Posted on 03/15/2002 6:54:33 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
I am reading my story. Seems there has been some trouble in town already... Merry has just come back from his walk and has quite a story to tell...
...At that moment they heard a door slam; then feet came running along the passage. Merry came in with a rush followed by Nob. He shut the door hastily, and leaned against it. He was out of breath. They stared at him in alarm for a moment before he gasped: 'I have seen them, Frodo! I have seen them! Black Riders!''Black Riders!' cried Frodo. 'Where?'
'Here. In the village. I stayed indoors for an hour. Then as you did not come back, I went out for a stroll. I had come back again and was standing just outside the light of the lamp looking at the stars. Suddenly I shivered and felt that something horrible was creeping near: there was a son of deeper shade among the shadows across the road, just beyond the edge of the lamplight. It slid away at once into the dark without a sound. There was no horse.'
'Which way did it go?' asked Strider, suddenly and sharply. Merry started, noticing the stranger for the first time. 'Go on!' said Frodo. 'This is a friend of Gandalf's. I will explain later...'
'Behold! You are come to Cerin Amroth,' said Haldir. `For this is the heart of the ancient realm as it was long ago, and here is the mound of Amroth, where in happier days his high house was built. Here ever bloom the winter flowers in the unfading grass: the yellow elanor, and the pale niphredil. Here we will stay awhile, and come to the city of the Galadhrim at dusk.'
Here is the quote from the book that I read first before searching for the quote to paste from Word: (silly to copy and paste without reading it)
"Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth," he [Aragorn] said [to Frodo], "and here my heart dwells ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that will still must tread, you and I. Come with me!" And taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill of Cerin Amroth and came never again as a living man.
Is this a difference in printings/editions, a goof up or what? I guess we need to be careful!
'Never has such a thing happened in my time!' he cried, raising his hands in horror. 'Guests unable to sleep in their beds, and good bolsters ruined and all! What are we coming to?'
'Dark times,' said Strider. 'But for the present you may be left in peace, when you have got rid of us. We will leave at once. Never mind about breakfast: a drink and a bite standing will have to do. We shall be packed in a few minutes.'
Mr. Butterbur hurried off to see that their ponies were got ready, and to fetch them a 'bite'. But very soon he came back in dismay. The ponies had vanished! The stable-doors had all been opened in the night, and they were gone: not only Merry's ponies, but every other horse and beast in the place...
...'The two or three riding-ponies that there were in Bree were stabled in my yard, and they're gone. As for other animals, horses or ponies for draught or what not, there are very few of them in Bree, and they won't be for sale. But I'll do what I can. I'll rout out Bob and send him round as soon as may be.'
'Yes,' said Strider reluctantly, 'you had better do that. I am afraid we shall have to try to get one pony at least. But so ends all hope of starting early, and slipping away quietly! We might as well have blown a horn to announce our departure. That was part of their plan, no doubt.'
'There is one crumb of comfort,' said Merry, 'and more than a crumb, I hope: we can have breakfast while we wait - and sit down to it. Let's get hold of Nob!'
I am off for a bit to tend to my own ponies... Wish I had a Bob!
1) Gandalf's letter which confirms Frodo's trusting of Strider. Though they did move my favorite line "...if by life or death I can save you, I will" to the Council of Elrond and it was much stronger there.
2) Merry and Pippen weren't 'accidental' companions, they were Frodo's best friends and would not let him go without them. That fits in later at the Council when they insist on joining the Fellowship.
3) (and getting ahead) Gimli, Celeborn and Galadriel's exchange when they first meet in Lothlorien. It shows the distrust between the Dwarves and Elves was both ways and how Galadriel started to heal the rift with her kind words and how Gimli starts to fall for her.
And I agree that Strider's "if by my life, or death, I can save you I will" - Is much stronger in Rivendell than it would have been at Bree.
And in my further reading tonight, I am nursing a theory that when Aragorn joins the company, that is when Frodo begins to begins to show leadership, because Aragorn treats him that way. And, perhaps, following Aragorn gives him confidence and security that he has not felt since they started, alone and guideless in the wild.
'Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.'
'But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.'
One of the things that always struck me strange was that Gil-galad never married and had an hier. I mean really. His Uncle (Turgon), Father (Fingon), Grandfather (Fingolfin), GreatUncle (Feanor) & Great-Grandfather (Finwe) have all been killed in the wars against Morgorth and his Lieutenant Sauron. He ruled for 3,514 years and marches off to the biggest war in ages were, when he falls, the Noldor Kingdom in exile also fails.
Was this ever explained in any of the Lost Tales or letters?
Incidentally, Finrod Felagund never married either. He was probably the greatest king of the Noldor of all time, second only to Thingol as a Middle-Earth elf king. (Gil-Galad, becoming king after both of them were dead, can't really compare.) Thanks for quoting those verses, though we're a bit early for them yet. Still, they're beautiful!
Do you suppose it came from spending too much time with whiny socialists at University?
Finrod Felagund was never High King of the Noldor, but I agree he was the best of the Noldor. Honest, couragous, a Great King. He keeps his oath and pays a Debt-of-Honor to Beren, sacrificing his kingdom and even his life to help in a hopeless quest dispite the treats of the sons of Feanor.
I wonder if it may also have something to do with the Doom of Mandros and not wanting to perpetuate the curse on thier children?
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