"The Balrog reached the bridge. Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white. His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils. But Gandalf stood firm. 'You cannot pass,' he said. The orcs stood still, and a dead silence fell. 'I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avial you, flame of Udun. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.'
The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly on to the bridge, and suddenly drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm.
From out of the shadow a red sword leaped flaming.
Glamdring glittered white in answer.
There was a ringing clash and a stab of white fire. The Balrog fell back and its sword flew up in molten fragments. The wizard swayed upon the bridge, stepped back a pace, and then again stood still.
'You cannot pass!' he said.
With a bound the Balrog leapt full upon the bridge. Its whip whirled and hissed.
'He cannot stand alone!' cried Aragorn suddenly and ran back along the bridge. 'Elendil!' he shouted. 'I am with you, Gandalf!'
'Gondor!' cried Boromir and leaped after him.
At that moment Gandalf lifted his staff, and crying aloud he smote the bridge before him. The staff broke asunder and fell from his hand. A blinding sheet of white flame sprang up. The bridge cracked. Right at the Balrog's feet it broke, and the stone upon which it stood crashed into the gulf, while the rest remained, poised, quivering like a tongue of rock thrust out into emptiness.
With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard's knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. 'Fly, you fools!' he cried, and was gone."
I remember reading this and immediately cheating to see if he stayed dead
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
for me it was frodo...i sat there stunned when sam thought he was dead...but i kept reading anyway...and got really mad when they left you hanging with sam out cold and frodo captured...but it all turned out rather nicely wouldn't you say?
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
Shadow Stalker said this in post #33 : for me it was frodo...i sat there stunned when sam thought he was dead...but i kept reading anyway...and got really mad when they left you hanging with sam out cold and frodo captured...but it all turned out rather nicely wouldn't you say?
Yes it did turn out well, but boy was I pissed off when I read that passage.
Before I saw the movies, I liked the Helm's Deep chapter. It was one of my favorites. Then I saw the movie. This is one of the few scenes in which I have to say the movie is better than the book.
yeah same here heather
Saruman gets whats coming to him:
"'Good day!'he turned and left the balcony.
'Come back, Saruman!' said Gandalf in a commanding voice. To the amazement of the others, Saruman turned again, and as if dragged against his will, he came slowly back to the iron rail, leaning on it, breathing hard. His face was lined and shrunken. His hand clutched his heavy black staff like a claw.
'I did not give you leave to go,' said Gandalf sternly. 'I have not finished. You have become a fool, Saruman, yet pitiable. You might still have turned away from folly and evil, and been of service. But you choose to stay and gnaw the ends of your old plots. Stay then! But I warn you, you will not easily come out agian. Not unless the dark hands of the East stretch out to take you. Saruman!' he cried, and his voice grew in power and authority. 'Behold, I am not Gandalf the Grey, whom you betrayed. I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death. You have no colour now, and I cast you from the order and from the Council.'
He raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. 'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split assunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet. 'Go!' said Gandalf. With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away."
later, after he is evicted by Frodo & co. from Bag-end:
"Saruman rose to his feet, and stared at Frodo. there was a strange look in his eyes of mingled wonder and respect and hatred. 'You have grown, Halfling,' he said. 'Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and cruel. You have robbed my revenge of its sweetness, and now I must go in hence in bitterness, in debt to your mercy. I hate it and you! Well, I go and I will trouble you no more. But do not expect me to wish you health and long life. You will have neither. But that is not my doing. I merely fortell.'
as Saruman leaves:
"But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman's back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane. Befor Frodo could recover or speak a word, three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead.
To the dismay of those that stood by, about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. for a moment it wavered, looking to the West; but a out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing."
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
Last edited by Shadow Stalker on 01-10-2004 at 09:30 PM |
Great!!! I'm kind of relieved it wasn't in the movie though. Do you really think that the movie would have done that scene justice? Time would have been an issue and it would have been rushed. Not to mention a little anticlimatic.
yeah, there really was no way they could have put it in the movie...i mean the only reason they had the army of the Dead come to Minas Tirith was so they could speed up the end of that battle, because it the battle should have lasted a long time. time was definitely an issue.
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
"But the Nazgul turned and fled, and vanished into Mordor's shadows, hearing a sudden terrible call out of the Dark Tower; and even at that moment the hosts of Mordor trembled, doubt clutched their hearts, their laugther failed, their hands shook and their limbs were loosed. The Power that drove them on and filled them with hate and fury was wavering, its will was removed from them; and now looking in the eyes of their enemies they saw a deadly light and were afraid.
Then all the Captains of the West cried aloud, for their hearts were filled with a new hope in the midst of darkness. Out of the beleaguered hills knights of Gondor, Riders of Rohan, Dunedain of the North, close-serried companies, drove against their wavering foes, piercing the press with but Gandalf lifted up his arms, and called once more in a clear voice: 'Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom.' "
from another part of the book: "Towers fell and mountains slid; walls crumbled and melted, crashing down; vast spires of smoke and spouting steam went billowing up, up, until they toppled like an overwhelming wave, and its wild crest curled and came foaming down upon the land. and then at last over the miles between there came a rumble, rising to a deafening crash and roar; the earth shook, the plain heaved and cracked, and Orondruin reeled. Fire belched from its riven summit. The skies burst into thunder seared with lightning. Down like lashing whips fell a torrent of black rain. And into the heart of the storm, with a cry that pierced all other sounds, tearing the clouds assunder, the Nazgul came, shooting like flaming bolts, as caught in the fiery ruin of hill and sky they crackled, withered, and went out."
back to the original part: "And even as he spoke the earth rocked beneath their feet. Then rising swiftly up, far above the Towers of the Black Gate, high above the mountains, a vast soaring darkness sprang into the sky, flickering with fire. The earth groaned and quaked. The Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered, and fell; the mighty rampart crumbled; the Black Gate was hurled in ruin, and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds, there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise.
'The realm of Sauron is ended!' said Gandalf. 'The Ring-bearer had fulfilled his Quest.' And as the Captains gazed south to the Land of Mordor, it seemed to them that, black against the pall of cloud, there rose a huge shape of shadow, impenatrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky. Enormous it reared above the world, and stretched out towards them a vast threatening hand, terrible, but impotent: for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away, and passed; and then a hush fell."
later after Frodo and Sam have awoken " 'A great Shadow has departed,' said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears. Then, as a sweet rain will pass down a wid of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up, and laughing he sprang from his bed."
Ah....what a fitting end...and yet it wasn't the end...
Love is a very powerful force, especially when its formed into a coherent beam of death.
01-09-2004 03:58 AM
