Quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien

Map of the Misty Mountains, from the original English version of the book.

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between January 9 and January 15, 2014. All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

“Time does not tarry ever.” This and the two following quotes come from a conversation held by the company as they wait for daylight so they can portage around the rapids of Sarn Gebir. The first quote is from Legolas, denying that time actually stopped in Lorien.

“Beneath the sun all things must wear to an end at last.” Legolas.

“Time flows on to a spring of little hope.” Aragorn.

“I know what I should do, but I am afraid of doing it.” Frodo, when Boromir is trying to persuade him to turn aside to Minas Tirith from the direct route to Mordor.

“It is by our own folly that the Enemy will defeat us.” Part of Boromir’s argument to Frodo.

“Your legs are too short, so use your head!” Sam, realizing that there is no way he can keep up with Strider – but he knows Frodo better than anyone else in the party.

“What was wrong with her, that she had forgotten so completely the dangers of her home?” Homecoming, by Sue Ann Bowling. After two centuries on an isolation satellite, Marna has totally forgotten the fact that predators are dangerous – something some tourists seem never to learn.

P.S. it was +30° when I woke up this morning. Slippery roads!

Quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between December 12 and December 18, 2013. All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Map of the Misty Mountains, from the original English version of the book.

“I do not council you one way or the other.” Galadriel, offering Frodo a look in her mirror.

“Seeing is both good and perilous.” Galadriel. Continues, “Yet I think, Frodo, that you have courage and wisdom enough for the venture, or I would not have brought you here.”

“And what do you wish?” “That what should be shall be”. Galadriel has just told Frodo that if he succeeds in destroying the ring, all that has been wrought with the three Elven-Rings (including the one she wears) will end. He questions her, and she answers.

“All shall love me and despair!” Part of Galadriel’s understanding of what would happen if she were to claim the ring.

“That is how it would begin. But it would not stop with that, alas.” Still Galadriel, recognizing that power leads to the desire for power for its own sake, no matter how selfless the initial reason for taking it.

“What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a sea?” The end of Galadriel’s song as she joins the fellowship for farewell.

“As a player himself, he had no use for unruly fans.” Bowling, Tourist Trap. Xazhar is talking to the planetary administrator, who is considering having him represent her at the Plasmaball tournament.

Quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling from October 31 though Nov 6. All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Map of the Misty Mountains, from the original English version of the book.

“They delved too greedily and too deep.” The dwarves mined too deep in Moria, looking for mithril, and awoke Durin’s Bane.

“They came beyond hope under the sky and felt the wind on their faces.” The fellowship has just escaped from Moria.

“We dare not by our own trust endanger our land.” Haldir, explaining why Gimli, and thus all the fellowship, must go blindfolded through Lorien.

“I can’t bear to think of bringing the news to him.” Frodo, thinking of bringing the news of Gandalf’s death to Bilbo.

“It’s like being at home and being on a holiday at the same time.” Sam’s remarks on Lorien, as they prepare to leave.

“It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.” Sam’s gaffer’s advice, very apt to their having to leave Lorien to go on with their quest to destroy the ring.

“It’s far too much responsibility to be anything but voluntary.” Homecoming, by Sue Ann Bowling. Derik, assuring Flame that Roi would not be forced into the responsibility he fears.

Quotes from Tolkien

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling from September 26 through October 2, 2013. All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Map of the Misty Mountains, from the original English version of the book.

“You’ll want it, if you haven’t got it.” Sam, realizing as the fellowship sets out from Rivendell that he forgot to pack rope.

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” Gimli, when Elrond refuses to have the others of the fellowship swear to stay with Frodo.

“Let him not vow to walk in the dark who has not seen the nightfall.” Elrond’s response to Gimli.

“Sworn word may strengthen quaking heart.” Gimli again. Elrond responds, “or break it.”

“The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears.” Boromir, after the failed attempt to cross Redhorn Gate. They hear wargs howling, and the mines of Moria suddenly seem the lesser of two threats.

“Something has been disturbed that would have been better left quiet.” Gandalf, after Pippin has dropped a stone into the well in Moria. In the book this is a deliberate attempt to see how deep the well is.

“For once in my life can’t you let me do something I want to do, on my own?” Tourist Trap, by Sue Ann Bowling. Roi as a teenager is rebelling against his father’s protectiveness.

Quotes from Tolkien

Here are the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between July 18 and July 24, 2013. The first six are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

“Time doesn’t seem to pass here, it just is.” Bilbo’s description of Rivendell.

“Someone else always has to carry on the story.” Bilbo to Frodo, after he has seen the ring again and realized what he has let his nephew in for.

“There is naught that you can do other than to resist, with hope or without it.” Elrond at the Council, after Gloin tells of his worries that Bilbo is being sought by Sauron.

“The story still does not seem complete to me.” Bilbo, wanting to know more about Frodo’s flight from the Shire.

“I let the matter rest, watching and waiting only, as we have too often done.” Gandalf at the Council, regretting that he did not immediately put more effort into finding Gollum.

“Treason has ever been our greatest foe.” Gandalf, saying that although his fears about the hobbit’s ring had been awakened 17 years ago, he did not want to start a rumor that might reach Sauron’s ear.

“I’ll try, but I really doubt I can help.” Sue Ann Bowling, Tourist Trap. Roi when Marna asks him to look for something out of the ordinary in her memories of Eversummer.

Quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien

All but the last quotation are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

“Any sound from behind seemed ominous and unfriendly.” The hobbits in the wilderness after Frodo’s wounding, hearing Glorfindal’s horse on the road behind them. This is another section that was changed drastically in the movie, which does not even have Glorfindal as a character, but has Arwen take his role at this point.

“We needed you. I did not know what to do without you.” Frodo to Gandalf as they meet again at Rivendell.

“There are many powers in the world, for good or for evil.” Gandalf to Frodo at their first meeting at Rivendell, after saying he was held captive.

“You have seen a thing or two since you last peeped out of a looking-glass.” Frodo to his reflection, as he prepares to join the other for dinner at Rivendell.

“Always a bit more to discover, and no knowing what you’ll find around a corner.” Sam to Frodo, trying to describe Rivendell.

“Tongues run on when speaking of their handiwork.” Specifically, Dwarves’ tongues! Frodo has just asked Gloin how things are going with his people.

“There’s no possibility of keeping it secret anymore.” Derik, speaking of Roi’s true status. Sue Ann Bowling, Tourist Trap.

Quotes from Tolkien

These are the quotations tweeted from May 16 through May 22. All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.

“Clothes are but little loss, if you escape from drowning.” Tom Bombadil, after he rescues the hobbits from the burial chamber in the barrow.

“I think you are not really as you choose to look.” Frodo to Strider, in the Prancing Pony when Strider first offers himself as a guide.

“All hat is gold does not glitter.” The first line of a poem made by Bilbo about Aragorn, included in Gandalf’s note to Frodo. The whole poem (by Tolkien) is:
“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 touched 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.”

“I think that one of his spies would seem fairer and feel fouler.” Frodo to Strider, after the hobbits have accepted him as a guide.

“I hope the thinning process does not go on indefinitely, or I shall become a wraith.” Frodo, joking about his diminishing waistline in the wilderness.

“It is also as good a way of saying ‘here we are’ as I can think of, bar shouting.” Sam, when Strider suggests building a fire in the dell by Weathertop. This was very much changed in the movie.

“Stupidity isn’t illegal.” Bowling, “Horse Power.” Roi’s comment on how hard it is to prove that the Company is trying to force the colonists into debt slavery instead of just being stupid.

Quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling March 21-27, 2013. All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Note that these quotes are from the book, not the movie.

Map showing the early part of the Fellowship’s journey. This was a foldout in the original edition.

“Home is behind, the world ahead.” Part of a walking song that Bilbo taught Frodo.

“We still remember, we who dwell in this far land beneath the trees.” Part of the Elvish song that drives off the Riders.

“The short cut has gone crooked already.”  Frodo, after the hobbits have left the road to be less visible to the Black Riders. Trouble is, their “short cut” leads them through some pretty rough country—as Pippin warned them.

“A lot goes on behind his round face that does not come out in his talk.” Merry’s comment on Farmer Maggot.

“If you were in a hurry, the road would have served you better.” Farmer Maggot, when Frodo admits their “short cut” landed them in his fields.

“I see you have ideas of your own.” Farmer Maggot to Frodo, after he has told them of the Black Riders and Frodo has been very quiet about them.

“What was wrong with her, that she had forgotten so thoroughly the dangers of her home?” Bowling, Homecoming. After two centuries on the isolation satellite, Marna has forgotten about predators, much less that they will attack her species.

Quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien

These are the contexts of the quotes that have been tweeted from @sueannbowling from February 21 through February 27.  All but the last are from The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Map showing the early part of the hobbits’ journey. This was a foldout in the original edition. The faint gray line follows Frodo.

“This is what I have really been longing for, for years.” Bilbo, as he leaves Bag End with the dwarves on his 111^th birthday.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time.” Frodo in Bag End, after Gandalf has told him that Sauron has returned to Mordor.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Gandalf, speaking to Frodo in Bag End. This entire conversation was moved to Moria in the movie.

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?” Gandalf, after Frodo has wondered why Bilbo did not kill Gollum when he had a chance. Again, in the book this conversation is in Bag End.

“Even the very wise cannot see all ends.” Continuing on from the last quote, and winding up, “My heart tells me that he has some part to play, for good or ill, before the end.”

“Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow if I can.” Part of a poem recited by Frodo as he sets out with Sam and Pippin. Again, the movie differs from the book.

“What exactly are you doing?” Bowling, “Horse Power.” Roi has observed Timi working around a silkie’s rear end, and questioned him. (Timi is doing pregnancy checks.)