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| Poems and Tales of Middle-Earth: |
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(illustration by Alan Lee) |
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Lady Galadriel's farewell song in Elvish:
"Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier
mi oromardi lisse-miruvóreva
Andúnnë pella, Vardo tellumar
nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni
ómaryo airetári-lírinen.
Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?
An sí Tintallë Varda Oilossëo
ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë,
ar ilyë tier undul´vë lumbulë;
ar sindanóriello caita mornië
i falmalinnar imbë met, ar hísië
untú Calaciryo míri oialë.
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!
Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar.
Nai elyë hiruva. Namárië!"
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(illustration by Ted Nasmith) |
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(as translated by Tolkien)
"Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
The years have passed like swift draughts
of the sweet mead in lofty halls
beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda,
wherein the stars tremble in the song
of her voice, holy and queenly.
Who now shall refill the cup for me?
For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars,
From Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds,
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country darkness lies
on the foaming waves between us, and mist
covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those from the East is Valimar!
Farewell! Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar.
Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!"
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The Lord of the Rings
Part I. The Fellowship of the Ring
Quotes from Tolkien's Novel
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| Lothlórien: the Mirror of Galadriel. |
"With water from the stream Galadriel filled the basin to the brim, and breathed
on it, and when the water was still again she spoke. 'Here is the mirror of Galadriel,' she said. 'I have brought you
here so that you may look in it, if you will.'
The air was very still, and the dell was dark, and the Elf-lady beside him was
tall and pale.
'Remember that the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass.
Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them. The Mirror is
a dangerous guide of deeds.' [...]
'Do you advise me to look?' asked Frodo.
'No', she said. 'I do not counsel you one way or the other. I am not a counsellor.
You may learn something, and whether what you see be fair or evil, that may be profitable, and yet it may not. Seeing
is both good and perilous. Yet I think, Frodo, that you have enough courage
and wisdom enough for the venture, or I would not have brought you here. Do as you will!' " |
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"But suddenly the mirror went altogether dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the
world of sight, and Frodo looked into emptiness. In the black abyss there appeared a single Eye that slowly grew, until
it filled nearly all the Mirror. So terrible was it that Frodo stood rooted, unable to cry out or to withdraw his gaze. The Eye
was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat's, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil
opened on a pit, a window into nothing.
Then the Eye began to rove, searching this way and that; and Frodo knew with
certainty and horror that among the many things that it sought he himself was one. But he also knew that it could not
see him - not yet, not unless he willed it. The Ring that hung upon its chain about his neck grew heavy, heavier
than a great stone, and his head was dragged downwards. The Mirror seemed to be growing hot and curls of steam
were rising from the water. He was slipping forward..." |
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" 'I know what it is you last saw,' she said; 'for that is also in my mind. do not be afraid!
But do not think that only by singing amid the trees, nor even by the slender arrows of elvenbows, is this land of
Lothlórien maintained and defended against the Enemy. I say to you, Frodo, that even as I speak to you, I
perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all his mind that concerns the Elves. And he gropes ever to see me and
my thought. But still the door is closed!'
She lifted up her white arms, and spread out her hands towards the East in
a gesture of rejection and denial. Eärendil, the Evening Star, most beloved of the Elves, shone clear above. So
bright was it that the figure of the Elven-lady cast a dim shadow on the ground. Its ray glanced upon a ring about her
finger; it glittered like polished gold overlaid with silver light, and a white stone in it twinkled as if the Even-star
had come to rest upon her hand. Frodo gazed at the ring with awe; for suddenly it seemed to him that he understood."
'Yes', she said, divining his thought, 'it is not permitted to speak of it,
and Elrond could not do so. But it cannot be hidden from the Ring-Bearer, and one who has seen the Eye. Verily it
is in the land of Lórien upon the finger of Galadriel that one
of the Three remains. This is Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, and I am its keeper.
He suspects, but he does not know - not yet. Do you see now wherefore your
coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our
power is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away. We must depart into the
West, or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave, slowly to forget and to be forgotten.'
Frodo bent his head. 'And what do you wish?' he said at last.
'That what should be shall be,' she answered. [...] 'For the fate of Lothlórien you are not answerable, but only for the doing
of your own task. Yet I could wish, were it of no avail, that the One Ring had never been wrought, or had remained
for ever lost.'
You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galdriel,' said Frodo. 'I will give you
the One Ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me.'
Galadriel laughed with a sudden clear laugh. 'Wise the Lady Galadriel may be,' she said,
'yet here she has met her match in courtesy. Gently are you revenged for my testing of your heart at our first meeting.
You begin to see with a keen eye. I do not deny that my heart greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years
I have pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my
grasp. The evil that was devised long ago works in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls. Would not
that have been a noble deed to set the credit of this Ring, if I had taken it by force or fear from my guest?
And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of a
Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark but beautiful and terrible as the morning and the Night!
Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than
the foundations of the Earth. All shall love me and despair!'
She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great
light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement,
and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly
she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and
sad.
'I pass the test', she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and
remain Galadriel.' " |
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