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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mon, 1:19pm
Post #1 of 6
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TIME - June 1
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Today in Middle-earth
June 1, 2941 (S.R. 1341)
1. The Company enters the woods.
(from Karen Wynn Fonstad, The Atlas of Middle-earth chart entries: The Hobbit: Bag End to Rivendell)
..."[Gandalf, Bilbo and the Dwarves] leave early and make haste. They enter the woods and continue east on the road through the trees. Their road and the woods run into the valley on the north as they pass an out-thrust 'toe' of a hill. They make camp near the valley from the north."
Since this is so short, let's see how hobbits like to camp... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
Map of Hobbit & LotR campsites from the west of The Last Bridge, through the Trollshaws to Rivendell [The Atlas of Middle-earth].
From Three is Company: The Fellowship of the Ring ... "Leaving the road they went into the deep resin-scented darkness of the trees, and gathered dead sticks and cones to make a fire. Soon they had a merry crackle of flame at the foot of a large fir-tree and they sat round it for a while, until they began to nod. Then... ...they curled up in their cloaks and blankets, and were soon fast asleep... ...A few creatures came and looked at them when the fire had died away. A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.
... 'Hobbits!' he thought. 'Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There's something mighty queer behind this.' He was quite right...
... ...The morning came, pale and clammy. Frodo woke up first, and found that a tree-root had made a hole in his back, and that his neck was stiff. 'Walking for pleasure! Why didn't I drive?' he thought, as he usually did at the beginning of an expedition... '...Wake up, hobbits!' he cried. 'It's a beautiful morning!'
... 'What's beautiful about it?' said Pippin, peering over the edge of his blanket with one eye. 'Sam! Get breakfast ready for half-past nine! Have you got the bath-water hot?'
... Sam jumped up, looking rather bleary. 'No, sir, I haven't, sir!' he said.
... Frodo stripped the blankets from Pippin and rolled him over, and then walked off to the edge of the wood... ...When he returned Sam and Pippin had got a good fire going. 'Water!' shouted Pippin. 'Where's the water?'
... 'I don't keep water in my pockets,' said Frodo.
... 'We thought you had gone to find some,' said Pippin, busy setting out the food, and cups. 'You had better go now.'
... 'You can come too,' said Frodo, 'and bring all the water-bottles.' There was a stream at the foot of the hill. They filled their bottles and the small camping kettle at a little fall where the water fell a few feet over an outcrop of grey stone. It was icy cold; and they spluttered and puffed as they bathed their faces and hands.
... When their breakfast was over, and their packs all trussed up again, it was after ten o'clock, and the day was beginning to turn fine and hot. They went down the slope, and across the stream where it dived under the road, and up the next slope, and up and down another shoulder of the hills; and by that time their cloaks, blankets, water, food, and other gear already seemed a heavy burden."
We have been there and back again.
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Otaku-sempai
Elvenhome
Mon, 6:14pm
Post #2 of 6
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A very happy birthday to Brian "Hammerhand" Cox (80)!
“Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved.” - Jenny Blake Isabella
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Tue, 1:58pm
Post #3 of 6
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It's time for some BS! A bunch of BS on the way!
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Over the next several days while there isn't much TIME going on, let's take a closer look at some of the Fellowship's Moments of Choice
Here's part 1 of a series of Book Spoilers that looks at one of Frodo's dreadful choices... one of many the Fellowship had to make... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From The Black Gate is Closed: The Two Towers ..."Its name was Cirith Ungol, a name of dreadful rumour. Aragorn could perhaps have told them that name and its significance; Gandalf would have warned them. But they were alone, and Aragorn was far away, and Gandalf stood amid the ruin of Isengard and strove with Saruman... ...Yet even as he spoke his last words to Saruman, and the Palantír crashed in fire upon the steps of Orthanc, his thought was ever upon Frodo and Samwise, over the long leagues his mind sought for them in hope and pity.
...Maybe Frodo felt it, not knowing it, as he had upon Amon Hen, even though he believed that Gandalf was... ...gone forever into the shadow in Moria far away. He sat upon the ground for a long while, silent, his head bowed, striving to recall all that Gandalf had said to him. But for this choice he could recall no counsel... ...Gandalf's guidance had been taken from them too soon... ...How they should enter it at the last Gandalf had not said. Perhaps he could not say. Into the stronghold of the Enemy in the North, into Dol Guldur, he had once ventured. But into Mordor, to the Mountain of Fire and to Barad-dûr, since the Dark Lord rose in power again, had he ever journeyed there? Frodo did not think so... ...here he was a little halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go. It was an evil fate. But he had taken it on himself in his own sitting-room in the far-off spring of another year, so remote now that it was like a chapter in a story of the world's youth, when the Trees of Silver and Gold were still in bloom... ...Which way should he choose? And if both led to terror and death, what good lay in choice?
...Not even an eagle poised against the sun would have marked the hobbits sitting there... ...silent, not moving, shrouded in their thin grey cloaks. For a moment he might have paused to consider Gollum, a tiny figure sprawling on the ground: there perhaps lay the famished skeleton of some child of Men…"
[[Continued tomorrow]]
We have been there and back again.
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Wed, 1:08pm
Post #4 of 6
(90 views)
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It's part 2 of a Book Spoiler of one of Frodo's dreadful choices... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From The Black Gate is Closed: The Two Towers ...Frodo's head was bowed over his knees, but Sam leaned back, with hands behind his head, staring out of his hood at the empty sky... ...Then presently Sam thought he saw a dark bird-like figure wheel into the circle of his sight, and hover, and then wheel away again. Two more followed, and then a fourth. They were very small to look at, yet he knew... ...that they were huge, with a vast stretch of pinion, flying at a great height. He covered his eyes and bent forward, cowering. The same warning fear was on him as he had felt in the presence of the Black Riders… …though now it was not so crushing or compelling: the menace was more remote... ...Frodo felt it too. His thought was broken. He stirred and shivered, but he did not look up. Gollum huddled himself together like a cornered spider. The winged shapes wheeled... ...speeding back to Mordor.
...Sam took a deep breath. 'The Riders are about again, up in the air,' he said in a hoarse whisper. 'I saw them. Do you think they could see us…?'
...'No, perhaps not,' said Frodo. 'But their steeds could see… …They are looking for something: the Enemy is on the watch, I fear.'
... …The feeling of dread passed, but the enfolding silence was broken. For some time he had been cut off from the world, as if in an invisible island; now they were laid bare again, peril had returned... ...still Frodo did not speak to Gollum or make his choice. His eyes were closed, as if he were dreaming, or looking inward into his heart and memory. At last he stirred and stood up, and it seemed that he was about to speak and to decide. But 'hark!' he said. 'What is that?'
...A new fear was upon them. They heard singing and hoarse shouting. At first it seemed a long way off, but it drew nearer... ...They crouched, listening. The voices and the clink of weapons... ...was very close. Frodo and Sam loosened their small swords in the sheaths. Flight was impossible.
...Gollum rose slowly and crawled insect-like to the lip of the hollow. Very cautiously he raised himself inch by inch, until he could peer over it between two broken points of stone. He remained there without moving for some time, making no sound. Presently the voices... ...slowly faded away."
[[Continued tomorrow]]
We have been there and back again.
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Thu, 12:59pm
Post #5 of 6
(58 views)
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It's part 3 of a Book Spoiler of one of Frodo's dreadful choices that he finally makes... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
From The Black Gate is Closed: The Two Towers ... "Far off a horn blew on the ramparts of the Morannon. Then quietly Gollum drew back and slipped down into the hollow.
... 'More Men going to Mordor,' Gollum said in a low voice. 'Dark faces. We have not seen Men like these before, no, Sméagol has not. They are fierce… …Not nice; very cruel wicked Men they look. Almost as bad as Orcs, and much bigger. Sméagol thinks they have come out of the South beyond the Great River's end... ...They have passed on to the Black Gate; but more may follow. Always more people coming to Mordor. One day all the peoples will be inside.'
... 'Were there any oliphaunts?' asked Sam, forgetting his fear in his eagerness for news of strange places.
... 'No, no oliphaunts. What are oliphaunts?' said Gollum.
... Sam stood up, putting his hands behind his back (as he always did when 'speaking poetry'), and began: 'Grey as a mouse, Big as a house, Nose like a snake, I make the earth shake...'"
... '...That,' said Sam, when he had finished reciting, 'that's a rhyme we have in the Shire. Nonsense maybe, and maybe not. But we have our tales too, and news out of the South... ...In the old days hobbits used to go on their travels now and again. Not that many ever came back, and not that all they said was believed: news from Bree, and not sure as Shiretalk, as the sayings go. But I've heard tales of the big folk down away in the Sunlands. Swertings we call 'em in our tales... ...they ride on oliphaunts, 'tis said, when they fight. They put houses and towers on the oliphauntses backs... ...and the oliphaunts throw rocks and trees at one another. So when you said "Men out of the South, all in red and gold," I said "were there any oliphaunts?" For if there was, I was going to take a look, risk or no. But now I don't suppose I'll ever see an oliphaunt. Maybe there ain't no such a beast.' He sighed.
... 'No, no oliphaunts,' said Gollum again. 'Sméagol has not heard of them. He does not want to see them... ...Sméagol wants to go away from here and hide somewhere safer. Sméagol wants master to go. Nice master, won't he come with Sméagol?'
... Frodo stood up. He had laughed in the midst of all his cares when Sam trotted out the old fireside rhyme of Oliphaunt... ...the laugh had released him from hesitation. 'I wish we had a thousand oliphaunts with Gandalf on a white one at their head,' he said. 'Then we'd break a way into this evil land, perhaps... …Well, Sméagol, the third turn may turn the best. I will come with you.'
... 'Good master, wise master, nice master!' cried Gollum in delight, patting Frodo's knees...."
OK... I just have to say, here... I love how Frodo pictures Gandalf leading the charge on a white oliphaunt before he knew Gandalf was reborn as Gandalf the White! :)
We have been there and back again.
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Fri, 2:52pm
Post #6 of 6
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Continuing a series of Book Spoilers that looks at choices the Fellowship and their allies had to make, here is a choice Eomer must face... for a moment of Tolkien-zen.
Eomer's choice
From The Riders Of Rohan: The Two Towers ... "'…at this time our chief concern is with Saruman. [said Eomer] He has claimed lordship over all this land, and there has been war between us for many months… … His spies slip through every net… …I do not know how it will all end and my heart misgives me…. …But if you come to the king's house, you shall see for yourself. Will you not come? Do I hope in vain that you have been sent to me for a help in doubt and need?'
... 'I will come when I may,' said Aragorn.
... 'Come now…! …The Heir of Elendil would be a strength indeed to the Sons of Eorl in this evil tide … …Indeed in this riding north I went without the king's leave, for in my absence his house is left with little guard. But scouts warned me of the orc-host coming down out of the East Wall… …I led forth my éored, men of my own household; and we overtook the Orcs at nightfall two days ago… …their trail is plain to see a little north of this spot. And others, too, came out of the forest. Great Orcs, who also bore the White Hand of Isengard: that kind is stronger and more fell and all others.
... 'Nonetheless we put an end to them. But we have been too long away. We are needed south and west. Will you not come? There are spare horses as you see. There is work for the Sword to do….'
... '…I thank you for your fair words,' said Aragorn, 'and my heart desires to come with you; but I cannot desert my friends while hope remains.'
... 'Hope does not remain,' said Éomer. 'You will not find your friends on the North-borders.'
... 'Yet my friends are not behind! We found a clear token not far from the East Wall that one at least of them was still alive there. But between the wall and the downs we have found no other trace of them… …They may have been slain and burned among the Orcs; but that you will say cannot be, and I do not fear it… …Can you swear that none escaped your net in such a way?'
... 'I would swear that no Orc escaped after we sighted them,' said Éomer….
... '…Our friends were attired even as we are,' said Aragorn; 'and you passed us by under the full light of day.'
... 'I had forgotten that,' said Éomer. 'It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and Dwarf in company walk in our daily fields… …folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken… …How shall a man judge what to do in such times?'
... 'As he ever has judged,' said Aragorn. 'Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men. It is a man's part to discern them, as much in the Golden Wood as in his own house.'
... 'True indeed,' said Éomer. 'But I do not doubt you, nor the deed which my heart would do. Yet I am not free to do all as I would. It is against our law to let strangers wander at will in our land, until the king himself shall give them leave, and more strict is the command in these days of peril. I have begged you to come back willingly with me, and you will not. Loth am I to begin a battle of one hundred against three.'
... 'I do not think your law was made for such a chance.' said Aragorn… '…Never in former days would any high lord of this land have constrained a man to abandon such a quest as mine. My duty at least is clear, to go on. Come now, son of Éomund, the choice must be made at last. Aid us, or at the worst let us go free. Or seek to carry out your law. If you do so there will be fewer to return to your war or to your king.'
... Éomer was silent for a moment, then he spoke. 'We both have need of haste,' he said. 'My company chafes to be away, and every hour lessens your hope. This is my choice. You may go; and what is more, I will lend you horses… …only I ask: when your quest is achieved or is proved vain, return with the horses over the Entwade to Meduseld, the high house in Edoras where Théoden now sits. Thus you shall prove to him that I have not misjudged. In this I place myself, and maybe my very life, in the keeping of your good faith. Do not fail.'
... 'I will not,' said Aragorn."
We have been there and back again.
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