Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

great quotes man weep

*contemplates if she's gonna post or not*




Oh well...interesting topic.


I might post later.

*prepares for a 3000 word post*

I'm not sure about great deaths, but I felt the most stirring demise was the departure of Boromir. His passing & his final speech with Aragorn were touching, & made all the more poignant by the dirge sung by Aragorn & Legolas for the fallen Captain of Gondor. Perhaps it was particularly moving because some of his last thoughts were of failure, & the words "I am sorry. I have paid," indicate that he felt it was to some extent justice served that he had been slain defending his hobbit companions only a while after he himself had attempted to assail Frodo. His final plea to Aragorn, to "go to Minas Tirith and save my people!" was, in my mind at least, an important factor in Aragorn's decision making from that point forth, as it gave him a tangible oath ('Be at peace! Minas Tirith shall not fall.') to fulfill rather than simply a doubtful destiny to look forward to.

Many of the deaths here concern derring do and heroic exploits. But I wonder if we could not step back and ask which death has the most bearing on a central concern of LOTR, the "gift" of man, mortality.

In this context, it seems to me that Arwen's death, recounted in Appendix A, part v, encapsulates most clearly the poignancy of this dilemma of death in man and elves. I would not call it "awesome" but certainly profoundly moving.

Oh, I weep as I read this, for all the unnumbered lives of women who have passed unremarked and unmemorialised in all the ages of history which are devoted to the accolades of men and their petty rivalries and their doings and gettings and spendings.

Concerning the significance of Arwen's death, Tolkien wrote in Letter #181:

It wouldn't take a lot of special effects to film it, but it is one of the most touching moments in all that Tolkien has ever written for us.

There is something about a woman's quiet, lonely passing that highlights how much the priorities of history are skewed. I think Tolkien clearly had a point when he reminded us that she was not be remembered. But, in a sense, it also makes her passing more heroic, evocative of the same emotion that a monument to the Unknown Solider might produce in us.

I was also struck by the fact that she literally had to lose everything before she died, and am wondering whether or not this was highlighted to make her passing easier or more bitter.

I might be stoned to death for saying this, but it seemed to me that a woman's death is quite more sorrowful than a man's. It's just that in all the ages of Middle-Earth, the death of men are given more emphasis, especially in battles. But it is quite unusual to tell of a woman dying, so hearing of it makes me uneasy, not really because I am a female myself.

More coming later.

agreed, well done.

ah good stuff shadowy, it that second quote from the letters of the "one" himself

exactly. Because of Boromir's 'last words' to aragorn, He did indeed now have somthing to fulfill. And I think Boromir's Words stayed in the back of his mind for sometime, even to the end, The promise Aragorn made, drove him, to do his great deeds, or at least was a great factor in his path to kingship.



yes, because she knew the day would come, when her husband would die, and when he did, I think that she figured she didn't have anything anymore, There was nothing for her, wich makes it to me, one of the most emotionally moving deaths of the trilogy(with the exception of Boromir)


Yes a man's death, can win great renown for all the deeds he's done rather in battle, or his accomplishments...ect(e.g. reagon, Theoden,)but women are rarly mentioned, And to me a women's passing is so deeply wrought with emotianal values, clearly defined by her dedicated Love to her Loved ones...Knowing that, It is clear to me, that a women's Life, (like arwen's)is most def worthy of rememberance, but is sadly, not remembered, and is forgotten, in the works and deeds of Men. And the History books, and Newspapers, and all kinds of media, and publicity, and Paparzi is Not needed for me. Because the greatest women I knew, My Grandma, died with so many accomplishments, and feats, her love to me, and my relatives, her wise sayings she told me, her cookies I will never taste again, are more than enough for ME to remember, and thats all that maters for me...cause I'll never forget her...

OK i'm getting to personal...


It depends on the person, and who it is,(imo) that decides who's death, is more sorrowfull, and their relationship to you. Not their age, race, or gender, although those ARE alot of times important factors for a LOT of people.

"He cannot stand alone!" cried Aragorn suddenly and ran along the bridge. "Elendil" he shouted, "I am with you Gandalf!"

"Gondor!" cried Boromir as he leaped after him.

At that moment Gandalf lifted his staff, and crying aloud he smote the bridge before him. The staff broke asunder and fell from his hand. A blinding sheet of white flame sprang up. The bridge cracked. Right at the Balrog's feet it broke, and the stone upon which it stood crashed into the gulf, while the rest remained, poised, quivering like a tongue of rock thrust into the emptiness.

With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and it's shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thongs lashed and curled about the wizard's knees, dragging him in the brink. He staggared and fell, gasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss.
"Fly you fools!" he cried and he was gone

ok I know he DID RETURN after falling but it does deserve a mention.

wow...such long and intellectual posts, I am not going to say anything as long or important,

But i just wanted to say that I really like those quotes. Death/departure is one of the things Tolkien really goes into deeply. All of those quotes are really deep...and i like them a lot.

The death's seem extreamly real, adn though they are really sad, they are wonderful to read about at the same time.

here are some that bring a tear to my eye,

"RRRowowowlllrrrrrrechchchch!!!" - the balrog (TTT)

"ckkckkh" - the fell beast (ROTK)

"hey, wait a minute.... isn't that my ri- OH GOD, NO!!!" -Sauron (ROTK)

"a minor technicality i'm sure..." - the Witchking of Angmar (ROTK)

cry