dChan
Anonymous ID: fec453 Nov. 8, 2021, 6:33 p.m. No.14956067   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6074

of his power. He greatly desires it – but he must not get it.’

Frodo sat silent and motionless. Fear seemed to stretch out

a vast hand, like a dark cloud rising in the East and looming

up to engulf him. ‘This ring!’ he stammered. ‘How, how on

 

earth did it come to me?’

‘Ah!’ said Gandalf. ‘That is a very long story. The begin-

nings lie back in the Black Years, which only the lore-masters

now remember. If I were to tell you all that tale, we should

 

still be sitting here when Spring had passed into Winter.

‘But last night I told you of Sauron the Great, the Dark

Lord. The rumours that you have heard are true: he has

 

indeed arisen again and left his hold in Mirkwood and

returned to his ancient fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor.

 

That name even you hobbits have heard of, like a shadow on

 

the borders of old stories. Always after a defeat and a respite,

 

the Shadow takes another shape and grows again.’

‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.

 

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such

times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to

 

decide is what to do with the time that is given us. And

 

already, Frodo, our time is beginning to look black. The

 

Enemy is fast becoming very strong. His plans are far from

 

ripe, I think, but they are ripening. We shall be hard put to

 

it. We should be very hard put to it, even if it were not for

 

this dreadful chance.

‘The Enemy still lacks one thing to give him strength and

knowledge to beat down all resistance, break the last defences,

 

and cover all the lands in a second darkness. He lacks the

 

One Ring.

‘The Three, fairest of all, the Elf-lords hid from him, and

his hand never touched them or sullied them. Seven the

 

Dwarf-kings possessed, but three he has recovered, and the

 

others the dragons have consumed. Nine he gave to Mortal

 

Men, proud and great, and so ensnared them. Long ago

 

they fell under the dominion of the One, and they became

 

Ringwraiths, shadows under his great Shadow, his most

Anonymous ID: fec453 Nov. 8, 2021, 6:34 p.m. No.14956074   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14956067

>‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such

 

>times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to

 

>decide is what to do with the time that is given us.