Saruman's Words to Gandalf and Galadriel

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I was thinking about this passage recently and the one soon just before the lorien elves depart from the company going back to Rivendell where it says that a wanderer would have seen them as carvings. A hypothetical wanderer again would see the elves passing through the shire to Mithlond as a "swift shimmer" or "a light and a shadow" it is as if they have already faded.

Hmm. The part of the relevant passage Nikkolas didn't underline, this:

'And now, what ship will bear you back across so wide a sea?' he mocked, 'It will be a grey ship, and full of ghosts.'

I find more intriguing, maybe in line with what Mith suggested. When Saruman says the ship will be "full of ghosts", maybe he's going even further in mocking Elrond and Galadriel specifically. Being shorn of the power of the Three, they were indeed "ghosts" in Middle-earth, already fading.