Top Ten Quotes from The Silmarillion
Ooh, this is a hard one. Okay, there aren’t actually much more than ten stories in The Silmarillion, so I’m just going to list my favorite quotes, in chronological order:
“It is said by the Eldar that in water there lives yet the echo of the Music of the Ainur more than in any substance that is in this Earth; and many of the Children of Ilúvatar hearken still unsated to the voices of the Sea, and yet know not for what they listen.” - The Ainulindale
“Therefore he willed that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and should find no rest therein; but they should have a virtue to shape their life, amid the powers and chances fo the world, beyond the Music of the Ainur, which is as fate to all things else; and of their operation everything should be, in form and deed, completed, and the world fulfilled unto the last and smallest.” - Of the Beginning of Days
“Then Feanor took his hand in silence; but Fingolfin said: ‘Half-brother in blood, full brother in heart will I be. Thou shalt lead and I will follow. May no new grief divide us.’ 'I hear thee,’ said Feanor. 'So be it.’ But they did not know the meaning that their words would bear.” - Of the Darkening of Valinor
“For suddenly above him far and faint his song was taken up, and a voice answering called to him. Maedhros it was that sang amid his torment. But Fingon climbed to the foot of the precipice where his kinsman hung, and then could go no further; and he wept when he saw the cruel device of Morgoth. Maehdros therefore, being in anguish without hope, begged Fingon to shoot him with his bow, and FIngon strung an arrow, and bent his bow. And seeing no better hope he cried to Manwe, saying 'O King to whom all birds are dear, speed now this feathered shaft, and recalle some pity for the Noldor in their need!’” - Of the Return of the Noldor
“'Longest of all the realms of the Eldalie shall Gondolin stand against Melkor. But love not too well the work of thy hands and the devices of thy heart; and remember that the true hope of the Noldor lieth in the West and cometh from the Sea.’” - Of the Noldor in Beleriand
“Now King Finrod Felagund had no wife, and Galadriel asked him why this should be; bur foresight came upon Felagund as she spoke, and he said: 'An oath I too shall swear, and must be free to fulfill it, and go into darkness. Nor shall anything of my realm endure that a son should inherit.’” - Of the Noldor in Beleriand
“In the pits of Sauron Beren and Felagund lay, and all their companions were now dead; but Sauron purposed to keep Felagund to the last, for he perceived that he was a Noldo of great might and wisdom, and he deemed that in him lay the secret of their errand. But when the wolf came for Beren, Felagund put forth all his power, and burst his bonds; and he wrestled with the werewolf, and slew it with his hands and teeth; yet he himself was wounded to the death… Thus King Finrod Felagund, fairest and most beloved of the house of Finwe, redeemed his oath.” - Of Beren and Luthien
“But now a cry went up, passing up the wind from the south from vale to vale, and Elves and Men lifted their voices in wonder and joy. For unsummoned and unlooked for Turgon had opened the leaguer of Gondolin, and was come with an army ten thousand strong, with bright mail and long swords and spears like a forest. Then when Fingon heard afar the great trumpet of Turgon his brother, the shadow passed and his heart was uplifted, and he shouted aloud: 'Utulie'n aure! Aiya Eldalie ar Atanatari, utulie'n aure! The day has come! Behold, people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!’ And all those who heard his great voice echo in the hilss answered crying: 'Auta i lome! The night is passing!’” - Of the Fifth Battle
“Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each time that he slew Hurin cried: 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!’ Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive, by the command of Morgoth, for the Orcs grappled him with their hands, which clung to him still though he hewed off their arms, and ever their numbers were renewed, until at last he fell buried beneath them.” - Of the Fifth Battle
“Here ends the Silmarillion. If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwe and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared int eh dooms of Mandos.” - Of the Voyage of Earendil
(Wow, looking back on this list, I tend to really like the depressing parts… Oh, well, there’s beauty in tragedy, right? And nobody does tragedy like Tolkien does.)
