## The Return of the King highlights 🔹 *parent* [[❞ The Return of the King|The Return of the King]] 🔸 *author* [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] > [!caption-left] >> (thumb:: ) >> The Return of the King ### Metadata **title**:: The Return of the King highlights **author**:: J.R.R. Tolkien **category**:: books/highlights **image_url**:: "https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41KGl2FqeAL._SL200_.jpg" **cover**:: [cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41KGl2FqeAL._SL200_.jpg) **modified**:: Jun 15, 2024 ### Highlights **Added November 16, 2024 at 11:58 PM** [Location 1193](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1193) 🟦 > *For a while the king sat silent. At last he spoke. ‘So we come to it in the end,’ he said: ‘the great battle of our time, in which many things shall pass away. But at least there is no longer need for hiding. We will ride the straight way and the open road and with all our speed. The muster shall begin at once, and wait for none that tarry. Have you good store in Minas Tirith? For if we must ride now in all haste, then we must ride light, with but meal and water enough to last us into battle.’* ^719695547 [Location 1266](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1266) 🟦 > *‘Thank you indeed!’ said Merry. ‘Thank you, sir, though I do not know your name.’ ‘Do you not?’ said the Rider softly. ‘Then call me Dernhelm.’* ^719695548 [Location 1464](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1464) 🟧 > *‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘is there any hope? For Frodo, I mean; or at least mostly for Frodo.’ Gandalf put his hand on Pippin’s head. ‘There never was much hope,’ he answered. ‘Just a fool’s hope, as I have been told.* ^720658332 [Location 1480](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1480) 🟧 > *‘Yet my heart guessed that Frodo and Gollum would meet before the end. For good, or for evil. But of Cirith Ungol I will not speak tonight. Treachery, treachery I fear; treachery of that miserable creature. But so it must be. Let us remember that a traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend. It can be so, sometimes. Good night!’* ^720658333 [Location 1501](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1501) 🟧 > *Then all were silent. But at length Faramir said: ‘I do not oppose your will, sire. Since you are robbed of Boromir, I will go and do what I can in his stead – if you command it.’ ‘I do so,’ said Denethor. ‘Then farewell!’ said Faramir. ‘But if I should return, think better of me!’ ‘That depends on the manner of your return,’ said Denethor. Gandalf it was that last spoke to Faramir ere he rode east. ‘Do not throw your life away rashly or in bitterness,’ he said. ‘You will be needed here, for other things than war. Your father loves you, Faramir, and will remember it ere the end. Farewell!’* ^720658334 [Location 1536](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1536) 🟧 > *Denethor laughed bitterly. ‘Nay, not yet, Master Peregrin! He will not come save only to triumph over me when all is won. He uses others as his weapons. So do all great lords, if they are wise, Master Halfling. Or why should I sit here in my tower and think, and watch, and wait, spending even my sons? For I can still wield a brand.’* ^720658335 [Location 1541](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1541) 🟧 > *‘Yet now under the Lord of Barad-dûr the most fell of all his captains is already master of your outer walls,’ said Gandalf. ‘King of Angmar long ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazgûl, a spear of terror in the hand of Sauron, shadow of despair.’* ^720658336 [Location 1555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1555) 🟧 > *‘Some have accused you, Mithrandir, of delighting to bear ill news,’ said Denethor, ‘but to me this is no longer news: it was known to me ere nightfall yesterday. As for the sortie, I had already given thought to it. Let us go down.’* ^720658337 [Location 1645](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1645) 🟧 > *‘Comfort me not with wizards!’ said Denethor. ‘The fool’s hope has failed. The Enemy has found it, and now his power waxes; he sees our very thoughts, and all we do is ruinous.* ^720658338 [Location 1653](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1653) > *Prince of Dol Amroth in his shining mail. For he and his knights still held themselves like lords in whom the race of Númenor ran true. Men that saw them whispered saying: ‘Belike the old tales speak well; there is Elvish blood in the veins of that folk, for the people of Nimrodel dwelt in that land once long ago.’ And then one would sing amid the gloom some staves of the Lay of Nimrodel, or other songs of the Vale of Anduin out of vanished years.* ^720658339 [Location 1668](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1668) 🟧 > *‘Why? Why do the fools fly?’ said Denethor. ‘Better to burn sooner than late, for burn we must. Go back to your bonfire! And I? I will go now to my pyre. To my pyre! No tomb for Denethor and Faramir. No tomb! No long slow sleep of death embalmed. We will burn like heathen kings before ever a ship sailed hither from the West. The West has failed. Go back and burn!’* ^720658340 [Location 1733](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1733) 🟦 > *Long had it been forging 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.* ^720658341 [Location 1752](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1752) 🟧 > *Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.* ^720658342 [Location 1788](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1788) 🟧 > *‘Nay, nay,’ said Elfhelm, ‘the enemy is on the road not in the hills. You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods: thus they talk together from afar. They still haunt Drúadan Forest, it is said. Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as the beasts. They go not to war with Gondor or the Mark; but now they are troubled by the darkness and the coming of the orcs: they fear lest the Dark Years be returning, as seems likely enough.* ^720658343 [Location 1897](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1897) 🟧 > *‘Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark, sons of Eorl! Foes and fire are before you, and your homes far behind. Yet, though you fight upon an alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths ye have taken: now fulfil them all, to lord and land and league of friendship!’* ^722274636 [Location 1922](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1922) 🟦 > *Then suddenly Merry felt it at last, beyond doubt: a change. Wind was in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far away, in the South the clouds could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: morning lay beyond them.* ^722274637 [Location 1929](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1929) 🟧 > *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!* ^722274638 [Location 1968](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1968) 🟦 > *The great shadow descended like a falling cloud. And behold! it was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank. A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, lingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil. And the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with fell meats, until it grew beyond the measure of all other things that fly; and he gave it to his servant to be his steed. Down, down it came, and then, folding its fingered webs, it gave a croaking cry, and settled upon the body of Snowmane, digging in its claws, stooping its long naked neck.* ^722274639 [Location 1983](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=1983) > *‘Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!’ A cold voice answered: ‘Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.’ A sword rang as it was drawn. ‘Do what you 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. It 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.’* ^722274640 [Location 2040](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2040) 🟧 > *‘Théoden King! Théoden King!’ But Éomer said to them: Mourn not overmuch! Mighty was the fallen, meet was his ending. When his mound is raised, women then shall weep. War now calls us!* ^722274641 [Location 2065](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2065) 🟧 > *for Snowmane they dug a grave and set up a stone upon which was carved in the tongues of Gondor and the Mark: Faithful servant yet master’s bane, Lightfoot’s foal, swift Snowmane.* ^722274642 [Location 2085](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2085) 🟦 > *But the horsemen rode eastward to the succour of Éomer: Húrin the Tall, Warden of the Keys, and the Lord of Lossarnach, and Hirluin of the Green Hills, and Prince Imrahil the fair with his knights all about him.* ^722274643 [Location 2111](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2111) 🟧 > *the White Horse ran rippling in the wind. 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!* ^722274644 [Location 2130](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2130) 🟥 > *But before all went Aragorn with the Flame of the West, Andúril like a new fire kindled, Narsil re-forged as deadly as of old; and upon his brow was the Star of Elendil.* ^722274645 > *Note: ==Kindle Fire==* [Location 2423](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2423) 🟧 > *Thus spake Ioreth, wise-woman of Gondor: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.’* ^722709709 [Location 2454](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2454) 🟧 > *‘And if not,’ said Gandalf, ‘I will ride to Lossarnach with Ioreth behind me, and she shall take me to the woods, but not to her sisters. And Shadowfax shall show her the meaning of haste.’* ^722709710 [Location 2472](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2472) 🟧 > *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!* ^725671331 [Location 2513](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2513) > *‘Think you that Wormtongue had poison only for Théoden’s ears? Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor among their dogs? Have you not heard those words before? Saruman spoke them, the teacher of Wormtongue. Though I do not doubt that Wormtongue at home wrapped their meaning in terms more cunning. My lord, if your sister’s love for you, and her will still bent to her duty, had not restrained her lips, you might have heard even such things as these escape them. 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?’* ^725671332 [Location 2551](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2551) 🟧 > *‘Do not be afraid,’ said Aragorn. ‘I came in time, and I have called him back. He is weary now, and grieved, and he has taken a hurt like the Lady Éowyn, daring to smite that deadly thing. But these evils can be amended, so strong and gay a spirit is in him. His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.’* ^725671333 [Location 2571](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2571) 🟧 > *west-mansweed* ^725671334 > *Note: ==How Saurumon came to dominate the Hobbit village, as a controlling interest in the sale of.==* [Location 2591](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2591) 🟥 > *perian,* ^725671335 > *Note: ==Halfling, from the Red Book==* [Location 2597](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2597) 🟥 > *And word went through the City: ‘The King is come again indeed.’ And 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.* ^725671336 [Location 2625](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2625) 🟦 > *‘That is a fair lord and a great captain of men,’ said Legolas. ‘If Gondor has such men still in these days of fading, great must have been its glory in the days of its rising.’ ‘And doubtless the good stone-work is the older and was wrought in the first building,’ said Gimli. ‘It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise.’ ‘Yet seldom do they fail of their seed,’ said Legolas. ‘And that will lie in the dust and rot to spring up again in times and places unlooked-for. The deeds of Men will outlast us, Gimli.’ ‘And yet come to naught in the end but might-have-beens, I guess,’ said the Dwarf. ‘To that the Elves know not the answer,’ said Legolas.* ^726150188 [Location 2673](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2673) 🟧 > *Legolas paused and sighed, and turning his eyes southward softly he sang: Silver flow the streams from Celos to Erui In the green fields of Lebennin! Tall grows the grass there. In the wind from the Sea The white lilies sway, And the golden bells are shaken of mallos and alfirin In the green fields of Lebennin, In the wind from the Sea!* ^726150189 [Location 2697](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2697) 🟦 > *‘Strange indeed,’ said Legolas. ‘In that hour I looked on Aragorn and thought how great and terrible a Lord he might have become in the strength of his will, had he taken the Ring to himself. Not for naught does Mordor fear him. But nobler is his spirit than the understanding of Sauron; for is he not of the children of Lúthien? Never shall that line fail, though the years may lengthen beyond count.’* ^726150190 [Location 2735](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2735) > *‘The Stones of Seeing do not lie, and not even the Lord of Barad-dûr can make them do so. He can, maybe, by his will choose what things shall be seen by weaker minds, or cause them to mistake the meaning of what they see. Nonetheless it cannot be doubted that when Denethor saw great forces arrayed against him in Mordor, and more still being gathered, he saw that which truly is.* ^726701032 > *Note: ==Nature of the rings power.==* [Location 2742](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2742) 🟧 > *‘Then you would have us retreat to Minas Tirith, or Dol Amroth, or to Dunharrow, and there sit like children on sand-castles when the tide is flowing?’ said Imrahil.* ^726701033 [Location 2751](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2751) > *‘Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary. Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.* ^726701034 [Location 2815](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2815) 🟧 > *If the Dark Lord knows so much as you say, Mithrandir, will he not rather smile than fear, and with his little finger crush us like a fly that tries to sting him?’ ‘No, he will try to trap the fly and take the sting,’ said Gandalf. ‘And there are names among us that are worth more than a thousand mail-clad knights apiece. No, he will not smile.’* ^726701035 [Location 2853](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2853) 🟥 > *Ephel Dúath.* ^726701036 > *Note: ==“Mountains of Shadow”==* [Location 2867](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2867) 🟦 > *The day after, being the third day since they set out from Minas Tirith, the army began its northward march along the road.* ^726701037 > *Note: ==Minis Tirith to the Black Gate was more than three days’ ride.==* [Location 2891](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2891) > *Aragorn looked at them, and there was pity in his eyes rather than wrath; for these were young men from Rohan, from Westfold far away, or husbandmen from Lossarnach, and to them Mordor had been from childhood a name of evil, and yet unreal, a legend that had no part in their simple life; and now they walked like men in a hideous dream made true, and they understood not this war nor why fate should lead them to such a pass.* ^726701038 [Location 2925](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2925) 🟦 > *There was a long silence, and from wall and gate no cry or sound was heard in answer. But Sauron had already laid his plans, and he had a mind first to play these mice cruelly before he struck to kill. So it was that, 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.* ^726701039 [Location 2931](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2931) > *The rider was robed all in black, and black was his lofty helm; yet this was no Ringwraith but a living man. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dûr he was, and his name is remembered in no tale; for he himself had forgotten it, and he said: ‘I am the Mouth of Sauron.’ But it is told that he was a renegade, who came of the race of those that are named the Black Númenóreans; for they established their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron’s domination, and they worshipped him, being enamoured of evil knowledge. And he entered the service of the Dark Tower when it first rose again, and because of his cunning he grew ever higher in the Lord’s favour; and he learned great sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron; and he was more cruel than any orc.* ^726701040 [Location 2945](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2945) 🟧 > *‘So!’ said the Messenger. ‘Then thou art the spokesman, old greybeard? Have we not heard of thee at whiles, and of thy wanderings, ever hatching plots and mischief at a safe distance? But this time thou hast stuck out thy nose too far, Master Gandalf; and thou shalt see what comes to him who sets his foolish webs before the feet of Sauron the Great. I have tokens that I was bidden to show to thee – to thee in especial, if thou shouldst dare to come.’ He signed to one of his guards, and he came forward bearing a bundle swathed in black cloths.* ^726701041 [Location 2954](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2954) 🟧 > *‘So you have yet another of these imps with you!’ he cried. ‘What use you find in them I cannot guess; but to send them as spies into Mordor is beyond even your accustomed folly. Still, I thank him, for it is plain that this brat at least has seen these tokens before, and it would be vain for you to deny them now.’* ^726701042 > *Note: ==“Send these imps as spies” gives away that he doesn’t know their purpose.==* [Location 2969](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2969) 🟦 > *West of the Anduin as far as the Misty Mountains and the Gap of Rohan shall be tributary to Mordor, and men there shall bear no weapons, but shall have leave to govern their own affairs. But they shall help to rebuild Isengard which they have wantonly destroyed, and that shall be Sauron’s, and there his lieutenant shall dwell: not Saruman, but one more worthy of trust.’ Looking in the Messenger’s eyes they read his thought. He was to be that lieutenant, and gather all that remained of the West under his sway; he would be their tyrant and they his slaves.* ^726701043 > *Note: ==Mouth of Sauron was meant to replace Saurumon at Isengard==* [Location 2979](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2979) 🟧 > *‘Do not bandy words in your insolence with the Mouth of Sauron!’ he cried. ‘Surety you crave! Sauron gives none. If you sue for his clemency you must first do his bidding. These are his terms. Take them or leave them!’* ^726701044 [Location 2983](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=2983) 🟧 > *‘But as for your terms, we reject them utterly. Get you gone, for your embassy is over and death is near to you. We did not come here to waste words in treating with Sauron, faithless and accursed; still less with one of his slaves. Begone!’* ^726701045 [Location 3013](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3013) 🟧 > *Gorgoroth.* ^726701046 [Location 3018](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3018) 🟧 > *Then Pippin stabbed upwards, and the written blade of Westernesse pierced through the hide and went deep into the vitals of the troll, and his black blood came gushing out. He toppled forward and came crashing down like a falling rock, burying those beneath him. Blackness and stench and crushing pain came upon Pippin, and his mind fell away into a great darkness.* ^726701047 > *Note: ==Pippin slays a troll in one shot.==* [Location 3024](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3024) > *‘The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!’ For one moment more Pippin’s thought hovered. ‘Bilbo!’ it said. ‘But no! That came in his tale, long long ago. This is my tale, and it is ended now. Good-bye!’ And his thought fled far away and his eyes saw no more.* ^726701048 [Location 3096](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3096) > *But as with Narchost and Carchost, the Towers of the Teeth, so here too the vigilance had failed, and treachery had yielded up the Tower to the Lord of the Ringwraiths, and now for long years it had been held by evil things.* ^728682875 [Location 3113](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3113) > *In that hour of trial 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, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.* ^728682876 [Location 3265](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3265) 🟧 > *In western lands beneath the Sun the flowers may rise in Spring, the trees may bud, the waters run, the merry finches sing. Or there maybe ’tis cloudless night and swaying beeches bear the Elven-stars as jewels white amid their branching hair. Though here at journey’s end I lie in darkness buried deep, beyond all towers strong and high, beyond all mountains steep, above all shadows rides the Sun and Stars for ever dwell: I will not say the Day is done, nor bid the Stars farewell.* ^728682877 [Location 3302](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3302) 🟦 > *‘Well, you have now, Sam, dear Sam,’ said Frodo, and he lay back in Sam’s gentle arms, closing his eyes, like a child at rest when night-fears are driven away by some loved voice or hand.* ^728682878 [Location 3381](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3381) 🟦 > *‘No, they eat and drink, Sam. 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 them; 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 better, but not poison. They’ve fed me, and so I’m better off than you. There must be food and water somewhere in this place.’* ^728682879 [Location 3390](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3390) 🟧 > *‘Not till you’ve had a mouthful, Sam,’ said Frodo. ‘I won’t budge. Here, take this elven-cake, and drink that last drop in your bottle! The whole thing is quite hopeless, so it’s no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won’t come.’* ^728682880 [Location 3406](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3406) 🟧 > *‘Gilthoniel, A Elbereth!’ Sam cried. For, why he did not know, his thought sprang back suddenly to the Elves in the Shire, and the song that drove away the Black Rider in the trees. ‘Aiya elenion ancalima!’ cried Frodo once again behind him.* ^728682881 [Location 3499](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3499) 🟦 > *Had they known, they could have reached it quicker, for it was a track that left the main Morgul-road at the western bridge-end and went down by a long stair cut in the rock to the valley’s bottom. It was used by patrols or by messengers going swiftly to lesser posts and strongholds north-away, between Cirith Ungol and the narrows of Isenmouthe, the iron jaws of Carach Angren.* ^728682882 [Location 3540](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3540) > *Frodo sighed and was asleep almost before the words were spoken. Sam struggled with his own weariness, and he took Frodo’s hand; and there he sat silent till deep night fell.* ^728682883 [Location 3543](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3543) > *There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.* ^728682884 [Location 3548](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3548) > *They woke together, hand in hand.* ^728682885 [Location 3561](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3561) > *The Dark Power was deep in thought, and the Eye turned inward, pondering tidings of doubt and danger: a bright sword, and a stern and kingly face it saw, and for a while it gave little thought to other things; and all its great stronghold, gate on gate, and tower on tower, was wrapped in a brooding gloom.* ^728682886 [Location 3591](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3591) 🟦 > *Presently two orcs came into view. One was clad in ragged brown and was armed with a bow of horn; it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind. The other was a big fighting-orc, like those of Shagrat’s company, bearing the token of the Eye. He also had a bow at his back and carried a short broad-headed spear. As usual they were quarrelling, and being of different breeds they used the Common Speech after their fashion.* ^728682887 [Location 3599](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3599) 🟦 > *‘Whose blame’s that?’ said the soldier. ‘Not mine. That comes from Higher Up. First they say it’s a great Elf in bright armour, then it’s a sort of small dwarf-man, then it must be a pack of rebel Uruk-hai; or maybe it’s all the lot together.’* ^728682888 [Location 3614](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3614) 🟧 > *‘You come back,’ shouted the soldier, ‘or I’ll report you!’ ‘Who to? Not to your precious Shagrat. He won’t be captain any more.’ ‘I’ll give your name and number to the Nazgûl,’ said the soldier lowering his voice to a hiss. ‘One of them’s in charge at the Tower now.’* ^728682889 [Location 3630](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3630) 🟧 > *‘I’ll try,’ said Sam, ‘but when I think of that Stinker I get so hot I could shout.’* ^728682890 [Location 3714](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3714) 🟦 > *‘If only they are in a hurry and will let a couple of tired soldiers alone and pass on!’ he thought. And so it seemed that they would. The leading orcs came loping along, panting, holding their heads down. They were a gang of the smaller breeds being driven unwilling to their Dark Lord’s wars; all they cared for was to get the march over and escape the whip.* ^728682891 [Location 3803](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3803) > *But far worse than all such perils was the ever-approaching threat that beat upon them as they went: the dreadful menace of the Power that waited, brooding in deep thought and sleepless malice behind the dark veil about its Throne. Nearer and nearer it drew, looming blacker, like the oncoming of a wall of night at the last end of the world.* ^728682892 [Location 3829](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3829) 🟦 > *The hateful night passed slowly and reluctantly. Such daylight as followed was dim; for here 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.* ^728682893 [Location 3849](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3849) 🟧 > *‘Do you remember that bit of rabbit, Mr. Frodo?’ he said. ‘And our place under the warm bank in Captain Faramir’s country, the day I saw an oliphaunt?’ ‘No, I am afraid not, Sam,’ said Frodo. ‘At least, I know that such things happened, but I cannot see them. No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.’* ^728682894 [Location 3912](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=3912) 🟧 > *‘Come, Mr. Frodo!’ he cried. ‘I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you and it as well. So up you get! Come on, Mr. Frodo dear! Sam will give you a ride. Just tell him where to go, and he’ll go.’* ^729626720 [Location 4013](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4013) 🟧 > *‘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!’* ^729626721 [Location 4022](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4022) > *From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the Mountain. At his summons, wheeling with a rending cry, in a last desperate race there flew, faster than the winds, the Nazgûl, the Ring-wraiths, and with a storm of wings they hurtled southwards to Mount Doom.* ^729626722 [Location 4052](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4052) > *‘Yes,’ said Frodo. ‘But do you 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! For the Quest is achieved, and now all is over. I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.’* ^729626723 [Location 4111](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4111) 🟧 > *They stood now; and Sam still holding his master’s hand caressed it. He sighed. ‘What a tale we have been in, Mr. Frodo, haven’t we?’ he said. ‘I wish I could hear it told! Do you think they’ll say: Now comes the story of Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring of Doom? And then everyone will hush, like we did, when in Rivendell they told us the tale of Beren One-hand and the Great Jewel. I wish I could hear it! And I wonder how it will go on after our part.’* ^729626724 [Location 4134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4134) 🟦 > *and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known.* ^729626725 [Location 4165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4165) 🟧 > *‘Long live the Halflings! Praise them with great praise! Cuio i Pheriain anann! Aglar’ni Pheriannath! Praise them with great praise, Frodo and Samwise! Daur a Berhael, Conin en Annûn! Eglerio! Praise them! Eglerio! A laita te, laita te! Andave laituvalmet! Praise them! Cormacolindor, a laita tárienna! Praise them! The Ring-bearers, praise them with great praise!’* ^729626726 [Location 4185](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4185) 🟧 > *‘Lo! lords and knights and men of valour unashamed, kings and princes, and fair people of Gondor, and Riders of Rohan, and ye sons of Elrond, and Dúnedain of the North, and Elf and Dwarf, and greathearts of the Shire, and all free folk of the West, now listen to my lay. For I will sing to you of Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom.’* ^729626727 [Location 4234](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4234) 🟧 > *To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying, The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying. West, west away, the round sun is falling. Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling, The voices of my people that have gone before me? I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me; For our days are ending and our years failing. I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing. Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling, Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling, In Eressëa, in Elvenhome that no man can discover, Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever!’* ^729626728 [Location 4277](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4277) 🟧 > *‘It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden,’ answered Éowyn. ‘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.’* ^730091978 [Location 4317](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4317) 🟧 > *‘Then, Éowyn of Rohan, I say to you that you are beautiful. In the valleys of our hills there are flowers fair and bright, and maidens fairer still; but neither flower nor lady have I seen till now in Gondor so lovely, and so sorrowful. It may be that only a few days are left ere darkness falls upon our world, and when it comes I hope to face it steadily; but it would ease my heart, if while the Sun yet shines, I could see you still. For you and I have both passed under the wings of the Shadow, and the same hand drew us back.’* ^730091979 [Location 4369](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4369) 🟧 > *Sing now, ye people of the Tower of Anor, for the Realm of Sauron is ended for ever, and the Dark Tower is thrown down. Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard, for your watch hath not been in vain, and the Black Gate is broken, and your King hath passed through, and he is victorious. 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. And the Tree that was withered shall be renewed, and he shall plant it in the high places, and the City shall be blessed. Sing all ye people!* ^730091980 [Location 4396](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4396) 🟧 > *‘I wished to be loved by another,’ she answered. ‘But I desire no man’s pity.’ ‘That I know,’ he said. ‘You desired to have the love of the Lord Aragorn. Because he was high and puissant, and you wished to have renown and glory and to be lifted far above the mean things that crawl on the earth. And as a great captain may to a young soldier he seemed to you admirable. For so he is, a lord among men, the greatest that now is. But when he gave you only understanding and pity, then you desired to have nothing, unless a brave death in battle. Look at me, Éowyn!’* ^730091981 [Location 4463](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4463) 🟧 > *Then Aragorn took the crown and held it up and said: Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn’ Ambar-metta! And those were the words that Elendil spoke when he came up out of the Sea on the wings of the wind: ‘Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.’* ^730091982 [Location 4520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4520) > *And Gandalf said: ‘Many folk like to know beforehand what is to be set on the table; but those who have laboured to prepare the feast like to keep their secret; for wonder makes the words of praise louder. And Aragorn himself waits for a sign.’* ^730091983 [Location 4568](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4568) > *Then the King welcomed his guests, and they alighted; and 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 upon the day of Midsummer, and the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfilment.* ^730091984 [Location 4629](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4629) 🟧 > *Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day’s rising he rode singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. Hope he rekindled, and in hope ended; over death, over dread, over doom lifted out of loss, out of life, unto long glory.* ^730091985 [Location 4639](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4639) 🟦 > *Then a minstrel and loremaster stood up and named all the names of the Lords of the Mark in their order: Eorl the Young; and Brego builder of the Hall; and Aldor brother of Baldor the hapless; and Fréa, and Fréawine, and Goldwine, and Déor, and Gram; and Helm who lay hid in Helm’s Deep when the Mark was overrun; and so ended the nine mounds of the west-side, for in that time the line was broken, and after came the mounds of the east-side: Fréaláf, Helm’s sister-son, and Léofa, and Walda, and Folca, and Folcwine, and Fengel, and Thengel, and Théoden the latest. And when Théoden was named Éomer drained the cup. Then Éowyn bade those that served to fill the cups, and all there assembled rose and drank to the new king, crying: ‘Hail, Éomer, King of the Mark!’* ^730091986 [Location 4646](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4646) 🟦 > *Hear then all my guests, fair folk of many realms, such as have never before been gathered in this hall! Faramir, Steward of Gondor, and Prince of Ithilien, asks that Éowyn Lady of Rohan should be his wife, and she grants it full willing. Therefore they shall be trothplighted before you all.’* ^730091987 > *Note: ==Trothplighted - A betrothal==* [Location 4650](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4650) 🟧 > *‘No niggard are you, Éomer,’ said Aragorn, ‘to give thus to Gondor the fairest thing in your realm!’* ^730091988 > *Note: ==A stingy or ungenerous person 😳==* [Location 4668](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4668) 🟧 > *Then Legolas repaid his promise to Gimli and went with him to the Glittering Caves; and when they returned he was silent, and would say only that Gimli alone could find fit words to speak of them. ‘And never before has a Dwarf claimed a victory over an Elf in a contest of words,’ said he. ‘Now therefore let us go to Fangorn and set the score right!’* ^730091989 [Location 4724](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4724) 🟧 > *‘Here then at last comes the ending of the Fellowship of the Ring,’ said Aragorn. ‘Yet I hope that ere long you will return to my land with the help that you promised.’ ‘We will come, if our own lords allow it,’ said Gimli. ‘Well, farewell, my hobbits! You should come safe to your own homes now, and I shall not be kept awake for fear of your peril. We will send word when we may, and some of us may yet meet at times; but I fear that we shall not all be gathered together ever again.’* ^730091990 [Location 4733](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4733) 🟧 > *Last of all Merry and Pippin said good-bye to the old Ent, and he grew gayer as he looked at them. ‘Well, my merry folk,’ he said, ‘will you drink another draught with me before you go?’* ^730500486 [Location 4808](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4808) > *If any wanderer had chanced to pass, little would he have seen or heard, and it would have seemed to him only that he saw grey figures, carved in stone, memorials of forgotten things now lost in unpeopled lands. For they did not move or speak with mouth, looking from mind to mind; and only their shining eyes stirred and kindled as their thoughts went to and fro.* ^730500487 [Location 4860](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4860) 🟧 > *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.’* ^730500488 [Location 4976](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4976) 🟧 > *Mr. Butterbur shook his head. ‘If there’s a few decent respectable folk on the roads, that won’t do no harm,’ he said. ‘But we don’t want no more rabble and ruffians. And we don’t want no outsiders at Bree, nor near Bree at all. We want to be let alone. I don’t want a whole crowd o’ strangers camping here and settling there and tearing up the wild country.’* ^731824418 [Location 4983](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=4983) 🟧 > *‘The Rangers go there,’ said Gandalf. ‘Deadmen’s Dike, you say. So it has been called for long years; but its right name, Barliman, is Fornost Erain, Norbury of the Kings. And the King will come there again one day; and then you’ll have some fair folk riding through.’* ^731824419 [Location 5030](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5030) 🟧 > *‘I am with you at present,’ said Gandalf, ‘but soon I shall not be. I am not coming to the Shire. You must 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. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you. ‘But if you would know, I am turning aside soon. I am going to have a long talk with Bombadil: such a talk as I have not had in all my time. He is a moss-gatherer, and I have been a stone doomed to rolling. But my rolling days are ending, and now we shall have much to say to one another.’* ^732332851 [Location 5350](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5350) 🟧 > *‘It all began with Pimple, as we call him,’ said Farmer Cotton; ‘and it began as soon as you’d gone off, Mr. Frodo. He’d funny ideas, had Pimple. Seems he wanted to own everything himself, and then order other folk about. It soon came out that he already did own a sight more than was good for him; and he was always grabbing more, though where he got the money was a mystery: mills and malt-houses and inns, and farms, and leaf-plantations. He’d already bought Sandyman’s mill before he came to Bag End, seemingly.* ^732332852 [Location 5389](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5389) 🟧 > *And while you’ve been trapessing in foreign parts, chasing Black Men up mountains from what my Sam says, though what for he don’t make clear, they’ve been and dug up Bagshot Row and ruined my taters!’* ^732332853 [Location 5396](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5396) 🟧 > *‘It takes a lot o’ believing,’ said the Gaffer, ‘though I can see he’s been mixing in strange company. What’s come of his weskit? I don’t hold with wearing ironmongery, whether it wears well or no.’* ^732332854 [Location 5441](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5441) 🟦 > *It was one of the saddest hours in their lives. The great chimney rose up before them; and as they drew near the old village across the Water, through rows of new mean houses along each side of the road, they saw the new mill in all its frowning and dirty ugliness: a great brick building straddling the stream, which it fouled with a steaming and stinking outflow. All along the Bywater Road every tree had been felled.* ^732332856 [Location 5447](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5447) 🟧 > *‘They’ve cut it down!’ cried Sam. ‘They’ve cut down the Party Tree!’ He pointed to where the tree had stood under which Bilbo had made his Farewell Speech. It was lying lopped and dead in the field. As if this was the last straw Sam burst into tears.* ^732332857 [Location 5479](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5479) 🟧 > *‘Quite capable,’ said Saruman, ‘and more than a little. You made me laugh, you hobbit-lordlings, riding along with all those great people, so secure and so pleased with your little selves. You thought you had done very well out of it all, and could now just amble back and have a nice quiet time in the country. Saruman’s home could be all wrecked, and he could be turned out, but no one could touch yours. Oh no! Gandalf would look after your affairs.’* ^732332858 [Location 5491](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5491) 🟧 > *He drew himself up and stared at them darkly with his black eyes. ‘But do not think that when I lost all my goods I lost all my power! Whoever strikes me shall be accursed. And if my blood stains the Shire, it shall wither and never again be healed.’ The hobbits recoiled. But Frodo said: ‘Do not believe him! He has lost all power, save his voice that can still daunt you and deceive you, if you let it. But I will not have him slain. It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing. Go, Saruman, by the speediest way!’* ^732332859 [Location 5499](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5499) 🟧 > *‘No, Sam!’ said Frodo. ‘Do not kill him even now. For he has not hurt me. And in any case I do not wish him to be slain in this evil mood. He was great once, of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against. He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us; but I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it.’* ^732332860 [Location 5507](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5507) 🟧 > *‘Wormtongue!’ called Frodo. ‘You need not follow him. I know of no evil you have done to me. You can have rest and food here for a while, until you are stronger and can go your own ways.’* ^732332861 [Location 5519](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5519) > *To the dismay of those that stood by, about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West; but out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing. Frodo looked down at the body with pity and horror, for as he looked it seemed that long years of death were suddenly revealed in it, and it shrank, and the shrivelled face became rags of skin upon a hideous skull. Lifting up the skirt of the dirty cloak that sprawled beside it, he covered it over, and turned away.* ^732332862 [Location 5539](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5539) 🟦 > *But she was crushed by the news of Lotho’s murder, and she would not return to Bag End. She gave it back to Frodo, and went to her own people, the Bracegirdles of Hardbottle.* ^732332863 [Location 5549](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5549) 🟦 > *Now there were thousands of willing hands of all ages, from the small but nimble ones of the hobbit lads and lasses to the well-worn and horny ones of the gaffers and gammers.* ^732332864 [Location 5651](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5651) > *The title page had many titles on it, crossed out one after another, so: My Diary. My Unexpected Journey. There and Back Again. And What Happened After. Adventures of Five Hobbits. The Tale of the Great Ring, compiled by Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends. What we did in the War of the Ring. Here Bilbo’s hand ended and Frodo had written: THE DOWNFALL OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND THE RETURN OF THE KING (as seen by the Little People; being the memoirs of Bilbo and Frodo of the Shire, supplemented by the accounts of their friends and the learning of the Wise.) Together with extracts from Books of Lore translated by Bilbo in Rivendell.* ^732332865 [Location 5667](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5667) 🟧 > *Presently he became aware that Frodo was singing softly to himself, singing the old walking-song, but the words were not quite the same. Still round the corner there may wait A new road or a secret gate; And though I oft have passed them by, A day will come at last when I Shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun. And as if in answer, from down below, coming up the road out of the valley, voices sang: A! Elbereth Gilthoniel! silivren penna míriel o menel aglar elenath, Gilthoniel, A! Elbereth! We still remember, we who dwell In this far land beneath the trees The starlight on the Western Seas.* ^732332866 [Location 5695](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5695) 🟧 > *‘So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the 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.* ^732332867 [Location 5758](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5758) > *There were three unions of the Eldar and the Edain: Lúthien and Beren; Idril and Tuor; Arwen and Aragorn. By the last the long-sundered branches of the Half-elven were reunited and their line was restored.* ^732801854 [Location 5786](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5786) 🟥 > *‘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. For though a long span of life had been granted to them, in the beginning thrice that of lesser Men, they must remain mortal, since the Valar were not permitted to take from them the Gift of Men (or the Doom of Men, as it was afterwards called).* ^732801855 [Location 5789](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5789) > *Elros was the first King of Númenor, and was afterwards known by the High-elven name Tar-Minyatur. His descendants were long-lived but mortal. Later when they became powerful they begrudged the choice of their forefather, desiring the immortality within the life of the world that was the fate of the Eldar, and murmuring against the Ban. In this way began their rebellion which, under the evil teaching of Sauron, brought about the Downfall of Númenor and the ruin of the ancient world, as is told in the Akallabêth.* ^732801856 [Location 5797](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5797) > *Inziladûn repented of the ways of the Kings and changed his name to Tar-Palantir ‘The Farsighted’. His daughter should have been the fourth Queen, Tar-Míriel, but the King’s nephew usurped the sceptre and became Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, last King of the Númenóreans.* ^732801857 [Location 5840](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=5840) > *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. He re-entered Mordor, and hid there for a time in silence. But his anger was great when he learned that Elendil, whom he most hated, had escaped him, and was now ordering a realm upon his borders.* ^732801858 [Location 6078](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6078) 🟦 > *The Wainriders were a people, or a confederacy of many peoples, that came from the East; but they were stronger and better armed than any that had appeared before. They journeyed in great wains, and their chieftains fought in chariots. Stirred up, as was afterwards seen, by the emissaries of Sauron, they made a sudden assault upon Gondor, and King Narmacil II was slain in battle with them beyond Anduin in 1856.* ^732801859 [Location 6143](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6143) 🟦 > *‘Eärnur now rode back, but Glorfindel, looking into the gathering dark, said: “Do not pursue him! He will not return to this land. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall.” These words many remembered; but Eärnur was angry, desiring only to be avenged for his disgrace. ‘So ended the evil realm of Angmar; and so did Eärnur, Captain of Gondor, earn the chief hatred of the Witch-king; but many years were still to pass before that was revealed.’* ^732801861 [Location 6148](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6148) 🟦 > *But it was not until 2000 that they issued from Mordor by the Pass of Cirith Ungol and laid siege to Minas Ithil. This they took in 2002, and captured the palantír of the tower. They were not expelled while the Third Age lasted; and Minas Ithil became a place of fear, and was renamed Minas Morgul. Many of the people that still remained in Ithilien deserted it.* ^733359337 [Location 6175](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6175) 🟦 > *Nonetheless 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.* ^733359338 [Location 6254](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6254) 🟦 > *‘In this way Denethor gained his great knowledge of things that passed in his realm, and far beyond his borders, at which men marvelled; but he bought the knowledge dearly, being aged before his time by his contest with the will of Sauron. Thus pride increased in Denethor together with despair, until he saw in all the deeds of that time only a single combat between the Lord of the White Tower and the Lord of the Barad-dûr, and mistrusted all others who resisted Sauron, unless they served himself alone.* ^733665972 [Location 6283](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6283) 🟦 > *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.* ^734938135 [Location 6297](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6297) 🟦 > *‘For a moment Aragorn gazed in silence, but fearing that she would pass away and never be seen again, he called to her crying, Tinúviel, Tinúviel! even as Beren had done in the Elder Days long ago.* ^734938136 [Location 6305](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6305) 🟧 > *‘But she laughed merrily and said: “Then we are akin from afar. For I am Arwen Elrond’s daughter, and am named also Undómiel.”* ^734938137 [Location 6364](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6364) 🟧 > *‘And Arwen said: “Dark is the Shadow, and yet my heart rejoices; for you, Estel, shall be among the great whose valour will destroy it.” ‘But Aragorn answered: “Alas! I cannot foresee it, and how it may come to pass is hidden from me. Yet with your hope I will hope. And the Shadow I utterly reject. But neither, lady, is the Twilight for me; for I am mortal, and if you will cleave to me, Evenstar, then the Twilight you must also renounce.”* ^734938138 [Location 6397](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6397) 🟧 > *Then Aragorn said to Arwen: ‘ “At last, Lady Evenstar, fairest in this world, and most beloved, my world is fading. Lo! we have gathered, and we have spent, and now the time of payment draws near.”* ^734938139 [Location 6421](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B007978P18&location=6421) > *And long there he lay, an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.* ^734938140