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| Poems and Tales of Middle-Earth: |
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(illustration by Alan Lee) |
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Legolas's song to the sea:
"Silver flow the streams
from Celos to Lebennin!
In the green fields
of Lebennin!
Tall grows the grass there.
In the wind from the Sea
The white lilies sway,
And the golden bells are shaken
of mallos and alfirin
In the green fields
of Lebennin,
In the wind from the Sea!"
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(illustration by John Howe) |
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(illustration by Alan Lee) |
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The Lord of the Rings
Part III. The Return of the King
Quotes from Tolkien's Novel
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| Gondor: The Last Debate |
" 'It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight
in Summer, and they fail of their promise.'
'Yet seldom do they fail of their seeds,' said Legolas. 'And that will lie in the dust and rot
to spring up again in times and places unlooked-for. The deeds of Men will outlast us, Gimli.'
'And yet come to naught in the end but might-have-beens, I guess,' said the Dwarf.
'To that the Elves know not the answer,' said Legolas." |
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" 'Strange indeed', said Legolas. 'In that hour I looked on Aragorn and thought
how great and terrible a Lord he might have become in the strength of his will, had he taken the Ring to himself.
Not for naught does Mordor fear him. But nobler is his spirit than the understanding of Sauron; for is he not of the
line of Lúthien? Never shall that line fail, though the years may lenghten beyond count.' " |
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" 'The Stones of Seeing do not lie, and not even the Lord of Barad-dûr can
make them do so. He can, maybe, by his will choose what he things shall be seen by weaker minds, or cause them to
mistake what the meaning of what they see. Nonetheless it cannot be doubted that Denethor saw great forces arrayed
against him in Mordor, and more being gathered, he saw that which truly is.' [Gandalf]" |
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" 'Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or
emissary. Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of
those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may
have clean earth to till. What wheather they shall have is not ours to rule.' " |
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"At length Aragorn spoke. 'As I have begun, so will I go on. We come now to the
very brink, where hope and despair are akin. To waver is to fall.' " |
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"Merry stood there. The last glint of the morning sun on spear and helm twinkled
and was lost, and still he remained with bowed head and heavy heart, feeling friendless and alone. Everyone that he had
cared for had gone away into the gloom that hung over the distant eastern sky; and little hope was left in his heart
that he would ever see any of them again.
As if recalled by his mood of despair, the pain in his arm returned, and he felt weak and old,
and the sunlight seemed thin." |
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"So desolate were those places and so deep the horror that lay on them that some of
the host wre unmanned, and they could neither walk nor ride any further.
Aragorn looked at them, and there was pity in his eyes, rather than wrath; for these were young
men from Rohan, from Westfold far away, or husbandmen from Lossarnach, and to them Mordor had been from childhood a name
of evil, and yet unreal, a legend that had no part in their simple life; and now they walked like men in a hideous
dream made true, and they understood not this war nor why fate should lead them to such a pass." |
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"They passed the hours of night in wakefulness and they were aware of many things
half-seen that walked and prowled all about them, and they heard the howling of wolves. The wind had died and all
the air seemed still." |
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"The two vast iron doors of the Black Gate under its frowning arch were fast closed.
Upon the battlement nothing could be seen. All was silent but watchful. They were come to the last end of their folly,
and stood forlorn and chill in the grey light of early day before towers and walls which their army could not assault
wit hope." |
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"The Messenger put these aside, and there to the wonder and dismay of all the
Captains he held up first the short sword that Sam had carried, and next a grey cloak with an elven-brooch, and last
the coat of mithril-mail that Frodo had worn wrapped in his tattered garnments. A blackness came before their eyes, and it seemed
to them in a moment of silence that the world stood still, but their hearts were dead and their last hope gone.
Pippin, who stood behind Prince Imrahil sprang forward with a cry of grief.
'Silence!' said Gandalf sternly, thrusting him back; but the Messenger laughed aloud.
'[...] it is plain that this brat at least has seen these tokens before, and it would be vain
for you to deny them now.'
'I do not wish to deny them,' said Gandalf. 'Indeed, I know them all and all their history,
and despite all your scorn, foul Mouth of Sauron, you cannot say as much. But why do you bring them here?' " |
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" 'Name the terms', said Gandalf steadily, but those nearby saw the anguish in
his face, and now he seemed an old and wizened man, crushed, defeated at last. They did not doubt that he would
accept." |
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"But Gandalf said: 'This is much to demand for the delivery of one servant: that your
Master should receive in exchange what he must else fight many a war to gain! Or has the field of Gondor destroyed his
hope in war, so that he falls to haggling? And if indeed we rated this prisoner so high, what surety have we that Sauron,
the Base Master of Treachery, will keep his part? Where is this prisoner? Let him be brought forth and yielded to us,
and then we will consider these demands.'
It seemed then to Gandalf, intent, watching him as a man engaged in fencing with a deadly foe, that
for the taking of a breath the Messenger was at a loss; yet swiftly he laughed again." |
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"The wind blew, and the trumpets sang, and arrows whined; but the sun now climbing
towards the South was veiled in the reeks of Mordor, and through a threatening haze it gleamed, remote, a sullen red,
as if it were the ending of the day, or the end maybe of all the world of light. And out of the gathering mirk the
Nazgûl came with their cold voices crying words of death; and then all hope was quenched." |
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"Pippin had bowed crushed with horror when he heard Gandalf reject the terms and
doom Frodo to the torment of the Tower; but he had mastered himself, and now he stood beside Beregond in the front
rank of Gondor with Imrahil's men. For it seemed best to him to die soon and leave the bitter story of his life,
since all was in ruin. [...] Blackness and stench and crushing pain came upon Pippin, and his mind fell away into a
great darkness." |
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