What drove Denethor Mad? | Lord of the Rings Lore | Middle-Earth

Many believe believe that Denethor's madness was caused by the death of Boromir and the serious injuries of Faramir, for the loss of both of his sons along with Gondor's dire situation in the War of the Ring was too much for him to handle. Though these certainly played a part in his despair, there is a much deeper and more subtle reason related to Sauron and his manipulation of Denethor through the Palantiri of Middle-Earth. In today's video we explore this mystery and how it led to one of the most iconic events in the Lord of the Rings.

Affiliates:
► Unleash Your Inner Dark Lord!

================================================

In this series, we explore the history of places in Middle-Earth, Characters or events that took place.
The information is presented in an orderly easy to understand way so that it is friendly to people that are new to the Lord of the Rings Lore and Mythos.

If I feature any of your artwork during this video, please drop a message or a comment and I can link your page in the description of my videos!
Check out the Following Artists:

Thumbnail Artists:
Bartosz Winkler
Sergey Glushakov

Special thanks to our Patrons:
Mike Feeney
Roland Myrvold
-~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
Check out my latest video!: "What was Gondor's War Strategy? | Lord of the Rings Lore | Middle-Earth"

#LordoftheRings
#LOTR
#Denethor
#Sauron
#Lore
#Gondor
#Palantiri
#Faramir
#History
#Middle-Earth
#Tolkien

[GeekZoneMT]

Hey guys I had to remake this video due to some copyright issues, though I added some extra insights since the last one :) I'd love to hear your thoughts on Denethor and if this video changed your mind about his character! As always feedback is welcome and subtitles are available!

[yiggdrasill]

Honestly, denethor is one of the very few points of the movie trilogy I'm unhappy with. He was at his lowest point and lost a mental war with Sauron himself. That he held on for a few days at all is remarkable.

[thedunadan]

My heart has always gone out to the Lord Denethor. He is truly a tragic figure. He loved Gondor so much, and when he was made to feel he could not protect it, he broke. 😕

[BigBossMan]

Didn't he also lose his wife years earlier?
If so, his losses would be terrible to bare alone.
He also had to protect Gondor.
He had so much to do in his lifetime.

[SethTheProphet]

I always imagined that Denethor saw unspeakable horrors through the Palantir of Minas Tirith, but didn't know it was because of this.

Thanks for another great video, GZ!

[darchangel]

Denethor's mind was broken by many, many mental and spiritual struggles with Sauron through the Palantir.
In the unabridged original book, it tells of how he had spent many years striving to wrest some small detail of Sauron's mind from him, any possible advantage that might be gained.
For in Denethor, it was said, the blood of Numenor ran truer and purer than in any in that day save perhaps in Aragorn, and he was a man of *immense* mental prowess and mettle.

[justrusty]

I have to agree - I was always astounded that Denethor managed to not give up the secret about the fellowship's plan to Sauron, even though at that point he would have thought that Sauron already had the ring. I suppose there was no reason for Denethor to "mention" what he felt was obvious to Sauron. But that was probably the closest call in the entire story.

[davee]

I thought of Denethor and Saruman as being in the same position. Both were wise and powerful rulers, both had a palantir and Sauron convinced them both that he was unstoppable.
Saruman fell into corruption; Denethor only fell into despair.
Whilst Denethor gave up on fighting orcs, at least he wasn't breeding them like Saruman.

In this way, Denethor was much stronger and had a purer heart than Saruman.

[sweeperboy]

The films really did Denethor a great disservice. He came across as a weak, petty and greedy man who wasn't particularly smart and who mistreated his son and then bizarrely lost his mind when he thought that less-favoured son was dead. He was actually originally very noble, very strong of mind and able to mentally tussle with Sauron for a long time without cracking (vs. even Saruman who became ensnared by the use of his palantir) who finally snapped at the end under immense pressure while he thought he had lost both his sons. Yes, he _was_ prideful and his ultimate actions were the same as in the film as he attempted to do the same terrible thing in his madness, but the journey that he went through should allow for more sympathy for his plight.

Something that's also not stated in the film but in the book is that thereafter, whenever anyone looked into the palantir he held as he burned to death, they would see his aged hands withering in the fire, unless they were of strong mind to wrest the vision away from that.

[belzebuj]

Damn never realise or thought about all of this. Great video as always my friend!

[jeffandoh]

Denethor the second, named for the Nandorin Elf king. He was a great man and steward. He came up with several strategies for fighting Mordor and engaged Sauron in psychic battles for decades. Glad you did this video

[abcjuniormilton]

Denethor was possibly the most tragic character in LOTR, discounting Gollum. He was definitely strong but endured so much: the death of his wife, ruling over a declining kingdom that was constantly harrowed by Sauron, having the Palantir for years and using it to mentally challenge Sauron. How many people would be able to endure that? Then his son Boromir died, and he believed Faramir did as well, and then Sauron tells him that the ring bearer was captured. In a way it is unsurprising that he snapped. Thank Eru that Pippin, Gandalf and Beregond were able to save his son Faramir.

[juansebastianaguirrepatino]

Denethor matched the most powerful entity in a sort of magic matches for 36 years. That alone makes him incredibly powerful, maybe just below Galadriel that was able to perceive Saurons mind and close hers to him.

[olivervasquez]

Your channel is awesome and has entertained me for two years!!!!

[istari]

I believe Denethor was a basically good man with some serious flaws, including an overabundance of pride and arrogance. Sauron saw this and used it against him, ultimately driving him insane. Sadly, the movies did not show this well.

[AlexanderJoneshttps]

Denethor reminds me of the mad king from GoT but Denethor doesn't kill his own men like the mad king

[grandadmiralzaarin]

I'm glad to see more of Denethor and you do him justice.

I hadn't realized before you pointed it out that Frodo had been captured the same night Denethor looked in the Palantir. This, coupled with his decades of battling Sauron, the situation of the siege(recall too that the Nazghul were regularly permeating the city with despair) the grief of losing his wife, eldest son and thinking his last remaining family member dying due to his own orders would have snapped anyone. His attempt at suicide then, far from madness, appears in this context as a desperate attempt at escape, the last means available to defy Sauron.

It's also worth noting that Sauron may have seen the effect the news of the Hobbit's capture had on Denethor and that specifically was why he let the Mouth of Sauron taunt the Fellowship with it. Sauron didn't know the exact details, but he was able to grasp that the Hobbit had been vitally important somehow and news of his capture might break the Captains of the West as it had the Steward of Gondor.

[jackolantern]

Well, I imagine having a mental duel with Satan's right hand devil would leave a few scars.

[lucasmedeiros]

I totally agree with you! Denethor was mentally very strong to withstand the evil of Sauron!
He also managed to keep Gondor together in it's worst moment.

[ronanwaring]

Perhaps he had to use every last ounce of his strength to hid the true purpose of the fellowship from sauron and what truly broke him in that moment was hiding what the maiar wanted most of all