| |
|
Poems and Tales of Middle-Earth:
(illustrations by Alan Lee) |
 |
 |
|
(Mithrandir's poem for Galadriel)
"In Dwimordene, in Lórien
Seldom have walked the feet of Men,
Few mortal eyes have seen the light
That lies there ever, long and bright.
Galadriel! Galadriel!
Clear is the water of your well;
White is the star in your white hand;
Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land
In Dwimordene, in Lórien
More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men."
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Lord of the Rings
Part II. The Two Towers
Quotes from Tolkien's Novel
|
|
| |
| |
| Mordor: Minas Morgul. |
"At its bottom ran a hurrying stream: Frodo could hear its stony voice coming up through
the silence; and beside it on the hither side a road went widing down like a pale ribbon, down into chill grey
mists that no gleam of sunset touched. There it seemed to Frodo that he descried far off, floating as it were on a shadowy sea,
the high dim tops and broken pinnacles of old forlorn and dark."
|
| |
|
"There seemed to be great blackness looming slowly out of the East, eating up
the faint blurred stars. Later the sinking moon escaped from the pursuing cloud, but it was ringed all about with
a sickly yellow glare."
|
| |
|
"But no day came, only a dead brown twilight. In the East there was a dull
red glare under the lowering cloud: it was not the red of dawn."
|
| |
|
"Looking out from the covert he could see only a dun, shadowless world, fading
slowly into a featureless, colourless gloom. It felt stifling but not warm."
|
| |
|
"Frodo and Sam were plodding along with heaby hearts, no longer able to
care greatly about their peril. Frodo's head was bowed; his burden was dragging him down again. [...] he looked
wearily up; and then he saw it, [...] the city of the Ringwraiths."
|
| |
|
"So they came slowly to the white bridge. Here the road, gleaming faintly, passed
over the stream in the midst of the valley, and went on, winding deviously up towards the city's gate: a black
mouth opening in the outer circle of the northward walls. Wide flats lay on either bank, shadowy meads filled
with pale white flowers. Luminous they were too, beautiful and yet horrible of shape, like the demented forms
in an uneasy dream; and they gave forth a sickening charnel-smell; an odour of rottenness filled the air.
Fom mead to mead the bridge sprang. Figures stood there at its head, carven with cunning in forms human and bestial,
but all corrupt and loathsome. The water flowing beneath was silent and it steamed, but the vapour that rose from
it, curling and twisting about the bridge, was deadly cold. Frodo felt his senses reeling and his mind darkening.
Then suddenly, as if some force were at work other than his own will, he began to hurry, tottering forward, his groping
hands held out, his head lolling from side to side."
|
| |
|
"Frodo passed his hand over his brow and wrenched his eyes away from the city
on the hill. The luminous tower fascinated him, and he fought the desire that was on him to run up the gleaming
road toward its gate. At last with an effort he turned back, and as he did so, he felt the Ring resisting him."
|
| |
|
"Weariness, and more than weariness oppressed him; it seemed as if a heavy spell
was laid on his mind and body. 'I must rest,' he muttered."
|
| |
"Then with searing suddenness there came a great red flash. Far beyond the
eastern mountain it leapt into the sky and splashed the lowering clouds with crimson. In that valley of shadow and
cold deathly lit it seemed unbearably violent and fierce. Peaks of stone and ridges like notched knives sprang out
in staring black against the uprushing flame in Gorgoroth." Then came a great crack of thunder.
'And Minas Morgul answered. There was a flare of livid lightnings: forks of blue flame
springing up from the tower and from the encircling hills into sullen clouds. The earth groaned; and out of the
city there came a cry. Mingled with harsh high voices as of birds of prey, and the shrill neighing of horses
wild with rage and fear, there came a rending screech, shivering, rising swiftly to a piercing pitch beyond the
range of hearing."
|
| |
|
"Surely there was the Lord of the Nine Riders returned to earth to lead
his ghastly ghosts to battle? Here, yes here indeed was the haggard king whose cold hand had smitten down the
Ring-bearer with his deadly knife. The old wound throbbed with pain and a great chill spread toward Frodo's
heart."
|
| |
|
"There was a pause, a dead silence. Maybe it was the Ring that called to the
Wraith-lord, and for a moment he was troubled, sensing some other power within his valley. This way and that
turned the dark head helmed and crowned with fear, sweeping the shadows with its unseen eyes.
Frodo waited, like a bird at the approach of a snake, unable to move. And
as he waited, he felt, more urgent than ever before, the command to put on the Ring [...] There was no longer any
answer to that command in his own will, dismayed by terror though it was, and he felt only the beating upon him
of a great power from outside. It took his hand, and as Frodo watched with his mind, not willing it but in suspense
(as if he looked on some old story from far away), it moved the hand inch by inch towards the chain upon his neck."
|
| |
"Frodo stirred. [...] 'I am too late. All his lost. I tarried on the way.
All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will be
in vain.' Overcome with weariness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge.
Then at a great distance, as if it came out of the memories of the Shire, some sunlit
morning, when the day called and doors were opening, he heard Sam's voice speaking."
|
| |
|
|
|
