The Fall of Gil-Galad

Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing;
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.

This is chanted by Sam Gamgee, it's a small portion of a longer poem called The Fall of Gil-Galad, originally written in an ancient tongue and translated by Bilbo.

If you want to hear an idea of what it might sound like if chanted, here is a pretty good version:

If you caught my last post, you saw mention that I've been reading my boy The Fellowship of the Ring the past few nights. He's understanding it better than I had thought he would. I have to stop every now and again and explain a word (for instance, he stopped me as I was reading the poem above to ask what "dwelleth" means) but he is picking up a lot from context and is remembering most of what happened in previous nights. All in all, the reading goes well. Our last reading ended shortly after the poem above.

This poem is an example of what I love about Tolkien. He throws us into a world and gives us numerous hints and allusions to the history of this world, often without any explanation at all.

As Aragon speaks of Weathertop and tells of its name of old, Amon Sûl, and of how the Men of the West built it to defend against the evil that came out of Angmar. Later, as Aragon chants the tale of Beren and Lúthien. Earlier, in the house of Tom Bombadil when he made mention of remembering before the seas were bent. We learn nothing more of these things in this book. The rest of Lord of the Rings gives hints, but we don't really learn any of the history of the world until The Silmarillion.

These hints of the larger history of the land enchanted me when I was a boy reading the story for the first time. They give a sense of wonder and awe. I hope my son is feeling something of the same.

At this point in my life I have read The Silmarillion, The Lost Tales, most of Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle Earth books, as well as the three newer books he published before his death that retold key stories from the Silmarillion, so I know most of the history of Middle Earth and know exactly what each one of these allusions in Fellowship of the Ring is referring to. But y'know, it was almost better before I knew the background.

Anyway, yeah, so that's where we are now. We'll see how my boy reacts to the coming scuffle on Weathertop, which we should cover tomorrow.