Chapter 3 – Part 2 The Ring of Doom
Chapter 3 – Part 1 The Ring of Doom
Chapter 2 – Part 3 Unexpected Surprises
Chapter 2 – Part 2 Unexpected Surprises
Chapter 2 – Part 1 Unexpected Surprises
Chapter 1 – A Staircase of Stars
Author’s Note:
This is another facet seen in LOTR, but not explicitly described or evoked in the Legendarium. In “The Two Towers,” Gandalf the White expels Saruman’s influence and power from King Theoden. He performs a lesser exorcism, to remove and cleanse evil from one of his own kind and order. At Rivendell and Cormallen, what is also left unsaid is that Gandalf has removed or expelled as much influence and possession as he could, from first Frodo and then Frodo and Sam. Similar exorcism and healing occur, but are not complete.
In this Coda, with Sam as the main character, I postulate that a fragment of Sauron has sought him, and after decades of careful work, attempts to possess and drain Sam. This gives him a physical handhold, to begin reassembling his dark self. Tormenting a loving, cheerful soul is merely an unexpected benefit. We’ve seen how Sam’s torment has grown beyond his ability to fight; but now he is on holy ground, and the Valar perform a greater exorcism and cleansing on one of lesser kind and great evil. With Tolkien, it’s not a matter or preaching or expostulation. The Christianity is written in, from the Word to the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us in Middle-Earth, in one form or another, with His angels to guide and guard us.
The numbering is a bit different. I revised part of the chapter, because the Coda eventually returns as a message to Middle-Earth for Elanor and young Frodo. Some parts were considered not meet for their eyes by Olorin, who rewrote some pages and smoothed the story slightly. The rest is recalled in Valinor.
Chapter 4 – The Healing of Lórien
by Silent Draco
And so the travelers came in their own times to the Houses of Lórien, set in vast gardens and groves, surrounded in herbs and plants useful for healing of the body and mind. Airy houses, gazebos, and cottages were scattered in no pattern at all, but all were of fair seeming and coloration, useful to aid the calming of mind and hearts. The groves and gardens yielded many nuts, fruits, and flowers that were pleasing of sight and scent, delectable to the palate, or useful for healing all manner of ills.
The Halflings were borne in great haste and at great speed in Olorin’s carriage, traversing so fast as to challenge the speed of a great shout. Sam had arrived at the great hall, with the Binding removed barely in time for him to complain about being swathed like an infant, as the Masters of Lórien met them. “… me down, Mr. Gandalf, sir, not a parcel …” he spluttered, only to be set gently on his feet before Estë herself, she being the wife of Irmo, known as Lórien. Sam boggled at the sight of her, standing supple and lovely, swathed in rose-colored raiment. Fairer and taller she was than the Lady Galadriel, more remote in her eyes but more attuned to the present in heart and hands. She glanced down and with a smile, said “Welcome to my houses, Young Ones. Lady Nienna informed me that you are tormented by an illness at your heart, Master Samwise. Pray, walk with us, so we may sit and relax mind and heart.” She beckoned to two other healers, and walked with Sam slowly through garden and grove to a small hut with coneflower-blue shutters and a sun-yellow door.
“Your Ladyship,” said Sam, startled out of gloom, “these colors remind me of … of him! Old Tom, Master Tom Bombadil I should say, and his merry cottage under the Downs. Ah, what a visit ‘twas that, and the merry waters he gave us! And Fair Lady Goldberry …” Sam, now abashed, noted a resemblance of the two ladies; Estë but smiled and laughed. “’Old Tom’? Older in Arda than many can fathom. I recall him entering in; and finding fair Aman
A lovely land, but the water and sand
Are a bit confining for what’s at hand,
‘Tis time to seek a lovely little creek,
That lets we dance a minute for a week!
Off to my tends, most wonderous of friends,
Ye shall know whereabouts my land has ends!
A river nigh, and reach unto the sky
With trees and hills enchanting passers-by!
… if I have his words,” she smiled prettily as a hobbit maid, dimpling at memory. “So he went off to his own comfortable nook, settled in with a great sigh and glad dancing. You were fortunate to encounter him. Ah, I miss his nonsense songs, and the joy wrapped about him.”
Estë waved him inside, with the healers following, bearing incense and a flute. She bade Sam sit on a very comfortable divan, and sat in a chair facing him. “Simply relax, and breathe slowly, young Sam,” she uttered in a low voice, gazing into his eyes. She smiled, her eyes bright. “Ah, I see Tom and his Lady in your eyes, that first visit and then twice more, later? You were blessed, and I rejoice in your finding him – or him finding you, it seems.” Sam blushed, thinking of their flight out of Buckland and almost into disaster before reaching Bree. “Speak to me of those visits, of your courtesy, for word or thought of that dear one lightens the heart.”
Sam looked inward, pondering the joyful puzzle involved, and began speaking slowly and then more quickly of the other visits. “… an’ the second time, well, Queen Arwen has asked me to bring Rosie and Elanor to visit with her an’ the great ladies. It bein’ a decent summer, I asked Frodo and young Strider to come along with me. On our return along the Great Road, I thought I saw Old Tom an’ that great pony of his a-frolicking up a hill, fit to dance it down. And then hey! They both fell out of sight, then trotted out from a shoulder of chalk, laughing as dust flew everywhere. An’ it was as if he looked with an eagle eye right to me and sang out, ‘Ah! Fair ladies, fine Master Samwise, come with your sons to dine with the sun’s rise!’ it was that way he always spoke in poem or song, and waved us toward a fine-laden stone under a great tree. Oh, his ideas of elevenses were a great feasting!” Sam relaxed in reminisce.
She gazed deeper, then closed her eyes and sang gently. Subtle, sweet-spicy tones of incense began to wreathe the room, and delicate notes framed all in peace. Opening her eyes again, she asked the half-sleepy Sam to speak to her of his Rosie, whom she saw in all his open mind. “Ah, Lady, I always fancied her, e’en as youngsters, her with the bright curly hair and smile. It’s just … she was so pretty and laughed wi’ everyone, the perfect maid, an’ me just bein’ apprentice and then gardener, that I never quite knew … well, would I ha’ spirit enough to ask her old da?”
“An’ then came that night when Mr. Gandalf got me by the ears, him and Mr. Frodo talking of Elves an’ all the great an’ beauteous places and things, and an Enemy, an’ hey golly! Suddenly I’m to go with Mr. Frodo to garden and help out like, away from her an’ Hobbiton. But not, ‘twas a covering tale, because o’ them, and, and, of Him.” Sam began to quiver and shake, gazing without sight into Estë’s face, while tears streamed down his face. “Ol’ Master Tom, he saved us from something awful, and Master Elrond healing Mr. Frodo as best as any, him so cold and pale, and that long journey to the very gates of Mor … an’ Gollum, that slinking stinker, looking to kill me and me master, looking for his Precious, that cursed thing, and that horror city and its Watchers!” Estë and Goralie, one of the healers, exchanged glances of sorrow and concern; nodding once, she removed an alabaster jar from a shelf and uncapped it. The crisis comes. Prepare and strike! she spoke to his mind.
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Part 2 of Chapter 4 to come!