This chapter completes the Lothlórien trilogy. It begins with another audience of the Fellowship with Celeborn and Galadriel, where their resolve to continue is tested by her gaze. Though they are offered the option of staying in Lothlórien, none of them wish to do so. The decision to choose their goal is postponed by the offer of boats, so that they do not have to decide on which side of the shore they will travel.
Aragorn is shown to be indecisive; his role as leader of the Fellowship means that he cannot freely choose to go to Minas Tirith as he originally wished to do. Boromir’s speech betrays his thoughts once again, with Frodo being the one who notices his budding desire for the Ring.
We are introduced to several Elvish objects that are given to the Fellowship:
lembas, the cloaks, and the
hithlain ropes. The two poems that are included are both Elven, both sung by Galadriel at their farewell:
I sang of leaves is recorded in Common Speech;
Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen! in Quenya, with a translation immediately following.
I find it interesting that the actual farewell scene is postponed until they have already left, almost as an afterthought; it reminds me of the hobbits’ farewell from Goldberry, which was similarly placed. Celeborn explains the route to them, then Galadriel gives the gifts – after drinking the ritual cup of parting with them. We’ve already mentioned that she calls him “a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings” in the previous chapter, but that she is the one who distributes the gifts. I think we can assume that the gifts are from both of them, so that it doesn’t matter much – or does it?
I will not elaborate on the individual gifts, as I’m sure that those will be discussed enthusiastically! I stumbled over Galadriel’s words to Gimli, though: “You shall not be the only guest without a gift.” Now, she had prepared gifts for all the others, so I cannot imagine that she would deliberately have left him out! Did she know his heart and want to give him the opportunity to present his request? What was the reason for this special treatment?
I must say, this scene and the closing conversation of Gimli with Legolas endeared the Dwarf to me forever. His poetic words and gallantry are lovely and touching! I have quite a few of those sentences underlined in my book:
Quote:
Little did I know where the chief peril lay!
…I would not have come, had I known the danger of light and joy. Now I have taken my worst wound in this parting…
…all such comfort is cold. Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror…
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What are your favourite parts of this chapter? What is your opinion on the poems, the character development, the gifts?
(In closing, I’d like to point to a very well-done reverse version of “I sang of leaves” which Elennar Starfire wrote and posted
here just today.)