The Fellowship of the Ring // Book 2, Chapter 6 // Lothlorien

Since I somehow just posted one chapter last week I'll trrrrrrry to post three this week so we can stay on track for finishing The Fellowship next week. (Yikes! I know I've been a bit off lately, but can you believe we're that close?!)

~

And ahhhhhhhhh, we've made it to Lothlorien. <3 *taking a deep breath*

I have a bunch of miscellaneous little observations that popped to mind while reading.

-- In the last couple chapters Gimli was able to give a bit of a cultural introduction to the dwarves and now Legolas gets a turn with the elves. So that's kinda neat (juxtaposed like that I mean). And while they're kindred, they're both not From There, if you follow my meaning. Gimli is from the Lonely Mountain/Dale (yet with history of older generations taking over/delving in Moria) and Legolas is from Mirkwood (his kindred tying back, but separating in long days past from those in Lothlorien).

-- I like the little moments between Frodo and Gimli; with Gimli wanting him to see the pool of Kheled-zaram and then both bringing up the rear and listening to the noises behind and round them.

-- While we're on the subject of Gimli, I noticed he's actually the one who first thought of sleeping in the trees. It's just a little thing, but it made me laugh.

-- And did you notice how earlier, Boromir defended the true faith of Rohan to the council and now Aragorn makes a similar argument about Lothlorien? I don't have a lot to say about that, but the parallel is striking.

-- I love the description of crossing the Nimrodel: "One by one they climbed down and followed Legolas. For a moment Frodo stood near the brink and let the water flow over his tired feet. It was cold but its touch was clean, and as he went on and it mounted to his knees, he felt that the stain of travel and all weariness was washed from his limbs."

There are definite Edenic connotations; and I'm not necessarily drawing any sort of direct comparison, but the phrasing in this section + any mention of the Great River, Anduin, (so concepts in the entire chapter and running right through their stay in Lothlorien, I guess), just reminded me of this passage from Ezekiel (47:1-12):

"Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. 

"And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen this?' Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. 

"When I returned, there, along the bank of the river, were very many trees on one side and the other. Then he said to me: 'This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many. But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt. Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

Quotes:

• "You, Legolas, must answer to us for them. Call us, if anything is amiss! And have an eye on that dwarf!" (Just makes me laugh.)
  
• "Alas for the folly of these days!' said Legolas. 'Here all are enemies of the one Enemy, and yet I must walk blind, while the sun is merry in the woodland under leaves of gold!' 'Folly it may seem,' said Haldir. 'Indeed in nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him."
• "The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."
• "In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lorien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world."
• "The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no color but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. 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 Lorien there was no stain. He turned and saw that Sam was now standing beside him, looking round with a puzzled expression, and rubbing his eyes as if he was not sure that he was awake. 'It's sunlight and bright day, right enough,' he said. 'I thought that Elves were all for moon and stars: but this is more elvish than anything I ever heard tell of. I feel as if I was inside a song, if you take my meaning."
  

 

For thought:

• "Say not unscathed, but if you say unchanged, then maybe you will speak the truth,' said Aragorn. ...'Then lead on!' said Boromir. 'But it is perilous.' 'Perilous indeed,' said Aragorn, 'fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them." 

Our current definition of fair as meaning either 'beautiful' or 'just' dates from the mid-19th century. The Old English sense of the word was associated with 'beautify' and 'appear or become clean' (which could also tie in with the later judicial definition). (And it's more than possible Tolkien knew both definitions very well, of course... but that's just an interesting brain teaser.) 

The question is: what is this saying about beauty? Do you think of beauty, pure beauty -- unstained or washed clean -- as being something vivid and powerful, dangerous and feared by its enemies?