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Old 02-05-2013, 08:38 AM   #1684
Legate of Amon Lanc
A Voice That Gainsayeth
 
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
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Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.
At least not on first sight, for sure. My first thoughts were something like "stars" (some particular ones? Borgil. But that would not do, since they are supposed to be two), or maybe some precious stones (again, I thought Silmarils, but there are three of them, and only one is performing some motion worth mentioning, the two others are lost somewhere). The "learning" part does not make sense with either of them, though, so I am pretty sure it must be something else.

Quote:
Ever heads are bowing to us
Ever thus do you behold us.
Is this supposed to mean that when I bow my head, I see the thing(s)? That would basically rule out the stars, unless one has eyes on the back of his head. It really looks like some sort of gems or somesuch (which one could see when looking at the ground). Especially with the "delving" part.

Though it says "our treasures delve", so we are not the treasures. "We" could be, for instance, caves in which treasures are found, but not the treasures themselves. Unless it is, again, completely metaphorical.

What confuses me also is that while at the start there are "two", in the last part, there is certainly only "one" (twice red am "I", not "we").

The most logical answer would be Sun (the two being Sun and Moon, or Arien and Tilion, or what have you), we know how they get up at the Gates of Morning and set down at the Doors of Night (Black Pit?). The leaves part could refer to the (dead) Two Trees out of whose blossom/fruit the Sun and Moon were made. Sun could be red, of course, why not, but what does not really fit there is the "learning" (unless it's there just to rhyme), the "delving" (Dwarves and Elves and Men don't really dig the Sun), and also the part I quoted above, with the eyes on the back of one's head...

And certainly does not explain the "twice red".

I guess the answer is elsewhere, but right now I can't think of anything more.
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"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories
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