his hall, and to grasp his own sword. Gandalf "announces 'The Lord of the Mark comes forth!' and the king's entire aspect is transformed as he straightens his back to meet Gandalf's description". The other is Aragorn's splendour at his coronation, with the "stately procession of the Knights of the West" into the victorious city of Minas Tirith, the liveries: Christian life Hope The motif of hope is illustrated in Aragorn's successful handling of Saruman's seeing-stone or palantír. Aragorn is given the very name of "Hope" (Sindarin "Estel"), by which he is still affectionately called by his queen, Arwen, who at the hour of his death cries out "Estel, Estel!". Only Aragorn, as the heir of Isildur, can rightfully use the palantír, while Saruman and Denethor, who have both also made extensive use of palantírs, have fallen into despair or presumption. These latter traits have been identified as the two distinct sins "against the virtue of Hope". Redemptive suffering The Christian theme of the redemptive and penitential nature of suffering is apparent in the dreadful ordeal of Sam and Frodo in Mordor. The Catholic author Stratford Caldecott calls Frodo "a very 'Christian' type of hero. ... He allows himself to be humiliated and crucified." In a different way, Boromir atones for his assault on Frodo by single-handedly but vainly defending Merry and Pippin from orcs, which illustrates another significant Christian theme: immortality of the soul and the importance of good intention, especially at the point of death. This is clear from Gandalf's statement: "But he [Boromir] escaped in the end.... It was not in vain that the young hobbits came with us, if only for Boromir's sake." Moral conflict Rosebury writes that The Lord of the Rings is saved from simple moralising or allegory by the presence of realistically complicated moral conflict within the characters: the "good" characters are challenged by temptations, while the "evil" characters all have good sides, were once good, or hesitate over evil actions. Rutledge writes that moral conflict, as seen in the struggle within Gollum, is central both to the narrative and to the "underlying theological drama". Far from being a battle of good people against evil monsters, she writes, the evil is within each individual, citing Saint Paul's comment in Romans 3:9–10 that "none is righteous, no, not one". Prayer Tolkien rarely breaks his rule to avoid explicit religion of any kind, but when