J.R.R. Tolkien's words on Lothlorien
From LothWiki
This page is for tolkien's writtings and cantains his discriptions of Lothlorien.
Contents |
The Silmarillion
Of The Rings Of Power And The Third Age: in which these tales come to their end
...Of the Three Rings that the Elves had preserved unsullied no open word was ever spoken among the Wise, and few even of the Eldar knew where they were bestowed...
...whereas the Ring of Adamant was in the Land of Lórien where dwelt the Lady Galadriel. A queen she was of the woodland Elves...
...she was the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth...
Thus it was that in two domains the bliss and beauty of the Elves remained still undiminished while that Age endured: in Imladris; and in Lothlórien, the hidden land between Celebrant and Anduin, where the trees bore flowers of gold and no Orc or evil thing dared ever come. Yet many voices were heard among the Elves foreboding that, if Sauron should come again, then either he would find the Ruling Ring that was lost, or at the best his enemies would discover it and destroy it; but in either chance the powers of the Three must then fail and all things maintained by them must fade, and so the Elves should pass into the twilight and the Dominion of Men begin...
The Fellowship Of The Ring
Lothlorien
...“There lie the woods of Lothlórien!” said Legolas, “That is the fairest of all the dwellings of my people. There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold. Not till the spring comes and the new green opens do they fall, and then the boughs are laden with yellow flowers; and the floor of the wood is golden, and golden is the roof, and its pillars are of silver, for the bark of the trees is smooth and grey. So still our songs in Mirkwood say. My heart would be glad if I were beneath the eaves of that wood, and it were springtime!”
“My heart will be glad, even in the winter,” said Aragorn...
“...The night wind blew chill up the valley to meet them. Before them a wide grey shadow loomed, and they heard an endless rustle of leaves like poplars in the breeze.
“Lothlórien!” cried Legolas. “Lothlórien! We have come to the eaves of the Golden Wood. Alas that it is winter!”
Under the night the trees stood tall before them, arched over the road and stream that ran suddenly beneath their spreading boughs. In the dim light of the stars their stems were grey, and their quivering leaves a hint of fallow gold.
“Lothlórien!” said Aragorn. “Glad I am to hear again the wind in the trees!"...
...Lórien is not yet deserted, for there is a secret power here that holds evil from the land. Nevertheless its folk are seldom seen, and maybe they dwell now deep in the woods and far from the northern border.”
“Indeed deep in the wood they dwell,” said Aragorn, and sighed as if some memory stirred in him...
...Boromir stood irresolute and did not follow. “Is there no other way?” he said.
“What other fairer way would you desire?” said Aragorn...
...Golden Wood, you say. But of that perilous land we have heard in Gondor, and it is said that few come out who once go in; and of that few none have escaped unscathed.”
“Say not unscathed, but if you say unchanged, then maybe you will speak the truth,” said Aragorn, “But lore wanes in Gondor, Boromir, if in the city of those who once were wise they now speak evil of Lothlórien. Believe what you will...
...“Then lead on!” said Boromir. “But it is perilous.”
“Perilous indeed,” said Aragorn, “fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them...
...they came upon another stream flowing down swiftly from the tree clad slopes that climbed back westward towards the mountains. They heard it splashing over a fall away among the shadows on their right. Its dark hurrying waters ran across the path before them, and joined the Silverlode in a swirl of dim pools among the roots of trees.
“Here is Nimrodel!” said Legolas, “Of this stream the Silvan Elves made many songs long ago, and still we sing them in the North, remembering the rainbow on its falls, and the golden flowers that floated in its foam. All is dark now and the Bridge of Nimrodel is broken down. I will bathe my feet, for it is said that the water is healing to the weary...”
“...The water is not deep. Let us wade across! On the further bank we can rest and the sound of the falling water may bring us sleep and forgetfulness of grief...”
...It was cold but its touch was clean, and as he went on and it mounted to his knees, he felt that the stain of travel and all weariness was washed from his limbs...
...Legolas told them tales of Lothlórien that the Elves of Mirkwood still kept in their hearts, of sunlight and starlight upon the meadows by the Great River before the world was grey. At length a silence fell, and they heard the music of the waterfall running sweetly in the shadows. Almost Frodo fancied that he could hear a voice singing, mingled with the sound of the water.
“Do you hear the voice of Nimrodel?” asked Legolas. “I will sing you a song of the maiden Nimrodel, who bore the same name as the stream beside which she lived lung ago. It is a fair song in our woodland tongue; but this is how it runs in the Westron Speech, as some in Rivendell now sing it.” In a soft voice hardly to be heard amid the rustle of the leaves above them he began,
An elven-maid there was of old,
A shining star by day,
Her mantle white was hemmed with gold,
Her shoes of silver-grey.
A star was bound upon her brows,
A light was on her hair
As sun upon the golden boughs
In Lórien the fair.
Her hair was long, her limbs were white,
And fair she was and free;
And in the wind she went as light
As leaf of linden-tree.
Beside the falls of Nimrodel,
By water clear and cool,
Her voice as falling silver fell
Into the shining pool.
Where now she wanders none can tell,
In sunlight or in shade;
For lost of yore was Nimrodel
And in the mountains strayed.
The elven ship in haven grey
Beneath the mountain lee
Awaited her for many a day
Beside the roaring sea.
A wind by night in Northern lands
Arose, and loud it cried,
And drove the ship from elven-strands
Across the streaming tide.
When dawn came dim the land was lost,
The mountains sinking grey
Beyond the heaving waves that tossed
Their plumes of blinding spray.
Amroth beheld the fading shore
Now low beyond the swell,
And cursed the faithless ship that bore
Him far from Nimrodel.
Of old he was an Elven-King,
A lord of tree and glen,
When golden were the boughs in spring
In fair Lothlórien.
From helm to sea they saw him leap,
As arrow from the string,
And dive into the water deep,
As mew upon the wing.
The wind was in his flowing hair,
The foam about him shone;
Afar they saw him strong and fair
Go riding like a swan.
But from the West has come no word,
And on the Hither Shore
No tidings elven-folk have heard
Of Amroth evermore.
The voice of Legolas faltered, and the song ceased. “I cannot sing any more,” he said, “That is but a part, for I have forgotten much. It is long and sad, for it tells how sorrow came upon Lothlórien, Lórien of the Blossom, when the Dwarves awakened evil in the mountains.”
“But the Dwarves did not make the evil,” said Gimli.
“I said not so; yet evil came,” answered Legolas sadly. “Then many of the Elves of Nimrodel’s kindred left their dwellings and departed and she was lost far in the South, in the passes of the White Mountains; and she came not to the ship where Amroth her lover waited for her. But in the spring when the wind is in the new leaves the echo of her voice may still be heard by the falls that bear her name. And when the wind is in the South the voice of Amroth comes up from the sea; for Nimrodel flows into Silverlode, that Elves call Celebrant, and Celebrant into Anduin the Great and Anduin flows into the Bay of Belfalas whence the Elves of Lórien set sail. But neither Nimrodel nor Amroth ever came back. It is told that she had a house built in the branches of a tree that grew near the falls; for that was the custom of the Elves of Lórien, to dwell in the trees, and maybe it is so still. Therefore they were called the Galadhrim, the Tree-people. Deep in their forest the trees are very great. The people of the woods did not delve in the ground like Dwarves, nor build strong places of stone before the Shadow came...”
...tonight we will do as the Galadhrim and seek refuge in the tree tops, if we can...
...Not far from the falls of Nimrodel they found a cluster of trees, some of which overhung the stream. Their great grey trunks were of mighty girth, but their height could not be guessed...
“...I will climb up,” said Legolas, “I am at home among trees, by root or bough, though these trees are of a kind strange to me, save as a name in song. Mellyrn they are called, and are those that bear the yellow blossom, but I have never climbed in one. I will see now what is their shape and way of growth.”
“Whatever it may be,” said Pippin, “they will be marvellous trees indeed if they can offer any rest at night, except to birds....”
...There was a sound of soft laughter over their heads, and then another clear voice spoke in an elven tongue. Frodo could understand little of what was said, for the speech that the Silvan folk east of the mountains used among themselves was unlike that of the West. Legolas looked up and answered in the same language.
“Who are they, and what do they say?” asked Merry.
“They’re Elves,” said Sam, “Can’t you hear their voices?”
“Yes, they are Elves,” said Legolas; “and they say that you breathe so loud that they could shoot you in the dark...
“...But they say also that you need have no fear. They have been aware of us for a long while. They heard my voice across the Nimrode...
...Out of the shadows a ladder was let down; it was made of rope, silver grey and glimmering in the dark, and though it looked slender it proved strong enough to bear many men....The branches of the mallorn tree grew out nearly straight from the trunk, and then swept upward; but near the top the main stem divided into a crown of many boughs, and among these they found that there had been built a wooden platform, or flet as such things were called in those days; the Elves called it a talan.
It was reached by a round hole in the centre through which the ladder passed...
...They(elves) were clad in shadowy grey, and could not be seen among the tree stems, unless they moved suddenly. They stood up, and one of them uncovered a small lamp that gave out a slender silver beam...
"...We seldom use any tongue but our own; for we dwell now in the heart of the forest, and do not willingly have dealings with any other folk. Even our own kindred in the North are sundered from us. But there are some of us still who go abroad for the gathering of news and the watching of our enemies, and they speak the languages of other lands....it is not our custom to lead strangers through our land...
...The name of Aragorn son of Arathorn is known in Lórien,” said Haldir, “and he has the favour of the Lady...
...a dwarf,” said Legolas.
“A dwarf!” said Haldir. “That is not well. We have not had dealings with the Dwarves since the Dark Days. They are not permitted in our land. I cannot allow him to pass...”
"...We will do this, though it is against our liking. If Aragorn and Legolas will guard him, and answer for him, he shall pass; but he must go blindfold through Lothlórien...
...It is cold in the tree tops in winter, though the wind tonight is in the South; but we have food and drink to give you that will drive away the night chill, and we have skins and cloaks to spare...”
...The flet was not at all to their(hobbits) liking as a bedroom. It had no walls, not even a rail; only on one side was there a light plaited screen, which could be moved and fixed in different places according to the wind.
Pippin went on talking for a while. “I hope, if I do go to sleep in this bed loft, that I shan’t roll off,” he said.
“Once I do get to sleep,” said Sam, “I shall go on sleeping, whether I roll off or no. And the less said, the sooner I’ll drop off, if you take my meaning...”
...the stars glinting through the pale roof of quivering leaves...
...three of us could not challenge a hundred, so we went ahead and spoke with feigned voices, leading them on into the wood. Orophin has now gone in haste back to our dwellings to warn our people. None of the Orcs will ever return out of Lórien. And there will be many Elves hidden on the northern border before another night falls...
....Day came pale from the East. As the light grew it filtered through the yellow leaves of the mallorn, and it seemed to the hobbits that the early sun of a cool summer’s morning was shining. Pale blue sky peeped among the moving branches. Looking through an opening on the south side of the flet Frodo saw all the valley of the Silverlode lying like a sea of fallow gold tossing gently in the breeze.
The morning was still young and cold when the Company set out again....
....Frodo looked back and caught a gleam of white foam among the grey tree stems....a running water so beautiful, for ever blending its innumerable notes in an endless changeful music.....
“....There is one of my people yonder across the stream,” he said, “though you may not see him.”
He gave a call like the low whistle of a bird, and out of a thicket of young trees an Elf stepped, clad in grey, but with his hood thrown back; his hair glinted like gold in the morning sun. Haldir skilfully cast over the stream a coil of grey rope, and he caught it and bound the end about a tree near the bank.
“Celebrant is already a strong stream here, as you see,” said Haldir, “and it runs both swift and deep, and is very cold. We do not set foot in it so far north, unless we must. But in these days of watchfulness we do not make bridges. This is how we cross! Follow me!” He made his end of the rope fast about another tree, and then ran lightly along it, over the river and back again, as if he were on a road.
“I can walk this path,” said Legolas; “but the others have not this skill. Must they swim?”
“No!” said Haldir. “We have two more ropes. We will fasten them above the other, one shoulder high, and another half high, and holding these the strangers should be able to cross with care...."
“...Now, friends,” said Haldir, “you have entered the Naith of Lórien or the Gore, as you would say, for it is the land that lies like a spear head between the arms of Silverlode and Anduin the Great. We allow no strangers to spy out the secrets of the Naith. Few indeed are permitted even to set foot there. As was agreed, I shall here blindfold the eyes of Gimli the Dwarf. The other may walk free for a while, until we come nearer to our dwellings, down in Egladil, in the Angle between the waters.”
This was not at all to the liking of Gimli. “The agreement was made without my consent,” he said, “I will not walk blindfold, like a beggar or a prisoner. And I am no spy. My folk have never had dealings with any of the servants of the Enemy. Neither have we done harm to the Elves. I am no more likely to betray you than Legolas, or any other of my companions.”
“I do not doubt you,” said Haldir. “Yet this is our law. I am not the master of the law, and cannot set it aside. I have done much in letting you set foot over Celebrant.”
Gimli was obstinate. He planted his feet firmly apart, and laid his hand upon the haft of his axe. “I will go forward free,” he said, “or I will go back and seek my own land, where I am known to be true of word, though I perish alone in the wilderness.”
“You cannot go back,” said Haldir sternly. “Now you have come thus far, you must be brought before the Lord and the Lady. They shall judge you, to hold you or to give you leave, as they will. You cannot cross the rivers again, and behind you there are now secret sentinels that you cannot pass. You would be slain before you saw them.”
Gimli drew his axe from his belt. Haldir and his companion bent their bows. “A plague on Dwarves and their stiff necks!” said Legolas.
“Come!” said Aragorn. “If I am still to lead this Company, you must do as I bid. It is hard upon the Dwarf to be thus singled out. We will all be blindfold, even Legolas. That will be best, though it will make the journey slow and dull.” Gimli laughed suddenly. “A merry troop of fools we shall look! Will Haldir lead us all on a string, like many blind beggars with one dog? But I will be content, if only Legolas here shares my blindness.”
“I am an Elf and a kinsman here,” said Legolas, becoming angry in his turn.
“Now let us cry ‘a plague on the stiff necks of Elves!’ said Aragorn. “But the Company shall all fare alike. Come, bind our eyes Haldir!”
“I shall claim full amends for every fall and stubbed toe, if you do not lead us well,” said Gimli as they bound a cloth about his eyes.
“You will have no claim,” said Haldir. “I shall lead you well, and the paths are smooth and straight.”
“Alas for the folly of these days!” said Legolas, “Here all are enemies of the one Enemy, and yet I must walk blind, while the sun is merry in the woodland under leaves of gold!”
“Folly it may seem,” said Haldir. “Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him. Yet so little faith and trust do we find now in the world beyond Lothlórien, unless maybe in Rivendell, that we dare not by our own trust endanger our land. We live now upon an island amid many perils, and our hands are more often upon the bowstring than upon the harp. The rivers long defended us, but they are a sure guard no more for the Shadow has crept northward all about us. Some speak of departing, yet for that it already seems too late. The mountains to the west are growing evil; to the east the lands are waste, and full of Sauron’s creatures; and it is rumoured that we cannot now safely pass southward through Rohan, and the mouths of the Great River are watched by the Enemy. Even if we could come to the shores of the Sea, we should find no longer any shelter there. It is said that there are still havens of the High Elves, but they are far north and west, beyond the land of the Halflings. But where that may be, though the Lord and Lady may know, I do not....”
“...Not even to see fair Lothlórien?” said Haldir. “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. Some there are among us who sing that the Shadow will draw back and peace shall come again. Yet I do not believe that the world about us will ever again be as it was of old, or the light of the Sun as it was aforetime. For the Elves, I fear, it will prove at best a truce, in which they may pass to the Sea unhindered and leave the Middle-Earth for ever. Alas for Lothlórien that I love! It would be a poor life in a land where no mallorn grew. But if there are mallorn trees beyond the Great Sea, none have reported it...”
...They felt the ground beneath their feet smooth and soft, and after a while they walked more freely, without fear of hurt or fall....He could smell the trees and the trodden grass. He could hear many different notes in the rustle of the leaves overhead, the river murmuring away on his right, and the thin clear voices of birds in the sky. He felt the sun upon his face and hands when they passed through an open glade.
As soon as he set foot upon the far bank of Silverlode a strange feeling had come upon him, and it deepened as he walked on into the Naith; it seemed to him that he had stepped over a bridge of time into a corner of the Elder Days, and was, now walking in a world that was no more. In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lórien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world. Evil had been seen and heard there, sorrow had been known; the Elves feared and distrusted the world outside; wolves were howling on the wood’s borders; but on the land of Lórien no shadow lay...
...they felt the cool evening come and heard the early night wind whispering among many leaves. Then they rested and slept without fear upon the ground; for their guides would not permit them to unbind their eyes, and they could not climb....Frodo was aware that they had passed out under the shining Sun. Suddenly he heard the sound of many voices all around him.
A marching host of Elves had come up silently; they were hastening toward the northern borders to guard against any attack from Moria...
“...Also,” said Haldir, “they bring me a message from the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim. You are all to walk free, even the dwarf Gimli. It seems that the Lady knows who and what is each member of your Company...
He removed the bandage first from Gimli’s eyes. “Your pardon!” he said, bowing low. “Look on us now with friendly eyes! Look and be glad, for you are the first dwarf to behold the trees of the Naith of Lórien since Durin’s Day!...” ....They were standing in an open space. To the left stood a great mound, covered with a sward of grass as green as Spring time in the Elder Days. Upon it, as a double crown, grew two circles of trees; the outer had bark of snowy white, and were leafless but beautiful in their shapely nakedness; the inner were mallorn-trees of great height, still arrayed in pale gold. High amid the branches of a towering tree that stood in the centre of all there gleamed a white flet. At the feet of the trees, and all about the green hillsides the grass was studded with small golden flowers shaped like stars. Among them, nodding on slender stalks, were other flowers, white and palest green; they glimmered as a mist amid the rich hue of the grass. Over all the sky was blue, and the sun of afternoon glowed upon the hill and cast long green shadows beneath the trees.
“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.”
The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lórien there was no stain.
He turned and saw that Sam was now standing beside him, looking round with a puzzled expression, and rubbing his eyes as if he was not sure that he was awake. “It’s sunlight and bright day, right enough,” he said, “I thought that Elves were all for moon and stars; but this is more elvish than anything I ever heard tell of. I feel as if I was inside a song, if you take my meaning....”
“...You feel the power of the Lady of the Galadhrim,” he said, “Would it please you to climb with me up Cerin Amroth?”
They followed him as he stepped lightly up the grass clad slopes. Though he walked and breathed, and about him living leaves and flowers were stirred by the same cool wind as fanned his face, Frodo felt that he was in a timeless land that did not fade or change or fall into forgetfulness. When he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there, upon the grass among elanor and niphredil in fair Lothlórien. They entered the circle of white trees. As they did so the South Wind blew upon Cerin Amroth and sighed among the branches. Frodo stood still, hearing far off great seas upon beaches that had long ago been washed away, and sea birds crying whose race had perished from the earth...
...he laid his hand upon the tree beside the ladder; never before had he been so suddenly and so keenly aware of the feel and texture of a tree’s skin and of the life within it. He felt a delight in wood and the touch of it, neither as forester nor as carpenter; it was the delight of the living tree itself. As he stepped out at last upon the lofty platform, Haldir took his hand and turned him toward the South. “Look this way first!” he said.
Frodo looked and saw, still at some distance, a hill of many mighty trees, or a city of green towers; which it was he could not tell. Out of it, it seemed to him that the power and light came that held all the land in sway. He longed suddenly to fly like a bird to rest in the green city. Then he looked eastward and saw all the land of Lórien running down to the pale gleam of Anduin, the Great River. He lifted his eyes across the river and all the light went out, and he was back again in the world he knew. Beyond the river the land appeared flat and empty, formless and vague, until far away it rose again like a wall, dark and drear. The sun that lay on Lothlórien had no power to enlighten the shadow of that distant height.
“There lies the fastness of Southern Mirkwood,” said Haldir. “It is clad in a forest of dark fir, where the trees strive one against another and their branches rot and wither. In the midst upon a stony height stands Dol Guldur, where long the hidden Enemy had his dwelling. We fear that now it is inhabited again, and with power sevenfold. A black cloud lies often over it of late. In this high place you may see the two powers that are opposed one to another; and ever they strive now in thought, but whereas the light perceives the very heart of the darkness, its own secret has not been discovered. Not yet....”
....in his hand was a small golden bloom of elanor, and a light was in his eyes. He was wrapped in some fair memory; and as Frodo looked at him he knew that he beheld things as they once had been in this same place. For the grim years were removed from the face of Aragorn, and he seemed clothed in white, a young lord tall and fair; and he spoke words in the Elvish tongue to one whom Frodo could not see. “Arwen vanimelda, nambril!” he said, and then he drew a breath, and returning out of his thought he looked at Frodo and smiled.
“Here is the heart of elvendom on earth,” he said, “and here my heart dwells ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we 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 there never again as living man.
The Mirror of Galadriel
The sun was sinking behind the mountains, and the shadows were deepening in the woods, when they went on again. Their paths now went into thickets where the dusk had already gathered. Night came beneath the trees as they walked, and the Elves uncovered their silver lamps.
Suddenly they came out into the open again and found themselves under a pale evening sky pricked by a few early stars. There was a wide treeless space before them, running in a great circle and bending away on either hand. Beyond it was a deep fosse lost in soft shadow, but the grass upon its brink was green, as if it glowed still in memory of the sun that had gone.
Upon the further side there rose to a great height a green wall encircling a green hill thronged with mallorn trees taller than any they had yet seen in all the land. Their height could not be guessed, but they stood up in the twilight like living towers. In their, many tiered branches and amid their ever moving leaves countless lights were gleaming, green and gold and silver. Haldir turned towards the Company.
“Welcome to Caras Galadhon!” he said, “Here is the city of the Galadhrim where dwell the Lord Celeborn and Galadriel the Lady of Lórien. But we cannot enter here, for the gates do not look northward. We must go round to the southern side, and the way is not short, for the city is great.”
There was a road paved with white stone running on the outer brink of the fosse. Along this they went westward, with the city ever climbing up like a green cloud upon their left; and as the night deepened more lights sprang forth, until all the hill seemed afire with stars. They came at last to a white bridge, and crossing found the great gates of the city; they faced south-west, set between the ends of the encircling wall that here overlapped, and they were tall and strong, and hung with many lamps.
Haldir knocked and spoke, and the gates opened soundlessly; but of guards Frodo could see no sign. The travellers passed within, and the gates shut behind them. They were in a deep lane between the ends of the wall, and passing quickly through it they entered the City of the Trees. No folk could they see, nor hear any feet upon the paths; but there were many voices, about them, and in the air above. Far away up on the hill they could hear the sound of singing falling from on high like soft rain upon leaves.
They went along many paths and climbed many stairs, until they came to the high places and saw before them amid a wide lawn a fountain shimmering. It was lit by silver lamps that swung from the boughs of trees, and it fell into a basin of silver, from which a white stream spilled. Upon the south side of the lawn there stood the mightiest of all the trees; its great smooth bole gleamed like grey silk, and up it towered, until its first branches, far above, opened their huge limbs under shadowy clouds of leaves. Beside it a broad white ladder stood, and at its foot three Elves were seated. They sprang up as the travellers approached, and Frodo saw that they were tall and clad in grey mail, and from their shoulders hung long white cloaks.
“Here dwell Celeborn and Galadriel,” said Haldir. “It is their wish that you should ascend and speak with them.”
One of the Elf-wardens then blew a clear note on a small horn, and it was answered three times from far above...
...It is a long climb for those that are not accustomed to such stairs, but you may rest upon the way.”
As he climbed slowly up Frodo passed many flets; some on one side, some on another, and some set about the bole of the tree, so that the ladder passed through them. At a great height above the ground he came to a wide talan, like the deck of a great ship. On it was built a house, so large that almost it would have served for a hall of Men upon the earth. He entered behind Haldir, and found that he was in a chamber of oval shape, in the midst of which grew the trunk of the great mallorn, now tapering towards its crown, and yet making still a pillar of wide girth.
The chamber was filled with a soft light; its walls were green and silver and its roof of gold. Many Elves were seated there. On two chairs beneath the bole of the tree and canopied by a living bough there sat, side by side, Celeborn and Galadriel. They stood up to greet their guests, after the manner of Elves, even those who were accounted mighty kings. Very tall they were, and the Lady no less tall than the Lord; and they were grave and beautiful. They were clad wholly in white; and the hair of the Lady was of deep gold, and the hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver long and bright; but no sign of age was upon them, unless it were in the depths of their eyes; for these were keen as lances in the starlight, and yet profound, the wells of deep memory. Haldir led Frodo before them, and the Lord welcomed him in his own tongue. The Lady Galadriel said no word but looked long upon his face...
...Lady Galadriel speaking for the first time. Her voice was clear and musical, but deeper than woman’s wont...
..the fences of Lothlórien....
“...At first we were weary and danger was too close behind and afterwards we almost forgot our grief for a time, as we walked in gladness on the fair paths of Lórien...”
“...Yet more fair is the living land of Lórien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth!...”
“...Your quest is known to us,” said Galadriel, looking at Frodo. “But we will not here speak of it more openly. Yet not in vain will it prove, maybe, that you came to this land seeking aid, as Gandalf himself plainly purposed. For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-Earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings....”
...That night the Company slept upon the ground...The Elves spread for them a pavilion among the trees near the fountain, and in it they laid soft couches; then speaking words of peace with fair elvish voices they left them....
“...Speak no evil of the Lady Galadriel!” said Aragorn sternly. “You know not what you say. There is in her and in this land no evil, unless a man bring it hither himself. Then let him beware! But tonight I shall sleep without fear for the first time since I left Rivendell. And may I sleep deep, and forget for a while my grief! I am weary in body and in heart...”
...When they woke they found that the light of day was broad upon the lawn before the pavilion and the fountain rose and fell glittering in the sun. They remained some days in Lothlórien, so far as they could tell or remember. All the while that they dwelt there the sun shone clear, save for a gentle rain that fell at times, and passed away leaving all things fresh and clean. The air was cool and soft, as if it were early spring, yet they felt about them the deep and thoughtful quiet of winter. It seemed to them that they did little but eat and drink and rest, and walk among the trees; and it was enough.
They had not seen the Lord and Lady again, and they had little speech with the elven-folk; for few of these knew or would use the Westron tongue....Legolas was away much among the Galadhrim, and after the first night he did not sleep with the other companions, though he returned to eat and talk with them. Often he took Gimli with him when he went abroad in the land, and the others wondered at this change...
....Often they heard nearby Elvish voices singing, and knew that they were making songs of lamentation for his fall, for they caught his name among the sweet sad words that they could not understand. “Mithrandir, Mithrandir” sang the Elves, “O Pilgrim Grey!” For so they loved to call him. But if Legolas was with the Company, he would not interpret the songs for them, saying that he had not the skill, and that for him the grief was still too near, a matter for tears and not yet for song...
...now as he sat beside the fountain in Lórien and heard about him the voices of the Elves, his thought took shape in a song that seemed fair to him; yet when he tried to repeat it to Sam only snatches remained....
...he knew somehow that the time was very near when he must leave Lothlórien. “What do you think of Elves now, Sam?” he said, “I asked you the same question once before, it seems a very long while ago; but you have seen more of them since then.”
“I have indeed!” said Sam, “And I reckon there’s Elves and Elves. They’re all elvish enough, but they’re not all the same. Now these folk aren’t wanderers or homeless, and seem a bit nearer to the likes of us; they seem to belong here, more even than Hobbits do in the Shire. Whether they’ve made the land, or the land’s made them, it’s hard to say, if you take my meaning. It’s wonderfully quiet here. Nothing seems to be going on, and nobody seems to want it to. If there’s any magic about, it’s right down deep, where I can’t lay my hands on it, in a manner of speaking.”
“You can see and feel it everywhere,” said Frodo.
“Well,” said Sam, “you can’t see nobody working it....I wonder we don’t see nothing of the Lord and Lady in all these days. I fancy now that she could do some wonderful things, if she had a mind. I’d dearly love to see some Elf magic, Mr. Frodo!”
“I wouldn’t,” said Frodo,..
..."You’re right,” said Sam, “And don’t think I’m finding fault. I’ve often wanted to see a bit of magic like what it tells of in old tales, but I’ve never heard of a better land than this. It’s like being at home and on a holiday at the same time, if you understand me. I don’t want to leave...
...I don’t reckon that these folk can do much more to help us, magic or no...
...I hope very much that before we leave we shall see the Lady of the Elves again.” Even as he spoke, they saw, as if she came in answer to their words, the Lady Galadriel approaching. Tall and white and fair she walked beneath the trees. She spoke no word, but beckoned to them. Turning aside, she led them toward the southern slopes of the hill of Caras Galadhon, and passing through a high green hedge they came into an enclosed garden. No trees grew there, and it lay open to the sky. The evening star had risen and was shining with white fire above the western woods. Down a long flight of steps the Lady went into a deep green hollow, through which ran murmuring the silver stream that issued from the fountain on the hill. At the bottom, upon a low pedestal carved like a branching tree, stood a basin of silver, wide and shallow, and beside it stood a silver ewer. With water from the stream Galadriel filled the basin to the brim, and breathed on it, and when the water was still again she spoke.
“Here is the Mirror of Galadriel,” she said, “I have brought you here so that you may look in it, if you will.”
The air was very still, and the dell was dark, and the Elf lady beside him was tall and pale. “What shall we look for, and what shall we see?” asked Frodo, filled with awe.
“Many things I can command the Mirror to reveal,” she answered, “and to some I can show what they desire to see. But the Mirror will also show things unbidden, and those are often stranger and more profitable than things which we wish to behold. What you will see, if you leave the Mirror free to work, I cannot tell. For it shows things that were, and things that are, things that yet may be. But which it is that he sees, even the wisest cannot always tell. Do you wish to look?”
Frodo did not answer.
“And you?” she said, turning to Sam. “For this is what your folk would call magic. I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem also to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy. But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel. Did you not say that you wished to see Elf magic?”
“I did,” said Sam, trembling a little between fear and curiosity. “I’ll have a peep, Lady, if you’re willing.” “And I’d not mind a glimpse of what’s going on at home,” he said in an aside to Frodo. “It seems a terrible long time that I’ve been away. But there, like as not I’ll only see the stars, or something that I won’t understand.”
“Like as not,” said the Lady with a gentle laugh. “But come, you shall look and see what you may. Do not touch the water!”
Sam climbed up on the foot of the pedestal and leaned over the basin. The water looked hard and dark. Stars were reflected in it.
“There’s only stars, as I thought,” he said. Then he gave a low gasp, for the stars went out. As if a dark veil had been withdrawn, the Mirror grew grey, and then clear. There was sun shining, and the branches of trees were waving and tossing in the wind. But before Sam could make up his mind what it was that he saw, the light faded; and now he thought he saw Frodo with a pale face lying fast asleep under a great dark cliff. Then he seemed to see himself going along a dim passage, and climbing an endless winding stair. It came to him suddenly that he was looking urgently for something, but what it was he did not know. Like a dream the vision shifted and went back, and he saw the trees again. But this time they were not so close, and he could see what was going on; they were not waving in the wind, they were falling, crashing to the ground.
“Hi!” cried Sam in an outraged voice. “There’s that Ted Sandyman a cutting down trees as he shouldn’t. They didn’t ought to be felled; it’s that avenue beyond the Mill that shades the road to Bywater. I wish I could get at Ted, and I’d fell him!”
But now Sam noticed that the Old Mill had vanished, and a large red brick building was being put up where it had stood. Lots of folk were busily at work. There was a tall red chimney nearby. Black smoke seemed to cloud the surface of the Mirror...
“...I can’t stay here,” he said wildly, “I must go home. They’ve dug up Bagshot Row, and there’s the poor old Gaffer going down the Hill with his bits of things on a barrow. I must go home!...”
“...You cannot go home alone,” said the Lady. “You did not wish to go home without your master before you looked in the Mirror, and yet you knew that evil things might well be happening in the Shire. Remember that the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass. Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them. The Mirror is dangerous as a guide of deeds.”
Sam sat on the ground and put his head in his hands. “I wish I had never come here, and I don’t want to see no more magic,” he said and fell silent. After a moment he spoke again thickly, as if struggling with tears....
“...Do you now wish to look, Frodo?” said the Lady Galadriel. “You did not wish to see Elf magic and were content.”
“Do you advise me to look?” asked Frodo.
“No,” she said, “I do not counsel you one way or the other. I am not a counsellor. You may learn something, and whether what you see be fair or evil, that may be profitable, and yet it may not. Seeing is both good and perilous. Yet I think, Frodo, that you have courage and wisdom enough for the venture, or I would not have brought you here. Do as you will!...”
...do not think that only by singing amid the trees, nor even by the slender arrows of elven bows, is this land of Lothlórien maintained and defended against its Enemy. I say to you, Frodo, that even as I speak to you, I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns the Elves. And he gropes ever to see me and my thought. But still the door is closed!”
She lifted up her white arms, and spread out her hands towards the East in a gesture of rejection and denial. Eärendil, the Evening Star, most beloved of the Elves, shone clear above. So bright was it that the figure of the elven lady cast a dim shadow on the ground. Its rays glanced upon a ring about her finger; it glittered like polished gold overlaid with silver light, and a white stone in it twinkled as if the Even-star had come down to rest upon her hand. Frodo gazed at the ring with awe; for suddenly it seemed to him that he understood. “Yes,” she said, divining his thought, “it is not permitted to speak of it, and Elrond could not do so. But it cannot be hidden from the Ringbearer, and one who has seen the Eye. Verily it is in the land of Lórien upon the finger of Galadriel that one of the Three remains....
“...The love of the Elves for their land and their works is deeper than the deeps of the Sea, and their regret is undying and cannot ever wholly be assuaged. Yet they will cast all away rather than submit to Sauron; for they know him now. For the fate of Lothlórien you are not answerable but only for the doing of your own task. Yet I could wish, were it of any avail, that the One Ring had never been wrought, or had remained for ever lost.”
“You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galadriel,” said Frodo, “I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me.”
Galadriel laughed with a sudden clear laugh. “Wise the Lady Galadriel may be,” she said, “yet here she has met her match in courtesy. Gently are you revenged for my testing of your heart at our first meeting. You begin to see with a keen eye. I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp. The evil that was devised long ago works on in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls. Would not that have been a noble deed to set to the credit of his Ring, if I had taken it by force or fear from my guest?...
....She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken; a slender Elf woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.
“I pass the test,” she said, “I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel.”
They stood for a long while in silence. At length the Lady spoke again. “Let us return!” she said, “In the morning you must depart for now we have chosen, and the tides of fate are flowing...”
“....I wish you’d take his Ring. You’d put things to rights. You’d stop them digging up the Gaffer and turning him adrift. You’d make some folk pay for their dirty work.”
“I would,” she said, “That is how it would begin. But it would not stop with that, alas! We will not speak more of it. Let us go!”
