Book 5, Chapter 8 Summary

Merry walks up through Minas Tirith, following the men bearing Théoden and Éowyn and, as he does, Pippin meets him. Worried at the state of his friend, Pippin helps Merry walk toward the Houses of Healing. Though Merry thinks he is dying, Pippin helps him go on until he sees Bergil and tells him to send Gandalf. As Merry and Pippin rest on the side of the road, Gandalf finds them and helps Merry walk the rest of the way.

In the Houses of Healing, Merry, Éowyn and Faramir are all doing badly. However, a woman named Ioreth happens to mention the saying, "The hands of the king are the hands of a healer." (842) When Gandalf hears this, he rushes out to find Aragorn.

Aragorn is actually down in the fields in front of Minas Tirith. The news of the...