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CuriousG
Half-elven
Jan 15 2019, 2:52pm
Post #26 of 30
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The whole passage gives me chills, but this especially
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..'...You cannot pass... ...I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Jan 16 2019, 11:34am
Post #27 of 30
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Today in Middle-earth
January 16, 3018 (S.R. 1418)
1. The Fellowship makes its way through Lothlórien
(not from the appendices)
..."The morning was still young and cold when the Company set out again, guided now by Haldir and his brother Rúmil. 'Farewell, sweet Nimrodel!' cried Legolas. Frodo looked back and caught a gleam of white foam among the grey tree-stems. 'Farewell,' he said. It seemed to him that he would never hear again a running water so beautiful....
......They went back to the path that still went on along the west side of the Silverlode... ...But soon Haldir turned aside into the trees and halted on the bank of the river under their shadows.
...'There is one of my people yonder across the stream... ...though you may not see him.' He gave a call like the low whistle of a bird, and out of a thicket of young trees an Elf stepped, clad in grey, but with his hood thrown back; his hair glinted like gold in the morning sun. Haldir skilfully cast over the stream a coil of grey rope, and he caught it and bound the end about a tree near the bank.
...'Celebrant is already a strong stream here, as you see... ...and it runs both swift and deep, and is very cold. We do not set foot in it so far north, unless we must. But in these days of watchfulness we do not make bridges. This is how we cross! Follow me!' He made his end of the rope fast about another tree, and then ran lightly along it, over the river and back again, as if he were on a road.
...'I can walk this path,' said Legolas; 'but the others have not this skill. Must they swim?'
...'No!' said Haldir. 'We have two more ropes. We will fasten them above the other, one shoulder-high, and another half-high, and holding these the strangers should be able to cross with care....'
......The Company passed over, some cautiously and slowly, others more easily. Of the hobbits Pippin proved the best for he was sure-footed, and he walked over quickly, holding only with one hand; but he kept his eyes on the bank ahead and did not look down. Sam shuffled along, clutching hard, and looking down into the pale eddying water as if it was a chasm in the mountains.
...He breathed with relief when he was safely across. 'Live and learn! as my gaffer used to say. Though he was thinking of gardening, not of roosting like a bird, nor of trying to walk like a spider. Not even my uncle Andy ever did a trick like that...!'
...'...Now, friends,' said Haldir, 'you have entered the Naith of Lórien... ...a spearhead between the arms of Silverlode and Anduin the Great. We allow no strangers to spy out the secrets of the Naith. Few indeed are permitted even to set foot there.
...'As was agreed, I shall here blindfold the eyes of Gimli the Dwarf. The others may walk free for a while, until we come nearer to our dwellings....'
......This was not at all to the liking of Gimli. 'The agreement was made without my consent,' he said. 'I will not walk blindfold, like a beggar or a prisoner. And I am no spy. My folk have never had dealings with any of the servants of the Enemy. Neither have we done harm to the Elves. I am no more likely to betray you than Legolas, or any other of my companions.'
...'I do not doubt you,' said Haldir. 'Yet this is our law. I am not the master of the law, and cannot set it aside. I have done much in letting you set foot over Celebrant.'
...Gimli was obstinate. He planted his feet firmly apart, and laid his hand upon the haft of his axe. 'I will go forward free... ...or I will go back and seek my own land, where I am known to be true of word, though I perish alone in the wilderness.'
...'You cannot go back,' said Haldir sternly. 'Now you have come thus far, you must be brought before the Lord and the Lady. They shall judge you, to hold you or to give you leave... ...You cannot cross the rivers again, and behind you there are now secret sentinels that you cannot pass. You would be slain before you saw them.'
...Gimli drew his axe from his belt. Haldir and his companion bent their bows. 'A plague on Dwarves and their stiff necks!' said Legolas.
...'Come!' said Aragorn. 'If I am still to lead this Company, you must do as I bid. It is hard upon the Dwarf to be thus singled out. We will all be blindfold, even Legolas... ...though it will make the journey slow and dull.'
...Gimli laughed suddenly. 'A merry troop of fools we shall look! Will Haldir lead us all on a string, like many blind beggars with one dog? But I will be content, if only Legolas here shares my blindness.'
...'I am an Elf and a kinsman here,' said Legolas, becoming angry in his turn.
...'Now let us cry: "a plague on the stiff necks of Elves!"' said Aragorn. 'But the Company shall all fare alike. Come, bind our eyes, Haldir!'
...'I shall claim full amends for every fall and stubbed toe, if you do not lead us well,' said Gimli as they bound a cloth about his eyes."
We have been there and back again.
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CuriousG
Half-elven
Jan 17 2019, 2:01am
Post #28 of 30
(2481 views)
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Tolkien as a minority in England
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This passage about the needless racial hatred/suspicion between Dwarves and Elves reminded me of a Letter I read recently, where JRR is talking about an election at Oxford:
Sitting next to me, the Master in a loud voice said: ‘Thank heaven they did not elect a Roman Catholic to the Rectorship anyway: disastrous, disastrous for the college.’ ‘Yes, indeed,’ echoed Dr Ramsden, ‘disastrous.’
My guest looked at me and smiled and whispered ‘models of tact and courtesy!’. . . .
As disastrous as letting a Dwarf into Lorien. Disastrous, I say!
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Jan 17 2019, 12:30pm
Post #29 of 30
(2427 views)
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Today in Middle-earth
January 17, 3019 (S.R. 1419)
1. The Company arrives at Caras Galadon in the evening.
(from the appendices)
..."That night the Company slept upon the ground, much to the satisfaction of the hobbits. The Elves spread... ...a pavilion among the trees near the fountain, and in it they laid soft couches; then speaking words of peace with fair elvish voices they left them. For a little while the travellers talked of their night before in the tree-tops, and of their day's journey, and of the Lord and Lady; for they had not yet the heart to look further back.
...'What did you blush for, Sam?' said Pippin. 'You soon broke down. Anyone would have thought you had a guilty conscience. I hope it was nothing worse than a wicked plot to steal one of my blankets.'
...'I never thought no such thing,' answered Sam, in no mood for jest. 'If you want to know, I felt as if I hadn't got nothing on, and I didn't like it. She seemed to be looking inside me and asking me what I would do if she gave me the chance of flying back home to the Shire to a nice little hole with—with a bit of garden of my own.'
...'That's funny,' said Merry. 'Almost exactly what I felt... ...only well, I don't think I'll say any more,' he ended lamely.
...All of them, it seemed, had fared alike: each had felt that he was offered a choice between a shadow full of fear that lay ahead, and something that he greatly desired... ...and to get it he had only to turn aside from the road and leave the Quest and the war against Sauron to others....
...'...To me it seemed exceedingly strange,' said Boromir. 'Maybe it was only a test, and she thought to read our thoughts for her own good purpose... ...I should have said that she was tempting us, and offering what she pretended to have the power to give. It need not be said that I refused to listen. The Men of Minas Tirith are true to their word.' But what he thought that the Lady had offered him Boromir did not tell.
...And as for Frodo, he would not speak, though Boromir pressed him with questions. 'She held you long in her gaze, Ring-bearer,' he said.
...'Yes... ...but whatever came into my mind then I will keep there.'
...'Well, have a care!' said Boromir. 'I do not feel too sure of this Elvish Lady and her purposes.'
...'Speak no evil of the Lady Galadriel!' said Aragorn sternly. 'You know not what you say. There is in her and in this land no evil, unless a man bring it hither himself... ...But tonight I shall sleep without fear for the first time since I left Rivendell. And may I sleep deep, and forget for a while my grief! I am weary in body and in heart.' He cast himself down upon his couch and fell at once into a long sleep.
...They remained some days in Lothlórien, so far as they could tell or remember."
We have been there and back again.
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grammaboodawg
Immortal
Jan 17 2019, 12:37pm
Post #30 of 30
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It's always fascinating to see how Prof. Tolkien used social attitudes in his work. For me, it was genius to show the arc of Legolas and Gimli's relationship.
We have been there and back again.
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TIME - January 16
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