tanaquiljall: (Default)
Day 28: Great Service He Could Have Rendered )


Feel free to leave more prompts in comments to any of the posts.

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tanaquiljall: (Drabble RDA)
[livejournal.com profile] elena_tiriel gave me the quote
'Unless the king should come again?' said Gandalf. 'Well, my lord Steward, it is your task to keep some kingdom still against that event, which few now look to see. In that task you shall have all the aid that you are pleased to ask for. But I will say this: the rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task, though Gondor should perish, if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I also am a steward. Did you not know?' And with that he turned and strode from the hall with Pippin running at his side.

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 1, Minas Tirith
and asked me to "compare and contrast".

Day 321



Stewards

He pores over maps, seeing Gondor spread before him, as when he climbed to the high hallow on Mindolluin’s peak. He ignores the edges that show territories long-lost, or the lands of allies providing bulwarks for Gondor’s borders, or almost-forgotten realms who shelter behind Gondor’s skirts but give no aid.

***

He ponders plans, seeing the Nor’-West of Middle-Earth spread before him in mind’s eye, as when Gwaihir bore him from Zirak-Zigil’s peak. From here he has gathered the half-forgotten kin of ancient kings of Men, from there home-fast Shirefolk, and fading Elves, and dwindling Dwarves, to deliver Arda from Evil.

tanaquiljall: (Drabble RDA)
A long, long, long time ago, [livejournal.com profile] elena_tiriel gave me the quote:
'Mithrandir was lost!' said Faramir. 'An evil fate seems to have pursued your fellowship. It is hard indeed to believe that one of so great wisdom, and of power — for many wonderful things he did among us — could perish, and so much lore be taken from the world.'

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 6, The Forbidden Pool
and asked What were Faramir's inner thoughts and emotions, his reaction?

Day 317

He fleeth as it were a shadow

A part of Faramir selfishly cried out for all he had not time to learn. Not of magics and mysteries, but of the history of the world. For Mithrandir’s memory surely reached back into days now forgotten and lands unvisited.

Could he have recalled, if only Faramir had thought to ask, his speech with Gondor’s Kings? Or shared truths of the far North, where mayhap still dwelt dragons and dwarves from the legends of the Horse-Lords?

Yet the days had always been too short to learn all the world could teach, and Faramir's own end no doubt was hastening to meet him.

tanaquiljall: (Drabble RDA)
[livejournal.com profile] gwynnyd asked for Gandalf and Glorfindel comparing notes on slaying balrogs.

Day 196

as part of the An Elf-lord Revealed series.

Comparing Notes

"Elrond tells me you faced a balrog." Glorfindel's tone was light but curious as they paced the gardens of the Houses of Healing.

Gandalf nodded. "In Moria."

"I found mine quite... tenacious."

Gandalf's brows beetled. "That would be one word for it!"

"Did you grapple at close quarters?" Glorfindel idly examined the golden flowers on a low-growing shrub.

"Too close for comfort! But I had no need to wrestle." Gandalf smiled grimly at the memory. "I held onto my sword."

"Ah." Glorfindel grinned suddenly. "I am sure Elrond's great-grand-sire will be pleased to hear his blade tasted balrog blood again."

tanaquiljall: (Default)
[livejournal.com profile] rakshathedemon asked for the first meeting of Elrond and Gandalf.

This is another drabble in my Elrond series.

as part of the Mighty among both Elves and Men series

Day 118

Don't judge a book by its cover

At the approach of the traveller, Elrond wondered briefly why Círdan had committed the Red Ring to this last of those from over the sea. Whereas Curunír had sought to impress and impose his will on others with voice and bearing, Mithrandir cloaked himself in the body of a weary old man: a little stooped, frail, weathered.

Yet. Elrond saw, the spirit that looked out from under those bushy brows was fierce and strong like an eagle, steady on its course as the stars, bright as the Flame Imperishable.

Elrond smiled ruefully to himself: Círdan had, as always, chosen wisely.

tanaquiljall: (Drabble RDA)
[livejournal.com profile] gwynnyd wanted to know what Gandalf feels when the One Ring is destroyed.

Day 99

as part of the Possessing the greatest powers series.

Fool's hope

While the battle raged, his anger flamed. What hurts had Sauron visited upon the hobbits that he might bring dwarf-mail, elf-cloak, and barrow-blade before them?

Yet naught but one cloak, one sword. And still Narya aided Olórin: to kindle courage and steadfastness in the Host of the West. Whatever tokens the Dark Lord might tender, the Ring – and one of its bearers – surely had eluded him.

Hope burned on: if they could endure but a little longer....

For a moment, the power Olórin wielded leaped, danced – and failed.

As it winked out, a new certainty was born from the ashes.
tanaquiljall: (Drabble RDA)
[livejournal.com profile] elena_tiriel asked: How did Gandalf manage this?

He got leave of Denethor, how I do not know, to look at the secrets of our treasury, and I learned a little of him, when he would teach (and that was seldom).

The Two Towers, LoTR Book 4, Ch 6, The Forbidden Pool

Day 56

News from afar is seldom sooth

"Ever you come seeking aid, Mithrandir." The Steward's tone was scornful. "What aid or comfort do you bring, that Gondor should bare its secrets to you?"

Gandalf checked his impatience that the enemies of the Enemy were thus divided, and spoke softly. "I bring tidings from other lands that may profit Gondor – and its lord."

Denethor shrugged coldly. "I know enough of such matters for our needs."

Gandalf spoke more softly still. If Sauron spied on Denethor's court, a little disinformation might serve two ends. "Yet perhaps you would learn more of one your father doted on as a son...."


Note: Aragorn says, after his encounter with Sauron through the Orthanc-stone at the Hornburg: "To know that I lived and walked the earth was a blow to his heart, I deem; for he knew it not till now." (The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 2, The Passing of the Grey Company) Yet we're also told in The Return of the King, LoTR Appendix A, Annals of the Kings and Rulers: Gondor and the Heirs of Anárion: The Stewards that "many believed that Denethor, who was subtle in mind and looked further and deeper than other men of his day, had discovered who this stranger Thorongil in truth was"; and, in Unfinished Tales, Part 4, Ch 3, The Palantíri, that "it seems fairly plain that he [Denethor] had at once turned to the Stone as soon as he came to power."

If Denethor did suspect that "Thorongil" was the Heir of Isildur, it seems to me likely that Sauron would have picked up on that and used it to manipulate Denethor long before he actually did so in the final days of the Siege of Gondor. I can therefore see a situation in which Gandalf, without realising quite what a direct "hotline" Sauron had into the Citadel, might spread some disinformation about the death of "Thorongil" to throw Sauron's spies off Aragorn's scent.
tanaquiljall: (gondor)
'And where has [Gandalf] got to himself? He left the Lord's council before the noon-meal, and in no good mood either, I thought. Perhaps he has some foreboding of bad news.'

The Return of the King, LoTR Book 5, Ch 4, The Siege of Gondor

[livejournal.com profile] elena_tiriel wanted to know why did Gandalf react so strongly to what transpired at the Lord's council?

Day 16

Parliament of Fools

Talk, talk, talk! Much talk to little purpose. Mithrandir held impatience in check while words circled the table. Good men, fierce in defence of their lands, but seeing naught beyond the borders of their fiefdoms.

All save the Prince, whose mind ranged like the wild swans, flighting from northern reed-bed to southern lake. And the Lord Steward, who knew much but guarded knowledge like a dragon his hoard.

When the call for the noon-meal came, Mithrandir had learned the little the lords knew or Denethor would tell. Time to seek other news, and the Captain who might yet hold Gondor.

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