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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 1 2007, 9:47am
Post #1 of 45
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TIME - March 1
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Today in Middle-earth.
March 1, 2931
1. Birth of Aragorn II (Elessar)
(not from the appendices)
... "And it happened that when Arathorn and Gilraen had been married only one year, Arador was taken by hill-trolls in the Coldfells north of Rivendell and was slain; and Arathorn became Chieftain of the Dúnedain. The next year Gilraen bore him a son, and he was called Aragorn."
March 1, 3019 (S.R. 1419)
1. Frodo begins the passage of the Dead Marshes at dawn.
(from the appendices)
... "At last Sam could bear it no longer. 'What's all this, Gollum?' he said in a whisper. 'These lights? They're all round us now. Are we trapped? Who are they?'
... Gollum looked up. A dark water was before him, and he was crawling on the ground, this way and that, doubtful of the way. 'Yes, they are all round us,' he whispered. 'The tricksy lights. Candles of corpses, yes, yes. Don't you heed them! Don't look! Don't follow them! Where's the master?'
... Sam looked back and found that Frodo had lagged again. He could not see him. He went some paces back into the darkness, not daring to move far, or to call in more than a hoarse whisper. Suddenly he stumbled against Frodo, who was standing lost in thought, looking at the pale lights. His hands hung stiff at his sides; water and slime were dripping from them.
... 'Come, Mr. Frodo!' said Sam. 'Don't look at them! Gollum says we mustn't. Let's keep up with him and get out of this cursed place as quick as we can—if we can!'
... 'All right,' said Frodo, as if returning out of a dream. 'I'm coming. Go on!'
... Hurrying forward again, Sam tripped, catching his foot in some old root or tussock. He fell and came heavily on his hands, which sank deep into sticky ooze, so that his face was brought close to the surface of the dark mere. There was a faint hiss, a noisome smell went up, the lights flickered and danced and swirled. For a moment the grimy glass, through which he was peering. Wrenching his hands out of the bog, he sprang back with a cry. 'There are dead things, dead faces in the water,' he said with horror. 'Dead faces!'
... Gollum laughed. 'The Dead Marshes, yes, yes: that is their name,' he cackled. 'You should not look in when the candles are lit.'
... 'Who are they? What are they?' asked Sam shuddering, turning to Frodo, who was now behind him.
... 'I don't know,' said Frodo in a dreamlike voice. 'But I have seen them too. In the pools when the candles were lit. They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water. I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them.' Frodo hid his eyes in his hands. 'I know not who they are; but I thought I saw there Men and Elves, and Orcs beside them.'
... 'Yes, yes,' said Gollum. 'All dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orcs. The Dead Marshes….'"
2. Entmoot continues.
... "…they did not go far from his (Quickbeam's) 'house.' Most of the time they sat silent under the shelter of the bank; for the wind was colder, and the clouds closer and greyer; there was little sunshine, and in the distance the voices of the Ents at the Moot still rose and fell, sometimes loud and strong, sometimes low and sad, sometimes quickening, sometimes slow and solemn as a dirge."
3. Aragorn meets Gandalf the White. They set out for Edoras.
... "'Well met, I say again!' said the old man, coming towards them. When he was a few feet away, he stood, stooping over his staff, with his head thrust forward, peering at them from under his hood. 'And what may you be doing in these parts? An Elf, a Man, and a Dwarf, all clad in elvish fashion. No doubt there is a tale worth hearing behind it all. Such things are not often seen here.'
... 'You speak as one that knows Fangorn well,' said Aragorn. 'Is that so?'
... 'Not well,' said the old man: 'that would be the study of many lives. But I come here now and again.'
... 'Might we know your name, and then hear what it is that you have to say to us?' said Aragorn. 'The morning passes, and we have an errand that will not wait.'
... 'As for what I wished to say, I have said it: What may you be doing, and what tale can you tell of yourselves? As for my name!' He broke off, laughing long and softly. Aragorn felt a shudder run through him at the sound, a strange cold thrill; and yet it was not fear or terror that he felt: rather it was like the sudden bite of a keen air, or the slap of a cold rain that wakes an uneasy sleeper…."
... 'Come, Aragorn son of Arathorn!' he said. 'Do not regret your choice in the valley of the Emyn Muil, nor call it a vain pursuit. You chose amid doubts the path that seemed right: the choice was just, and it has been rewarded. For so we have met in time, who otherwise might have met too late. But the quest of your companions is over. Your next journey is marked by your given word. You must go to Edoras and seek out Théoden in his hall. For you are needed.'"
4. Faramir leaves Minas Tirith on an errand to Ithilien.
... "'It is close on ten leagues hence to the east-shore of Anduin,' said Mablung, 'and we seldom come so far afield. But we have a new errand on this journey: we come to ambush the Men of Harad. Curse them!…'"
... "One of their regiments is due by our reckoning to pass by, some time ere noon—up on the road above, where it passes through the cloven way. The road may pass, but they shall not! Not while Faramir is Captain. He leads now in all perilous ventures. But his life is charmed, or fate spares him for some other end.'"
March 1, 1541
1. The passing of King Elessar
(not FROM the appendices—but IN the appendices)
... "'Lady Undómiel,' said Aragorn, 'the hour is indeed hard, yet it was made even in that day when we met under the white birches in the garden of Elrond where none now walk. And on the hill of Cerin Amroth when we forsook both the Shadow and the Twilight this doom we accepted. Take counsel with yourself, beloved, and ask whether you would indeed have me wait until I wither and fall from my high seat unmanned and witless. Nay, lady, I am the last of the Númenóreans and the latest King of the Elder Days; and to me has been given not only a span thrice that of Men of Middle-earth, but also the grace to go at my will, and give back the gift. Now, therefore, I will sleep.
... 'I speak no comfort to you, for there is no comfort for such pain within the circles of the world. The uttermost choice is before you, to repent and go to the Havens and bear away into the West the memory of our days together that shall there be evergreen but never more than memory; or else to abide the Doom of Men.'
... 'Nay, dear lord,' she said, 'that choice is long over. There is now no ship that would bear me hence, and I must indeed abide the Doom of Men, whether I will or I nill: the loss and the silence. But I say to you, King of the Númenóreans, not till now have I understood the tale of your people and their fall. As wicked fools I scorned them, but I pity them at last. For if this is indeed, as the Eldar say, the gift of the One to Men, it is bitter to receive.'
... 'So it seems," he said. 'But let us not be overthrown in the final test, who of old renounced the Shadow and the Ring. In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! We are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory. Farewell!' ... 'Estel, Estel!' she cried, and with that even as he took her hand and kissed it, he fell into sleep. Then a great beauty was revealed in him, so that all who after came there looked on him in wonder; for they saw that the grace of his youth, and the valour of his manhood, and the wisdom and majesty of his age were blended together. And long there he lay, an image of the splendour of the Kings of the Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world."
 
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
TORn's Observations Lists
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Mar 1 2007, 12:08pm
Post #2 of 45
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Slimey bogs and the slap of a cold rain
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The Dead Marshes: nowadays when I read this, it brings my mind to the horrors Tolkien saw in the "dead marshes" of the trenches and lands blasted by the destructions of World War I. And it "hits home" to realize this kind of place is not a fantasy.
"You chose amid doubts the path that seemed right": Aragorn "followed his heart", followed his instincts - as, I believe, Gandalf knew he would!
I would have love to have heard the voices of the Ents! I wonder it they resembled differing speeds of wind rushing through all types of branches?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road, or a secret gate...
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Urambo Tauro
Ossiriand
Mar 1 2007, 2:18pm
Post #3 of 45
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Warning: Geeky observation follows!
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They were so close!
So Aragorn's birthday is on Rethe 1st (our March 3rd). In the extended version of The Two Towers (film), Aragorn claims to be 87 years old on the way to Helm's Deep. The journey from Edoras to the Hornburg lasts from sunset on Rethe 2nd (March 4th) until nightfall on the following day. He is 88 (plus one or two days) at this time.
Yeah, Aragorn. If you're going to lie about your age, you could have gotten away with claiming to be in your 40s. Subtracting just one year doesn't help much. 
(I warned you in the subject-line!) 
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White Gull
Menegroth
Mar 1 2007, 2:20pm
Post #4 of 45
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It was a nice birthday present for Aragorn
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to find that Gandalf was alive!
WG
Happy Birthday, Your Majesty! 
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 1 2007, 5:19pm
Post #5 of 45
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Great catch, UT! He really does carry his age well, doesn't he? ;)
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 1 2007, 5:23pm
Post #6 of 45
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picturing the Ents swaying and speaking like windsounds through their different branches. *warm smile* I'll remember that one!
Aragorn was so good a judging and trusting his instincts even when his doubts got in the way. They all did that at just the right (usually incredibly crucial) times.
I know... I think the same thing about the Marshes now. It also makes Frodo's reaction all the more chilling to think that may be how Tolkien reacted.
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
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silneldor
Gondolin
Mar 2 2007, 12:53am
Post #8 of 45
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for the sublime passage of Arwen and Elessar. You express things of great worth in ways few can.
"Tolkien, like Lewis, believed that, through story, the real world would become a more magical place, full of meaning. We see its patterns and colors in a fresh way. The recovery of a true view of the world applies both to individual things, like hills and stones, and to the cosmic - the depths of space and time itself. For in sub-creation, in Tolkien's view, there is a "survey" of space and time. Reality is captured on a miniature scale. Through stories like The Lord of the Rings, a renewed view of things is given, illuminating the homely, the spiritial, the physical, and the moral dimensions of the world."
Tolkien and C.S. Lewis- The Gift of Friendship -Duriez
A little bit of my Middle-earth by canoe.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Mar 2 2007, 3:55am
Post #9 of 45
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"When you get to be my age, sonny..."
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Great observation!
Of course, one could say that with all that was going on, Aragorn overlooked that his birthdate had passed, and hadn't yet realized he had acquired another year...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road, or a secret gate...
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 2 2007, 10:03am
Post #10 of 45
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Today in Middle-earth.
March 2, 3019 (S.R. 1419)
1. Frodo comes to the end of the Marshes.
(from the appendices)
... "'Now on we go!' he said. 'Nice hobbits! Brave hobbits! Very very weary, of course; so we are, my precious, all of us. But we must take master away from the wicked lights, yes, yes, we must.' With these words he started off again, almost at a trot, down what appeared to be a long lane between high reeds, and they stumbled after him as quickly as they could. But in a little while he stopped suddenly and sniffed the air doubtfully, hissing as if he was troubled or displeased again.
... 'What is it?' growled Sam, misinterpreting the signs. 'What's the need to sniff? The stink nearly knocks me down with my nose held. You stink, and master stinks; the whole place stinks.'
... 'Yes, yes, and Sam stinks!' answered Gollum. 'Poor Sméagol smells it, but good Sméagol bears it. Helps nice master. But that's no matter. The air's moving, change is coming. Sméagol wonders; he's not happy.'"
2. Gandalf comes to Edoras and heals Théoden.
(from the appendices)
... "'I greet you,' [Théoden] said, 'and maybe you look for welcome. But truth to tell your welcome is doubtful here, Master Gandalf. You have ever been a herald of woe. Troubles follow you like crows, and ever the oftener the worse. I will not deceive you: when I heard that Shadowfax had come back riderless, I rejoiced at the return of the horse, but still more at the lack of the rider; and when Éomer brought the tiding that you had gone at last to your long home, I did not mourn. But news from afar is seldom sooth. Here you come again! And with you come evils worse than before, as might be expected. Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow? Tell me that.' Slowly he sat down again in his chair.
... 'You speak justly, lord,' said the pale man sitting upon the steps of the dais. 'It is not yet five days since the bitter tidings came that Théodred your son was slain upon the West Marches: your right hand, Second Marshal of the Mark. In Éomer there is little trust. Few men would be left to guard your walls, if he had been allowed to rule. And even now we learn from Gondor that the Dark Lord is stirring in the East. Such is the hour in which this wanderer chooses to return. Why indeed should we welcome you, Master Stormcrow? Láthspell I name you, Ill-news; and ill news is an ill guest they say.' He laughed grimly, as he lifted his heavy lids for a moment and gazed on the strangers with dark eyes.
... 'You are held wise, my friend Wormtongue, and are doubtless a great support to your master,' answered Gandalf in a soft voice. 'Yet in two ways may a man come with evil tidings. He may be a worker of evil; or he may be such as leaves well alone, and comes only to bring aid in time of need....'
... '...The courtesy of your hall is somewhat lessened of late, Théoden son of Thengel,' said Gandalf. 'Has not the messenger from your gate reported the names of my companions? Seldom has any lord of Rohan received three such guests. Weapons they have laid at your doors that are worth many a mortal man, even the mightiest. Grey is their raiment, for the Elves clad them, and thus they have passed through the shadow of great perils to your hall....'
... ...then suddenly he changed. Casting his tattered cloak aside, he stood up and leaned no longer on his staff; and he spoke in a clear cold voice.
... 'The wise speak only of what they know, Gríma son of Gálmód. A witless worm you have become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.'
... He raised his staff. There was a roll of thunder. The sunlight was blotted out from the eastern windows; the whole hall became suddenly dark as night. The fire faded to sullen embers. Only Gandalf could be seen, standing white and tall before the blackened hearth.
... In the gloom they heard the hiss of Wormtongue's voice: 'Did I not counsel you, lord, to forbid his staff? That fool, Háma, has betrayed us!' There was a flash as if lightning had cloven the roof. Then all was silent. Wormtongue sprawled on his face.
... 'Now Théoden son of Thengel, will you hearken to me?' said Gandalf. 'Do you ask for help?' He lifted his staff and pointed to a high window. There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky. 'Not all is dark. Take courage, Lord of the Mark; for better help you will not find. No counsel have I to give you those that despair. Yet counsel I could give, and words I could speak to you. Will you hear them? They are not for all ears. I bid you come out before your doors and look abroad. Too long have you sat in shadows and trusted to twisted tales and crooked promptings....'
... "'Now, lord,' said Gandalf, 'look out upon your land. Breathe the free air again!'
... From the porch upon the top of the high terrace they could see beyond the stream the green fields of Rohan fading into distant grey….
... 'It is not so dark here,' said Théoden.
... 'No,' said Gandalf. 'Nor does age lie so heavily on your shoulders as some would have you think. Cast aside your prop.'
... From the king's hand the black staff fell clattering on the stones. He drew himself up, slowly, as a man that is stiff from long bending over some dull toil. Now tall and straight he stood, and his eyes were blue as he looked into the opening sky.
... 'Dark have been my dreams of late,' he said, 'but I feel as one new-awakened. I would now that you had come before, Gandalf. For I fear that already you have come too late, only to see the last days of my house. Not long now shall stand the high hall which Brego son of Eorl built. Fire shall devour the high seat. What is to be done?'
... 'Much,' said Gandalf. 'But first send for Éomer. Do I not guess rightly that you hold him prisoner, by the counsel of Gríma, of him that all save you name the Wormtongue?'"
3. The Rohirrim ride west against Saruman.
(from the appendices)
... "'Nay, lord,' said Aragorn. 'There is no rest yet for the weary. The men of Rohan must ride forth today, and we will ride with them, axe, sword, and bow. We did not bring them to rest against your wall, Lord of the Mark. And I promised Éomer that my sword and his should be drawn together….'"
... [Théoden to Gandalf:] "'Once again you have come in time. I would give you a gift ere we go, at your own choosing. You have only to name aught that is mine. I reserve now only my sword!'
... 'Whether I came in time or not is yet to be seen,' said Gandalf. 'But as for your gift, lord, I will chose one that will fit my need: swift and sure. Give me Shadowfax! He was only lent before, if loan we may call it. But now I shall ride him into great hazard, setting silver against black: I would not risk anything that is not my own. And already there is a bond of love between us.'"
4. Second Battle of Fords of Isen. Erkenbrand defeated.
(from the appendices)
... "...since Théodred fell. We were driven back...over the Isen with great loss; many perished at the crossing. Then at night fresh forces came over the river against our camp. All Isengard must be emptied; and Saruman has armed the wild hillmen and herd-folk of Dunland beyond the rivers, and these also he loosed upon us. We were overmastered. The shieldwall was broken. Erkenbrand of Westfold has drawn off those men he could rather towards his fastness in Helm's Deep. The rest are scattered."
5. Entmoot ends in afternoon. The Ents march on Isengard and reach it at night.
(from the appendices)
... "Bregalad was standing up erect and tense, looking back northwards towards Derndingle.
... Then with a crash came a great ringing shout: ra-hoom-rah! The trees quivered and bent as if a gust had struck them. There was another pause, then a matching music began like solemn drums, and above the rolling beats and booms there welled voices singing high and strong.
We come, we come with roll of drum: ta-runda runda runda rom!
... The Ents were coming…."
... "Bregalad, his eyes shining, swung into the line beside Treebeard. The old Ent now took the hobbits back, and set them on his shoulders again, and so they rode proudly at the head of the singing company with beating hearts and heads held high. Though they had expected something to happen eventually, they were amazed at the change that had come over the Ents. It seemed now as sudden as the bursting of a flood that had long been held back by a dike.
... 'The Ents made up their minds rather quickly, after all, didn't they?' Pippin ventured to say after some time, when for a moment the singing paused, and only the beating of hands and feet was heard.
... 'Quickly?' said Treebeard. 'Hoom! Yes, indeed. Quicker than I expected. Indeed I have not seen them roused like this for many an age. We Ents do not like being roused; and we never are roused unless it is clear to us that our trees and our lives are in great danger."
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
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GaladrielTX
Dor-Lomin
Mar 2 2007, 1:39pm
Post #11 of 45
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Yes, but he also kicked the bucket on his birthday. /
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~~~~~~~~
I used to be GaladrielTX, but I lost TX in a poker game.
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Mar 2 2007, 1:56pm
Post #12 of 45
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It's so hard to imagine the horrid stench of the Dead Marshes, and how badly that stink is clinging to these three small travellers! Here we have Gollum doing an anti-Widfara, sensing a change in the air but not liking it.
LotR history time - this time, from the Reader's Companion. Gandalf's phrase "I have not passed through fire and death" was originally written "I have not passed through fire and flood". But shortly after publication Tolkien wrote in a letter that Gandalf "should rather have said" that he had "not passed through death". A compromise was made, and the phrase "fire and death" appeared in subsequent printings.
"I would not risk anything that is not my own": Gandalf must have had this as part of his reason to return to Edoras! What love he must have had for Shadowfax, for him to not want to take the horse into the perils he knew he was going to have to face, unless the horse truly belonged to him.
"Then with a crash came a great ringing shout: ra-hoom-rah! The trees quivered and bent as if a gust had struck them..." Proof positive: Ent voices are like the winds! I feel a song coming on:
The Ents go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah,
The Ents go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah,
The Ents go marching one by one,
The oak-like one slaps his hands like a drum,
And they all go marching down to the Vale
To attack Isengard
Room hoom hoom tarunda room hoom hoom...
(add verses for two by two, etc.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road, or a secret gate...
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N.E. Brigand
Gondolin
Mar 2 2007, 5:05pm
Post #13 of 45
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Is Aragorn's birthday March 1 in the film?
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Is that stated? I really don't know the film. Is it even possible to ascertain the other dates you mention, that the Edoras-Helm's Deep journey lasted from 2-4 Rethe, for instance?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Tolkien Illustrated! Jan. 29-May 20: Visit the Reading Room to discuss art by John Howe, Alan Lee, Ted Nasmith and others, including Tolkien himself.
Feb. 26-Mar. 4: Fan Artistry.
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Morwen
Nargothrond
Mar 2 2007, 5:25pm
Post #14 of 45
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With all the world-shaking events that were taking place, maybe Aragorn simply forgot that he had had a birthday a few days before. None of the characters mention it, either in the book or the movie.
I wish you could have been there
When she opened up the door
And looked me in the face
Like she never did before
I felt about as welcome
As a Wal-Mart Superstore--John Prine
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 2 2007, 5:43pm
Post #15 of 45
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The only birthday referred to is Bilbo's
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Poor Frodo misses out on his birthday. *sniffle* The the hobbit still knows how to party in spite of being dissed.
They show Aragorn after his passing, but no date of his birth is mentioned.
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 2 2007, 6:06pm
Post #16 of 45
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I like what they settled on. "Fire and death" has such a nice Ring to it *clears throat*
Decay and filth is the closest thing I can come up with as to how the marshes smelled. *shiver*
LOVE YOUR SONG! I'll be back!!!
The Ents go marching two-by-two, hurrah, hurrah,
The Ents go marching two-by-two, hurrah, hurrah.
They storm the wizard's hearth and home
While hobbits watch the flooding come;
And we all will cheer for trees... in their haste... as they drum, and they hum... dum-dee-dum
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
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FarFromHome
Doriath
Mar 2 2007, 6:11pm
Post #17 of 45
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during his adventure. This is what he says in his Party speech:
"It is also, if I may be allowed to refer to ancient history, the anniversary of my arrival by barrel at Esgaroth on the Long Lake; though the fact that it was my birthday slipped my memory on that occasion. I was only fifty-one then, and birthdays did not seem so important."
Maybe at only 87 (or 88), Aragorn isn't finding birthdays important yet either!
...and the sails were drawn up, and the wind blew,
and slowly the ship slipped away down the long grey firth;
and the light of the glass of Galadriel that Frodo bore
glimmered and was lost.
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Urambo Tauro
Ossiriand
Mar 2 2007, 9:30pm
Post #18 of 45
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Re: Is Aragorn's birthday March 1 in the film?
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The film-makers do not seem to recognize Aragorn's birthday. Not that they refute it; it's just not important. An unnecessary scene. When the Fellowship sets out from Rivendell, Aragorn is 87! So give them some credit; they at least figured that much out.
"Is it even possible to ascertain the other dates...?"
The book is the only source to find these. And Tolkien put a lot of work into it! The film, in contrast, is very fast-paced. I haven't studied the chronology in the film, but if you tried to count night scenes vs. day scenes, I wouldn't be surprised to find an entire journey of, say, (two weeks?) We just don't get the sense of a six-month story from Hobbiton to Mount Doom. (Much less the 20-year tale from the Long-expected Party to the Grey Havens!)
(This post was edited by Urambo Tauro on Mar 2 2007, 9:35pm)
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 3 2007, 12:49pm
Post #19 of 45
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Today in Middle-earth.
March 3, 3019 (S.R. 1419)
1. Théoden retreats to Helm's Deep.
(from the appendices)
... "The rumour of war grew behind them. Now they could hear, borne over the dark, the sound of harsh singing. They had climbed far up into the Deeping Coomb when they looked back. Then they saw torches, countless points of firey light upon the black fields behind, scattered like red flowers, or winding up from the lowlands in long flickering lines. Here and there a larger blaze leapt up.
... 'It is a great host and follows us hard,' said Aragorn.
... 'They bring fire,' said Théoden, 'and they are burning as they come, rick, cot, and tree. This was a rich vale and had many homesteads. Alas for my folk!'
... 'Would that day was here and we might ride down upon them like a storm out of the mountain!' said Aragorn. 'It grieves me to fly before them.'
... 'We need not fly much further,' said Éomer. 'Not far ahead now lies Helm's Dike, an ancient trench and rampart scored across the Coomb, two furlongs below Helm's Gate. There we can turn and give battle.'"
2. Battle of the Hornburg begins.
(from the appendices)
... "Arrows thick as the rain came whistling over the battlements, and fell clinking and glancing on the stones. Some found a mark. The assault on Helm's Deep had begun, but no sound or challenge was heard within; no answering arrows came.
... The assailing hosts halted, foiled by the silent menace of rock and wall. Ever and again the lightning tore aside the darkness. Then the Orcs screamed, waving spear and sword, and shooting a cloud of arrows at any that stood revealed upon the battlements; and the men of the Mark amazed looked out, as it seemed to them, upon a great field of dark corn, tossed by a tempest of war, and every ear glinted with barbed light….
... Then at last an answer came: a storm of arrows met them, and a hail of stones. They wavered, broke, and fled back; and then charged again, broke and charged again; and each time, like the incoming sea, they halted at a higher point….
... Éomer and Aragorn stood together on the Deeping Wall. They heard the roar of voices and the thudding of the rams; and then in a sudden flash of light they beheld the peril of the gates.
... 'Come!' said Aragorn. 'This is the hour when we draw swords together!'
... Running like fire, they sped along the wall, and up the steps, and passed into the outer court upon the Rock….
... 'Two!' said Gimli, patting his axe. He had returned to his place on the wall.
... 'Two!' said Legolas. 'I have done better, though now I must grope for spent arrows; all mine are gone. Yet I make my tale twenty at the least. But that is only a few leaves in a forest.'"
3. Ents complete the destruction of Isengard.
(from the appendices)
... "'At dusk Treebeard came back to the gate. He was humming and booming to himself, and seemed pleased. He stood and stretched his great arms and legs and breathed deep. I asked him if he was tired.
... '"Tired?" he said, "tired? Well no, not tired, but stiff. I need a good draught of Entwash. We have worked hard; we have done more stone-cracking and earth-gnawing today than we have done in many a long year before. But it is nearly finished. When night falls do not linger near this gate or in the old tunnel! Water may come through—and it will be foul water for a while, until all the filth of Saruman is washed away. Then Isen can run clean again.' He began to pull down a bit more of the wall, in a leisurely sort of way, just to amuse himself….'
... It must have been about midnight when the Ents broke the dams and poured all the gathered waters through a gap in the northern wall, down into Isengard....'
... 'We took refuge in that guardroom over there; and we had rather a fright. The lake began to overflow and pour out through the old tunnel, and the water was rapidly rising up the steps. We thought we were going to get caught like Orcs in a hole; but we found a winding stair at the back of the store-room that brought us out on top of the arch. It was a squeeze to get out, as the passages had been cracked and half blocked with fallen stone near the top. There we sat high up above the floods and watched the drowning of Isengard."
4. Frodo and Sam hide from the terror in the sky.
(not from the appendices)
... "While the grey light lasted, they cowered under a black stone like worms, shrinking, lest the winged terror should pass and spy them with its cruel eyes. The remainder of that journey was a shadow of growing fear in which memory could find nothing to rest upon."
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
TORn's Observations Lists
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dernwyn
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Mar 3 2007, 10:58pm
Post #21 of 45
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But I would not want to hear what they sing *shudder*. Leave it to Legolas to compare them to leaves in a forest - an innumerable quantity!
I love the image of Treebeard leisurely pulling down bits of wall! It brings to mind how trees can grow out of the slightest cracks in stone and pavement, eventually breaking them apart.
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Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road, or a secret gate...
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 4 2007, 1:29pm
Post #22 of 45
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Today in Middle-earth.
March 4, 3019 (S.R. 1419)
1. Aragorn faces the enemy as the new day dawns.
(not from the appendices)
..."At last Aragorn stood above the great gates, heedless of the darts of the enemy. As he looked forth he saw the eastern sky grow pale. Then he raised his empty hand, palm outward in token of parley.
...The Orcs yelled and jeered. 'Come down! Come down!' they cried. 'If you wish to speak to us, come down! Bring out your king! We are the fighting Uruk-hai. We will fetch him from his hole, if he does not come. Bring out your skulking king!'
...'The king stays or comes at his own will,' said Aragorn.
...'Then what are you doing here?' they answered. 'Why do you look out? Do you wish to see the greatness of our army? We are the fighting Uruk-hai.'
...'I looked out to see the dawn,' said Aragorn..
...'What of the dawn?' they jeered. 'We are the Uruk-hai: we do not stop the fight for night or day, for fair weather or for storm. We come to kill, by sun or moon. What of the dawn?'
...'None knows what the new day shall bring him,' said Aragorn. 'Get you gone, ere it turn to your evil.'
...'Get down or we will shoot you from the wall,' they cried. 'This is no parley. You have nothing to say.'
...'I have still this to say,' answered Aragorn. 'No enemy has yet taken the Hornburg. Depart, or not one of you will be spared. Not one will be left alive to take back tidings to the North. You do not know your peril.'
...So great a power and royalty was revealed in Aragorn, as he stood there alone above the ruined gates before the host of his enemies, that many of the wild men paused, and looked back over their shoulders to the valley, and some looked up doubtfully at the sky."
2. Théoden and Gandalf set out from Helm's Deep for Isengard.
(from the appendices)
..."You move me, Gimli,' said Legolas. 'I have never heard you speak like this before. Almost you make me regret that I have not seen these caves. Come! Let us make this bargain--if we both return safe out of the perils that await us, we will journey for a while together. You shall visit Fangorn with me, and then I will come with you to see Helm's Deep.'
...'That would not be the way of return that I should choose,' said Gimli. 'But I will endure Fangorn, if I have your promise to come back to the caves and share their wonder with me.'
...'You have my promise,' said Legolas. 'But alas! Now we must leave behind both cave and wood for a while. See! We are coming to the end of the trees...."
..."At last the company passed through the trees, and found that they had come to the bottom on the Coomb, where the road from Helm's Deep branched, going one way east to Edoras, and the other north to the Fords of Isen. As they rode from under the eaves of the wood, Legolas halted and looked back with regret. Then he gave a sudden cry.
...'There are eyes! Eyes looking out from the shadows of the boughs! I never saw such eyes before!'
...The others, surprised by his cry, halted and turned; but Legolas started to ride back.
...'No, no!' cried Gimli. 'Do as you please in your madness, but let me first get down from this horse! I wish to see no eyes!'"
3. Frodo reaches the slag-mounds on the edge of the Desolation of the Morannon.
(from the appendices)
..."They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void; a land defiled, diseased beyond all healing—unless the Great Sea should enter in and wash it with oblivion. 'I feel sick,' said Sam. Frodo did not speak…."
..."Suddenly Sam woke up thinking that he heard his master calling. It was evening. Frodo could not have called, for he had fallen asleep, and had slid down nearly to the bottom of the pit. Gollum was by him. For a moment Sam thought that he was trying to rouse Frodo; then he saw that it was not so. Gollum was talking to himself. Sméagol was holding a debate with some other thought that used the same voice but made it squeak and hiss. A pale light and a green light alternated in his eyes as he spoke.…"
..."Sam had lain still, fascinated by this debate, but watching every move that Gollum made from under his half-closed eye-lids. To his simple mind ordinary hunger, the desire to eat hobbits, had seemed the chief danger in Gollum. He realized now that it was not so: Gollum was feeling the terrible call of the Ring. The Dark Lord was He, of course; but Sam wondered who She was…"
4. Merry and Pippin try to stay high and dry.
(not from the appendices)
..."'There was a noise in the night like a wind coming up the valley. I think the Ents and Huorns that had been away came back then; but where they have all gone to now, I don't know. It was a misty, moisty morning when we climbed down and looked around again, and nobody was about. And that is about all there is to tell. It seems almost peaceful now after all the turmoil. And safer too, somehow, since Gandalf came back. I could sleep!'"
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
TORn's Observations Lists
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grammaboodawg
Elvenhome
Mar 4 2007, 1:41pm
Post #23 of 45
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"Where there's a whip, there's a way"?
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Ohleeeeoh... eeeoohhhh ummmm!
Legolas' description is such a contrast to what the reality is. It makes the image of the Uruk-hai army, for me, all the more gruesome and intimidating.
Trust him... The Hobbit is coming!
"Barney Snow was here." ~Hug like a hobbit!~ "In my heaven..."
TORn's Observations Lists
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Mar 4 2007, 6:43pm
Post #24 of 45
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It's hard to tell whether those two are serious or being tongue-in-cheek when they agree to visit each other's new-found "treasure"! Legolas' "Almost you make me regret that I have not seen these caves" and Gimli's "endure Fangorn" seem more like mild jabs - love that friendship  !
Sam comes to understand Gollum - and the relationship between Frodo and the Ring - more and more. It's good that he made no sudden moves this time, seeing him so close to Frodo, but watched and learned instead!
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Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road, or a secret gate...
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dernwyn
Forum Admin
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Mar 4 2007, 6:48pm
Post #25 of 45
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LOL - let's keep it going:
The Ents go marching three by three, hroom-ha, hroom-ha,
The Ents go marching three by three, hroom-ha, hroom-ha,
They herd the Huorns through Rohan-land,
Down to Helm's Deep where they'll lend a hand,
And the Orcs will ne'er be seen...anymore...when they run...to those woods, hroom hoom hoom, hroom hoom hoom hoom...
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Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road, or a secret gate...
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