Aegeus and Denthor

[Mike]

Here's a parallel I found with the story of Theseus and the Minotaur:

Theseus, when he sets out to fight the minotaur, promises his father that he will come under a white sail if he defeats the minotaur and returns home safely. When his ship returns, however, he is so infatuated with Ariadne that he forgets to change the sail from black to white. His father, Aegeus, sees the black sail and, assuming his son is dead, commits suicide by casting himself into the Aegean sea.

In LOTR, Denethor believes doom is upon him when he sees the black-sailed ships in the palantir. After coming to believe his son is pretty much dead, he decides to commit suicide (also driven by the false pretense that the black-sailed ships are bringing enemies instead of allies).

Any thoughts?

 

[Maeglin]

Wow, sounds like it fits pretty well. It wouldn't surprise me if Tolkien did that intentionally, as he liked to draw from classical mythology when writing his own stories. Nice observation.