林’s Reviews > The Lord of the Rings > Status Update

'Look!' said Pippin. 'Strider the Ranger has come back!'
'He has never been away,' said Aragorn. 'I am Strider and Dúnadan too, and I belong to both Gondor and the North.'

The world is all grown strange. Elf and Dwarf in company walk in our daily fields; and folk speak with the Lady of the Wood and yet live; and the Sword comes back to war that was broken in the long ages ere the fathers of our fathers rode into the Mark! How shall a man judge what to do in such times?

What news of the North, Riders of Rohan?

Dawn came glimmering, and slowly a grey light grew about them. At last he rose, and now his friends could see his face: it was pale and drawn, and his look was troubled. ''...But loud are the hoofs of the horses. It comes to my mind that I heard them, even as I lay on the ground in sleep, and they troubled my dreams: horses galloping... I wonder what is happening in this land!'

The grey hood and elven-cloak they folded and placed beneath his head. They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders. The golden belt of Lórien gleamed about his waist. His helm they set beside him, and across from his lap they laid the cloven horn and the hilt and shards of his sword; beneath his feet they put the swords of his enemies.

THE DEPARTURE OF BOROMIR Aragon sped on up the hill. Every now and again he bent to the ground. Hobbits go light, and their footprints are not easy even for a Ranger to read, but not far from the top a spring crossed the path, and in the wet earth he saw what he was seeking. 'I read the sights aright,' he said to himself. 'Frodo ran to the hill-top. I wonder what he saw there?

Suddenly the great bow of Lórien sang. Shrill went the arrow from the elven-string.

You are indeed high in the favour of the Lady! For she herself and her maidens wove this stuff; and never before have we clad strangers in the garb of our own people.

'Not much use is it, Sam?' said Strider. "But the time is near when it shall be forged anew.

Tom has his house to mind, and Goldberry is waiting!