Quote:
Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind. But now rising & sailing up from the south the great clouds advanced, sending out dark outriders into the starry fields. A sudden dread fell on the Company.
Elbereth Gilthoniel sighed Legolas as he looked up.
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Quote:
Along the coastal strip we passed by numerous negro villages where the people sat talking round tiny fires. Soon the train began to climb. The settlements ceased, & the night became inky black. Gradually it turned cooler, & I fell asleep. When the first ray of sunlight announced the onset of day, I awaoke. The train, swathed in a red cloud of dust, was making a turn round a steep red cliff. On a jagged rock above us a slim, brownish-black figure stood motionless, leaning on a long spear, looking down at the train. Beside him towered a gigantic candelabrum cactus.
I was enchanted by this sight - it was a picture of something utterly alien & outside my experience, but on the other hand a most intense sentiment du deja vu. I had the feeling that I had already experienced this moment & had always known this world which was seperated from me only by distance in time. It was as if I were this moment returning to the land of my youth, & as if I knew that dark skinned man who had been waiting for me forr five thousand years. Jung, ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections’ (On his journey to Kenya & Uganda)
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What Tolkien is giving us in this moment of ‘vision’ is an equally timeless moment within Middle-earth. An Elf, crowned with stars, stands poised against the coming darkness, & utters a prayer. A moment later he will move, & strike down the symbol of that darkness, but that moment of silent, watching prayer, for me, sums up so much of the Legendarium, its mood & its meaning, & the philosophical vision behind it.
(Its also Legolas ‘great’ moment within the LotR for me, so I wanted to single it out before we move on.)