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[bubosquared]

These are a mixture of my favourite moments from the books and random out of context quotes, some happy, somefunny, some sad. Caveat lector, and all that.

From The Fellowship of the Ring:

Oh, Sam:

"If you don't come back, sir, then I shan't, that's certain," said Sam. "Don't you leave him, they said to me. Leave him! I said. I never mean to. I am going with him, if he climbs to the Moon, and if any of those Black Riders try to stop him, they'll have Sam Gamgee to reckon with, I said.

Sometimes, I think a lot of Hobbit writers, at least the ones I've read, tend to forget that Merry and Frodo (and Pippin and Frodo, but possibly to a lesser extent) are friends too, that the Hobbits aren't split up in two pairs like that, because, well:

It all depends on what you want," put in Merry. "You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin -- to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours -- closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo."

The rhyme that always, always gets to me, especially the last line:

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 the 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.

Gandalf steals Legolas' Random Elf Wisdom gig:

We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark.

Melle has a Nazgûl fetish and gets shivers down hre spine every time she reads this:

"Nazgûl," he whispered. "The Nine are abroad again. They have crossed the River secretly and are moving westward. They have taken the guise of riders in black."

Also, I am twelve and like to take qoutes out of context:

Boromir stirred, and Frodo looked at him. He was fingering his great horn and frowning.

More spine-shivering moments, because dude, Tolkien remains the only writer on earth who ever made me feel a deeper terror than Stephen King did:

"We cannot get out. The end comes, and then drums, drums in the deep. I wonder what that means. The last thing written is in a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: they are coming.

From The Two Towers:

Um, deepsix? You'd best look away, I think:

"Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed."

"No!" said Aragotn, taking his hand and kissing his brow."You have conquered. Few have gained such victory. Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall."

Boromir smiled.

"Which way did they go? Was Frodo there?" said Aragorn.

But Boromir did not speak again.

[...]

He knelt for a while, bent with weeping, still clasping Boromir's hand.

Favourite Legolas/Gimli moment ever, and I'm so grateful that PJ put it in the movie, and god, but it was perfect:

Éomer's eyes blazed, and the Men of Rohan murmured angrily, and closed in, advancing their spears. "I would cut off your head, beard and all, Master Dwarf if it stood but a little higher from the ground," said Éomer.

"He stands not alone," said Legolas, bending his bow and fitting an arrow with hands that moved quicker than sight. "You would die before your stroke fell."

Minor Legolas/Gimli moment:

Gimli was lifted up behind his friend [Legolas], and he clung to him[.]

At on point, I used to know this entire speech by heart:

"Of course, it is likely enough, my friends," he said slowly, "likely enough that we are going to our doom; the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. That thought has long been growing in our hearts; and that is why we are marching now. It was not a hasty resolve. Now at least the last march of the Ents may be worth a song. Aye," he sighed. "we may help the other peoples before we pass away."

More Legolas/Gimli, with echoes of Ruth/Naomi:

"You are a Wood-elf, anyway, though Elves of any kind are strange folk. Yet you comfort me. Where you go, I will go."

Yet more Legolas/Gimli, and can you tell what my OTP is?

"I will gladly go with you, if Legolas, my companion, may ride beside us."

Legolas and Gimli and I keep giggling at this passage:

"There are eyes!" [Legolas] said. "Eyes looking out from the shadows of the boughs! I never saw such eyes before."

"The others, surprised by his cry, halted and turned; but Legolas started to ride back.

"No, no!" cried Gimli. "Do as you please in your madness, but let me first get down from this horse! I wish to see no eyes!"

Pippin respects his elders:

"So that is the King of Rohan," said Pippin in an undertone. "A fine old fellow. Very polite."

Who'd have thought? More Legolas/Gimli:

"Hoom, hm! Ah now," said Treebeard, looking dar-eyed at [Gimli]. "A dwarf and an axe-bearer! Hoom! I have good will to Elves; but you ask much. This is a strange friendship!"

"Strange it may seem," said Legolas, "but while Gimli lives I shall not come to Fangorn alone."

Best line ever, which I tend to quote in any situation that fits it, and quite a few that don't:

"Nice sensible hobbits stay with Sméagol."

Frodo channels Legolas and spouts random poetic lines:

"I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting all dead."

Okay, Sam, would you like my heart on a silver platter, or will plain do? Gaaah:

Frodo's face was peaceful, the marks of fear and care had left it; but it looked old, old and beautiful, as if the chiseling of the shaping years was now revealed in many fine lines that had before been hidden, though the identity of the face was not changed. Not that Sam Gamgee put it that was to himself. He shook his head, as if finding words useless, and murmured: "I love him. He's like that, and sometimes it shines through, somehow. But I love him, whether or no."

Oh, Faramir:

"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the brigh sword for its shapness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory."

Keeping in mind this is in re: Sam attacking Shelob in defense of Frodo, are we really sure the good Professor didn't intend any subtext here? Really now:

No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above his fallen mate.

And um, yes, and also wibble:

"Frodo, Mr. Frodo!" he called. "Don't leave me here alone! It's your Sam calling. Don't go where I can't follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodoç! O wake up, Frodo me dear, me dear. Wake up!

From The Return of the King:

For ruby_fruit, re: Pippin and Bergil, and awww:

Hand in hand they went back to the City, the lsat to pass the Gate before it was shut.

Wibble:

[Merry] felt very small, and he was puzzled and depressed by all these gloomy words. More than ever he missed the unquenchable cheerfulness of Pippin.

Okay, several people may wish to skip this:

Proud and grave [Faramir] stood for a moment as he spoke to the guard, and Pippin gazing at him saw how closely he resembled his brother Boromir -- whom Pippin had liked from the first, admiring the great man's lordly but kindly manner.

Aaand you might want to skip this one, too, because arghwibblesobsnifflewah:

"Well, I have you now, Sam, dear Sam," said Frodo, and he lay back in Sam's gentle arms, like a child at rest when night-fears are driven away by some loved voice or hand.

Sam felt that he could sit like that in endless happiness.

And then there's this:

And Éomer answered [to Aragorn]: "Since the day when you rose before me out of the green grass of the downs I have loved you, and that love shall not fail."

And of course:

[Sam] drew a deep breath."Well, I'm back," he said.

From the Appendixes:

Awwwwww:

[Gimli] was named Elf-friend because of the great love that grew between him and Legolas, son of King Thranduil, and because of his reverence for the Lady Galadriel.

[...]

We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Dlón's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then iut is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should recive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it.

Comments

[rane-ab.livejournal.com]

Oh, OK. I suppose it also helps that the "Muggle world" as we know it is also part of the HP universe, and that the story takes place in this day and age. That way, you can get annoyed by far more things/laws/whatever. *g*

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Yes, and also the fact that ... I could accept things like the house-elves and all as being part of the story, suspension of disbelief and all, except Hermione took up the House-Elf cause, and there's Dobby, and suddenly even the people in that world don't even see it as "the way it just is" anymore, so I can't, either.

(Also, Azkaban, and I'll gladly elaborate if you want, but I'll shut up for now.)

[rane-ab.livejournal.com]

You've kind of lost me there... Are you morally against the fact that there is such a thing as house-elves, or are you criticising JKR's world such as she wrote it?

And what of Azkaban? Yes, elaborate, elaborate (if you have the time)! :-)

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

K, so I was convinced I'd already replied to this, but. I'm saying that by Hermione criticising the House Elves' situation (and also, because of Dobby), I can't suspend my disbelief and go along with the idea that "(all) House Elves want to serve!". Not blaming JKR, but not really morally against the idea of House Elves in principle, ... except, well, obviously some of them aren't happy serving.

I kind of treat the Wizarding World as a "real" society, so JKr doesn't often enter the picture for me, and judging from what I've seen in the books, the WW isn't really a very fair or just society oftentimes.

I'll probably do a big post on justice in the WW in general once I've re-read the books, but the very idea of Azkaban bothers me, especially the Dementors, and the fact that Sirius was (kept) locked up there for twelve years without ever having a trial. (Hagrid also spent a few months there during PoA, also without trial, and according to the lexicon, Crouch Sr sent many suspects to Azkaban without trial during the first war.)

And then of course there's the fact that even if suspects are given a trial, it's not exactly a fair one. (Note that the defendant doesn't have a lawyer/representative, or even the right to speak up for himself, it seems--the prosecution presents their case, then the jury hands down a verdict--assuming that he would be physically and psychologically able to after being escorted into the room by Dementors (and possibly being held at Azkaban for some time before the trial?))

And I'm possibly thinking too hard about this, but as with the House Elves, the characters themselves have challenged/expressed doubts about this sort of thing, thus making suspension of disbelief a lot harder.