The Return of King Peyton

Thorin Oakenshield) in "The Hobbit"

Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) in “The Hobbit”

Sports Saturday 

It was just under two years ago that Peyton Manning, after having suffered what many saw as a career-ending injury to his neck, was cut loose by his old team. A number of teams, gambling that his four surgeries would prove successful, made a bid for his services, with the Denver Broncos winning out. Now, as they approach the final game before the playoffs, we are seeing the 37-year-old having the greatest regular season ever by a quarterback. Manning last week broke the record of 50 touchdowns in a season, and if he passes for 266 yards tomorrow—he routinely passes for over 300 yards a game—he will also break the record for most yardage in a single season.

For the story to end as stories like this should end, Manning will be hoisting the Super Bowl trophy in a little over a month from now. After all, that’s how it happens in The Hobbit.

I mention Tolkien’s book because there’s a scene in it that reminds me of Manning arriving in Denver. It’s the moment when the dwarfs stride into Lake-town after having escaped imprisonment by the Mirkwood elves.

There is, as there was with Manning, immense excitement. Here’s the dramatic moment where Thorin enters the hall:

“I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain! I return!” creid Thorin in a loud voice from the door, before the captain could say anything.

To be sure, this is not Manning’s style. While he too could boast impressive lineage—“I am Peyton, winner of Super Bowl XLI, brother of Eli, winner of Super Bowls XLI and XLVI,  and son of Hall of Fame quarterback Archie!”—he tends to be modest. But his return from his injuries has appeared as miraculous as Thorin’s sudden appearance in the hall. For months, Manning couldn’t even throw a ball, yet here he is with one of football’s most treasured records.

Denver sports fans have been behaving very much like the citizens of Lake-town. As you read the response to Thorin’s appearance, plug in the name “John Elway” every time you see mention of the “King under the Mountain.” Elway won two Super Bowls for Denver in the late 1990s:

The news had spread from the doors of the hall like fire through all the town. People were shouting inside the hall and outside it. The quays were thronged with hurrying feet. Some began to sing snatches of old songs concerning the return of the King under the Mountain; that it was Thror’s grandson not Thror himself that had come back did not bother them at all. Others took up the song and it rolled loud and high over the lake.

The King beneath the mountains
The King of carven stone,
The lord of silver fountains
Shall come into his own!

His crown shall be upholden,
His harp shall be restrung,
His halls shall echo golden
To songs of yore re-sung.

The woods shall wave on mountains
And grass beneath the sun;
His wealth shall flow in fountains
And the rivers golden run.

The streams shall run in gladness,
The lakes shall shine and burn,
All sorrow fail and sadness
At the Mountain-king’s return!

To be sure, just as there have been Manning skeptics—people who won’t be entirely won over unless he wins a Super Bowl for Denver—so are there skeptics in The Hobbit. Here, for instance, is Mirkwood’s king of the elves:

“Very well! We’ll see!…But I expect they will all come to a bad end, and serve them right!” He at any rate did not believe in dwarves fighting and killing dragons like Smaug…

…or Manning winning playoff games in the cold, perhaps. And the skeptics so far have been partially right. Denver suffered a crushing blow in last year’s playoffs, when they had arguably a better team than they have now. It remains to be seen this year whether the aging Manning can defeat the NFL’s version of Smaug.

Furthermore, keep in mind that defeating Smaug and the Goblin armies is a team effort. One man can’t do it alone.

But those cautionary words are for another day. At present, Denver’s Thorin Oakenshield has already made good on many of the hopes that were pinned on him. We can join the citizens of Lake-town in toasting him.

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