Haunted by the wave

[pegkerr]

If you have seen the Extended Edition of The Return of the King, you have seen the scene between Aragorn and Eowyn where Eowyn recounts a dream of a great wave poised to crash over the land. In the book, this dream was actually Faramir's, and it was based upon a dream which haunted Tolkien throughout his life, and which he wrote in full in the account of the drowning of the land of Númenor in The Silmarillion. The recent terrible news out of Southeast Asia made me go and look up the passage again.

Then Manwë upon the Mountain called upon Ilúvatar, and for that time the Valar laid down their government of Arda. But Ilúvatar showed forth his power, and he changed the fashion of the world; and a great chasm opened in the sea between Númenor and the Deathless Lands, and the water flowed down into it, and the noise and smoke of the cataracts went up to heaven, and the world was shaken. And all the fleets of the Númenóreans were drawn down into the abyss, and they were drowned and swallowed up for ever. But Ar-Pharazôn the King and the mortal warriors that had set foot upon the land of Aman were buried under falling hills: there it is said that they lie imprisoned in the Caves of the Forgotten, until the Last Battle and the Day of Doom.

But the land of Aman and Eressëa of the Eldar were taken away and removed beyond the reach of Men for ever. And Andor, the Land of the Gift, Númenor of the Kings, Elenna of the Star of Eärendil, was utterly destroyed. For it was nigh to the east of the great rift, and its foundations were overturned, and it fell and went down to darkness, and is no more. And there is not now upon Earth any place abiding where the memory of a time without evil is preserved. For Ilúvatar cast back the Great Seas west of Middle-earth, and the Empty Lands east of it, and new lands and new seas were made; and the world was diminished, for Valinor and Eressëa were taken from it into the realm of hidden things.

In an hour unlooked for by Men this doom befell, on the nine and thirtieth day since the passing of the fleets. Then suddenly fire burst from the Meneltarma, and there came a mighty wind and a tumult of the earth, and the sky reeled, and the hills slid, and Númenor went down into the sea, with all its children, and its wives and its maidens and its ladies proud; and all its gardens and its halls and its towers, its tombs and its riches, and its jewels and its webs and its things painted and carven, and its laughter and its mirth and its music, its wisdom and its lore: they vanished for ever. And last of all the mounting wave, green and cold and plumed with foam, climbing over the land, took to its bosom Tar-Míriel the Queen, fairer than silver or ivory or pearls. Too late she strove to ascend the steep ways of the Meneltarma to the holy place; for the waters overtook her, and her cry was lost in the roaring of the wind.

No wonder that dream haunted him. *Shudders*

Comments

[vass]

and her cry was lost in the roaring of the wind.

...

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Ok Peg, since you are the oracle of all things LOTR.

Find me the song that was played during the Houses of Healing scene that Liv Tyler sang. :)

You'll be my hero.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Here are the lyrics:

With a sigh, you turn away.
With a deepening heart, no more words to say.
You will find that the world has changed forever.
(And) the trees are now turning from green to gold.
And the sun is now fading.
I wish I could hold you closer.

Meanwhile, ROTK-SEE.de.vu website has the song for download -
Click here and find "Arwens Song from the SEE!"

You can also download the song from here
(Right-Click and "Save Target As ...")

Can also be downloaded TheOneRing.net.

As for the source on the song, I'm not quite sure. I don't recognize it offhand directly from Tolkien's writing (it may simply be something written for the occasion by Fran or Philippa), but I'll keep searching. Hope this helps!

[arian1.livejournal.com]

My hero! Er..heroine!

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Apparently Liv Tyler wrote it, or so she said in the Extended Edition stuff.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

There are "echoes" of the lyrics in various lines of Treebeard and Galadriel. Interestingly enough, Treebeard and Galadriel have certain similarities in their speeches. Hmm. That might make an interesting paper. In "Many Partings" Treebeard says "For the world is changing; I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air." Even more interestingly, the film makers gave that line to Galadriel in the Prologue of the first movie. Treebeard also sings "Ah! the gold and the red and the sighing of the leaves in the Autumn in Taur-na-neldor!" (in the chapter entitled "Treebeard" in The Two Towers. Galadriel also sings of the turning of the leaves in her hymn to Varda as the Fellowship leaves Lothlorien: "Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind, long years numberless as the wings of trees! The years have passed like sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West . . ."

It's also rather suggestive of the tale of Arwen's death as recounted in the Appendix:

[after Aragorn died] Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said farewell to [her children] and to all whom she had loved, and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lorien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.

There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth, and there is her green grave until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that came after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.

[arian1.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. You are the ever knowledgeable one. :)

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

oh... you're my god too!