The epidemic of ennui and faded ambitions seem to swarthe about me, quietly whispering its subtle victory in the now withering mundane lives of the people I know and love, people with so much to give, so much to create. I talk not just of people of my generation, but men and women whose thoughts almost scream once the children have left the nest or once they reach a time where they actually have time to listen to their inner voice.
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It is in such a time that I found inspiration and relief - albeit temporary - in the words of JRR. I decided to re-run an LOTR marathon, and once again fell deeply in love with the story. Here, then, are my favourite snippets (some of em have nothing to do with the life musings above and more to do with simply how they remind you to be funny in the most macabre of situations):
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet,
And whither then? I cannot say.
Frodo, in the dark of the Mines of Morea: "I wish the ring had never come to me, I wish none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Gandalf: Confound it all, Samwise Gamgee! Have you been eavesdropping?
Sam: I haven't been droppin' no eaves sir, honest! I was just cutting the grass under the window there, if you'll follow me.
Gandalf: A little late for trimming the verge, don't you think?
Sam: I heard raised voices.
Gandalf: What did you hear? Speak!
Sam: N-nothing important. That is, I heard a good deal about a ring, and a dark lord, and something about the end of the world, but please, Mr. Gandalf, sir, don't hurt me. Don't turn me into anything... unnatural.
Aragorn: The same blood flows in my veins. The same weakness.
Arwen: Your time will come. You will face the same evil, and you will defeat it.
Frodo: "I miss the Shire. I spent all my childhood pretending I was off somewhere else. Off with you, on one of your adventures. But my own adventure turned out to be quite different."
Aragorn: "You have some skill with a blade."
Eowyn: "The women of this land learned long ago, that those without swords can still die upon them. I fear neither death nor pain."
Aragorn: "What do you fear, my Lady?"
Eowyn: "A cage. To be kept behind bars until use and old age accept them, and all chance of valour has gone beyond recall or desire."
Aragorn: "You are a daughter of Kings, a shieldmaiden of Rohan, I do not think that will be your fate."
From the book, more boring but infinitely better than the movies (hm, weird):
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken:
The crownless again shall be king.
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
But the hearts of men are easily corrupted.
And, my favourite:
Frodo: "I can't do this, Sam."
Sam: "I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. 'Cause sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How can the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing. A shadow even darkness must pass. A new day will come and when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were to small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folks in those stories had lots of chances in turning back only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding onto to something."
Frodo: "What are we holding onto, Sam?"
Sam: "That there's some good left in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."
I love these movies! Mr. Tolkien, Sir, thank you! :)
And this picture, as a pure reminder of how fantastic Viggo is on screen and off it.