Thread: Lore from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien - Lothlórien

The Coming of the Elves to the Vale of Anduin during the Years of the Trees


It is told in The Silmarillion that the Elves awoke in the east of Middle-earth under the stars of Varda Elentári (known as Elbereth Gilthoniel in the language of the Grey-elves) before the creation of the Sun and the Moon. There they were discovered by the Vala known as Oromë while he was hunting the monsters of Morgoth. The Valar resolved to bring the Elves to the Blessed Realm to protect them and have fellowship with them.

At last a portion of the Elves were persuaded to journey to the western shore of Middle-earth where they would depart for Valinor. Some, however, preferred the starlight and open spaces and did not make the journey. These are called the Avari, or Unwilling.

Long and slow was the march of the Eldar into the west, for the leagues of Middle-earth were uncounted, and weary and pathless. Nor did the Eldar desire to hasten, for they were filled with wonder at all that they saw, and by many lands and rivers they wished to abide…And it came to pass after many years of journeying in this manner that the Eldar took their course through a forest, and they came to a great river, wider than any they had yet seen; and beyond it were mountains whose sharp horns seemed to pierce the realm of the stars. This river, it is said, was even the river which was after called Anduin the Great, and was ever the frontier of the west-lands of Middle-earth. But the mountains were the Hithaeglir, the Towers of Mist upon the borders of Eriador…Now the Teleri abode long on the east bank of that river and wished to remain there, but the Vanyar and the Noldor passed over it, and Oromë led them into the passes of the mountains.

Source: ‘Of the Coming of the Elves’, The Silmarillion

This is how Elves first came to the woods east of the Misty Mountains. The Silmarillion then tells how the Teleri became divided. Some did eventually reach the Blessed Realm where they established the city and port of Alqualondë (swan-haven) in Eldamar, but many did not.


Lothlórien in the Second Age

Tolkien wrote various versions of the histories of Galadriel, Celeborn and the rulers of Laurelindórinen (as Lothlórien had previously been known) that were not published during his lifetime. In an earlier version Amroth was the son of Galadriel and Celeborn, but this was subsequently rejected. Tolkien’s son Christopher discusses these in Unfinished Tales.

But in the meantime the power of Galadriel and Celeborn had grown, and Galadriel, assisted in this by her friendship with the Dwarves of Moria, had come into contact with the Nandorin realm of Lórinand on the other side of the Misty Mountains. This was peopled by those Elves who forsook the Great Journey of the Eldar from Cuiviénen and settled in the woods of the Vale of Anduin; and it extended into the forests on both sides of the Great River, including the region where afterwards was Dol Guldur…but many Sindar and Noldor came to dwell among them, and their ‘Sindarizing’ under the impact of Beleriandic culture began.

Source: Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn, ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, Unfinished Tales.

The People of Lórien were…Silvan Elves in origin, but ruled by princes of Sindarin descent…They had however been much mingled with Noldor (of Sindarin speech), who passed through Moria after the destruction of Eregion by Sauron in the year 1697 of the Second Age...

Lórien had then long years of peace and obscurity under the rule of its own king Amdír, until the Downfall of Númenor and the sudden return of Sauron to Middle-earth. Amdír obeyed the summons of Gil-galad and brought as large a force as he could muster to the Last Alliance, but he was slain in the Battle of Dagorlad and most of his company with him. Amroth, his son, became king.

Source: Amroth and Nimrodel, ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, Unfinished Tales



Lothlórien in the Third Age

Amroth and Nimrodel



The Legend of Amroth and Nimrodel is well-known among the Silvan Elves

Amroth was King of Lórien, after his father Amdír was slain in the Battle of Dagorlad [in the year 3434 of the Second Age]. His land had peace for many years after the defeat of Sauron. Though Sindarin in decent he lived after the manner of the Silvan Elves and housed in the tall trees of a great mound, ever after called Cerin Amroth. This he did because of his love for Nimrodel. For long years he had loved her, and taken no wife, since she would not wed with him. She loved him indeed, for he was beautiful even for one of the Eldar, and valiant and wise; but she was of the Silvan Elves, and regretted the incomings of the Elves from the West, who (as she said) brought wars and destroyed the peace of old. She would speak only the Silvan tongue, even after it had fallen into disuse among the folk of Lórien, and she dwelt alone beside the falls of the river Nimrodel so which she gave her name. But when the terror came out of Moria and the Dwarves were driven out, and in their stead Orcs crept in, she fled distraught alone south into empty lands [in the year 1981 of the Third Age]. Amroth followed her, and at last he found her under the eaves of Fangorn, which in those days drew much nearer to Lórien...

There Amroth and Nimrodel held a long debate; and at the last they plighted their troth. “To this I will be true,” she said, “and we shall be wedded when you bring me to a land of peace.”

Source: Amroth and Nimrodel, ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, Unfinished Tales.

You may read the rest of the story in full (more or less) in Unfinished Tales. Like many of Tolkien’s tales, it does not end happily. In short, Amroth and Nimrodel decided that the only place they could truly live in peace would be the West. However, Amroth and Nimrodel became separated somewhere during their journey through the realm of Gondor. Amroth went to the Elf-haven of Belfalas hoping to find her there. He boarded the last ship bound for Aman, and persuaded them to delay departure until Nimrodel’s arrival. Alas, the ship became unmoored during a storm and, rather than depart Middle-earth without his love, Amroth leapt overboard and attempted--unsuccessfully--to swim ashore.

...But from the West has come no word,
And on the Hither Shore
No tidings Elven-folk have heard
Of Amroth evermore.


Galadriel and Celeborn




In Dwimordene, in Lórien
Seldom have walked the feet of Men,
Few mortal eyes have seen the light
That lies there ever, long and bright
Galadriel! Galadriel!
Clear is the water of your well;
White is the star in your white hand;
Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land
In Dwimordene, in Lórien
More fair than thoughts of mortal Men.

In her wisdom Galadriel saw that Lórien would be a stronghold and point of power to prevent the Shadow from crossing the Anduin in the war that must inevitably come before it was again defeated (if that were possible); but that it needed a rule of greater strength and wisdom than the Silvan folk possessed. Nevertheless, it was not until the disaster in Moria, when by means beyond the foresight of Galadriel Sauron’s power actually crossed the Anduin and Lórien was in great peril, its king lost, its people fleeing and likely to leave it deserted to be occupied by Orcs, that Galadriel and Celeborn took up their permanent abode in Lórien, and its government. But they took no title of King or Queen, and were the guardians that in the even brought it unviolated through the War of the Ring.

Source: Amroth and Nimrodel, ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, Unfinished Tales.

Of the Three Rings that the Elves had preserved unsullied no open word was ever spoken among the Wise, and few even of the Eldar knew where they were bestowed. Yet after the fall of Sauron their power was ever at work, and where they abode there mirth also dwelt and all things were unstained by the griefs of time. Therefore ere the third Age was ended the Elves perceived that the Ring of Sapphire was with Elrond, in the fair valley of Rivendell, upon whose house the stars of heaven most brightly shone; whereas the Ring of Adamant was in the land of Lórien where dwelt the Lady Galadriel. A queen she was of the woodland Elves, the wife of Celeborn of Doriath, yet she herself was of the Noldor and remembered before the days in Valinor, and she was the mightiest and fairest of all Elves that remained in Middle-earth.

Source: ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age’, The Silmarillion.

The Nine Walkers enter the Golden Wood – TA 3019

Nimrodel

‘Here is Nimrodel!’ said Legolas. ‘Of this stream the Silvan elves made many songs long ago, and still we sing them in the North, remembering the rainbow on its falls, and the golden flowers that floated in its foam. All is dark now and the Bridge of Nimrodel is broken down. I will bathe my feet, for it is said that the water is healing to the weary.’ He went forward and climbed down the deep-cloven bank and stepped into the stream.

Source: ‘Lothlórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings



The Bridge of Nimrodel was broken to discourage enemies from crossing the river

At length a silence fell, and they heard the music of the waterfall running sweetly in the shadows. Almost Frodo fancied that he could hear a voice singing, mingled with the water.

‘Do you hear the voice of Nimrodel?’ asked Legolas. ‘I will sing you a song of the maiden Nimrodel, who bore the same name as the stream beside which she lived long ago…In a soft voice hardly to be heard amid the rustle of leaves above them he began:

An Elven-maid there was of old,
A shining star by day:
Her mantle while was hemmed with gold,
Her shoes of silver-grey.

A star was bound upon her brows,
A light was on her hair
As sun upon the golden boughs
In Lórien the fair…

‘then many of the Elves of Nimrodel’s kindred left their dwellings and departed, and she was lost far in the South, in the passes of the White Mountains; and she came not to where Amroth her lover waited for her. But in the spring when the wind is in the new leaves the echo of her voice may still be heard by the falls that bear her name.

Source: ‘Lothlórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings



A statue of Nimrodel sits on a small island before the falls that bear her name


Talan Haldir

[Legolas] sprang lightly up from the ground and caught a branch that grew from the trunk high above his head. But even as he swung there for a moment, a voice spoke suddenly from the tree-shadows above him.

‘Daro!’ it said in a commanding tone, and Legolas dropped back to earth in surprise and fear...

Out of the shadows a ladder was let down: it was made of rope, silver-grey and glimmering in the dark, and though it looked slender it proved strong enough to bear many men. Legolas ran lightly up…The branches of the mallorn-tree grew out nearly straight from the trunk, and then swept upward; but near the top the main stem divided into a crown of many boughs, and among these they found that there had been built a wooden platform, or flet as such things were called in those days: the Elves called it a talan. It was reached by a round hole in the centre through which the ladder passed…

‘Welcome!’ the Elf said then in the Common Language, speaking slowly. ‘We seldom use any tongue but our own; for we dwell now in the heart of the forest, and do not willingly have dealings with any other folk…But there are still some of us still who go abroad for the gathering of news and the watching of our enemies, and they speak the languages of other lands. I am one. Haldir is my name.

Source: ‘Lothlórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings



A nest of a Great Eagle? Nay, it’s a talan of the Galadhrim




Haldir and his brothers Rûmil and Orophin patrol the borders of the Golden Wood

The Rope Bridge

Haldir skillfully cast over the stream a coil of grey rope, and [an Elf] caught it and bound the end about a tree near the bank.

'Celebrant is already a strong stream here, as you see,’ said Haldir, ‘and it runs both swift and deep, and is very cold. We do not set foot in it so far north, unless we must. But in these days of watchfulness we do not make bridges. This is how we cross! Follow me! He made his end of the rope fast about another tree, and then ran lightly along it, over the river and back again, as if he were on a road.

‘I can walk this path,’ said Legolas; ‘but the others have not this skill. Must they swim?’

‘No!’ said Haldir. ‘We have two more ropes. We will fasten them above the other, one shoulder-high and another half-height, and holding these the strangers should be able to cross with care.’ …

When at length all the Company was gathered on the east bank of the Silverlode, the Elves untied the ropes and coiled them. Rúmil, who had remained on the other side, drew back the last one, slung it over his shoulder, and with a wave of his hand went away, back to Nimrodel to keep watch.

Source: ‘Lothlórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.



The apparent remnants of a rope bridge. (Perhaps this one was severed during an attack by Orcs?)


Cerin Amroth

They were standing in an open space. To the left stood a great mound, covered with a sward of grass as green as Springtime in the Elder Days. Upon it, as a double crown, grew two circles of trees: the outer had bark of snowy white, and were leafless but beautiful in their shapely nakedness; the inner were mallorn-trees of great height, still arrayed in pale gold. High amid the branches of a towering tree that stood in the centre of all there gleamed a white flet. At the feet of the trees, and all about the green hillsides of grass was studded with small golden flowers shaped like stars. Among them, nodding on slender stalks, were other flowers, white and palest green: they glimmered as a mist amid the rich hue of the grass. Over all the sky was blue, and the sun of afternoon glowed upon the hill and cast long green shadows beneath the trees.

‘Behold! You are come to Cerin Amroth,’ said Haldir. ‘For this is the heart of the ancient realm as it was long ago, and here is the mound of Amroth, where in happier days his high house was built. Here ever bloom the winter flowers in the unfading grass: the yellow elanor, and the pale niphredil…

In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lórien there was no stain…

Though he walked and breathed, and about him living leaves and flowers were stirred by the same wind as fanned his face, Frodo felt that he was in a timeless land that did not fade or fall into forgetfulness. When he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there, upon the grass among elanor and niphredil in fair Lothlórien…

Haldir had gone on and was now climbing to the high flet. As Frodo prepared to follow him, he laid his hand upon the tree beside the ladder: never before had he been so suddenly and so keenly aware of the feel and texture of a tree’s skin and the life within it. He felt a delight in wood and the touch of it, neither as forester nor as carpenter; it was the delight of the living tree itself…

At the hill’s foot Frodo found Aragorn, standing still and silent as a tree; but in his hand was a small golden bloom of elanor, and a light was in his eyes. He was wrapped in some fair memory: and as Frodo looked at him he knew that he beheld things as they once had been in this same place. For the grim years were removed from the face of Aragorn, and he seemed clothed in white, a young lord tall and fair; and he spoke words in the Elvish tongue to one whom Frodo could not see. Arwen vanimelda, namarië! He said, and then he drew a breath, and returning out of his thought he looked at Frodo and smiled.

‘Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth,’ he said, ‘and here my heart dwells ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we still must tread, you and I. Come with me!’ And taking Frodo’s hand in his, he left the hill of Cerin Amroth and came there never again as a living man.

Source: ‘Lothlórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.



Elanor and niphredil bloom on the hill where the King of Lórien once dwelt, and where Aragorn and Arwen pledged their troth


Caras Galadhon

There was a wide treeless space before them, running in a great circle and bending away on either hand. Beyond it was a deep fosse lost in soft shadow, but the grass upon its brink was green, as if it glowed still in memory of the sun that had gone. Upon the further side there rose to a great height a green wall encircling a green hill thronged with mallorn-trees taller than any they had yet seen in twilight like living towers. In their many-tiered branches and amid their ever-moving leaves countless lights were gleaming, green and gold and silver. Haldir turned towards the Company.

'Welcome to Caras Galadhon!’ he said. ‘Here is the city of Galadhrim where dwell the Lord Celeborn and Galadriel the Lady of Lórien. But we cannot enter here, for the gates do not look northward. We must go round to the southern side, and the way is not short, for the city is great.

Source: ‘The Mirror of Galadriel’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.




Caras Galadhon at night




The gates of the city of Caras Galadhon

Celeborn and Galadriel

On two chairs beneath the bole of the tree and canopied by a living bough there said, side by side, Celeborn and Galadriel. They stood up to greet their guests, after the manner of Elves, even those who were accounted mighty kings. Very tall they were, and the Lady no less tall than the Lord; and they were grave and beautiful. They were clad wholly in white; and the hair of the Lady was of deep gold, and the hair of Lord Celeborn was of silver long and bright; but no sign of age was upon them, unless in the depths of their eyes; for these were keen as lances in the starlight, and yet profound, the wells of deep memory.

Source: ‘The Mirror of Galadriel’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.




The Company’s Pavilion

That night the Company slept on the ground, much to the satisfaction of the hobbits. The Elves spread for them a pavilion among the trees near the fountain, and in it they laid soft couches…

'…But tonight I shall sleep without fear for the first time since I left Rivendell. And may I sleep deep, and forget for a while my grief! I am weary in body and in heart.’ [Aragorn] cast himself down upon his couch and fell at once into a long sleep.

The others soon did the same, and not sound or dream disturbed their slumber. When they woke they found that the light of day was broad upon the lawn before the pavilion, and the fountain rose and fell glittering in the sun.

Source: ‘The Mirror of Galadriel’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.




The Mirror of Galadriel

Even as [Frodo] spoke, they saw, as if she came in answer to their words, the Lady Galadriel approaching. Tall and white and fair she walked beneath the trees. She spoke no word, but beckoned to them.

Turning aside, she led them to the southern slopes of the hill of Caras Galadhon, and passing through a high green hedge they came into an enclosed garden…At the bottom, upon a low pedestal carved like a branching tree, stood a basin of silver, wide and shallow, and beside it stood a silver ewer.

With water from the stream Galadriel filled the basin to the brim, and breathed on it, and when the water was still again she spoke. ‘Here is the Mirror of Galadriel,’ she said. ‘I have brought you here so that you may look in it, if you will.’…

‘Many things I can command the Mirror to reveal,’ she answered, ‘and to some I can show what they desire to see. But the Mirror will also show things unbidden, and those are often stranger and more profitable than things which we wish to behold. What you will see, if you leave the Mirror free to work, I cannot tell. For it shows things that were, and things that are, and things that yet may be. But which it is that he sees, even the wisest cannot always tell. Do you wish to look?’…

‘…Remember the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass. Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them. The Mirror is dangerous as a guide of deeds.’

Source: ‘The Mirror of Galadriel’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.





Galadriel’s Swan-ship

They turned down a sharp bend in the river, and there, sailing proudly down the stream towards them, they saw a swan of great size. The water rippled on either side of the white breast neath its curving neck. Its beak shone like burnished gold, and its eyes glinted like jet set in yellow stones; its huge white wings were half lifted. A music came down the river as it drew nearer; and suddenly they perceived that it was a ship, wrought and carved with elven-skill in the likeness of a bird. ’

Source: ‘Farewell to Lórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.

Arwen and Aragorn

Their Betrothal on Cerin Amroth - TA 2980

[Aragorn] was weary and wished to go back to Rivendell and rest there for a while ere he journeyed into the far countries; and on his way he came to the borders of Lórien and was admitted to the hidden land by the Lady Galadriel.

He did not know it, but Arwen Undómiel was also there, dwelling again for a time with the kin of her mother. She was little changed, for the mortal years had passed her by; yet her face was more grave, and her laughter now seldom was heard. But Aragorn was grown to full stature of body and mind, and Galadriel bade him cast aside his wayworn raiment, and she clothed him in silver and white, with a cloak of elven-grey and bright gem on his brow. Then more than any kind of Men he appeared, and seemed rather an Elf-lord from the Isles of the West. And thus it was that Arwen first beheld him again after their long parting; and as he came walking towards her under the trees of Caras Galadhon laden with flowers of gold, her choice was made and her doom appointed.

Then for a season they wandered together in the glades of Lothlórien, until it was time for him to depart. And on the evening of Midsummer Aragorn Arathorn’s son, and Arwen daughter of Elrond went to the fair hill, Cerin Amroth, in the midst of the land, and they walked unshod on the undying grass with elanor and niphredil about their feet. And there upon that hill they looked east to the Shadow and west to the Twilight, and they plighted their troth and were glad.

Source: Appendix A, ‘Here Follows a Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen’, The Lord of the Rings.


Their Parting and Passing - FA 120

'At last, Lady Evenstar, fairest in this world, and most beloved, my world is fading. Lo! we have gathered, and we have spent, and now the time of payment draws near'

Arwen knew well what he intended, and long had foreseen it; nonetheless she was overborne by her grief…

Then going to the House of Kings in the Silent Street, Aragorn laid him down on the long bed that had been prepared for him. There he said farewell…And for all her wisdom and lineage she could not bear to plead with him to stay yet for a while. [Arwen] was not yet weary of her days, and thus tasted the bitterness of the mortality that she had taken upon her.

‘Lady Undómiel,’ said Aragorn, ‘the hour is indeed hard, yet it was made even in that day when we met under the white birches in the garden of Elrond where none now walk. And on the hill of Cerin Amroth when we forsook both the Shadow and the Twilight this doom we accepted…

But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star…she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away into the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.

There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she 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 are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.

Source: Appendix A, ‘Here Follows a Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen’, The Lord of the Rings.

The Reputation of Galadriel and Lothlórien among other Peoples of Middle-earth

Among the Elves of Mirkwood: Legolas

‘If Elves indeed still dwell here in the darkening world,’ said Gimli.

‘It is long since any of my own folk journeyed hither back to the land whence we wandered in ages long ago,’ said Legolas, ‘but we hear that Lórien is not yet deserted, for there is a secret power here that holds evil from the land. Nevertheless its folk are seldom seen, and maybe they dwell now deep in the woods and far from the northern border.’

Source: ‘Lothlórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.


Among Men of Gondor: Boromir, the Heir of Denethor, Steward of Gondor

…but Boromir stood irresolute and did not follow. ‘Is there no other way?’ he said.

‘What other fairer way would you desire?’ said Aragorn.

‘A plain road, though it lead through a hedge of swords,’ said Boromir. ‘By strange paths has this Company been led, and so far to evil fortune. Against my will we passed under the shades of Moria, to our loss. And now we must enter the Golden Wood, you say. But of that perilous land we have heard in Gondor, and it is said that few come out who once go in; and of that few none have escaped unscathed.’
‘Say not unscathed, but if you say unchanged, then maybe you will speak the truth,’ said Aragorn. ‘But lore wanes in Gondor, Boromir, if in the city of those who once were wise they now speak evil of Lothlórien…’

Source: ‘Lothlórien’, The Fellowship of the Ring, volume 1 of The Lord of the Rings.


Among Men of Gondor: Faramir, Captain of the Company of Ithilien

‘You passed through the Hidden Land,’ said Faramir, ‘but it seems that you little understood its power. If Men have dealings with the Mistress of Magic who dwells in the Golden Wood, then they may look for strange things to follow. For it is perilous for mortal man to walk out of the world of this Sun, and few of old came thence unchanged, ‘tis said.

Source: ‘The Window of the West’, The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings

But in Middle-earth Men and Elves became estranged in the days of darkness, by the arts of the Enemy, and by the slow changes of time in which each kind walked further down their sundered roads. Men now fear and misdoubt the Elves, and yet know little of them. And we of Gondor grow like other Men, like the men of Rohan; for even they, who are foes of the Dark Lord, shun the Elves and speak of the Golden Wood with dread.

'Yet there are among us still some who have dealings with the Elves when they may, and ever and anon one will go in secret to Lórien, seldom to return. Not I. For I deem it perilous now for mortal man willfully to seek out the Elder People. Yet I envy you that have spoken with the White Lady.'

Source: ‘The Window of the West’, The Two Towers, volume 2 of The Lord of the Rings.


Among the Rohirrim: Éomer, the Third Marshall of the Riddermark

'…And strange too is your raiment. Have you sprung out of the grass? How did you escape our sight? Are you elvish folk?'

'No,’ said Aragorn. ‘One only of us is an Elf, Legolas from the Woodland Realm in distant Mirkwood. But we have passed through Lothlórien, and the gifts and favour of the Lady go with us.'

The Rider looked at them with renewed wonder, but his eyes hardened. ‘Then there is a Lady in the Golden Wood, as old tales tell!’ he said. ‘Few escape her nets, they say. These are strange days! But if you her favour, then you are also net-weavers and sorcerers, maybe.’

Source: ‘The Riders of Rohan’, The Two Towers, volume 2 of The Lord of the Rings.


Among the Rohirrim: Háma, the Doorward of Théoden

'I am the Doorward of Théoden,’ he said. ‘Háma is my name. Here I must bid you lay aside your weapons before you enter.'

Then Legolas gave into his hand his silver-hafted knife, his quiver, and his bow. ‘Keep them well,’ he said, ‘for they come from the Golden Wood and the Lady of Lothlórien gave them to me.’

Wonder came into the man’s eyes, and he laid the weapons hastily by the wall, as if he feared to handle them. ‘No man will touch them, I promise you,’ he said.

Source: ‘The King of the Golden Hall’, The Two Towers, volume 2 of The Lord of the Rings.


Among the Ents: Treebeard

'Please, Treebeard,’ [Pippin] said, ‘could I ask you something? Why did Celeborn warn us against your forest? He told us not to risk getting entangled in it.'

'Hmmm, did he now?’ rumbled Treebeard. ‘And I might have said much the same, if you had been going the other way. Do not risk getting entangled in the woods of Laurelindórenan! That is what the Elves used to call it, but now they make the name shorter: Lothlórien they call it. Perhaps they are right: maybe it is fading, not growing. Land of the Valley of Singing Gold, that was it, once upon a time. Now it is the Dreamflower. Ah well! But it is a queer place, and not for just any one to venture in. I am surprised that you ever got out, but much more surprised that you ever got in: that has not happened to strangers for many a year. It is a queer land.

Source: 'Treebeard', The Two Towers, volume 2 of The Lord of the Rings.

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