‘But,’ said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, ‘I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too. for years and years, after all you have done.’
‘So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.

Return of the King

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Anonymous asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme: “The quote meme: I kinda want to hear your answer for basically all of the questions with any possible context, but let’s go with numbers 1, 6 and 17 and The Lord of the Rings trilogy!” This was #6, the saddest quote.

But members of the cast and crew where always trying to catch me out. They’d ask me questions like, “what was the name of Frodo’s father,” or “what was the name of this or that sword.” Things like that. Well, they never caught me out—not once! They tried, but they never did.

Christopher Lee (X)

LAWRENCE FRENCH: Before doing The Lord of the Rings you played another Wizard in a television series, The New Adventures of Robin Hood.

CHRISTOPHER LEE: That’s right, and the only reason I did that was to show anyone who was watching that I could play a Wizard and that I would be ideal casting for The Lord of the Rings.

X

I think it’s because we all love to dream. We don’t live in a particularly attractive world. I don’t really remember, except as a small boy, anything but a pretty grim world. I’m old enough to have seen Hitler in the flesh. I’m old enough to have been in Munich in 1934, on the night of the long knives, when Hitler butchered so many of his own people. I’m old enough to remember the Second World War and all the other things. So I’m not being a Cassandra, who prophesied nothing but evil and misery; I’m simply facing reality. So, yes, let us not lose faith, let us be optimistic, let us believe in the good things, but we still have to face the world as it is.  When you live in a world like that, what do you want? You want to escape, to get out of this world from time to time, into another world, a magical world, an enchanted world, where things happen we dream about, a world of fairy stories and wizards. It is like the conjurer, the enchanter, or magician who says, “Look, nothing up my sleeve. When I do this, you will come into my enchanted world!”  Dreaming, escaping, that is what we’re talking about. I firmly believe that is why this kind of film is so universally popular, and always will be, because people like to get into another world.

Christopher Lee on the fantasy genre (X)

Arwen: Do you remember when we first met?
Aragorn: I thought I had wandered into a dream.
Arwen: Long years have passed. You did not have the cares you carry now. Do you remember what I told you?
Aragorn: You said you’d bind yourself to me, forsaking the immortal life of your people.
Arwen: And to that I hold. I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.
[hands him her pendant]
Arwen: I choose a mortal life.
Aragorn: You cannot give me this.
Arwen: It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart.

Fellowship of the Ring (movie)

Anonymous asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme, “Lotr movieverse, meme no. 9 😉”, #9 being the most romantic quote.

‘That Gandalf should be late, does not bode well. But it is said: Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger. The choice is yours: to go or wait.’
     ‘And it is also said,’ answered Frodo: ‘Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.’
     ‘Is it indeed?’ laughed Gildor. ‘Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill. But what would you? You have not told me all concerning yourself; and how then shall I choose better than you? But if you demand advice, I will for friendship’s sake give it. I think you should now go at once, without delay; and if Gandalf does not come
before you set out, then I also advise this: do not go alone. Take such friends as are trusty and willing. Now you should be grateful, for I do not give this counsel gladly. The Elves have their own labours and their own sorrows, and they are little concerned with the ways of hobbits, or of any other creatures upon earth. Our paths cross theirs seldom, by chance or purpose. In this meeting there may be more than chance; but the purpose is not clear to me, and I fear to say too much.’

Fellowship of the Ring (”Three Is Company”)

weirdpolis asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme, “That Middle Earth quote meme: 4, 8, 11 and 14, from LotR books or movie. Pretty please.” This is #4, my favorite quote from dialogue.

Then Fingon looked towards Thangorodrim, and there was a dark cloud about it, and a black smoke went up; and he knew that the wrath of Morgoth was aroused, and that their challenge was accepted. A shadow of doubt fell upon Fingonís heart; and he looked eastwards, seeking if he might see with elven-sight the dust of Anfauglith rising beneath the hosts of Maedhros. He knew not that Maedhros was hindered in his setting- forth by the guile of Uldor the accursed, who deceived him with false warnings of assault from Angband.
     But now a cry went up, passing up the wind from the south from vale to vale, and Elves and Men lifted their voices in wonder and joy. For unsummoned and unlocked for Turgon had opened the leaguer of Gondolin, and was come with an army ten thousand strong, with bright mail and long swords and spears like a forest. Then when Fingon heard afar the great trumpet of Turgon his brother, the shadow passed and his heart was uplifted, and he shouted aloud: “Utulie’n aure! Aiya Eldalie ar Atanatari, utulie’n aure! The day has come! Behold, people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!’ And all those who heard his great voice echo in the hills answered crying: ‘Auta i lome! The night is passing!’

The Silmarillion (”Of the Fifth Battle”)

whereisbarton asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme, “for the quote meme: 6 and 8 for the silmarillion pls 🙂” This is #8, the most badass quote.

Tauriel?
Lie still.
You cannot be her. She is far away. She… she is far, far away from me. She walks in starlight in another world. It was just a dream. Do you think she could have loved me?

Desolation of Smaug

Anonymous asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme, “May i ask no. 9 of your meme , thehobbit movieverse? Thanks!”, #9 being the most romantic quote.

And Tuor looked down from the lowest terrace and saw, leaning against its wall among the stones and the sea-wrack, an Elf, clad in a grey cloak sodden with the sea. Silent he sat, gazing beyond the ruin of the beaches out over the long ridges of the waves. All was still, and there was no sound save the roaring of the surf below.
     As Tuor stood and looked at the silent grey figure he remembered the words of Ulmo, and a name untaught came to his lips, and he called aloud: “Welcome, Voronwë! I await you.”
     Then the Elf turned and looked up, and Tuor met the piercing glance of his sea-grey eyes, and knew that he was of the high folk of the Noldor. But fear and wonder grew in his gaze as he saw Tuor standing high upon the wall above him, clad in his great cloak like a shadow out of which the elven-mail gleamed upon his breast. 
     A moment thus they stayed, each searching the face of the other, and then the Elf stood up and bowed low before Tuor’s feet.

The Unfinished Tales (”Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin”)

starlightoldetomato asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme, “5!”, #5 being a quote I prefer in another version. This version of Tuor and Voronwe’s meeting, found in the Unfinished Tales, is (in my opinion) much preferable to the version found in the Silmarillion: “But in the morning when the storm was passed, Tuor came upon
an Elf standing beside the walls of Vinyamar; and he was Voronwe, son
of Aranwe, of Gondolin, who sailed in the last ship that Turgon sent into
the West.”

Not all those who wander are lost.

Fellowship of the Ring (”Strider”)

clockworkbeard asked, for the Middle Earth Quote Meme, “16!”, #16 being the quote everybody loves that I don’t actually really like. And I know I’m probably committing, like, Tolkien blasphemy here or something, but this particular over-used portion of Aragorn’s poem is definitely that quote for me. It’s not that I don’t like the quote itself, it’s just that I’m often frustrated by the way I see it used in the “real world.” All sorts of wanderlust-aged folk misuse this quote as some sort of slogan to suggest that floating aimlessly through life does not mean you’re lost! (And I’m not even disagreeing with that philosophy, it’s just that this isn’t what the quote means. Young adults without a calling don’t know where they’re going. Aragorn always did. It was everyone else who assumed he was lost.)