It still has the power...

[EricNoah]

So I'm eating alone at my favorite Mexican restaurant today for lunch, and I'd just grabbed Return of the King off the shelf to have something to do .... and before you know it I'm getting all teary-eyed over Eowyn's frustration and despair when Aragorn heads off for the paths of the dead. I was flipping around more than reading straight through, thinking about the film version and what extra scenes the extended edition might bring. And then I end up reading Eowyn vs. the Witch King and the waterworks just about start again. I've read these books so many times, seen the films anywhere from 2 to 6 times each ... and yet, it still has the power to move me. Something about it touches the very core of my hopes and dreams and values. Aragorn isn't the man I am, but in many ways he's the man I wish I could be. Ditto with Frodo, etc. I'm so glad I have a creative hobby like D&D that allows me to interactively experience stories like this and take the journey again and again.

 

[Mark]

Hear! Hear!

 

[shilsen]

Here's the one that still does it for me. I cried the first time I read it, and I still get misty-eyed when I read it (now for the 20th+ time):


"In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dinen.

"You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.

"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry and war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.

And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last."

 

[ergeheilalt]

Here's the one that still does it for me. I cried the first time I read it, and I still get misty-eyed when I read it (now for the 20th+ time):


"In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dinen.

"You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.

"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry and war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.

And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last."

Yikes... the goosebumps I get. There are sooo many lines like that that have that same effect.

 

[Celtavian]

re

So I'm eating alone at my favorite Mexican restaurant today for lunch, and I'd just grabbed Return of the King off the shelf to have something to do .... and before you know it I'm getting all teary-eyed over Eowyn's frustration and despair when Aragorn heads off for the paths of the dead. I was flipping around more than reading straight through, thinking about the film version and what extra scenes the extended edition might bring. And then I end up reading Eowyn vs. the Witch King and the waterworks just about start again. I've read these books so many times, seen the films anywhere from 2 to 6 times each ... and yet, it still has the power to move me. Something about it touches the very core of my hopes and dreams and values. Aragorn isn't the man I am, but in many ways he's the man I wish I could be. Ditto with Frodo, etc. I'm so glad I have a creative hobby like D&D that allows me to interactively experience stories like this and take the journey again and again.

I can't add anything other than my agreeance. Every time I read them they move me. Especially Eowyn versus the Witchking and Sam carrying Frodo up the mountain. Both of those are just unbelievable literary examples of love for another being.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(quietly)

Yes it does.

And hello again, Noah. Merry greetings to the founder of ENWorld.

 

[Berandor]

Here's the one that still does it for me. I cried the first time I read it, and I still get misty-eyed when I read it (now for the 20th+ time):


"In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dinen.

"You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.

"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry and war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.

And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last."

This is perhaps my favorite moment. Thanks.

 

[Klaus]

To think it took me so long to read LotR for the first time (read the three before the first movie came out)...

 

[hong]

So I'm eating alone at my favorite Mexican restaurant today for lunch, and I'd just grabbed Return of the King off the shelf to have something to do .... and before you know it I'm getting all teary-eyed over Eowyn's frustration and despair when Aragorn heads off for the paths of the dead.

Sounds more like too much chili in the burritos to me. Suggest repeating experiment at your favourite Chinese restaurant, and tell them to hold the MSG!

 

[Zappo]

Meet hong, master of anticlimax.