# The saddest singular line



## Flammifer (Jul 18, 2003)

I think that perhaps the saddest singular line in LOTR is actually in the Appendices in the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, spoken by Gilraen the Fair, Aragorn's mother:

"Onen i-Estel Edain, ú-chebin estel anim"

"I gave Hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself".

There are others I think, maybe I'll start a poll......


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## Celebthôl (Jul 18, 2003)

The best one i found was:

"There at last when the Mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she <Arwen> laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life utterly forgotten by Men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the sea."

From Aragorn and Arwen, though the whole story is kinda sad...

(Its a line....just a very big one....notice only one full-stop (period) and its at the end )


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## Flammifer (Jul 18, 2003)

Yeah the story is sad. Oh and dont' worry Thol, I'm Aussie! I understand full stops haha.


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## Celebthôl (Jul 18, 2003)

LOL gdgd  was worried there


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## Beorn (Jul 18, 2003)

> Gollum dropped the fish from his hand. 'Don't want fish,' he said




hehe...just kidding. I would have to say the saddest is:


> 'I have come,' he said. 'But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!' And suddenly, as he set it on his finger, he vanished from Sam's sight.



Although it turns out to be good in the end, it represents the complete failure of Frodo's strength. Gandalf said there was more in hobbits than meets the eye. But this shows that Gandalf had underestimated Frodo, and that had not a strange series of events taken place, Frodo would have failed.

But the again, it could be argued that he had a great deal of foresight (i.e. he had a feeling Gollum would have something to do with it in the end).


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## Beleg (Jul 18, 2003)

*The Steward and the King, Chapter V, Book 6, Return of the King*

'Of the land of Westernesse that foundered, and of the great dark wave climbing over the greenlands and above the hills, and coming on, darkness unescapable...' 

_Spoken by Faramir_


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## Celebthôl (Jul 18, 2003)

I dont think this one counts b/c its out of the Sil, but its the sadest line i read out of any of the books...

"In the twilight of autumn it <the ship Círdan made for Elrond> sailed out of Mithlond, until the seas of the bent world fell away beneath it, and the winds of the round sky troubled it no more, and borne upon the high airs above the mists of the world it passed into the ancient west, and an end was come of the Eldar of story and of song."


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## BlackCaptain (Jul 18, 2003)

"Well, I'm back" he said.

OR

"The eagles are coming!..."
Cant remember the words... but the line where Pippin is about to die or whatever at the Morannon


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## ely (Jul 18, 2003)

Who said: "Fly you fools!" and when?

About the saddest line I have to agree with Celebthôl - it's so sad in a really beautiful way...


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## Flammifer (Jul 18, 2003)

ely, "Fly you fools!" are Gandalf's last word's as he falls into the abyss that's spanned by the Bridge of Khazad-dum...

It doesn't happen how it does in the movie though. In the film he's hanging onto the edge of the Bridge and kind of whispers it loudly, but in the book he is falling as he yells it. Just thought I'd clear that up.


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## BlackCaptain (Jul 18, 2003)

Actualy those are Ian McKlians words. "Run you fools!" are the last words uttered by Gandalf as he dissapeared into the dark chasam 

...

I think...


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## Flammifer (Jul 19, 2003)

This might kinda sound pedantic but I just checked in FotR Gandalf's last line:

"He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. 'Fly you fools!' he cried, and was gone."


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## BlackCaptain (Jul 19, 2003)

Really? Jeeze... I was almost possitive that while reading it I thought "Another line mis-done by the movies" or something like that... Rats. Ok, I was wrong... sorry!


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## HLGStrider (Jul 19, 2003)

I voted for Gilrean's line, but seriously, I think the saddest is where Eowyn looks at Aragorn and says, simply, "Because they love you."

Sort of implying, as do I. I can just see her eyes and I think, "KISS HER YOU FOOL!" even though you have to admire his fidelity to Arwen.


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## 33Peregrin (Jul 19, 2003)

"I have been too deeply hurt, Sam".

Frodo


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## Rhiannon (Jul 19, 2003)

'"Well, I'm back," he said' have been described as 'the cruelest words in all literature', but I forget by who.


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## Landroval (Jul 19, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Beorn _
> * had not a strange series of events taken place, Frodo would have failed. *



Ah, but Frodo DID fail. That is the tradegy of the tale.


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## Flammifer (Jul 20, 2003)

Very true Landroval!


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## FoolOfATook (Jul 20, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Rhiannon _
> *'"Well, I'm back," he said' have been described as 'the cruelest words in all literature', but I forget by who. *





> Michael Swanwick, himself a brillant writer of the fantastic, calls Sam's words, 'Well, I'm back', 'the most heartbreaking line in all of modern fantasy',


-_The Road To Middle-earth_


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## Rhiannon (Jul 20, 2003)

Thanks, FoaT. I couldn't for the life of me remember where I read that.


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## FoolOfATook (Jul 20, 2003)

> Thanks, FoaT. I couldn't for the life of me remember where I read that.



Hey, digging up references and quotes is what I'm here for.


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## Rhiannon (Jul 20, 2003)

And a worthy occupation it is, too


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## FoolOfATook (Jul 21, 2003)

It's a toss-up between



> 'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'



and



> 'It is sad that we should meet only thus at the ending. For the world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again'


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## Flammifer (Jul 21, 2003)

> It's a toss-up between
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'
> ...



It's interesting that you should choose that first one FoaT, you think it's sad? I think it's very happy, because it shows Galadriel's optimism that Frodo will succeed in his quest and thus she *will be able to pass into the West*, which of course she would not be able to do if Sauron succeeded.

Also it would be necessary for Galadriel to go into the West after the lost the power of her Ring, because she would suffer such terrible withdrawal syndrome!

But I totally agree with you on your second quote, it is sad!


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## Dáin Ironfoot I (Jul 22, 2003)

The Éowyn and Éomer scene has always gotten to me the most. I admire Éowyn's battle with the Nazgul, and also Éomer's love for his own sister. He loves her, she is his younger sister, and seeing her 'dead' on the Pelennor Fields sends him into madness:


> "He stood as a man who is pierced in the midst of a cry by an arrow through the heart; and then his face went deathly white, and a cold fury rose in him, so that all speech failed him for a while."



Also when Théoden dies, what irony in this whole scene! It makes you want to yell at the book, saying 'Theoden! Shes _right_ there! And even Merry tries telling him...


> "She, she would not have me leave her, and now I shall not see her again, dearer than daughter."



And of Gil-galad...


> _But long ago he rode away,
> and where he dwelleth none can say;
> for into darkness fell his star
> in Mordor where the shadows are._



This is another sad one, grim and bitter; Treebeard's words to the Hobbits:


> "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.


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## Mithrandread (Jul 22, 2003)

Well, I'm back...

That line pierced my heart. Sam was terribly divided, wanting to go with his friends with whom he had been though so much, yet, wanting to stay at home with Rosie. He must have felt utterly hopeless at that point.


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## HLGStrider (Jul 23, 2003)

I didnt' find that all that sad, but maybe it was because he had a baby on his knee and I have raving maternal instincts.


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## Mithrandread (Jul 23, 2003)

Elgee, I see where you're coming from. I don't have children, and I am a wanderer at heart. If I were a parent, I know I would see things differently.


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## HLGStrider (Jul 23, 2003)

I don't have children either, just a desire for them. I'm only 18 and unwed at the moment, however, I see children as the ultimate in happiness, being rather idealistic in that way, and that Sam had one with him right then made me very happy. It was actually a rather beautiful, homey picture.


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## Beleg (Jul 23, 2003)

HlgStrider, you really should read the Unpublished Epilogue. 
You'll like it.


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## Elfarmari (Jul 23, 2003)

One of these three. . . (I'm feeling indecisive )
"In the twilight of autumn it <the ship Círdan made for Elrond> sailed out of Mithlond, until the seas of the bent world fell away beneath it, and the winds of the round sky troubled it no more, and borne upon the high airs above the mists of the world it passed into the ancient west, and an end was come of the Eldar of story and of song."

'I have come,' he said. 'But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!' And suddenly, as he set it on his finger, he vanished from Sam's sight.

I don't have the exact line, but where the battle before the gates of Mordor is about to be lost, when there is no hope left and Sauron is about to win, the instant before Gollum topples into Mount Doom and Gandalf says "The Ringbearer has fufilled his quest!" which, of course, is false.


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## Dáin Ironfoot I (Jul 23, 2003)

"...we have fought the long defeat." (Galadriel, the Mirror of Galadriel)

Sad, in more ways than one.


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## HLGStrider (Jul 24, 2003)

> HlgStrider, you really should read the Unpublished Epilogue.



If it is unpublished where would I get my hands on it? Or my eyes. . .


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## Rhiannon (Jul 24, 2003)

That's a good one, Dain.


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