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Loresilme
Valinor
Feb 10 2008, 5:05pm
Post #1 of 8
(197 views)
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MISC 02/10/08: The Palantir
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Greetings TORnSibs! Wth this week's edition of MISC ... we now return you to your regular programming ...MISC Basic, Version 1.0  .
From TTT, Book III, Chapter 11 "The Palantir":
" Pippin said no more. He lay still now, but sleep remained far away; and it was not encouraged by the sound of Merry breathing softly, asleep in a few minutes after saying good night. The thought of the dark globe seemed to grow stronger as all grew quiet. Pippin felt again its weight in his hands, and saw again the mysterious red depths into which he had looked for a moment. He tossed and turned and tried to think of something else.
At last he could stand it no longer. He got up and looked round. It was chilly, and he wrapped his cloak about him. The moon was shining cold and white, down into the dell, and the shadows of the bushes were black. All about lay sleeping shapes. The two guards were not in view: they were up on the hill, perhaps, or hidden in the bracken. Driven by some impulse that he did not understand, Pippin walked softly to where Gandalf lay. He looked down at him. The wizard seemed asleep, but with lids not fully closed: there was a glitter of eyes under his long lashes. Pippin stepped back hastily. But Gandalf made no sign; and drawn forward once more, half against his will, the hobbit crept up again from behind the wizard's head. He was rolled in a blanket, with his cloak spread over the top; and close beside him, between his right side and his bent arm, there was a hummock, something round wrapped in a dark cloth; his hand seemed only just to have slipped off it to the ground.
Hardly breathing, Pippin crept nearer, foot by foot. At last he knelt down. Then he put his hands out stealthily, and slowly lifted the lump up: it did not seem quite so heavy as he had expected. 'Only some bundle of oddments, perhaps, after all,' he thought with a strange sense of relief; but he did not put the bundle down again. He stood for a moment clasping it. Then an idea came into his mind. He tiptoed away, found a large stone, and came back.
Quickly now he drew off the cloth, wrapped the stone in it and kneeling down, laid it back by the wizard's hand. Then at last he looked at the thing that he had uncovered. There it was: a smooth globe of crystal, now dark and dead, lying bare before his knees. Pippin lifted it, covered it hurriedly in his own cloak, and half turned to go back to his bed. At that moment Gandalf moved in his sleep, and muttered some words: they seemed to be in a strange tongue; his hand groped out and clasped the wrapped stone, then he sighed and did not move again.
'You idiotic fool!' Pippin muttered to himself. 'You're going to get yourself into frightful trouble. Put it back quick!' But he found now that his knees quaked, and he did not dare to go near enough to the wizard to reach the bundle. 'I'll never get it back now without waking him,' he thought, 'not till I'm a bit calmer. So I may as well have a look first. Not just here though!' He stole away, and sat down on a green hillock not far from his bed. The moon looked in over the edge of the dell.
Pippin sat with his knees drawn up and the ball between them. He bent low over it, looking like a greedy child stooping over a bowl of food, in a corner away from others. He drew his cloak aside and gazed at it. The air seemed still and tense about him. At first the globe was dark, black as jet, with the moonlight gleaming on its surface. Then there came a faint glow and stir in the heart of it, and it held his eyes, so that now he could not look away. Soon all the inside seemed on fire; the ball was spinning, or the lights within were revolving. Suddenly the lights went out. He gave a gasp and struggled; but he remained bent, clasping the ball with both hands. Closer and closer he bent, and then became rigid; his lips moved soundlessly for a while. Then with a strangled cry he fell back and lay still.
The cry was piercing. The guards leapt down from the banks. All the camp was soon astir.
'So this is the thief!' said Gandalf. Hastily he cast his cloak over the globe where it lay. 'But you, Pippin! This is a grievous turn to things!' He knelt by Pippin's body: the hobbit was lying on his back rigid, with unseeing eyes staring up at the sky. 'The devilry! What mischief has he done – to himself, and to all of us?' The wizard's face was drawn and haggard.
He took Pippin's hand and bent over his face, listening for his breath; then he laid his hands on his brow. The hobbit shuddered. His eyes closed. He cried out and sat up, staring in bewilderment at all the faces round him, pale in the moonlight.
'It is not for you, Saruman!' he cried in a shrill and toneless voice shrinking away from Gandalf. 'I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Say just that!' Then he struggled to get up and escape but Gandalf held him gently and firmly.
'Peregrin Took!' he said. 'Come back!'
The hobbit relaxed and fell back, clinging to the wizard's hand. 'Gandalf!' he cried. 'Gandalf! Forgive me!'
'Forgive you?' said the wizard. 'Tell me first what you have done!'
'I, I took the ball and looked at it,' stammered Pippin, 'and I saw things that frightened me. And I wanted to go away, but I couldn't. And then he came and questioned me; and he looked at me, and, and that is all I remember.'
'That won't do,' said Gandalf sternly. 'What did you see, and what did you say?'
Pippin shut his eyes and shivered, but said nothing. They all stared at him in silence, except Merry who turned away. But Gandalf's face was still hard. 'Speak!' he said.
In a low hesitating voice Pippin began again, and slowly his words grew clearer and stronger. 'I saw a dark sky, and tall battlements,' he said. 'And tiny stars. It seemed very far away and long ago, yet hard and clear. Then the stars went in and out – they were cut off by things with wings. Very big, I think, really; but in the glass they looked like bats wheeling round the tower. I thought there were nine of them. One began to fly straight towards me, getting bigger and bigger. It had a horrible – no, no! I can't say.
'I tried to get away, because I thought it would fly out; but when it had covered all the globe, it disappeared. Then he came. He did not speak so that I could hear words. He just looked, and I understood.
'"So you have come back? Why have you neglected to report for so long?"
'I did not answer. He said: "Who are you?" I still did not answer, but it hurt me horribly; and he pressed me, so I said: "A hobbit."
'Then suddenly he seemed to see me, and he laughed at me. It was cruel. It was like being stabbed with knives. I struggled. But he said: "Wait a moment! We shall meet again soon. Tell Saruman that this dainty is not for him. I will send for it at once. Do you understand? Say just that!"
'Then he gloated over me. I felt I was falling to pieces. No, no! I can't say any more. I don't remember anything else.'
'Look at me!' said Gandalf.
Pippin looked up straight into his eyes. The wizard held his gaze for a moment in silence. Then his face grew gentler, and the shadow of a smile appeared. He laid his hand softly on Pippin's head.
'All right!' he said. 'Say no more! You have taken no harm. There is no lie in your eyes, as I feared. But he did not speak long with you. A fool, but an honest fool, you remain, Peregrin Took. Wiser ones might have done worse in such a pass. But mark this! You have been saved, and all your friends too, mainly by good fortune, as it is called. You cannot count on it a second time. If he had questioned you, then and there, almost certainly you would have told all that you know, to the ruin of us all. But he was too eager. He did not want information only: he wanted you, quickly, so that he could deal with you in the Dark Tower, slowly. Don't shudder! If you will meddle in the affairs of Wizards, you must be prepared to think of such things. But come! I forgive you. Be comforted! Things have not turned out as evilly as they might.'"
Just have time to post and run today ... be back to chat with you all soon  !
____________________________________
"MISC" - "Memorable, Interesting Screen Caps" -- spotlights miscellaneous, memorable, interesting, random shots from Reera the Red's fabulous LotR screencap library. Fun or thoughtful or beautiful scenes … but hopefully always interesting ones. And thanks to an inspired suggestion by Dernwyn , each MISC includes the text from the book as it describes the scene moment. MISC is a weekend feature, and in keeping with a weekend frame of mind, it's casual all the way here …. a place to drop in on the weekends when you're stopping in at TORN to see who's around, grab a snack from the fridge, chat a bit or just relax with a picture or two. Any and all comments are welcome, as are lurkers and newbies, don't be shy. MISC is a relaxed, no-stress-allowed posting zone, where it's ok to ramble and ok to ruminate and ok to comment even when you're fuzzy on a detail or two. And it's also ok just to sit and look ... MISC is a place to bask in simple enjoyment of the LotR films and story. As always, thanks to all who lurk or participate … and if you have any suggestions regarding MISC, please feel free to PM me!
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weaver
Half-elven
Feb 11 2008, 6:52pm
Post #2 of 8
(105 views)
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The book version of Pippin's encounter is more mysterious...the film's more dramatic.
While I wasn't nuts about the flames, or Aragorn getting knocked down by the thing, I did like the portrayal of Gandalf and Pippin a lot. I love the bit where Gandalf throws the blanket over the palantir, and then just knocks Merry aside to get to Pippin. Pippin's terror, and Gandalf's combination of sternness and concern seemed exactly right to me, also.
In the book encounter, I always thought it was a little forced for Pippin to be able to sneak the palantir away from Gandalf like that...I wondered if the film might do something that seemed to me more plausible, but I guess they couldn't come up with anything better!
Thanks for the drive-by MISC!
Weaver
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Loresilme
Valinor
Feb 11 2008, 7:04pm
Post #3 of 8
(92 views)
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{{**100% certified organic TORn flying tackle hug**}}
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YOU'RE BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!
Hmmmm..... that's true. And now that I think about it, why would Gandalf even need to sleep, anyway? It seems like Legolas and Aragorn hardly ever did ...
Thanks for dropping in Weaver - it's so good to see you're back, I hope everything is slowly but surely getting back on track for you ....
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weaver
Half-elven
Feb 11 2008, 7:23pm
Post #4 of 8
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I appreciate the welcome back and the hug. I missed a lot!
Weaver
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One Ringer
Tol Eressea
Feb 11 2008, 8:43pm
Post #5 of 8
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proves to be very weak in this part of the story. This also supports the fact that hobbits can easily be corrupted. Characters like Bilbo and Frodo didn't become corrupt by the ring after a great deal of time, but they still fell to its power. Although this isn't the ring, it still has Sauron written all over it, so it shows how weak hobbits are compared to Sauron.
"Death is just another pathway . . . one which we all must take."
-Gandalf from "The Return of the King"
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Loresilme
Valinor
Feb 12 2008, 8:05pm
Post #6 of 8
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Yes, maybe I should have included that part...
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In the book, before Pippin actually goes to get the palantir, there's this whole conversation between him and Merry where Pippin is really quite blatantly trying to get around Gandalf's authority ... it was somewhat surprising ... perhaps it was to show that Pippin was just mischievous, or, to your point, maybe instead that even the briefest encounter with the palantir had already affected him.
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Feb 13 2008, 6:10pm
Post #7 of 8
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This was another scene that, although well done,
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dragged on much too long, IMHO. But I'd be interested to know how long it took to film, given all the interaction between the scale doubles both big and small.
"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
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Loresilme
Valinor
Feb 21 2008, 12:43pm
Post #8 of 8
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Yep ... we didn't really need the hand-off/interception by Aragorn ('he grabs, no - he drops! and the crowd goes wild'... lol). Eliminating that might have tightened it up.
Regarding the scale doubles, I recall reading or maybe hearing somewhere, that when we see Gandalf putting his hands on Pippin's face, they actually used someone else's hands (someone who had very large hands!) in order to keep the size difference consistent. I would never have noticed that, unless it was pointed out. I guess the only way to really tell whether it was 'worth it' would be to compare it to the same shot, with Ian M.'s hands.
So very much the way they did so many things in the films, all those details that were and weren't noticed, but all taken together made such a difference.
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