Shadows of Twilight: an Elrond fansite

SPOKEN WORD

Selected words of Elrond from The Lord of the Rings.

The Fellowship of the Ring

(from Book II, Chapter 2: 'The Council of Elrond' and Chapter 3: 'The Ring Goes South')

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On the three Elven Rings:

"The Three were not made by Sauron, nor did he ever touch them. But of them it is not permitted to speak. So much only in this hour of doubt I may now say. They are not idle. But they were not made as weapons of war or conquest: that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained. These things the Elves of Middle-earth have in some measure gained, though with sorrow. But all that has been wrought by those who wield the Three will turn to their undoing, and their minds and hearts will become revealed to Sauron, if he regains the One. It would be better if the Three had never been. That is his purpose."

"Some hope that the Three Rings, which Sauron has never touched, would then become free, and their rules might heal the hurts of the world that he has wrought. But maybe when the One has gone, the Three will fail, and many fair things will fade and be forgotten. That is my belief."

Rebuking Gandalf for uttering the black speech:

"Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey"

On the One Ring:

"Gandalf has revealed to us that we cannot destroy it by any craft that we here possess, and they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it: for good or ill it belongs to Middle-earth; it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it."

"We cannot use the Ruling Ring... It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil... If any of the Wise should with this Ring overthrow the Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would then set himself on Sauron's throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. I fear to take the Ring to hide it. I will not take the Ring to wield it."

"Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril - to Mordor. We must send the Ring to the Fire."

"The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."

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