The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004)
1. The Fellowship of the Ring
Every time the text has been reset for publication in a new format (e.g. the various paperback editions published in England in the 1970s and 1980s), huge numbers of new misprints have crept in, though at times some of these errors have been observed and corrected in later printings. Still, throughout these years the three-volume British hardcover edition has retained the highest textual integrity.
Page xiv.
The present ‘Note’ replaces and supersedes all previous versions.
Page xiv.
The text has otherwise maintained a consistency and integrity throughout its computerized evolution.
Page xiv.
We see in the earliest materials what is very much a children’s book, a sequel to The Hobbit, and as the story grows through various ‘phases’, there is an increase in seriousness and depth.
Page xvi.
The present text is based on the setting of the HarperCollins three-volume hardcover edition of 2002, which in turn was a revision of the HaperCollins reset edition of 1994.
Page xviii.
Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings over so long a period of time, some eighteen years, that inconsistencies in its text were almost inevitable.
Page xix.
Whenever there has been any doubt whatsoever as to the author’s intentions, the text has been allowed to stand.
Page xxi.
They do not and did not understand or like machines more complicated than a forge-bellows, a water-mill, or a hand-loom, though they were skilful with tools.
Page 1.
Their height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure.
Page 1.
The Dứnedain, the kings of Men that came over the Sea out of Westernesse.
Page 4.
The Common Speech, the Westron as it was named, that was current through all the lands of the kings from Arnor to Condor, and about all the coasts of the Sea from Belfalas to lune.
Page 4.
The year of the crossing of the Brandywine (as the Hobbits turned the name) became Year one of the Shire, and all later dates were reckoned from it.
Page 4.
Anything that Hobbits had not immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort.
Page 5.
They were, if it came to it, difficult to daunt or to kill; and they were, perhaps, so unwearyingly fond of good things not least because they could, when put to it, do without them, and could survive rough handling by grief, foe, or weather in a way that astonished those who did not know them well and looked no further than their bellies and their well-fed faces.
Page 7.
It is probable that the craft of buildings, as many other crafts besides, was derived forn the Dứnedain. But the Hobbits may have learned it direct from the Elves, the teachers of Men in their youth.
Page 7.
Few Hobbits had ever seen or sailed upon the Sea, and fewer still had ever returned to report it, Most Hobbits regarded even rivers and small boats with deep misgivings, and not many of them could swim.
Page 7.
The Sea became a word of fear among them, and a token of death, and they turned their faces away from the hills in the west.
Page 7.
A preference for round windows, and even round doors, was the chief remaining peculiarity of hobbit-architecture.
Page 7.
All Hobbits were … clannish and reckoned up their relationships with great care.
Page 7.
They imbibed or inhaled, through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana.
Page 8.
The Shire was divided into four quarters, the Farthings … North, South East, and West. … Outside the Farthings were the East and West Marches.
Page 9.
The only real official in the Shire at this date was the Mayor of Michel Delving (or of the Shire), who was elected every seven years at the Free Fair on the White Downs at the Lithe, that is t Mid-summer.
Page 10.
The Shiriffs was the name that the Hobbits gave to their police, or the nearest equivalent that they possessed.
Page 10.
Sixty years had passed since he set out on his memorable journey, and he was old even for Hobbits, who reached a hundred as often as not; but much evidently still remained of the considerable wealth that the had brought back. How much or how little he revealed to no one, not even to Frodo his favourite ‘nephew’. And he still kept secret the ring that he had found.
Page 10.
He possessed a secret treasure that had come to him long ages ago, when he still lived in the light: a ring of god that made its wearer invisible. It was the one thing he loved, his ‘Precious’, and he talked to it, even when it was not with him. For he kept it hidden safe in a hole on his island, except when he was hunting or spying on the orcs of the mines.
Page 11.
Bilbo was tempted to slay him with his sword. But pity stayed him, and though he kept the ring, in which his only hope lay, we would not use it to help him kill the wretched, creature at a disadvantage.
Page 12.
His sword, Sting, Bilbo hung over his fireplace, and his coat of marvellous mail, the gift of the Dwarves from the Dragon-hoard, he lent to a museum, to the Michel Delving mathom-house in fact. But he kept in a drawer at Bag End the old cloak and hood that he had worn on his travels; and the ring, secured by a fine chain, remained in his pocket.
Page 13.
Bilbo was very rich and very peculiar and had bene the wonder of the shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return.
Page 21.
As Mr. Baggins was generous with his money, most people were willing to forgive him his oddities and his good fortune.
Page 21.
When Bilbo was ninety-nine he adopted Frodo as his heir, and brought him to live at Bag End.
Page 21.
Hobbits have a passion for family history.
Page 22.
Gandalf the Wizard, whose fame in the Shire was due mainly to his skill with fires, smokes, and lights.
Page 25.
Hobbits give presents to others on their own birthdays.
Page 27.
Hobbits were easy going with their children in the matter of sitting up late.
Page 28.
I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
Page 30.
It has got far too much hold on you. Let it go! And then you can go yourself, and be free.
Page 34.
You will see Gandalf the Grey uncloaked. He took a step towards the hobbit, and he seemed to grow tall and menacing; his shadow filled the little room.
Page 34.
I am not trying to rob you, but to help you.
Page 34.
Give it to Frodo, and I will look after him.
Page 34.
He jumped over a low place in the hedge at the bottom, and took to the meadows, passing into the night like a rustle of wind in the grass.
Page 36.
He always used to joke about serious things.
Page 36.
Bilbo’s residence had got rather cluttered up with things in the course of his long life. It was a tendency of hobbit-holes to get cluttered up; for which the custom of giving so many birthday-presents was largely responsible.
Page 37.
Keep it safe, and keep it secret!
Page 40.
Expect me when you see me!
Page 41.
Look out for me, especially at unlikely times!
Page 41.
His closest friends were Peregrin Took (usually called Pippin), and Merry Brandybuck (his real name was Meriadoc, but that was seldom remembered).
Page 42.
Maps made in the Shire showed mostly white spaces beyond its borders. He took to wandering further afield and more often by himself; and merry and his other friends watched him anxiously. Often he was seen walking and talking with the strange wayfarers that began at this time to appear in the Shire.
Page 43.
It seemed that the evil power in Mirkwood had been driven out by the White Council only to reappear in greater strength in the old strongholds of Mordor. … Orcs were multiplying again in the mountains. Trolls were abroad, no longer dull-witted, but cunning and armed with dreadful weapons.
Page 44.
“A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, gut he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades; he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the Dark power that rules the Rings.”
Page 47.
It did not seem always of the same size or weight; it shrank or expanded in an odd way, and might suddenly slip off a finger where it had been tight.
“Yes, he warned me of that in his last letter,” said Frodo., “so I have always kept I on its chain.”
Page 47.
Among the Wise I am the only one that toes in for hobbit-lore: an obscure branch of knowledge, but full of surprises. Soft as butter they can be, and yet sometimes as tough as old tree-roots.
Page 48.
There is such a thing as malice and revenge.
Page 49.
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring the all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Page 50.
This is the Master-ring, the One Ring to rule them all. This is the one Ring that he lost many ages ago, to the great weakening of his power. He greatly desires it - but he must not get it.
Pages 50-51.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is give us.
Page 51.
Sméagol retuned alone; and he found that none of hi family could see him, when he was wearing the ring. He was very pleased with his discovery and he concealed it; and he used it to find out secrets, and he put his knowledge ot crooked and malicious uses. He became sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was hurtful. The ring had given him power according to his stature. It is not to be wondered at that he became very unpopular and was shunned (when visible) by all his relations. They kicked him, and he bit their feet. He took to thieving, and going about muttering to himself, and gurgling in his throat. So they called him Gollum, and cursed him, and told him.to go far away; and his grandmother, desiring peace, expelled him from the family and turned him out of her hole.
Pages 53-54.
A Ring of Power looks after itself, Frodo. It may slip off treacherously, but its keeper never abandons it. At most he plays with the idea of handing it on to someone else’s care - and that only at an early stage, when it first begins to grip. But as far as I know Bilbo along in history has ever gone beyond playing, and really done it. He needed all my help, too. And even so he would never have just forsaken it, or cast it aside. It was not Gollum, Frodo, but the Ring itself that decided things. The Ring left him.
Page 55.
Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it.
Page 56.
Aragorn, the greatest traveller and huntsman of this age of the world. Together we sought for Gollum down the whole length of Wilderland.
Page 58.
Mordor draws all the wicked things, and the Dark power was being all its will to gather them there.
Pages 58-59.
What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!
“Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need.”
Page 59.
Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
Page 59.
There is only one way: to find the Cracks of Dom in the depths or Orodruin, the Fire-mountain, and cast the Ring in there, if you really wish to destroy it, to put it beyond the grasp of the Enemy for ever.
Page 61.
Hobbits really are amazing creatures, as I have said before. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch.
Page 62.
I will give you a travelling name now. When you go, go as Mr. Underhill.
Page 63.
Following Bilbo was uppermost in his mind, and the one thing that made the thought of leaving bearable.
Page 65.
I will go east, and I will make for Rivendell. I will take Sam to visit the Elves.
Page 66.
They jumped over the low place in the hedge at the bottom and took to the fields, passing into the darkness like a rustle in the grasses.
Page 70.
Sam knew the land well within twenty miles of Hobbiton, but that was the limit of his geography.
Pages 71-72.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Page 74.
They began to hum softly, as hobbits have a way of doing as they walk along, especially when they are drawing near to home at night.
Page 77.
The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.
Page 83.
Do not meddle in the affair of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
Page 84.
Courage is found in unlikely places.
Page 84.
Short cuts make long delays.
Page 88.
Hobbits have a passion for mushrooms, surpassing even the greediest likings of Big People.
Page 102.
We know the Ring is no laughing-matter; but we are going to do our best to help you against the Enemy.
Page 104.
You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin - to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you keep it yourself But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends.
Page 105.
The trees and the grasses and all tings growing or living in the land belong each to themselves.
Page 124.
There is a seed of courage hidden (often deeply, it is true) in the heart of the fattest and most timid hobbit, waiting for some final and desperate danger to make it grow.
Page 140.
Be bold, but wary! Keep up your merry hearts, and ride to meet your fortune!
Page 148.
The name of Baggins must NOT be mentioned. I am Mr. Underhill, if any name must be given.
Page 148.
In the wild lands beyond Bree there were mysterious wanderers. The Bree-folk called the Rangers, and knew nothing of their origin. … They roamed at will southwards, and eastwards often as far as the Misty Mountains; but they were now few and rarely seen.
Page 149.
The Shire-hobbits referred to those of Bree, and to any others that lived beyond the borders, as Outsiders, and took very little interest in them, considering them dull and uncouth.
Page 150.
Bree stood at an old meeting of ways; another ancient road crossed the East Road just outside the dike at the western end of the village, and in former days Men and other folk of various sorts had travelled much on it.
Page 150.
Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk.
Page 156.
What his right name is I’ve never heard: but he’s known round here as Strider.
Page 156.
To his alarm Frodo became aware that the ridiculous young Took, encouraged by his success with the fat Mayor of Michel Delving, was now actually giving a comic account of Bilbo’s farewell party. He was already giving an imitation of the Speech, and was drawing near to the astounding Disappearance.
Page 157.
With a ping and a pong the fiddle-strings broke!
The cow jumped over the Moon,
And the little doge laughed to see sun fun,
And the Saturday dish went off at a run
With the silver Sunday spoon.
Page 159.
He leaped into the air. Much too vigorously; for he came down, bang, into a tray full of mugs, and slipped, and rolled of the table with a crash, clatter, and bump! The audience all opened their mouths wide for laughter, and stopped shrt in gaping silence; for the singer disappeared. He simply vanished, as if he had gone slap though the floor without leaving a hole!
Page 160.
Though I cannot disappear, I have hunted many wild and wary things and I can usually avoid being seen, if I wish.
Page 163.
Perhaps I know more about these pursuers than you do. You fear them, but you do not fear them enough.
Page 165.
I hoped you would take to me for my own sake. A hunted man sometimes wearies of distrust and longs for friendship.
Page 170.
I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can safe you, I will.
Page 171.
Gandalf is greater than you Shire-folk know - as a rule you can only see his jokes and toys. But this business of ours will be his greatest task.
Page 172.
There are many birds and beasts in this country that could see us, as we stand here, from that hill-top. Not all the birds are to be trusted, and there are other spies more evil than they are.
Page 183.
They themselves do not see the world of light as we do, but our shapes cast shadows in their minds, which only the noon sun destroys; and in the dark they perceive many signs and forms that are hidden from us: then they are most to be feared. And at all times they smell the blood of living things, desiring and hating it. Senses, too, there are other than sight or smell. We can feel their presence - it troubled out hearts, as soon as we came here, and before we saw them; they feel ours more keenly. Also, he added, and his voice sank to a whisper, the Ring draws them.
Page 189.
There is little shelter or defence here, but fire shall serve for both. Sauron can put fire to his evil uses, as he can all things, but these Riders do not love it, and fear those who wield it. Fire is our friend in the wilderness.
Page 190.
They wondered how old he was, and where he had learned all this lore.
Page 191.
Over the lip of the little dell, on the side away from the hill, they felt, rather than saw, a shadow rise, one shadow or more than one. They strained their eyes, and the shadows seemed to grow. Soon there could be no doubt: three or four tall black figures were standing there on the sloe, looking down on them. So black were they that they seemed like black holes in the deep shade behind them. Frodo thought that he heard a faint hiss as of venomous breath and felt a thin piercing chill. Then the shapes slowly advanced.
Page 195.
Resistance became unbearable, and at lat he slowly drew out the chain, and slipped the Ring on the forefinger of his left hand.
Page 195.
A shrill cry rang out in the night; and he felt a pain like a dart of poisoned ice pierce his left shoulder. Even as he swooned he caught, as through a swirling mist, a glimpse of Strider leaping out of the darkness with a flaming brand of wood in either hand. With a last effort Frodo, dropping his sword slipped the Ring from his finger and closed his right hand tight upon it.
Page 196.
Frodo dozed, though the pain of his would was slowly growing, and a deadly chill was spreading from is shoulder to his arm and side.
Page 198.
He stopped again and lifted up a long thin knife. There was a cold gleam in it. As Strider raised it they saw that near the end its edge was notched and the point was broken off. But even as he held it up in the growing light, they gazed in astonishment, for the blade seemed to melt, and vanished like a smoke in the air, leaving only the hilt in Strider’s hand.
Page 198.
He now perceived that in putting on the Ring he obeyed not his own desire but the commanding wish of his enemies.
Page 199.
I am learning a lot about Sam Gamgee on this journey. First he was a conspirator, now he’s a jester. He’ll end up by becoming a wizard - or a warrior!
Page 208.
It is you, Frodo, and that which you bear that brings us all in peril.
Page 211.
The foremost of the black horses had almost set foot upon the shore.
At that moment there came a roaring and a rushing: a noise of loud waters rolling many stones. Dimly Frodo saw the river below him rise, and down along its course there came a plumed cavalry of waves. White flames seemed to Frodo to flicker on their crests, and he half fancied that he saw amid the water white riders upon white horses with frothing manes. The three Riders that ere still in the midst of the Ford were overwhelmed: they disappeared, buried suddenly under angry foam. Those that were behind drew back in dismay.
Page 214.
There are many powers in the world, for good or for evil. Some are greater than I am. Against some I have not yet ben measured. But my time is coming. The Morgul-lord and his Black Riders have come forth. War is preparing! … for the Black Riders are the Ringwraiths, the Nine Servants of the Lord of the Rings.
Page 220.
The race of the Kings from over the Sea is nearly at an end. It may be that this War of the Ring will be their last adventure.
Page 221.
That is just what the Rangers are: the last remnant in the North of the great people, the Men of the West.
Page 221.
It seems that Hobbits fade very reluctantly. I have known strong warriors of the Big People who would quickly have been overcome by that splinter, which you bore for seventeen days.
Page 222.
You were in gravest peril while you wore the Ring, for then you were half in the wraith-world yourself, and they might have seized you. You could see them, and they could see you.
Page 222.
The black robes are real roes that they wear to give shape to their nothingness when they have dealings with the living.
Page 222.
The Riders made straight for you as soon as you fled. They did not need the guidance of their horses any longer; you had become visible to them, being already on the threshold of their world.
Page 223.
You are the Ring-bearer. And you are the heir of Bilbo, the Ring-finder.
Page 224.
The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the master of the Dark Tower of Mordor, whose power is again stretching out over the world. We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark.
Page 226.
Grimbeorn the Old, son of Beorn, was now the lord of many sturdy men, and to their land between the Mountains and Mirkwood neither orc nor wolf dared go.
Page 228.
Nowhere are there any men so friendly to us as the Men of dale. They are good folk, the Bardings. The grandson of Bard the Bowman rules them, Brand son of Bain son of Bard. He is a strong king, and his realm now reaches far south and east of Esgaroth.
Page 229.
Of the ten companions who had survived the Battle of Five Armies seven ere still with him: Dwalin, Glóin, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. Bombur was now so fat that he could not move himself from is couch to his chair at table, and it took six young dwarves to lift him.
Page 229.
Slowly he drew it out. Bilbo put out his hand. But Frodo quickly drew back the Ring. To his distress and amazement he found that he was no longer looking at Bilbo; a shadow seemed to have fallen between then, and through it he found himself eyeing a little wrinkled creature with a hungry face and bony groping hands. He felt a desire to s trike him.
Page 232.
I am very sorry: sorry you have come in for this burden; sorry about everything.
Page 232.
Elrond sat in his chair and the fire was on his face like summer-light upon the trees. Near him sat the lady Arwen. To his surprise Frodo saw that Aragorn stood beside her; his dark cloak was thrown back, and he seemed to be clad in elven-mail, and a star shone on his breast. They spoke together, and then suddenly it seemed to Frodo that Arwen turned towards him, and the light of her eyes fell on him from afar and pierced his heart.
Page 238.
There are no folk like hobbits after all for a real good talk.
Page 238.
There was also a strange Elf clad in green and brown, Legolas, a messenger from his father, Thranduil the king of the Elves of northern Mirkwood.
Page 240.
Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father’s sword, and took it for his own. … Isildur took it as should not have been. It should have been cast then into Orodruin’s fire night at hand where it was made. … He took it to treasure it. But soon he was betrayed by it to his death; and so it is named in the North Isildur’s Bane.
Page 243.
Sauron was diminished, but not destroyed. His Ring was lost but not unmade. The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed.
Page 244.
Minas Anor was named anew Minas Tirith, the Tower of Guard.
Page 245.
The Nameless Enemy has arisen again. Smoke rises once more form Orodruin that we call Mount Doom. The power of the Black Land grows and we are hard beset.
Page 245.
The Sword shall be reforged. I will come to Minas Tirith.
Page 248.
It was hot when I first took it, hot as a glede, and my hand was scorched, so that I doubt if ever again I shall be free of the pain of it. Yet even as I write it is cooled, and it seemeth to shrink, though it loseth neither its beauty nor its shape. Already the writing upon it, which at first was as clear as red flame. Fadeth and is now only barely to be read. … and maybe were the gold made hot again, the writing would be refreshed. But for my part I will risk no hurt to this thing: of all the works of Sauron the only fair. It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain.
Pages 252-253.
I learned that Gollum’s ring came out of the Great River nigh to the Gladden Fields. And I learned also that he had possessed it long. Many lives of his small kind. The power of the ring had lengthened his years far beyond their span; but that power only the Great Ring wields.
Page 254.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.
Page 254.
The dark things that were driven out in the year of the Dragon’s fall have returned in greater numbers, and Mirkwood is again an evil place, save where our realm in maintained.
Page 256.
Saruman the White is the greatest of my order. Radagast is, of course, a worthy Wizard, a master o shapes and changes of hue; and he has much lore of herbs and beasts, and birds are especially his friends. But Saruman has long studied the arts of the Enemy himself, and thus we have often been able to foretell him.
Page 257.
I came at long last to the dwelling of Saruman That is far south in Isengard, in the end of the Misty Mountains, not far from the Gap of Rohan. … in the midst of that valley is a tower of stone called Orthanc. It was not mad by Saruman, but by the Men of Nứmenor long ago.
Page 258.
He that breaks a thing to find what it is has left the path of wisdom.
Page 259.
Why not? The Ruling Ring? If we could command that, then the Power would pass to us.
Page 260.
Only one hand at a time can wield the One.
Page 260.
They took me and they set me alone on the pinnacle of Ortjhanc, in the place where Saruman was accustomed to watch the stars. … Wolves and orcs were housed in Isengard, for Saruman was mustering a great force on his own account, in rivalry of Sauron and not in his service, yet.
Page 260.
When summer waned, there came a night of moon, and Gwaihir the Windlord, swiftest of the Great Eagles, came unlooked-for to Orthanc; and he found me standing on the pinnacle. Then I spoke to him and he bore me away, before Saruman was aware.
Page 261.
It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.
Page 265.
Time was when a squirrel could go from tree to tree from what is now the Shire to Dunland west of Isengard.
Page 265.
“But Gandalf has revealed to us that we cannot destroy it by any raft that we here possess,” said Elrond. “And they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it: for good or ill it belongs to Middle-earth; it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it.”
Page 266.
“Alas, no,” said Elrond. “We cannot use the Ruling Ring. That we now know too well. It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil. Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power of their own. But for them it holds an even deadlier peril. The very desire of it corrupts the heats. Consider Saruman. If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron’s throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. I fear to take the Ring to hide it. I will not take the Ring to wield it.”
Page 267.
Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt.
Page 269.
It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy!
Page 269.
Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it. If we seek this, we shall put him out of reckoning.
Page 269.
This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
Page 269
Starting is too great a claim for any, and that only a small part is played in great deeds by any hero.
Page 270.
At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.
“I will take the ring,” he said, “though I do not know the way.”
Page 270.
It is hardly possible to separate you from him, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not.
Page 271.
We hobbits ought to stick together, and we will. I shall go, unless they chain me up. There must be someone with intelligence in the party.
Page 272.
Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?
Page 273.
The Company of the Ring shall be Nine; and the Nine Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders that are evil. With you and your faithful servant, Gandalf will go; for this shall be his great task, and maybe the end of his labours.
For the rest, they shall represent the other Free Peoples of the World: Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Legolas shall be for the Elves; and Gimli son of Glóin for the Dwarves. They are willing to go at least to the passes of the Mountains, and maybe beyond. For Men you shall have Aragorn son of Arathorn, for the Ring of Isildur concerns him closely.
Pages 275-276.
The Sword of Elendil was forged new by Elvish smiths, and on its blade was traced a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and the rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes.
Page 276.
Aragorn gave it a new name and called it Andúril, Flame of the West.
Page 277.
“Just a plain hobbit you look,” said Bilbo. “But there is more about you now than appears on the surface.”
Page 278.
Gimli the dwarf along wore openly a short shirt of steel-rings, for dwarves make light of burdens; and in his belt was a broad-bladed axe. Legolas had a bow and a quiver, and at his belt a long white knife. The younger hobbits wore the swords that they had taken from the barrow; but Frodo took only Sting; and his mail-coat, as Bilbo wished, remained hidden. Gandalf bore his staff, but girt at his side was the elven-sword Glamdring, the mate of Orcrist that lay now upon the breast of Thorin under the Lonely Mountain.
Pages 279-280.
The further you go, the less easy will it be to withdraw; yet no oath or bond is laid on you to go further than you will. For you do not yet know the strength of your hearts, and you cannot foresee what each may meet upon the road.
Page 281.
Gandalf walked in front, and with him went Aragorn, who knew this land even in the dark. The others were in file behind, and Legolas whose eyes were keen was the rearguard.
Page 281.
Much evil must befall a country before it wholly forgets the Elves, if once they dwelt there.
Page 283.
Maps conveyed nothing to Sam’s mind, and all distances in these strange lands seemed so vast that he was quite out of his reckoning.
Page 285.
It matters little who is the enemy, if we cannot beat off his attack.
Page 289.
When heads are at a loss bodies must serve.
Page 291.
The Ringwraiths are deadly enemies, but they are only shadows yet of the power and terror they would possess if the Ruling Ring was on their master’s hand again.
Page 295.
“Dwarf-doors are not made to be seen when shut,” said Gimli. “They are invisible, and their own makers cannot find them or open them, if their secret is forgotten.”
Page 304.
“The words are in the elven-tongue of the West of Middle-earth in the Elder Days,” answered Gandalf. “But they do not say anything of importance to us. They say only: The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter. And underneath small and faint is written: I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Hollin drew these signs.”
“What does it mean by speak, friend, and enter?” asked Merry.
“That is plain enough,” said Gimli. “If you are a friend, speak the password, and the doors will open, and you can enter.”
Page 306.
The stone vanished with a soft slap; but at the same instant there was a swish and a bubble. Great rippling rings formed on the surface out beyond where the stone had fallen, and they moved slowly towards the foot of the cliff.
Page 307.
Picking up his staff he stood before the rock and said in a clear voice: Mellon!
The star shone out briefly and faded again. Then silently a great doorway was outlined, though not a crack or joint had been visible before. … “The translation should have been: Say “Friend” and enter. I had only to speak the Elvish word for friend and the doors opened.”
Page 308.
Something has crept, or has been driven out of dark waters under the mountains. There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.
Page 309.
Gandalf walked in front as before. In his left hand he held up his glimmering staff, the light of which just showed the ground before his feet; in his right he held his sword Glamdring. Behind him came Gimli, his eyes glinting in the dim light as he turned his head from side to side. Behind the dwarf walked Frodo, and he had drawn the short sword, Sting. No gleam came from the blades of Sting or of Glamdring; and that was some comfort, for being the work of Elvish smiths in the Elder Days these swords shone with a cold light, if any Orcs were near at hand. Behind Frodo went Sam,, and after him Legolas, and the young hobbits, and Boromir. In the dark at the rear, grim and silent, walked Aragorn.
Page 310.
Though he had been healed in Rivendell of the knife-stroke, that grim wound had not been without effect. His senses were sharper and more aware of things that could not be seen. One sign of change that he soon had noticed was that he could se more in the dark than any of his companions, save perhaps Gandalf.
Pages 311-312.
Nothing more was heard for several minutes; but then there came out of the depths faint knocks: tom-tap, tap-tom. They stopped, and when the echoes had died away, they were repeated: tap-tom, tom-tap, tap-tap, tom. They sounded disquietingly like signals of some sort; but after a while the knocking died away and was not heard again.
Page 313.
“These are not holes,” said Gimli. “This is the great realm and city of the Dwarrowdelf. And of old it was not darksome, but full of light and splendour, as is still remembered in our songs.”
Page 315.
“Then what do the dwarves want to go back for?” asked Sam.
“For mithril,” answered Gandalf. “The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; no need to delve for them: al things that they desired they could obtain in traffic. For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elvish name. The Dwarves have a name which they do not tell. Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is beyond price; for little is left above ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it. … The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as mithril was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin’s Bane. Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it.
Page 317.
We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the Bridge and second hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there. … The last lines run the pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Oin. We cannot get out. The end comes, and then drums, drums in the deep. I wonder what they means. The last thing written is in a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: they are coming.
Page 322.
“You take after Bilbo,” said Gandalf. “There is more about you than meets the eye, as I said of him long ago.” Frodo wondered if the remark meant more than it said.
Page 328.
The outer door could only be reached by a slender bridge of stone, without kerb or rail, that spanned the chasm with one curving spring of fifty feet. It was an ancient defence of the Dwarves against any enemy that might capture the First Hall and the outer passages. They could only pass across it in single file.
Page 329.
“You cannot pass,” he said. The Orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. “I am the 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.”
Page 330.
With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard’s knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. “Fly, you fools!” he cried, and was gone.
Page 331.
“It is long since any of my own folk journeyed hither back to the land whence we wandered in ages long ago,” said Legolas, “but we hear that Lórien is not yet deserted, for there is a secret power here that holds evil form the land.”
Page 338.
“They are Elves,” said Legolas; “and they say that you breathe so loud that they could shoot you in the dark.”
Page 342.
Hobbits do not like heights, and do not sleep upstairs, even when they have any stairs.
Page 344.
“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.”
Page 347.
In nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him.
Page 348.
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
Pages 348-349.
In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lórien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world. Evil had been seen and heard there, sorrow had been known; the Elves feared and distrusted the world outside: wolves were howling on the wood’s borders; but on the land of Lórien no shadow lay.
Page 349.
On the land of Lórien there was no stain.
Page 351.
Far away up on the hill they could hear the sound of singing falling from on high like soft rain upon leaves.
Page 354.
Gandalf was our guide, and he led us through Moria; and when our escape seemed beyond hope he saved us, and he fell.
Page 355.
Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life. Those that followed him knew not his mind and cannot report his full purpose.
Page 356.
The Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings. He has dwelt in the West since the days of dawn, and I have dwelt with him years uncounted; for ere the fall of Nargothrond or Gondolin I passed over the mountains, and together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.
Page 357.
Your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true.
Page 357.
The Men of Minas Tirith are true to their word.
Page 358.
As they were healed of hurt and weariness of body the grief of their loss grew more keen.
Page 359.
It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.
Page 361.
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 dangerous as a guide of deeds.
Page 363.
Seeing is both good and perilous.
Page 363.
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 certainly 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.
Page 364.
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.
Page 365.
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.
Page 365.
The love of the Elves for their land and their works is deeper than the deeps of the Sea, and their regret is undying and cannot ever wholly ge assuaged. Yet they will cast all away rather than submit to Sauron.
Page 365.
You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the 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!
Pages 365-366.
“I pass the test,” she said. “I will diminish, and to into the West and remain Galadriel,”
Page 366.
Did Gandalf not tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become far stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others.
Page 366.
Maybe the paths that you each shall tread are already laid before your feet, though you do not see them.
Page 368.
“If you wish only to destroy the Ring,” he said, “then there is little use in war and weapons; and the Men of Minas Tirith cannot help. But if you wish to destroy the armed might of the Dark Lord, then it is folly to go without force into his domain; and folly to throw away. … It is a choice between defending a strong place and walking openly into the arms of death.”
Page 369.
Elves that could speak their tongue came to them and brought them many gifts of food and clothing for the journey. The food was mostly in the form of very thin cakes, made of a meal that was baked a light brown on the outside, and inside was the colour of cream. … “We call it lembas or waybread, and it is more strengthening than any food made by men, and it is more pleasant than cram.”
Page 369.
The cakes will keep sweet for many many days, if they are unbroken and left in their leaf-wrappings.
Page 370.
Each cloak was fastened about the neck with a brooch like a green leaf veined with silver.
Page 370.
We put the thought of all that we love into all that we make.
Page 370.
In the third were Legolas and Gimli, who had now become fast friends.
Page 372.
If you keep it and see your home again at last, then perhaps it may reward you. Though you should find al barren and laid waste, there will be few gardens in Middle-earth that will bloom like your garden, if you sprinkle this earth there. Then you may remember Galadriel, and catch a glimpse far off of Lórien, that you have seen only in our winter. For our Spring and our Summer are gone by, and they will never be seen on earth again save in memory.
Page 375.
“In this phial,” she said, “is caught the light of Eärendil’s star, set amid the waters of my fountain. It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.”
Page 376.
Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror.
Page 378.
In these evil days folk do not dwell by the River or ride often to its shores. Anduin is wide, yet the orcs can shoot their arrows far across the stream; and of late, it is said, they have dared to cross the water and raid the herds and studs of Rohan.
Page 381.
It is not the way of the Men of Minas Tirith to desert their friends at need.
Page 390.
Upon great pedestals founded in the deep waters stood two great kings of stone: still with blurred eyes and crannied brows they frowned upon the North. The left hand of each was raised palm outwards in gesture of warning; in each right hand there was an axe; upon each head there was a crumbling helm and crown.
Page 392.
Frodo turned and saw Strider, and yet not Strider; for the weatherworn Ranger was no longer there. In the stern sat Aragorn son of Arathorn, proud and erect, guiding the boat with skilful stroked, his hood was cast back, and his dark hair was blowing in the wind, a light was in his eyes: a king returning from exile to his own land.
Page 393.
I do not think that any speech will help me. For I know what I should do, but I am afraid of doing it.
Page 397.
The Ring! Is it not a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt for so small a thing? So small a thing! And I have seen it only for an instant in the house of Elrond. Could I not have a sight of it again?
Pages 397-398.
True-hearted Men, they will not be corrupted. We of Minas Tirith have been staunch through long years of trial. We do not desire the power of wizard-lords, only strength to defend ourselves, strength in a just cause. And behold! In our need chance brings to light the Ring of Power. It is a gift, I say; a gift to the foes of Mordor. It is mad not to use it, to use the power of the Enemy against him.
Page 398.
If any mortals have claim to the Ring, it is the men of Númenor, and not Halflings. It is not yours save by unhappy chance. It might have been mine. It should be mine. Give it to me!
Page 399.
Frodo dodged aside and again put the stone between them. There was only one thing he could do” trembling he puled out the Ring upon its chain and quickly slipped it on his finger, even a Boromir sprang at him again. The Man gasped, stared for a moment amazed, and then ran wildly about , seeking here and there among the rocks and trees.
Page 399.
At first he could see little. He seemed to be in a world of mist in which there were only shadows: the Ring was upon him. Then here and there the mist gave way and he saw many visions: small and clear as if they were under his eyes upon a table.
Page 400.
Suddenly he felt the Eye. There was an eye in the Dark Tower that did not sleep. He knew that it had become aware of his gaze.
Page 401.
This at least is plain: the evil of the Ring is already at woe keen in the Company, and the Ring must leave them before it does more harm.
Page 401.
The Lord Denethor and all his men cannot hope to do what even Elrond said was beyond his power: either to keep the Burden secret, or to hold off the full might of the Enemy when he comes to take it.
Page 402.
“We will go, and may the others find a safe road! Strider will look after them. I don’t suppose we shall see them again.”
“Yet we may, Mr. Frodo. We may,” said Sam.
Page 406.
2. The Two Towers
Aragorn looked on the slain, and he said: “Here lie many that are not folk of Mordor. Some are from the North, from the Misty Mountains, if I knew anything of Orcs and their kinds. And here are others strange to me. The gear is not after the manner of Orcs at all!”
There were four goblin-soldiers of greater stature, swart, slant-eyed, with thick legs and large hands. They were armed with short broad-bladed swords, not with the cured scimitars usual with Orcs; and they had bows of yew, in length and shape like the bows of Men. Upon their shields they bore a strange device: a small white hand in the centre of a black field; on the front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal.
Page 415.
The Orcs in the service of Barad-dûr use the sign of the Red Eye.
Page 416.
There is evil afoot in Isengard, and the West is no longer safe. … Saruman has many ways of learning news.
Page 416.
What he thought was the cause of Frodo’s sudden resolve and flight Aragorn did not say. The last words of Boromir he long kept secret.
Page 419.
Seldom will Orcs journey in the open under the sun, yet these have done so.
Page 425.
All the land was empty, and there was a silence that did not seem to be the quiet of peace.
Page 427.
The Orcs have run before us, as if the very whips of Sauron were behind them.
Page 427.
There is some will that lends speed to our foes and sets an unseen barrier before us: a weariness that is in the heart more than in the limb.
Page 428.
“Awake! Awake!” he cried. “It is a read dawn. Strange things await us by the eaves of the forest. Good or evil, I do not know; but we are called. Awake!”
Page 428.
They are proud and wilful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songs, after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years.
Page 430.
They have long been the friends of the people of Gondor, though they are not akin to them. It ws in forgotten years long ago that Eorl the Young brought them out of the North, and their kinship is rather with the Bardings of Dale, and with the Beornings of the Wood.
Pages 430-431.
“I serve only the Lord of the Mark, Théoden King son of Thengel,” answered Éomer. “We do not serve the Power of the Black Land far away, but neither ar we yet at open war with him; and if you are fleeing from him, then you had best leave this land. There is trouble now on all our borders, and we are threatened; but we desire only to be free, and to live as we have lived, keeping our own, and serving no foreign lord, good or evil.
Page 430.
“I am Aragorn son of Arathorn, and am called Elessar, the Elfstone, Dúnadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil’s son of Gondor. Here is the Sword that was Broken and is forged again! Will you aid me or thwart me? Choose swiftly!”
Page 433.
He seemed to have grown in stature while Éomer had shrunk, and in his living face they caught a brief vision of the power and majesty of the kings of stone.
Page 433.
Were there no bodies other than those of orc-kind? They would be small, only children to your eyes, unshod but clad in grey.
Page 434.
“Halflings!” laughed the Rider that stood beside Éomer. “Halflings! But they are only a little people in old songs and children’s tales out of the North. Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?”
Page 434.
Not we gut those who come after will make the legends of our time.
Page 434.
“Gandalf!” Éomer exclaimed. “Gandalf Greyhame is known in the Mark; but his name, I warn you, is no longer a password to the king’s favour. He has been a guest in the land many times in the memory of men, coming as he will, after a season, or after many years. He is ever the herald of strange events: a bringer of evil, some now say.”
Page 435.
Some years ago the Lord of the Black Land wished to purchase horses of us at great price, but we refused him, for he puts beats to evil use. Then he sent plundering Orcs, and they carry off what they can, choosing always the black horses: few of these are now left. For that reason our feud with the Orcs is bitter.
Page 436.
We overtook the Orcs at nightfall two days ago, near to the border of the Entwood. There we surrounded them, and gave battle yesterday at dawn.
Page 437.
It is hard to be sure of anything among so many marvels. The world is all grown strange. Elf and Dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our father rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?
Page 438.
“The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or dor others,” said Aragorn. “There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.”
Page 441.
Suddenly the dark and unknown forest, so near at hand, made itself felt as a great brooding presence, full of secret purpose.
Page 442.
Fangorn is old, old even as the Elves would reckon it.
Page 442.
We are the fighting Uruk-hai! We slew the great warrior. We took the prisoners. We are the servants of Saruman the Wise, the White Hand: the Hand that gives us man’s-flesh to eat.
Page 446.
The chances were that he and Merry would be killed together with their captors, before ever the Men of Rohan were aware of them.
Page 453.
Out of the shadows the hobbits peeped, gazing back down the slope: little furtive figures that in the dim light looked like elf-children in the deeps of time peering out of the Wild Wood in wonder at their first Dawn.
Page 459.
They were too eager to be surprised at the remarkable way in which the cuts and sores of their captivity had healed and their vigour had returned.
Pages 462-463.
They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face. It belonged to a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head, and hardly any neck. Whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say. At any rate the arms, at a shorty distance from the trunk, were not wrinkled, but covered with a brown smooth skin. The large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends. But at the moment the hobbits noted little but the eyes. These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a green light.
Page 463.
Do not be hasty, that is my motto. But if I had seen you, before I heard your voices - I liked them: nice little voices; they reminded me of something I cannot remember - if I had seen you before I heard you, I should have just trodden on you, talking you for little Orcs, and found out my mistake afterwards.
Pages 463-464.
“I am an Ent, or that’s what they call me. Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am, you might say, in your manner of speaking. Fangorn is my name according to some, Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do.”
Page 464.
Elves made all the old words: they began it.
“Nobody else calls us hobbits; we call ourselves that,” said Pippin.
“Hoom, hm! Come now! Not so hasty! You call yourselves hobbits? But you should not go telling just anybody. You`ll be letting out your own right names if you`re not careful.
Page 465.
“I am not going to tell you my name, not yet at any rate.” … “For one thing it would take a long while: my name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name Is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language , but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.”
Page 465.
“I like news. But not too quick now.”
Page 466.
I don’t know about sides. I go my own way; but your way may go along with mine for a while.
Page 466.
I am not tired. I do not easily get tired. And I do not sit down. I am not very, hm, bendable.
Page 466.
All the while, as he walked, he talked to himself in a long running stream of musical sounds.
Page 467.
We are tree-herds, we old Ents. Few enough of us are left ow. Sheep get like shepherd, and shepherds like sheep, it is said; but slowly, and neither have long in the world. It is quicker and closer with trees and Ents, and they walk down the ages together. For Ents are more like Elves: less interested in themselves than men are, and getter at getting inside other things. And yet again Ents are more like Men, more changeable than Elves are, and quicker at taking the colour of the outside, you might say. or better than both: for they are steadier and keep their minds on things longer.
Page 468.
Elves began it, of course, waking trees up and teaching them to speak and learning their tree-talk. They always wished to talk to everything, the old Elves did.
Page 468.
There was all one wood once upon a time from here to the Mountains of Lune, and this was just the East End.
Page 468.
As the old Ent approached, the trees lifted up their branches, and all their leaves quivered and rustled.
Page 470.
As he walked his knees hardly bent, but his legs opened in a great stride. He planted his big toes (and they were indeed big, and very broad) on the ground first before any other part of his feet.
Page 470.
The effect of the draught began at the toes and rose steadily through every limb, bringing refreshment and vigour as it coursed upwards, right to the tips of their hair. Indeed the hobbits felt that the hair on their heads was actually standing up, waving and curling and growing.
Page 471.
Treebeard was however especially interested in everything that concerned Gandalf; and most interested of all in Saruman’s doings.
Page 472.
“I have not troubled about the Great Wars,” said Treebeard; “they mostly concern Elves and Men. That is the business of Wizards: Wizards are always troubled about the future. I do not like worrying about the future. I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them, not even Elves nowadays.”
Page 472.
He is plotting to become a Power. He has a mind of metal and wheels and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment.
Page 473.
“It is a mark of evil things that came in the Great Darkness that they cannot abide the Sun; but Saruman’s Orcs can endure it, even if they hate it. I wonder what he has done? Are they Men he has ruined, or has he blended the races of Orcs and Men? That wold be a black evil!”
Page 473.
“Curse him, root and branch! Many of those trees were my friends, creatures I had known from nut and acorn; many had voices of their own that are lost for ever now.”
Page 474.
If Saruman is not checked Rohan and Gondor will have an enemy behind as well as in front.
Page 474.
We are not a hasty folk.
Page 475.
There have been no Entings - no children, you would say, not for a terrible long count of years. You see, we lost the Entwives. … “They did not die!” said Treebeard. “I never said died. We lost them, I said. We lost then and we cannot find them.”
Page 475.
The Ents gave their love to things that ehy met in the world, and the Entwives gave their thought of other things, for the Ents loved the great trees, and the wild woods, and the slopes of the high hills; and they drank of the mountain-streams, and ate only such fruit as the trees let fall in their path; and they learned of the Elves and spoke with the Trees. But the Entwives gave their minds to the lesser trees, and to the meads in the sunshine beyond the feet of the forests; and they saw the sloe in the thicket, and the wild apple and the cherry blossoming in spring, and the green herbs in the waterlands in summer, and the seeding grasses in the autumn fields. They did not desire to speak with these things; but they wished them to hear and obey what was said to them. The Entwives ordered them to grow according to their wishes, and bear leaf and fruit to their liking; for the Entwives desired order, and plenty, and peace (by which they meant that things shod remain where they had set them). So the Entwives made gardens to live in. But we Ents went on wandering, and we only came to the gardens now and again. Then when the Darkness came in the north, the Entwives crossed the Great River, and made new gardens, and tilled new fields, and we saw them more seldom. After the Darkness was overthrown the land of the Entwives blossomed richly, and their fields were full of corn. Many men learned the crafts of the Entwives and honoured them greatly; but we were only a legend to them, a secret in the heart of the forest. Yet here we still are, while all the gardens of the Entwives are wasted Men call them then Brown Lands now.
Pages 475-476.
Our sorrow was very great. Yet the wild wood called, and we returned to it. For many years we used to go out every now and again and look for the Entwives, walking far and wide and calling them by their beautiful names. But as time passed we went more seldom and wandered less far. And now the Entwives are only a memory for us, and our beards are long and grey.
Page 476.
The Ents were as different from one another as trees from trees.
Page 480.
The Ents began to murmur slowly: first one joined and then another, until they were all chanting together in a long rising and falling rhythm, now louder on one side of the ring, now dying away there and rising to a great boom on the other side.
Page 480.
I have not seen them roused like this for many an age. We Ents do not like being roused and we never are roused unless it is clear to us that our trees and our lives are in great danger.
Page 485.
Wizards ought t know better: they do know better. There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men bad enough for such treachery. Down with Saruman!
Page 486.
We are stronger than Trolls. We are made of the bones of the earth. We can split stone like the roots of trees, only quicker, far quicker, if our minds are roused!
Page 486.
Songs like trees bear fruit only in their own time and their own way: and sometimes they are withered untimely.
Page 486.
Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end.
Page 492.
“Yes, I am white now,” said Gandalf. “Indeed I am Saruman, one might almost say, Saruman as he should have been. But come now, tell me of yourselves! I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted.
Page 495.
The Ring now has passed beyond my help, or the help of any of the Company that set out from Rivendell. Very nearly it was revealed to the Enemy, but it escaped.
Page 495.
He is in great fear, not knowing what might one may suddenly appear, wielding the Ring, and assailing him with war, seeking to cast him down and take his place. That we should wish to cast him down and have no one in his place is not a thought that occurs to his mind. That we should try to destroy the Ring itself has not yet entered into his darkest dream.
Pages 496-497.
Imagining war he has let loose war, believing that he has no time to waste; for he that strikes the first blow, if he strikes it hard enough, may need to strike no more.
Page 497.
If Minas Tirith falls, it will go ill with Saruman.
Page 497.
The Ring now has passed beyond my help, or the help of any of the Company that set out from Rivendell. Very nearly it was revealed to the Enemy, but it escaped.
Page 495.
Isengard cannot fight Mordor, unless Saruman first obtains the Ring. That he will never do now. He does not yet know his peril. There is much that he does not know.
Page 498.
Treebeard is Fangorn, the guardian of the forest; he is the oldest of the Ents, the oldest living thing that still walks beneath the Sun upon this Middle-earth.
Page 499.
A thing is about to happen which has not happened since the Elder Days: the Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong.
Page 500.
Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he.
Page 501.
Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell.
Page 502.
“That is Shadowfax. He is the chief of the Meanas, lords of horses, and not erven Théoden, King of Rohan, has ever looked on a better. Does he not shine like silver, and run as smoothly as a swift stream? He has come for me: the horse of the White Rider. We are going to battle together.”
Page 504.
“I see a great smoke,” said Legolas. “What may that be?”
“Battle and war!” said Gandalf. “Ride on!”
Page 504.
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?
Page 508.
In the middle of the dais was a great gilded chair. Upon it sat a man so bent with age that he seemed almost a dwarf; but his white hair was long and thick and fell in great braids from beneath a thin golden circlet set upon his brow. In the centre upon his forehead shone a single white diamond. His beard was laid like snow upon his knees; but his eyes still burned with a bright light, glinting as he gazed at the strangers.
Page 512.
“The wise speak only of what they know, Grima son of Gálmód. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crocked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.”
Page 514.
He looked at Gandalf and smiled and as he did so many lines of care were smoothed away and did not return.
Page 516.
To crooked eyes truth may wear a wry face.
Page 522.
Saruman has armed the wild hillmen and herd-folk of Dunland beyond the rivers.
Page 527.
But you comfort me, Gimli, and I am glad to have you standing night with your stout legs and your hard axe. I wish there were more of your kin among us.
Page 532.
They held their great shields above them like a roof, while in their midst they gore two trunks of mighty trees.
Page 533.
There was a small postern-door that opened in an angle of the burg-wall on the west, here the cliff stretched out to meet it. On that side a narrow path ran round towards the great gate, between the wall and the sheer brink of the Rock.
Page 533.
Then a clamour arose in the Deep behind. Orcs had crept like rats through the culvert through which the stream flowed out. There they had gathered in the shadow of the cliffs, until the assault above was hottest and nearly all the men of the defence had rushed to the wall’s top. Then they sprang out. Already some had passed into the jaws of the Deep and were among the horses, fighting with the guards.
Page 535.
Even as they spoke there came a blare of trumpets. Then there was a crash and a flash of flame and smoke. The waters of the Deeping-stream poured out hissing and foaming: they were choked no longer, a gaping hole was blasted in the wall. A host of dark shapes poured in.
Page 537.
The world changes, and all that once was strong now proves unsure. How shall any tower withstand such numbers and such reckless hate?
Page 539.
The evil of Saruon cannot be wholly cured, nor made as I if had not been.
Page 550.
A strong place and wonderful was Isengard, and long it had been beautiful; and there great lords had dwelt, the wardens of Gondor upon the West, and wise men that watched the stars. But Saruman had slowly shaped it to his shifting purposes, and made it better, as he thought, being deceived - for all those arts and subtle devices, for which he forsook his former wisdom, and which fondly he imagined were his own, came but form Mordor; so that what he made was naught, only a little copy, a child’s model or a slave’s flattery, of that vast fortress, armoury, prison, furnace of great power, Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower, which suffered no rival, and laughted at flattery, biding its time, secure in its pride and its immeasurable strength.
Page 555.
Now they turn their eyes towards the archway and the ruined gates. There they saw close beside them a great rubble-heap; and suddenly they were aware of two small figures lying on a it at their ease, grey-clad, hardly to be seen among the stones. There were bottles and bowls and platters laid beside them, as if they had just eaten well, and now rested from their labour. One seemed asleep; the other, with crossed legs and arms behind his head, leaned back against a broken rock and sent from his mouth long wisps and little rings of thin blue smoke.
Page 556.
Our orders came from Treebeard, who has taken over the management of Isengard. He commanded me to welcome the Lord of Rohan with fitting words. I have done my best.
Page 557.
Here you find us sitting on a field of victory, amid the plunder of armies, and you wonder how we came by a fe well-earned comforts!
Page 557.
Saruman kept enough wisdom not to trust his Orcs. He had Men to guard his gates.
Page 560.
One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters.
Page 564.
It is difficult with these evil folk to know when they are in league, and when they are cheating one another.
Page 566.
Arrows are no use against Ents. They hurt them, of course, and infuriate them: like stinging flies. But an Ent can be stuck as full of orc-arrows as a pin-cushion, and take no serious harm. They cannot be poisoned, for one thing; and their skin seems to be very thick, and tougher than bark. It takes a very heavy axe-stroke to wound them seriously. They don’t like axes. But there would have to be a great many axe-men to one Ent: a man that hacks once at an Ent never gets a chance of a second blow. A punch form an Ent-fist crumples up iron like thin tin.
Page 567.
An angry Ent is terrifying. Their fingers and their toes, just freeze on to rock; and they tear it up like bread-crust.
Page 567.
I don’t know what Saruman thought was happening; but anyway he did not know how to deal with it. His wizardry may have been falling off lately, of course; but anyway I think he has not much grit, not much plain courage alone in a tight place without a lot of slaves and machines and things, if you know what I mean. Very different from old Gandalf. I wonder if his fame was not all along mainly due to his cleverness in settling at Isengard.
Page 567.
Many of the Ents were hurling themselves against the Orthanc-rock; but that defeated them. It is very smooth and hard. Some wizardry is in it, perhaps, older and stronger than Saruman’s. Anyway they could not get a g rip on it, or make a crack in it; and they were bruising and wounding themselves against it.
Pages 568-569.
“‘Hoom! Gandalf!’ said Treebeard. ‘I am glad you have come. Wood and water, stock and stone, I can master; but there is a Wizard to manage here.”
Page 570.
Saruman has powers you do not guess. Beware of his voice.
Page 577.
They waited. Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spoke to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler’s trick while others tape at it. For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; but for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them. But none were unmoved; none r ejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it.
Page 578.
The treacherous are ever distrustful.
Page 582.
“Saruman!” he cried, and his voice grew in power and authority. “Behold, I am not Gandalf the Grey, whom you betrayed. I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death. You have no colour now, and I cast you from the order and from the Council.”
Page 583.
Strange are the turns of fortune! Often does hatred hurt itself!
Page 585.
Things will go as they will; and there is no need to hurry to meet them.
Page 586.
“Leave it to the Ents!” said Treebeard. “We shall search the valley from head to foot and peer under every pebble. Trees are coming back to live here, old trees, wild trees. The Watchwood we will call it. Not a squirrel will go here, but I shall know of it. Leave it to the Ents! Until seven times the years in which he tormented us have passed, we shall not tire of watching him.”
Page 587.
Think of the last part of that business with Saruman! Remember Saruman was once Gandalf’s superior: head of the Council whatever that may be exactly. He was Saruman the White. Gandalf is the White now. Saruman came when he was told, and his rod was taken’ and then he was just told to go, and he went!
Page 590.
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.
Page 591.
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 he bent, and then became rigid; his lips moved soundlessly for a while. Then with a strangled cry he fell back and lay still.
Page 592.
A fool, but an honest foo, you remain, Peregrin Took.
Page 593.
Hobbits have an amazing power of recovery.
Page 594.
This assuredly is the palantir of Orthanc from the treasury of Elendil set here by the kings on Gondor. Now my hour draws near. I will take it.
Page 594.
The palantiri came from beyond Westernesse, from Eldamar. The Noldor made them. Feanor himself, maybe wrought them, in days so long ago that the time cannot be measured in years.
Page 597.
The burned hand teaches best.
Page 599.
That’s the one place in all the lands we’ve every heard of that we don’t want to see any closer, and that’s the one place we’re trying to get to! And that’s just where we can’t get, nohow.
Page 603.
Down the face of a precipice, sheer almost smooth it seemed in the pale moonlight a small black shape was moving with its thin limbs slayed out. Maybe its oft clinging hands and toes were finding crevices and holds that no hobbit could ever have seen or used, it looked as if it was just creping down on sticky pads like some large prowling thing of insect-kind. And it was coming down head first, as if it was smelling its way. Now and again it lifted its head slowly, turning it right back on its long skinny neck, and the hobbits caught a glimpse of two small pale gleaming lights, its eyes that blinked at the moon for a moment and then were quickly lidded again.
Page 613.
“Let go! Gollum,” he said. “This is Sting. You have seen it before once upon a time. Let go, or you’ll feel it this time! I’ll cut your throat.”
Page 614.
I will not touch the creature. For now that I see him, I do pity him.
Page 615.
For a moment it appeared to Sam that his master had grown and Gollum had shrunk: a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in grey cloud, and at his feet a little whining dog. Yet the two were in some way akin and not alien: they could read one another’s minds. Gollum raised himself and began pawing at Frodo fawning at his knees.
Page 618.
Over all the leagues of waste before the gates of Mordor there was a black silence.
Page 619.
Sam tripped, catching his foot in some old root or tussock. He fell and came heavily on his hands, which sank deep into sticky ooze, so that his face was brought close to the surface of the dark mere. There was a faint hiss, a noisome smell went up, the lights flickered and danced and swirled. For a moment the water below him looked like some window, glazed with grimy glass, through which he was peering. Wrenching his hands out of the bog, he sprang back with a cry. “There are dead things, dead faces in the water,” he said with horror. “Dead faces!”
Page 627.
With every step towards the gates of Mordor Frodo felt the Ring on its chain about his neck grow more burdensome. He was how beginning to feel it as an actual weight dragging him earthwards.
Page 630.
The Eye: that horrible growing sense of hostile will that strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you: to pin you under its deadly gaze, naked, immovable.
Page 630.
It is my fate to receive help from you, where I least looked for it, and your fate to help me whom you long pursued with evil purpose.
Pahe 640.
It had always been a notion of his that the kindness of dear Mr. Frodo was of such a high degree that ti must imply a fair measure of blindness.
Page 640.
He was a little Halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go.
Page 644.
I’ve heard tales of the big folk down away in the Sunlands. Swertings we call ‘em in our tales; and they ride on oliphaunts, ‘tis said, when they fight. They put houses and towers on the oliphauntses backs and all, and the oliphaunts throw rocks and trees at one another.
Page 647.
All hobbits, of course, can cook, for they begin to learn the art before their letters (which many never reach).
Page 653.
To his astonishment and terror, and lasting delight, Sam saw a vast shape crash out of the trees and came careering down the slope. Big as a house, much bigger than a house, it looked to him, a grey-clad moving hill. Fear and wonder, maybe, enlarged him in the hobbit’s eyes, but the Mûmak of Harad was indeed a beast of vast bulk, and the like of him does not walk now in Middle-earth; his kin that live still in latter days are but memoires of his girth and majesty. On he dame, straight towards the watchers, and then swerved aside in the nick of time, passing only a few yards away, rocking the ground beneath their feet: his great legs like trees, enormous sail-like ears spread out, long snout upraised like a huge serpent about to strike, his small red eyes raging. His upturned hornlike tusks were bound with bands of gold and ripped with blood. His trappings of scarlet and gold flapped about him in wild tatters. The ruins of what seemed a very war-tower lay upon his heaving back, smashed in his furious passage through the woods; and high upon his neck still desperately clung a tiny figure - the body of a mighty warrior, a giant among the Swertings.
Page 661.
We of my house are not of the line of Elendil, though the blood of Númenor is in us. For we reckon back our line to Mardil, the good steward, who ruled in the king’s stead when he went away to war. And that was King Eärnur, last of the line of Anárion, and childless, and he came never back. And the stewards have governed the city since that day, though it was many generations of Men ago.
Page 670.
“Many are my names in many countries,” he said. “Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.”
Page 670.
“For so we reckon Men in our lore, calling them the High, or Men of the West, which were Númenóreans; and the Middle Peoples, Men of the Twilight, such as are the Rohirrim ad their kin that dwell still far in the North; and the Wild, the Men of Darkness.”
Pages 678-679.
We are become Middle Men, of the Twilight, but with memory of other things. For as the Rohirrim do, we now love war and valour as things good in themselves, both a sport and an end; and though we still hold that a warrior should have more skills and knowledge than only the craft of weapons and slaying, we esteem a warrior, nonetheless, above men of other crafts.
Page 679.
“It strikes me that folk takes their peril with them into Lórein, and finds it there because they’ve brought it.”
Page 680.
Gollum had a claim on him now. The servant has a claim on the master for service, even service in fear.
Page 687.
An odour of rottenness filled the air.
Page 704.
He felt the Ring resisting him, dragging at the chain about his neck.
Page 704.
I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into.
Page 712.
I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales.
Page 712.
It it’s the only way, we must take it.
Page 717.
Great horns she had, and behind her short stalk-like neck was her huge swollen belly, a vast bloated bag, swaying and sagging between her legs; its great bulk was black, blotched with livid marks, but the belly underneath was pale and luminous and gave forth a stench. Her legs were bent, with great knobbed joints high above her back, and hairs that stuck out like steel spines, and at each leg’s end there was a claw.
Page 725.
He bent his own neck and put the chain upon it, and at once his head was bowed to the ground with the weight of the Ring, as if a great stone had been strung on him. But slowly, as if the weight became less, or new strength grew in him, he raised his head, and then with a great effort got to his feet and found that he could walk and bear his burden.
Page 733.
The world changed, and a single moment of time was filed with an hour of thought. At once he was aware that bearing was sharpened while sight was dimmed, but otherwise that in Shelob’s lair. All things about him now were not dark but vague; while he himself was there in a grey hazy world, alone, in a small black solid rock, and the Ring, weighing down his left hand, was like an orb of hot gold. He did not feel invisible at all, but horribly and uniquely visible; and he knew that somewhere an Eye was searching for him.
Page 734.
The Ring had grown greatly in power as it approached the places of its forging; but one thing it did not confer, and that was courage.
Pages 734-735.
3. The Return of the King
The fashion of Minas Tirith was such that it was built on seven levels, each delved into the hill, and a bout each was set a wall, and in each wall was a gate. But the gates were not set in a line: the Great Gate in the City Wall was at the east point of the circuit, but the next face half south, and the third half north, and so to and fro upwards; so that the paved way that climbed towards the Citadel turned first this way and then that across the face of the hill.
Page 751.
‘Little service, no doubt, will so great a lord of Men think to find in a hobbit, a Halfling from the northern Shire, yet such as it is, I will offer it, in payment of my debt.’ Twitching aside his grey cloak, Pippin drew forth his small sword and laid it at Denethor’s feet.
Pages 755-756.
Denethor looked indeed much more like a great wizard than Gandalf did, more kingly, beautiful, and powerful; and older. Yet by a sense other than sight Pippin perceived that Gandalf had the greater power and the deeper wisdom, and a majesty that was veiled. And he was older, far older. ‘How much older?’ he wondered, and then he thought how odd it was that he had never thought about it before. Treebeard had said something about wizards, but even then he had not thought of Gandalf as one of them. What was Gandalf? In what far time and place did he come into the world, and when would he leave it?
Page 757.
The rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care.
Page 758.
Hope and memory shall live still in some hidden valley where the grass is green.
Page 776.
I am no warrior tall and dislike any thought of battle; but waiting on the edge of one that I can’t escape is worst of all.
Page 776.
Do not spoil the wonder with haste!
Page 776.
‘I must take new counsel for myself and my kindred. We must ride our own road, and no longer in secret. For me the time of stealth has passed. I will ride east by the swiftest way, and I will take the Paths of the Dead.’
Page 779.
‘Sauron has not forgotten Isildur and the sword of Elendil. Now in the very hour of his great designs the heir of Isildur and the Sword and revealed; for I showed the blade re-forged to him. He is not so mighty yet that he is above fear, nay, doubt ever gnaws him.’
Page 780.
‘We must press our Enemy and no longer wait upon him for the move. See my friends, when I had mastered the Stone, I learned many things.’ A grave peril I saw coming unlooked-for upon Gondor from the South that will draw off great strength from the defence of Minas Tirith.’
Page 780.
‘The living have never used that road since the coming of the Rohirrim,’ said Aragorn, ‘for it is closed to them. But in this dark hour the heir of Isildur may use it, if he dare.’
Page 781.
The Dead awaken;
for the hour has come for the oathbreakers;
at the Stone of Erech they shall stand again
and hear there a horn in the hills ringing.
Whose shall the horn be? Who shall call them
from the grey twilight, the forgotten people?
The heir of him to whom the oath they swore.
From the North shall he come, need shall drive him:
he shall pass the Door to the Paths of the Dead.
Page 781.
‘The oath that they broke was to fight against Sauron, and they must fight therefore, if they are to fulfil it. For at Erech there stands yet a black stone that was brought, it was said, from Númenor by Isildur; and it was set upon a hill, and upon it the King of the Mountains swore allegiance to him in the beginning of the realm of Gondor. But when Sauron returned and grew in might again, Isildur summoned the Men of the Mountains to fulfil their oath and they would not: for they had worshipped Sauron in the Dark Years.
‘Then Isildur said to their king: “Thou shalt be the last king. And if the West prove mightier than the Back Master, this curse I lay upon thee and they folk: to rest never until your oath is fulfilled. For this war will last through years uncounted, and you shall be summoned once again ere the end.” And they fled before the wrath of Isildur, and did not dare to go forth to war on Sauron’s part; and they hid themselves in secret places in the mountains and had no dealings with other men, but slowly dwindled in the barren hills. And the terror of the Sleepless Dead lies about the Hill of Erech and all places where that people lingered. But that way I must go, since there are none living to help me.’
Page 782.
There was not a heart among them that did not quail, unless it were the heart of Legolas of the Elves, for whom the ghosts of Men have no terror.
Page 786.
‘Here is a thing unheard of!’ he said. ‘An Elf will go underground and a Dwarf dare not!’
Page 786.
‘The Dead are following,’ said Legolas. ‘I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following.’
Page 788.
The way is shut, his voice said again. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it, until the time comes. The way is shut.
Page 798.
For it is before the walls of Minas Tirith that the doom of our time will be decided.
Page 799.
‘In the morning counsels are vest, and night changes many thoughts.’
Page 800.
‘So we come to it in the end,’ he said: ‘the great battle of our time, in which many things shall pass away.’
Page 801.
‘I offered you my sword. I do not want to be parted from you like this, Théoden King. And as all my friends have gone to the battle, I should be ashamed to stay behind.’
Page 801.
A shaft of white light stabbed upwards. The Nazgúl gave a long wailing cry and swerved away; and with that the four others wavered, and then rising in swift spirals they passed away eastward vanishing into the lowering cloud above.
Page 810.
Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend. It can be so, sometimes.
Page 815.
The enemy was flinging into the City all the heads of those who had fallen fighting at Osgiliath, or on the Rammas, or in the fields. They were grim to look on; for though some were crushed and shapeless, and some had been cruelly hewn, yet many had features that could be told, and it seemed that they had died in pain; and all were branded with the foul token of the Lidless Eye. But marred and dishonoured as they were, it often chanced that thus a man would see again the face of someone that he had known, who had walked proudly once in arms, or tilled the fields, or ridden in upon a holiday from the green vales in the hills.
Page 822-823.
Whatever may now betide in war, my line too is ending, even the House of the Stewards has failed.
Page 824.
Gandalf took command of the last defence of the City of Gondor.
Page 824.
The drums rolled louder. Fires leaped up. Great engines crawled across the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest-tree a hundred feet in length, swinging on might chains. Long had it been gorging in the dark smithies of Mordor, and its hideous head, founded of black steel, was shaped in the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of ruin lay. Grond they named it, in memory of the Hammer of the Underworld of old. Great beasts drew it, orcs surrounded it, and behind walked mountain-trolls to wield it.
Page 828.
Thrice the great ram boomed. And suddenly upon the last stroke the Gate of Gondor broke. As if stricken by some blasting spell it burst asunder: there was a flash of searing lightning, and the doors tumbled in riven fragments to the ground.
Page 829.
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! He had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
Page 829.
Oaths ye have taken: now fulfil them all, to lord and land and league of friendship!
Page 836.
Forth now, and fear no darkness!
Page 836.
Now silently the host of Rohan moved forward into the field of Gondor, pouring in slowly but steadily, like the rising tide through breaches in a dike that men have thought secure. But the mind and will of the Black Captain were bent wholly on the falling city, and as yet no tiding s came to him waring that his designs held any flaw.
Page 837.
Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden!
Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
Page 838.
The blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.
Page 838.
All the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.
Page 838.
‘Come not between a Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay they in they turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where they flesh shall be devoured, and they shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.’
A sword rang as it was drawn. ‘Do what ho will; but I will hinder it, if I may.’
‘Hinder me? Thou fool! No living man may hinder me!’
Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. I seemed that Dernhelm laughed and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. ‘But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am. Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.’
Page 841.
Tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her. The sword broke sparkling into many shards. The crown rolled away with a clang. Éowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe. But lo! The mantle and hauberk were empty, shapeless they lay neo on the ground, torn and tumbled: and a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died, and was swallowed up and was never heard again in that age of the world.
Page 842.
‘Farewell, Master Holbytla!’ he said. ‘My body is broken. I go to my fathers. And even in their mighty company I shall not now be ashamed. I felled the black serpent. A grim morn, and a glad day, and a golden sunset!’
Page 842.
Great heart will not be denied. Live now in blessedness; and when you sit in peace with your pipe, think of me.
Page 842-843.
‘Hail, King of the Mark!’ he said. ‘Ride now to victory! Bid Éowyn farewell!’ And so he died, and knew not that Éowyn lay near him. And those who stood by wept, crying: ‘Théoden King! Théoden King!’
Page 843.
‘Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world’s ending!’
Page 844.
At length Éomer and Aragorn met in the midst of the battle, and they leaned on their swords and looked on one another and were glad.
Page 848.
The Lord is out of his mind, I think. I am afraid he will kill himself, and kill Faramir too.
Page 850.
‘Come hither!’ he cried to his servants. ‘Come, if you are not all recreant!’ Then two of them ran up the steps to him. Swiftly he snatched a torch from the hand of the one and sprang back into the house. Before Gandalf could hinder him he thrust the brand amid the fuel, and at once it crackled and roared into flame.
Then Denethor leaped upon the table, and standing there wreathed in fire and smoke he took up the staff of his stewardship that lay at his feet and broke it on his knee. Casting the pieces into the blaze he bowed and laid himself on the table, clasping the palantir with both hands upon his breast. Ad it was said that ever after, if any man looked in that Stone, unless he had a great strength of will to turn it to other purpose, he saw only two aged hands withering in flame.
Page 854.
‘It’s not always a misfortune being overlooked.’
Page 859.
Soon the word had gone out from the House that the king was indeed come among them, and after war he brought healing; and the news ran through the City.
Page 866.
She, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours. Yet she was doomed to wait upon an old man, whom she loved as a father, and watch him falling into a mean dishonoured dotage; and her part seemed to her more ignoble than that of the staff he leaned on.
Page 867.
It is the way of my people to use light words at such times and say less than they mean. We fear to say too much. It robs us of the right words when a jest is out of place.
Page 870.
It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose; you must start somewhere and have some roots.
Page 870.
They named him Elfstone, because of the green stone that he wore, and so the name which it was foretold at his birth that he should bear was chosen for him by his own people.
Page 871.
‘”Hear now the words of the Heir of Isildur! Your oath is fulfilled. Go back and trouble not the valleys ever again! Depart and be in rest!”
‘And thereupon the King of the Dead stood out before the host and broke his spear and cast it down. Then he bowed low and turned way; and swiftly the whole grey host drew off and vanished like a mist that is driven back by a sudden wind; and it seemed to me that awoke form a dream.’
Page 876-877.
‘Victory cannot be achieve by arms, whether you sit here to endure siege after siege, or march out to be overwhelmed beyond the Rifer. You have only a choice of evils; and prudence would counsel you to strengthen such strong places as you have, and there await the onset; for so shall the time before your end be made a little longer.’
Page 878.
‘Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary.’
Page 879.
It can be used only by one master alone, not by many; and he will look for a time of strife, ere one of the great among us makes himself master and puts down the others. In that time the Ring might aid him, if he were sudden.
Page 879.
We have not the Ring. In wisdom or great folly it has been sent away to be destroyed, lest it destroy us. Without it we cannot by force defeat his force. But we must at all costs keep his Eye from his true peril. We cannot achieve victory by arms, but by arms we can give the Ring-bearer his only change, frail though it be.
Page 880.
We must push Sauron to his last throw. We must call out his hidden strength, so that he shall empty his land. We must march out to meet him at once. We must make ourselves the gait, though his jaws should close on us.
Page 880.
The force that we lead east need not be great enough for any assault in earnest upon Mordor, so long as it be great enough to challenge battle.
Page 881.
‘Come forth!’ they cried. ‘Let the Lord of the Black Land come forth! Justice shall be done upon him. For wrongfully he has made war upon Gondor and wrested its lands. Therefore the King of Gondor demands that he should atone for his evils, and depart them for ever. Come forth!’
Page 888.
Even as the Captains were about to turn away, the silence was broken suddenly. There came a long rolling of great drums like thunder in the mountains, and then a braying of horns that shook the very stones and stunned men’s ears. And thereupon the door of the Black Gate was thrown open with a great clang, and out of it there came an embassy from the Dark Tower.
Page 888.
There was fighting in the tower, the orcs must be at war among themselves, Shagrat and Gorbag had come to blows.
Page 899.
He ran forward to the climbing path, and over it. At once the road turned left and plunged steeply down. Sam had crossed into Mordor.
Page 899.
His thought turned to the Ring, but there was no comfort there, only dread and danger. No sooner had he come in sight of Mount Doom, burning far away, than he was aware of a change in his burden. As it drew near the great furnaces where , in the deeps of time, it had been shaped and forged, the Ring’s power grew, and it became more fell, untameable sage by some mighty will.
Page 900.
Already the Ring tempted him, gnawing at his will and reason.
Page 901.
It was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden.
Page 901.
Softly, to his own surprise, there at the vain end of his long journey and his grief, moved by what thought in his heart he could not tell. Same began to sing. … Then suddenly new strength rose in him, and his voice rang out.
Page 908.
Now it had come to it, Same felt reluctant to give up the Ring and burden his master with it again.
Page 911.
As we’re in Mordor, we’d best dress up Mordor-fashion.
Page 912.
The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don’t think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted then and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures. Foul waters and foul meats they’ll take, if they can get no getter, but not poison.
Page 914.
The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it’s no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won’t come.
Page 914.
It was the morning of the fifteenth of March, and over the Vale of Anduin the sun was rising above the eastern shadow, and the south-west wind was blowing. Théoden lay dying on the Pelennor Fields.
Page 919.
Neither he nor Frodo knew anything of the great slave-worked fields away south in this wide realm, beyond the fumes of the Mountain by the dark sad waters of Lake Núrnen; nor of the great roads that ran away east and south to tributary lands, from which the soldiers of the Tower brought long waggon-trains of goods and booty and fresh slaves. Her in the northward regions were the mines and forges, and the musterings of long-planned war; and here the Dark Power, moving its armies like pieces on the board, was gathering them together.
Page 923.
Even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to die, it was turned to a new strength. Sam’s plain hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness not endless barren miles could subdue.
Page 934.
So the desperate journey went on as the Ring went south and the banners of the kings rode north. For the hobbits each day, each mile, was ore bitter than the one before, as their strength lessened and the land became more evil.
Page 935.
The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die. It did not satisfy desire, and at times Sam’s mind was filled with the memories of food, and the longing for simple bread and meats. And yet this waybread of the Elves had a potency that increased as travellers relied on it along and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the will, and it gage strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond the measure of mortal kind.
Page 936.
As the Mountain drew near the air was ever mirky, while out from the Dark Tower there crept the Veils of Shadow that Sauron wove about himself
Page 936.
Hardest of all it was to part with his cooking-gear. Tears welled in his eyes at the thought of casting it away.
Page 937.
He carried all the gear away to one of the many gaping fissures that scored the land and threw them in. The clatter of his precious pans as they fell down into the dark was like a death-knell to his heart.
Page 938.
The way back, if there is one, goes pasty the Mountain.
Page 939.
Worst of all, the air was full of fumes; breathing was painful and difficult, and a dizziness came on them, so that they staggered and often fell. And yet their wills did not yield, andn they struggled on.
Page 940.
‘I said I’d carry him, if it broke my back,’ he muttered, ‘nd I will!’
‘Come, Mr. Frodo!’ he cried. ‘I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you and it as well.’
Page 940.
‘How far is there to go?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Sam, ‘because I don’t know where we’re going.’
Page 941.
The Mountain standing ominous and alone had looked taller than it was.
Page 941.
As he looked up he would have given a shout, if his parched throat had allowed him; for amid the rugged humps and shoulders above him he saw plainly a path or road. It climbed like a rising girdle from the west and wound snakelike about the Mountain, until before it went round out of view it reached to foot of the cone upon its eastern side.
Page 941.
The path was not put there for the purposes of Sam. He did not know it, but he was looking at Sauron’s Road from Barad-dûr the Sammath Naur, the Chambers of Fire.
Page 942.
The Eye was not turned to them; it was gazing north to where the Captains of the West stood at bay, and thither all its malice was now bent.
Page 942.
The path climbed on soon it bent again and with a last eastward course passed in a cutting along the face of the cone and came to the dark door in the Mountain’s side, the door of the Sammath Naur.
Page 945.
He was come to the heart of the realm of Sauron and the forges of his ancient might, greatest in Middle-earth; all other powers were here subdued.
Page 945.
Then Frodo stirred and spoke with a clear voice, indeed with a voice clearer and more powerful than Sam had ever heard him use, and it rose above the throb and turmoil of Mount Doom, ringing in the roof and walls.
‘I have come,’ he said. ‘But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!’ And suddenly, as he set it on his finer, he vanished from Sam’s sight.
Page 945.
As Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very heart of his realm, the Power in Barad-dûr was shaken, and the Tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made, and the magnitude of his own folly was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices of his enemies were at last laid bare.
Page 946.
Gollum on the edge of the abyss was fighting like a mad thing with an unseen foe.
Page 946.
Suddenly Sam saw Gollum’s long hands draw upwards to his mouth; his white fangs gleamed, and then snapped as they bit. Frodo gave a cry, and there he was, fallen upon his knees at the chasm’s edge. But Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. It shone now as if verily it was wrought of living fire.
‘Precious, precious, precious!’ Gollum cried. ‘Oh Precious! O my Precious!’ And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on this prize, he stepped too far, toppled wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail Precious, and he was gone.
Page 946.
Towers fell and mountains slid; walls crumbled and melted, crashing down; vast spires of smoke and spouting steams went billowing up, up, until they toppled like an overwhelming wave, and its wild crest curled and came foaming down upon the land.
Page 947.
In all that ruin of the worlds for the moment he felt only joy, great joy. The burden was gone.
Page 947.
Remember Gandalf’s words: Even Gollum may have something yet to do? But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the Ring. The Quest would have been in vain, even at the bitter end. So let us forgive him!
Page 947
The Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled; the Black Gate was hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds, there came a drumming ruble a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise.
Page 949.
The creatures of Sauron, orc or troll or beast spell-enslaved, ran hither and thither mindless; and some slew themselves, or cast themselves in pits, or fled wailing back to hide in holes and dark lightless places far from hope.
Page 949.
‘I am glad that you are here with me,’ said Frodo. ‘Here at the end of all things, Sam.’
Page 950.
We are lost in ruin and downfall, and there is no escape.
Page 950.
In a dream, not knowing what fate had befallen them, the wanderers were lifted up and borne far away out of the darkness and the fire.
Page 951.
As a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up, and laughing he sprang from his bed.
Page 952.
In Gondor the New Year will always now begin upon the twenty-fifth of March when Sauron fell.
Page 952.
It was the Eve of May, and the King would enter his gates with the rising of the Sun.
Page 957.
It is a thing passing strange to me that the healing hand should also wield the sword.
Page 958.
The world is full enough of hurts and mischances without wars to multiply them.
Page 958.
It is not always good to be healed in body. Nor is it always evil to die in battle, even in bitter pain.
Pages 958-959.
Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West,
For your King shall come again,
and he shall dwell among you
all the days of your life.
Page 963.
‘Do not scorn pity that is the gift of a gentle heart.’
Page 964.
‘By the labour and valour of many I have come into my inheritance. In token of this I would have the ring-bearer bring the crown to me, and let Mithrandir set it upon my head, if he will; for he has been the mover of all that has been accomplished, and this is his victory.’
Pages 967-968.
‘Now come the days of the King, and may they be blessed.’
Page 968.
‘Now come the days of the King, and may they be blessed.’
Page 968.
‘The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is our task to order its beginning and to preserve what may be preserved. For though much has been saved, much must now pass away; and the power of the Three Rings also is ended. And all the lands that you see, and those that lie round about them, shall be dwellings of Men. For the time comes of the Dominion of Men, and the Elder Kindred shall fade or depart.’
Page 971.
‘The Third Age was my age. I was the Enemy of Sauron; and my work is finished. I shall go soon. The burden must lie now upon you and your kindred.’
Page 971.
Then Aragorn turned, and there was a stony slope behind him running down from the skirts of the snow; and as he looked he was aware that alone there in the waste a growing thing stood. And he climbed to it, and saw that out of the very of the snow there sprang a sapling tree no more than three foot high. Already it had put forth young leaves long and shapely, dark above and silver beneath, and upon its slender crown it bore one small cluster of flowers, whose white petals shone like the sunlit snow.
Page 971.
‘The line of Nimloth is older far than your line, King Elessar.’
Page 972.
Elrond surrendered the sceptre, and laid the hand of his daughter in the hand of the King, and together they went up into the High City, and all the stars flowered in the sky. And Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undómiel in the City of the Kings u[on the day of Mid-summer.
Pages 972-973.
‘I have wished thee joy ever since first I saw thee. It heals my heart to see thee now in bliss.’
Page 977.
‘The New Age begins,’ said Gandalf, ‘and in this age it may well prove that the kingdoms of Men shall outlast you.’
Page 979.
‘Here then at last comes the ending of the Fellowship of the Ring.’
Page 981.
The world is changing; I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air.
Page 981.
‘What’s become of my ring, Frodo, that you took away?’
‘I have lost it, Bilbo dear,’ said Frodo. ‘I got rid of it, you know.’
‘What a pity!’ said Bilbo. ‘I should have liked to see it again. But no, how silly of me! That’s what you went for, wasn’t it: to get rid of it?’
Page 987.
The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.
Page 987.
‘I wonder, Frodo my dear fellow, if you would very much mind tidying things up a bit before you go? Collet all my notes and papers, and my diary too, and take them with you, if you will. You see, I haven’t much time for the selection and the arrangement and all that. Get Sam to help.’
Page 988.
‘There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?’
Page 989.
‘There is a king again, Barliman. He will soon be turning his mind this way.’
‘Then the Greenway will be opened again, and his messengers will come north, and there will be comings and goings, and the evil things will be driven out of the waste-lands. Indeed the waste in time will be waste no longer, and there will be people and fields where once there was wilderness.’
Page 993.
You’ve come back changed from your travels, and you look now like folk as can deal with troubles out of hand.
Page 995.
‘I am with you at present,’ said Gandalf,’ but soon I shall not be. I am not coming to the Shire. You msut settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights nor to help folk to do so.’
Page 996.
‘Well here we are, just the four of us that started out together,’ said Merry. ‘We have left all the rest behind, one after another. It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded.’
‘Not to me’ said Frodo. ‘To me it feels more like falling asleep again.’
Page 997.
Looking with dismay up the road towards Bag End they saw a tall chimney of brick in the distance. It was pouring out black smoke into the evening air.
Page 1004.
‘No hobbit has ever killed another on purpose in the Shire, and it is not to begin now. And nobody is to be killed at all, if it can be helped.’
Page 1006.
I will not have him slain. It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing.
Page 1019.
Suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman’s back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane. Before Frodo could recover or speak a word, three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead.
1020.
Sam Gamgee married Rose Cotton in the spring of 1420 … and they came and lived at Bag End.
Page 1024.
Frodo dropped quietly out of all the doings of the Shire, and Sam was pained to notice how little honour he had in his own country.
Page 1025.
``I have quite finished,`` Sam, said Frodo. ``The last pages are for you.``
Page 1027.
‘I think I am quite ready to go on another journey. Are you coming?’
‘Yes, I am coning,’ said Frodo. ‘The Ring-bearers should go together.’
Page 1029.
`I tried to save he Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them. But you are my heir: all that I had and might have had I leave to you.
Page 1029.
‘Here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.’
Page 1030.
Appendix A
The Third Age was held to have ended when the Three Rings passed away in September 3021.
Page 1033.
To the children of Elrond a choice was also appointed: to pass with him from the circles of the world; or it they remained to become mortal and die in Middle-earth. For Elrond, therefore, all chances of the War of the Ring were fraught with sorrow.
Page 1035.
One command had been laid upon the Nứmenóreans, the `Ban of the Valar`: they were forbidden to sail west out of sight of their own shores or to attempt to set foot on the Undying Lands.
Page 1035.
When Ar-Pharazȏn set foot upon the shores of Aman the Blessed, the Valar laid down the guardianship and called upon the One, and the world was changed. Nứmenor was thrown down and swallowed in the Sea, and the Undy8ng Lands were removed for ever from the circles of the world. So ended the glory of Nứmenor.
Page 1037.
Sauron was indeed caught in the wreck of Nứmenor, so that the bodily form in which he long had walked perished; but he fled back to Middle-earth, a spirit of hatred borne upon a dark wind. He was unable ever again to assume a form that seemed fair to men, but became black and hideous, and his power thereafter was through terror alone.
Page 1037.
In the Last Alliance that was made against him Sauron was overthrown and the One Ring was taken from him. So ended the Second Age.
Page 1037.
At the Grey Havens dwelt Cirdan the Shipwright, and some say he dwells there still, until the Last Ship sets sail into the West.
Page 1039.
It was the pride and wonder of the Northern Line that, thought their power departed and their people dwindled, through all the many generations the succession was unbroken from father to son.
Page 1044.
Aragorn indeed lived to be two hundred and ten years old, longer than any of his line since King Arvegil.
Page 1044.
When King Telemnar died the White Tree of Minas Anor also withered and died.
Page 1048.
Minas Anor, which had become the chief city of the realm since the days of King Telemnar, and the residence of the kings, was now renamed Minas Tirith, as the city ever on guard against the evil of Morgul.
Page 1052.
The House of the Stewards was called the House of Hứrin. … The Stewardship became hereditary as a kingship from father to son or nearest kin.
Page 1052.
The Stewards never sat on the ancient throne; and they wore no crown, and held no sceptre. They bore a white rod only as the token of their office; and their banner was white without charge; but the royal banner had been sable, upon which was displayed a white tree in blossom beneath seven stars.
Page 1053.
After Mardil Voronwë, who was reckoned the first of the line, there followed twenty-four Ruling Stewards of Gondor, until the time of Denethor II, the twenty-sixth and last.
Page 1053.
In the last years of Denethor I the race of urks, black orcs of great strength, first appeared out of Mordor, and in 2475 they swept across Ithilien and took Osgiliath.
Page 1053.
Beren welcomed Saruman, and gave to him the keys of Orthanc; and from that year on (2759) Saruman dwelt in Isengard.
Page 1054.
When Belecthor II, the twenty-first Steward, died, the white Tree died also in Minas Tirith: but it was left standing ‘until the King returns’, for no seedling could be found.
Page 1054.
Denethor II was a proud man, tall, valiant, and more kingly than any man that had appeared in Gondor for many lives of men; and he was wise also, and far-sighted, and learned in lore.
Page 1055.
There was little love between Denethor and Gandalf; and after the days of Ecthelion there was less welcome for the Grey Pilgrim in Minas Tirith.
Pages 1055-1056.
The Stone of Minas Tirith as the palantir of Anárion, most close in accord with the one that Sauron possessed.
Page 1056.
Aragorn, being now the Heir of Isildur, was taken with his mother to dwell in the house of Elrond; and Elrond took the place of his father and came to love him as a son of his own. But he was called Estel, that is “Hope”, and his true name and lineage were kept secret at the bidding of Elrond; for the Wise then knew that the Enemy was seeking to discover the heir of Isildur, if any remained upon earth.
Page 1057.
“I am Arwen Elrond’s daughter, and am named also Undómiel.”
Page 1058.
Arwen the Fair, Lady of Imladris and of Lórien, Evenstar of her people, she is of lineage greater than yours, and she has lived in the world already so long that to her you are but as a yearling shoot beside a young birch of many summers.
Page 1059.
For nearly thirty years he laboured in the cause against Sauron; and he became a friend of Gandalf the Wise, from whom he gained much wisdom.
Page 1060.
While the world darkened and fear fell on Middle-earth, s the power of Sauron grew and the Barad-dûr rose ever taller and stronger, Arwen remained in Rivendell, and when Aragorn was abroad, from afar she watched over him in thought; and in hope she made for him a great and kingly standard, such as only one might display who claimed the lordship of the Númenéreans and te inheritance of Elendil.
Page 1061.
At Midsummer in the year of the Fall of Sauron he took the hand of Arwen Undômiel, and they were wedded in the city of the Kings.
Page 1062.
When the Great Ring was unmade and the Three were shorn of their power, then Elrond grew weary at last and forsook Middle-earth, never to return. But Arwen became as a mortal woman, and yet it was not her lot to die until all that she had gained was lost.
Page 1062.
“In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! We are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory. Farewell!”
Page 1063.
She said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved: and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came.
Page 1063.
Eorl became the first King of the Mark, and he chose for his dwelling a green hill before the feet of the White Mountains that were the south-wall of his land. There the Rohirrim lived afterwards as free men under their own kings and laws, but in perpetual alliance with Gondor.
Page 1064.
It was at the crowning of Fréaláf that Saruman appeared, bringing gifts, and speaking great praise of the valour of the Rohirrin. All thought him a welcome guest. Soon after he took up his abode in Isengard. For this, Beren, Steward of Gondor, gave him leave, for Gondor still claimed Isengard as a fortress of its realm, and not part of Rohan. Beren also gave into Saruman’s keeping the keys of Orthanc. That tower no enemy had been able to harm or to enter.
In this way Saruman began to behave as a lord of Men; for at first he held Isengard as a lieutenant of the Steward and warden of the tower. But Fréaláf was as glad as Beren to have it so, and to know that Isengard was in the hands of a strong friend. A friend he long seemed, and maybe in the beginning he was one in truth. Though afterwards there was little doubt in men’s minds that Saruman went to Isengard in hope to find the Stone still there, and with the purpose of building up a power of his own. Certainly after the last White Council (2953) his designs toward Rohan, though he hid them, were evil. He then took Isengard for his own and began to make it a place of guarded strength and fear, as though to rival the Barad-dûr. His friends and servants he drew then from all who hated Gondor and Rohan, whether Men or other creatures more evil.
Page 1067.
Though Sauron had passed, the hatred and evils that he bred had not died, and the King of the West had many enemies to subdue before the White Tree could grow in peace. And wherever King Elassar went with war King Éomer went with him; and beyond the Sea of Rhun and on the far fields of the South the thunder of the cavalry of the Mark was heard, and the White Horse upon Green flew in many winds until Éomer grew old.
Page 1071.
Durin is the name that the Dwarves used for the eldest of the Seven Fathers of their race, and the ancestor of all the kings of the Longbeards.
Page 1071.
The power of Moria endured throughout the Dark Years and the dominion of Sauron, for though Eregion was destroyed and the gates of Moria were shut, the hall so of Khazad-dûm were too deep and strong and filled with a people too numerous and valiant for Sauron to conquer from without.
Page 1071.
The Dwarves delved deep at that time, seeking beneath Barazinbar for mithril, the metal beyond price that was becoming yearly ever harder to win. Thus they roused from sleep a thing of terror that, flying from Thangorodrim, had lain hidden at the foundations of the earth since the coming of the Host of the West: a Balrog of Morgoth. Durin was slain by it, and the year after Nain I, his son; and then the glory of Moria passed, and its people were destroyed or fled far away.
Pages 1071-1072.
To the Great Hall of Thráin, Thrór brought back the Arkenstone, and the and his folk prospered and became rich, and they had the friendship of all Men that dwelt near.
Page 1072.
At last Smaug the Golden, greatest of the dragons of his day, a rose and without earning came against King Thrór and descended on the Mountain in flames. It was not long before all that realm was destroyed, and the town of Dale nearly was ruined and deserted; but Smaug entered into the Great Hall and lay there upon a bed of gold.
Page 1072.
The only power over them that the Rings wielded was to inflame their hearts with a greed of gold and precious things, so that if they lacked them all other good things seemed profitless, and they were filled with wrath and desire for vengeance on all who deprived them.
Page 1076.
At last there came about by chance a meeting between Gandalf and Thorin that changed all the fortunes of the House of Durin, and led to other and greater ends beside. On a time Thorin, returning west from a journey, stayed at Bree for the night. There Gandalf was also. He was on his way to the Shire, which he had not visited for some twenty years. He was weary, and thought to rest there for a while.
Page 1077.
The Dragon was slain by Bard of Esgroth, but there was battle in Dale. For the Orcs came on upon Erebor as soon as they heard of the return of the Dwarves; and they were led by Bolg, son of that Azog whom Dáin slew in his youth. In that first Battle of Dale, Thorin Oakenshield was mortally wounded; and he died and was laid in a tomb under the Mountain with the Arkenstone upon his breast There fell also Fili and Kili, his sister sons. But Dáin Ironfoot, his cousin, who came from the iron Hills to his aid and was also his rightful heir, became the King Dáin II, and the Kingdom under the Mountain was restored, even as Gandalf had desired. Dain proved a great and wise king, and the Dwarves prospered and grew strong again in his day.
Page 1078.
Sauron might have done great evil in the North, if King Dáin and king Brand had not stood in his path.
Page 1078.
When you think of the great Battle of the Pelennor, do not forget the battles in Dale and the valour of Durin’s Folk.
Page 1080.
It was said by Gimli that there are few dwarf-women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need. They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the Dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart. This has given rise to the foolish opinion among Men that there are no dwarf-women, and that the Dwarves ‘grow out of stone.’
Page 1080.
The number of dwarf-men that marry is actually less than one-third. For not all the women take husbands: some desire none; some desire one that they cannot get, and so will have no other. As for the men, very many also do not desire marriage, being engrossed in their crafts.
Page 1080.
Gimli Glóin’s son is renowned … He is named Elf-friend because of the great love that grew between him and Legolas, son of King Thranduil, and because of his reverence for the Lady Galadriel.
Page 1080.
Appendix B
The First Age ended with the Great Battle, in which the Host of Valinor broke Thangorodrim and overthrew Morgoth. Then most of the Noldor returned into the Far West and dwelt in Eressëa within sight of Valinor; and many of the Sindar went over Sea also.
The Second Age ended with the first overthrow of Sauron, servant of Morgoth, and the taking of the One Ring.
The Third Age came to its end in the War of the Ring; but the Fourth Age was not held to have begun until Master Elrond departed, and the time was come for the dominion of Men and the decline of all other ‘speaking-peoples’ in Middle-earth.
Page 1082.
When maybe a thousand years had passed, and the first shadow had fallen on Greenwood the Great, the Istari or Wizards appeared in Middle-earth. It was afterwards said that they came out of the Far West and were messengers sent to contest the power of Sauron, and to unite all those who had the will to resist him; but they were forbidden to match his power with power, or to seek to dominate Elves or Men by force and fear.
They came therefore in the shape of Men though they were never young and aged only slowly, and they had many powers of mind and hand. They revealed their true name to few, but used such names as were given to them.
Page 1085.
Appendix D
Owing to their general interest in genealogy, and to the interest in ancient history which the learned amongst them developed after the War of the Ring, the Shire-hobbits seem to have concerned themselves a good deal with dates; and they even drew up complicated tables showing the relations of their own system with others.
Page 1107.
Appendix F
The language represented in this history by English was the Westron or ‘Common Speech’ of the West-lands of Middle-earth in the Third Age. In the course of that age it had become the native language of nearly all the speaking-peoples (save the Elves) who dwelt within the bounds of the old kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor.
Page 1127.
The Elves far back in the Elder Days became divided into two main branches: the West-elves (the Eldar) and the East-elves.
Page 1127.
The Dúnedain were thus from the beginning far fewer in number than the lesser men among whom they dwelt and whom they ruled, being lords of long life and great power and wisdom.
Page 1129.
The names of nearly all places and persons in the realm of Gondor were of Elvish form and meaning.
Page 1129.
In Gondor whence it came the Westron kept still a more gracious and antique style.
Page 1129.
There is no record of any language peculiar to Hobbits. In ancient days they seem always to have used the languages of Men near whom, or among whom, they lived.
Page 1130.
Hobbits was the name usually applied by the Shire-folk to all their kind. Men called them Halflings and the Elves Periannath. The origin of the word hobbit was by most forgotten. It seems, however, to have been at first a name given to the Harfoots byther Fallohides ad Stoors, and to be a worn-down form of a word preserved more fully in Rohan: holbytla ‘hole-builder’.
Page 1130.
It is said that the Black Speech was devised by Sauron in the Dark Years, and that he had desired to make it the language of all those that served him., but he failed in that purpose.
Page 1131.
The inscription on the Ring was in the ancient Black Speech.
Page 1131.
Trolls therefore took such language as they could master from the Orcs; and in the Westlands the Stone-trolls spoke a debased form of the Common Speech
Page 1132.
In secret (a secret which unlike the Elves, they did not willingly unlock, even to their friends) they used their own strange tongue, changed little by the years; for it had become a tongue of lore rather than a cradle-speech, and they tended it and guarded it as a treasure of the past.
Page 1132.
Their own secret and ‘inner’ names, their true names, the Dwarves have never revealed to anyone of alien race. Not even on their tombs do they inscribe them.
Page 1133.
Hobbits indeed spoke for the most part a rustic dialect, whereas in Gondor and Rohan a more antique language was used, more formal and more terse.
Page 1133.
The more learned and able among the Hobbits had some knowledge of ‘book-knowledge’, as it was termed in the Shire; and they were quick to note and adopt the style of those whom they met.
Page 1133.
To their maid-children Hobbits commonly gave the names of flowers or jewels. To their man-children they usually gave names that had no meaning at all in their daily language.
Page 1135.
In Hobbit-names a was a masculine ending, and o and e were feminine.
Page 1135.