Middle-earth Journeys
Tolkien Studies
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March 15, TA 3019
15 March 2006 16:43:56Categories: Tolkien Calendar
In the early hours the Witch-king breaks the Gates of the City. Denethor burns himself on a pyre. The horns of the Rohirrim are heard at cockcrow. Battle of the Pelennor. Théoden is slain. Aragorn raises the standard of Arwen.
Frodo and Samwise escape and begin their journey north along the Morgai. Battle under the trees in Mirkwood; Thranduil repels the forces of Dol Guldur. Second assault on Lórien.
"The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" by Alan Lee
Tolkien best speaks for himself on this, perhaps the most important day in The Lord of the Rings. (With gratitude to Writers of Rohan, where this was published first.)
Quote:
Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
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!
. . .
'Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion!' . . .
'Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!' . . .
'But no living man am I!'
. . .
'Forgive me, lord . . . if I broke your command, and yet have done no more in your service than to weep at our parting.'
. . .
'Eowyn, Eowyn! . . . Eowyn, how come you here? What madness or devilry is this? Death, death, death! Death take us all!'
. . .
'Are there no leeches among you? She is hurt, to the death maybe, but I deem that she yet lives.'
. . .
'The Corsairs of Umbar! . . .The Corsairs of Umbar!'
. . .
Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising
I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.
To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking:
Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!
. . .
'Thus we meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor lay between us.' . . .'Yet twice blessed is help unlooked for, and never was a meeting of friends more joyful.'
. . .
'Are you going to bury me?'
. . .
'Alas! If he should die. Would that there were kings in Gondor, as there were once upon a time, they say! For it is said in old lore: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known.'
. . .
'Verily, for in the high tongue of old I am Elessar, the Elfstone, and Envinyatar, the Renewer. . . But Strider shall be the name of my house, if that be ever established. In the high tongue it will not sound so ill, and Telcontar I will be and all the heirs of my body'
. . .
When the black breath blows
and death's shadow grows
and all lights pass,
come athelas! Come athelas!
Life to the dying
In the king's hand lying!
. . .
'For who would lie idle when the king has returned?'
. . .
'But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?'
. . .
'It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not, I am glad that I know about them, a little.'
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!
. . .
'Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion!' . . .
'Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!' . . .
'But no living man am I!'
. . .
'Forgive me, lord . . . if I broke your command, and yet have done no more in your service than to weep at our parting.'
. . .
'Eowyn, Eowyn! . . . Eowyn, how come you here? What madness or devilry is this? Death, death, death! Death take us all!'
. . .
'Are there no leeches among you? She is hurt, to the death maybe, but I deem that she yet lives.'
. . .
'The Corsairs of Umbar! . . .The Corsairs of Umbar!'
. . .
Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising
I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.
To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking:
Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!
. . .
'Thus we meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor lay between us.' . . .'Yet twice blessed is help unlooked for, and never was a meeting of friends more joyful.'
. . .
'Are you going to bury me?'
. . .
'Alas! If he should die. Would that there were kings in Gondor, as there were once upon a time, they say! For it is said in old lore: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known.'
. . .
'Verily, for in the high tongue of old I am Elessar, the Elfstone, and Envinyatar, the Renewer. . . But Strider shall be the name of my house, if that be ever established. In the high tongue it will not sound so ill, and Telcontar I will be and all the heirs of my body'
. . .
When the black breath blows
and death's shadow grows
and all lights pass,
come athelas! Come athelas!
Life to the dying
In the king's hand lying!
. . .
'For who would lie idle when the king has returned?'
. . .
'But who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?'
. . .
'It is best to love first what you are fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and not a gaffer could tend his garden in what he calls peace but for them, whether he knows about them or not, I am glad that I know about them, a little.'
Images © "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" by Alan Lee.