Middle-earth Journeys

I am racking my brains...I know this...

Pippen in battle in front of the Black Gate!

Correct Philipa! Those words open a paragraph which (I believe) beautifully captures the Professor's view of a sentient being's realisation that death has arrived:

"So it ends as I guessed it would" his thought said, even as it fluttered away; and it laughed a little within him ere it fled, almost gay it seemed to be casting off at last all doubt and care and fear.

Thank you Chrissiejane.

Level 1

"It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two...." "And those who have not swords can still die upon them."

It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden, and those who have not swords can still die upon them. Would you have the folk of Gondor gather you herbs only, when the Dark Lord gathers armies? And it is not always good to be healed in body. Nor is it always evil to die in battle, even in bitter pain. Were I permitted, in this dark hour I would choose the latter.

- Eowyn, in the ROTK

I'm not sure I agree with all that, but it's typical of the Professor's beautiful prose, isn't it?

Grief makes night seem darker than it is, and how much pain an a person endure without some sense of futility? Healing takes its course, and there are no shortcuts.

I always thought that Tolkien gave the nicest 'speech' to Eowyn and Faramir. Your turn Bruce.

Merry meet me in the LOTR general discussion thread.

In keeping who said what and where and when from book to movie:
"Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living..Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry."

Well, I thought, it has to be about Minas Tirith, so it's either Gandalf or Faramir speaking.

Oh my lovely Faramir!!!

It's Faramir talking to Frodo and Sam in "The window on the west", describing how Gondor fell into decay and dotage.


Faramir in the film is someone else with the same name.

Quite right Gil. I often think how they just didn't "get" Faramir. Here is a noble man, given to thought and reflection thrust into the fray of the dark days. It still mystifies me why the screenplay writers chose to juxtapose so many key quotes to those who didn't say it. I almost sure that the professor would say, they would not be able to say such things because I know best their characters!
Your go.

Thanks Bruce! up to a point I can understand why Faramir was so altered in the films - he's far too much like Aragorn otherwise and in a film you need the contrast. He becomes more like Boromir, but with the wisdom to overcome his weakness - it makes for a better film. But I don't like it, it's my only real problem with the films.

So who said this: " Indeed the waste in time will be waste no longer, and there will be people and fields where once there was wilderness".

"And 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…"

…"Well, that sounds more hopeful, I’ll allow," said Butterbur. "And it will be good for business, no doubt. So long as he lets Bree alone."

"He will," said Gandalf. "He knows it and loves it."

Spot on Bruce!

I've always liked this scene in the books, although implying that Barliman should have realised that Strider was the king has always seemed a bit harsh to me. After all none of the hobbits knew that while they were in Bree and Strider had been careful NOT to shout out who he was!

Over to you.

Good job Bruce...I was racking my brain on that one although I knew it was said near the end of RotK.