorn was crowned King, and he also named two chief commanders and advisors:  Faramir and Imrahil.  They would be known together as the Princes of Ithilien and Dol Amroth.  It is this detail, their being Aragorn's chief advisors, that I thought of when I was exploring earlier the events of the Mount of Transfiguration. with Moses and Elias appearing with Jesus.  For some reason my mind connected Elias and Moses with Jesus as being "like" Faramir and Imrahil with Aragorn.  Is that a correct connection?  I am not sure, but it is one that came to me and it has been a persistent one starting earlier today.

Anyway, I think we get to the point that there is something to Imrahil - and there are more interesting things he did that I am not covering here -  even if nothing really connects him directly to Moses from the story in the LOTR.  We just have some circumstantial things and small references that may or may not lead anywhere.

But, true to form, I'd like to close with a look at his name.  We can't let that go unexplored, right?

It has been guessed by some that Imrahil's name is Adunaic, since he is of Numenorean descent.  At the same time, however, these same people take a very Elvish interpretation or guess as to the last part of his name, which is hil.  Hil would be Sindarin or Quenya for "Heir, son, or child".  Because of this, some have guessed that his name means something like "Heir of Imra", with the identity of who this Imra being unknown.

But let's throw that out, and give ourselves the allowance to look at this as an Elvish name in totality in solving for Imrahil.  After all, we have multiple references to Elvish blood running in him - let's see if the name viewed as completely Elvish might give us a clue.

The first thing you might notice is that the name starts with Im.  We have seen this before!   In the form of our Gim G's, but specifically in how we arrived at Gim Githil's name.  Recall, that for some reason between Gnomish language and other Quenya and Sindarin languages, there was a G that seemed to be added.  I won't go through the it here, but you can refer back to my post on Gim Githil and how I got that name from Ingwe if you want a refresher.   Riveting stuff, I am sure.  The short of it though, is that Im is a form of Gim.  In other words, we may be staring at a version of a Gim name here, just as with Gim Guru and Gim Githil.

That would be great, right?  If we could round out our 3rd member of the Chip Monks with another Gim-type name?  The three Gims.  I think we can, and this makes me think the connection between Imrahil and Moses maybe isn't so crazy (or crazier than anything else explored here).

So, we have Im (or Gim) which can mean "Royal Elf, High Elf" as it did directly with Ingwe-Peter.  It can also mean "Like, Same", which could be interesting as well.  Let's just leave it at the first definition for now and proclaim this name to be a Gim name in hiding.

So what does Rahil mean if I am saying this name might be Gim Rahil or Im Rahil?  I'm glad you asked.  I would break up that word as Ra and Hil, and leave that Hil as we had it before with "Child, Son, or Heir".  

Ra means "Lion", among a few other options.  So, if we leave Gim as a title or indicator as we have done with Gim Guru and Gim Githil, whose names seem to mean something like Sun and Moon, respectively, we have Gim Rahil mean "Son of Lion" or "Lion Heir" or something like that.  The Lion reference is obviously interesting since we've just linked Moses to a Lion thanks to Leonard "Bones" McCoy.  But here we have the added detail of a son or heir, which we could take multiple ways.  A Lion that is an Heir or Son to somebody?  A being who is the son of a Lion?  A Lion who is the son or heir of another Lion?  All sorts of possibilities with this one, and a few places we could go with it, and that isn't even counting some of those other definitions that could add some layers of meaning.

I am going to leave it there, with some loose threads still hanging.  Again, there isn't much evidence here, now that I think about it.  Part of the post, if nothing else, serves to reinforce that Imrahil was a badass and Peter Jackson should have found a way to get him in the movie.  But, then again, Jackson may have massacred the character like he did with Faramir and Denethor.  Maybe it was better to leave him out.  Whether he is also Moses remains to be seen, but that is the connection or thought that I am running with right now.

From a timeline perspective, Moses would come sometime after this.  The 3rd Age was estimated to end around 6,000 years ago, or 4,000 BC.  Lehi and Nephi leave Jerusalem-Tirion around 600 BC, so that gives us about 3,500 years for Moses to come around and do his thing in leading people from Middle-earth (our world) over to Tirion.  In other words, the timing would work in having Imrahil / Gim Rahil take on that role - it would just be a question of whether it would make sense for all of the other reasons that we just don't know enough about yet.

But, you heard it hear first - my hypothesis, held together with not a whole lot, all things considering, is that Moses was Imrahil in an earlier life.  We'll see how that ages.