Middle-earth Journeys

Coming to a rise he could see his own Hill in the distance, and he stopped suddenly and said:

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

Gandalf looked at him. "My dear Bilbo!" he said. "Something is the matter with you! You are not the hobbit that you were."

"Take care! I don't care. Don't you worry about me! I am as happy now as I have ever been, and that is saying a great deal. But the time has come. I am being swept off my feet at last," he added, and then in a low voice, as if to himself, he sang softly in the dark:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

"The road goes on for ever," said Pippin; "but I can't without a rest. It is high time for lunch" . . . . "Do Elves live in those woods?" he [Sam] asked.

"Not that I ever heard," said Pippin. Frodo was silent. He too was gazing eastward along the road, as if he had never seen it before. Suddenly he spoke, aloud but as if to himself, saying slowly:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can.
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

"That sounds like a bit of old Bilbo's rhyming," said Pippin. "Or is it one of your imitations? It does not sound altogether encouraging."

"I don't know," said Frood. "It came to me then, as if I was making it up; but I may have heard it long ago. Certainly it reminds me very much of Bilbo in the last years, before he went away. He used often to say there way only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. '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.'"

"I evidently came back by much too straight a road from my trip. I think Gandalf might have shown me round a bit. But then the auction would have been over before I got back, and I should have had even more trouble than I did. Anyway it's too late now; and really I think it's much more comfortable to sit here and hear about it all. The fire's very cosy here, and the food's very good, and there are Elves when you want them. What more could one want?"

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.

Gothmog: Lieutenant to the Lord of the Nazgûl at the Battle of the Pelennor - he took command of the forces of Minas Morgul after the loss of his lord.

Almost nothing is known about Gothmog - in fact, it isn't even possible to say what race of beings he belonged to (see note 1 below). His only recorded action was at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, following the loss of his master: in response to the arrival of the Rohirrim, he called his army's reserve out of Osgiliath and into the main battle. That aside, the details of Gothmog's nature and role must remain in the realms of speculation.

Notes
1. Gothmog is mentioned precisely once in The Lord of the Rings, and we're given absolutely no clues about his race. As second-in-command to the Lord of the Nazgûl himself, he clearly had very great authority over Sauron's forces, and this has led some to suggest that Gothmog was also one of the Nazgûl. This by no means impossible, but it is notable that Frodo and Sam, who saw the Witch-king lead his armies from Minas Morgul, only observed one Nazgûl leading the host.

Others have speculated that Gothmog might have been a Man. We know that the Lieutenant of Barad-dûr was a Man (a descendant of the Black Númenóreans), so it seems perfectly plausible that the Lieutenant of Morgul might come from the same race. What's more, the Witch-king's companions, as seen by Frodo and Sam, do seem to have been Men.

The idea of Gothmog being an Orc seems rather less likely, but even that possibility cannot be dismissed. Ultimately, there's no hard evidence about Gothmog's race.

2. The name Gothmog was originally given to a mighty Balrog of the Elder Days, one of the greatest servants of Morgoth the first Dark Lord. Its meaning is unclear, and several possibilities exist, such as 'Dread Enforcer', 'Voice of Morgoth' or 'Black Master'.