THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING.
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(Image from lotr.wikia.com)
(This poem is based on the Peter Jackson version of Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings, and I originally wrote it as an anniversary gift for my partner in Second Life, Jamie Marlin)
There was much excitement,
In sleepy Hobbiton,
For Bilbo Baggins birthday neared,
When he was eleventy one.
Bilbo planned to celebrate,
By putting on a fair,
And anyone who was anyone,
Was certain to be there.
The hobbit children gossiped,
With the big news of the day,
That the fireworks master was due to come,
The wizard, Gandalf Grey.
And there he was! Riding through,
Upon a pony and trap,
Approached the door of Bag End,
Upon it, he did rap.
“I have no time for visitors!”,
A voice inside declared,
“Well what about old friends?”,
Asked Gandalf standing there.
With that, Bilbo Baggins,
Opened his door wide,
And bid the wizard enter.
Gandalf, once inside
said “You haven’t aged a day,
And I know you have a secret thing,
That you keep tucked away.
This thing, it is not good for you,
Hand over, now’s the time”.
But Bilbo scowled at him and said,
“I won’t the ring is mine!”
The wizard then grew tall and grim,
The atmosphere grew thick.
“Do not take me, Bilbo,
For a conjurer of tricks!”
And Bilbo’s hand then grasped the ring,
But power in it willed,
A rage of conflict inside him grew,
That only effort stilled.
The ring was dropped upon the floor,
And Bilbo walked away.
Gandalf knew with Frodo,
The ring would have to stay.
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(Image from silmarillionseries.com)
Later, Frodo Baggins, listened to a tale,
Of Isildur and how against,
Sauron he prevailed.
The dark lord had a mighty ring,
That Isildur soon claimed,
But that ring had soon betrayed him,
And Isildur was slain.
In a riverbed it laid,
And that ring Gollum found,
He kept it as his Precious,
And took it underground.
Here, did Bilbo find it,
And kept it as his own.
Gandalf took the golden ring,
To the fire it was thrown.
“Hold out your hand, young Frodo,
Fear not, the ring is cold”.
Frodo noticed markings,
And this, the marks foretold:
‘One Ring to rule them all,
And in the darkness…bind them’.
“This is the One Ring in your palm,
My boy“, said Gandalf Grey.
“Then please protect me from its harm”,
Cried Frodo, “Take away!”
But Gandalf wouldn’t take it,
Lest its power should corrupt,
Whereupon a suspicious noise,
From the window did erupt.
Promptly, Gandalf grabbed the spy,
And on the table slammed,
A very startled hobbit,
A gardener called Sam.
“For eavesdropping on our talk,
Your punishment will be,
To go with Frodo Baggins,
And help him get to Bree.”
The hobbits walked through fields of wheat,
When Pippin, Meriadoc,
Come running from a farmer,
From whom they’d taken stock.
Now while the hobbits wandered,
Upon the way to Bree,
On a horse that rode like thunder,
Went Gandalf hurriedly.
The wizard crossed the lands at speed,
His stallion riding hard,
Till at last he reached his target,
The place called Isengard.
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(Image from fan.theonering.net)
Down the steps of Orthanc,
Came Saruman the Wise.
“So Gandalf Grey comes riding,
To seek out my advice?,
But I know we cannot stand
Against the power in the East,
We must join with Sauron, Gandalf,
And spare ourselves at least”.
Gandalf became angry,
And tinged with knowing sadness,
“Have you forsaken wisdom,
To be replaced with madness?
What trickery have you unleashed,
While hiding in this tower?
There is but one lord of the Ring,
And he does not share power!”
Locked in deadly combat,
With spells the wizards fought,
But Saruman was stronger,
And Gandalf soon was caught.
The grey-clad wizard was hurled above,
To the roof of that great tower.
Meanwhile the hobbits cowered,
From a presence, dark and grim,
A dark black cloak obscured,
The humanity of him,
On a nightmare horse he galloped,
Where the night replaced the day,
He was a deadly Rider,
And the hobbits were his prey.
Soon he had them cornered,
For the hobbits were unwary,
A desperate race was underway,
To make it to the ferry.
By a miracle they made it,
And the hobbits set a course,
To meet a friend of Gandalf’s,
At the pub called ‘Prancing Horse”.
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(Image from lotrgames.wikia.com)
Now, the pub to which they’d come to,
Served quite agreeable beer,
And Frodo fell with ring slipped on,
And gasp! He disappeared.
A man observed these antics,
His face was weatherworn,
The folks here called him Strider,
But his name was Aragorn.
In a bedroom, he gave council,
And addressed the hobbits there,
“What chases you, my halflings,
Is a terror you can’t bare”.
And in the night the terror came,
To stab their beds with knives,
But thanks to Strider’s decoy,
The hobbits kept their lives.
On and on they journeyed,
With Aragorn as guide,
‘till day gave way to twilight.
The company then spied,
A place to rest their journey,
The hill called Weathertop.
While the hobbits feasted,
To fuel up at their stop,
The fire attracted Riders.
Aragorn fought gallantly,
But the Rider’s shard pierced Frodo,
Oh! Gravely ill was he!
To the Elvish place they hurried,
The land of Rivendell,
For Frodo needed treatment,
And the Elvish healing spell.
When the cure had vanquished,
The darkness from his gaze,
Frodo joined in council,
With many men that day.
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(Image from silmarillionseries.com)
Elrond addressed the company,
“Our course, my friends, is dire,
To Mount doom Sauron’s Ring must go,
And there, cast in the fire”.
Boromir cried “Madness!,
The Eye there never sleeps,
We should claim the great Ring for ourselves,
Men’s spilled blood, your peace keeps”.
Elves, dwarves and men then argued,
While Frodo took the Ring,
He bravely took the challenge,
“Yes! I will do this thing!”
A Fellowship created,
From the races Middle Earth,
Had put upon these lands,
Would help him prove his worth,
But when they reached the mountains,
Saruman competed,
With spells, he made it avalanche,
The company retreated.
“This will kill the Hobbits!
No good, we can’t climb higher”,
Then Gimli said they ought to try,
And make it through Moria.
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(Image from en.wikipedia.org)
Now, by the mountain’s basement,
There was a moonlit door,
Which Gandalf couldn’t open,
Because he seemed unsure,
About the password needed,
To go about their course,
And just as he thought “Friend”,
From the lake there came with force,
An octopus-like creature,
That tore the entrance down.
Trapped within Moria,
The company were found,
By hordes of evil goblins,
And a giant brute-like troll.
Then, from the depths came rumbling,
A sight to freeze the soul.
A Balrog made of fire,
Gandalf’s doom was caste.
He stood his ground on stony bridge,
And cried, “you shall not pass!”
With his rod he cracked the bridge,
But the Balrog thing from hell,
Grabbed at Gandalf with its tail,
Alas! The wizard fell.
Though they were devastated,
To grieve there was not time,
For the company had to journey,
To the woods of Lothlorien,
Therein they met an Elvish queen,
Who was called Galadriel.
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(Image from tolkiengaming.net)
She showed Frodo her mirror,
Its ability to tell,
What fate lay in the future.
Frodo became pale,
“It said the Shire shall crumble,
If in this quest I fail,
Won’t you take this Ring from me?”
“You’d give me this thing freely,
And what a queen I’d be!
As strong as stone, as pure as snow,
Despairing, all love me!”
But Galadrial she passed her test,
The company left her there,
To Gimli she gave him three long strands,
Of her elvish golden hair.
Later, by a riverbank,
The Company were spied,
By Saruman’s new breed of Orc,
The fighting Uruk-hai.
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(Image from tolkiengateway.net)
Frodo became burdened,
For the Ring’s weight wore him down,
He wandered by himself in thought,
By Boromir, was found.
Said Boromir: “We labour,
To the destroy the very thing,
That may save the people that I love.
Why can’t we use the Ring?
To Minus Tirith take it,
Not on this hopeless cause,
‘Twas a quirk of fate decided,
The Ring’s not mine, but yours.”
Though Boromir was speaking,
His words were not his own,
The ring commanded him to speak,
For its evil power had grown.
Enraged, he grabbed at Frodo,
Who vanished from his sight.
Frodo Baggins entered,
A world he could not endure,
Exposed to the gaze of the dreadful eye,
At the tower of Barad ‘Dur,
That pierced him like the Sun.
Boromir woke from his trance,
And cried “what have I done?”
And then from Pippin and Merry,
There came a desperate cry,
For the hobbits had been captured,
By the dreadful Uruk-hai.
With sword held high did Boromir,
Leap into the fray,
And by his mighty fighting skills,
Were Saruman’s troops slain,
But their leader drew his arrows,
And thrice pierced Boromir’s heart.
In sadness, Frodo realised,
That he would have to part,
And on his own complete the quest.
He pushed the boat out from the shore,
When Samwise, much distressed,
Came wading through the river,
“You cannot go alone!”,
Soon the water deepened,
And Sam began to drown,
But Frodo rescued him,
And they travelled side by side.
Pippin and Meriadoc,
Their hands were bound and tied,
And prisoners were made of them,
For the sport of Saruman.
Legolas and Gimli, with Aragorn then ran,
To rescue them from their grim fate
While Frodo’s quest went on.
With Sam, he reached the blackened cliffs,
Where Mordor’s realm belonged,
And there Mount Doom lit up the sky,
By belching globs of lava,
As if to herald that grim day,
When Sauron rules hereafter.
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(Image from themarysue.com)
And as they walk, events unfold,
Foretelling of the hour,
When evil forces gather strength,
In the union of two towers.