Proverbs of Middle Earth

On Adventures

As Bilbo and the Dwarves set out from the Green Dragon, the immediate task is simple: travel far, as quickly and quietly as possible.  And so they do, out of the Shire, past Bree, and on into the Lone-lands beyond, singing and telling tales as they go.  Maybe adventures aren’t so bad after all. 

But as the Company pass into Rhudaur (with its dark hills and evil-looking ruins) and over the Hoarwell to the Trollshaws, travelling conditions worsen, the weather turns, and Bilbo’s mood sours.

Adventures [are] not all pony-rides in May-sunshine.
NARRATOR [BILBO's thoughts]

Gandalf, of course, knows better.  But he is not a member of the Company: for the present, he is merely along for the ride (en route for the White Council).  Had they asked, he might have told them their peril.  

There are no safe paths.
GANDALF. 

The Simple Things

One of the reasons that Hobbits provide such a helpful perspective on the 'great' events of Middle-earth (battles, kingdoms, treasures, adventures and so on), is that they, like those of us from the closeted comfort of the contemporary world, have little or no training or ability or affinity for such things.

While Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, and Men concern themselves with the Wide World, hobbits want a simple life; a good life.

If more of us valued food & cheer & song above hoarded gold,
it would be a merrier world.
THORIN

A little sleep does a great cure.
BILBO

Bilbo is clearly not heroic by inclination, more motivated by food than by honour or reward, and when put to the test his hobbit-sense doesn't tend to offer him insightful solutions.  It does, however, provide him with the strength to keep going, and with it, resourcefulness and gutsiness.

While there's life there's hope.
BILBO

The Wisdom of Dragons

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations.
NARRATOR

The dragons were (alongside Orcs and Balrogs) creatures of Morgoth, created in the First Age.  The first - starting with Glaurung - were huge but wingless, whereas Smaug was descended from the flying dragons of the War of Wrath, who fled after Morgoth's defeat.

Over the course of the subsequent millennia, dragons hid themselves in the unpopulated North (particularly the Withered Heath) and passed into legend for a time, before re-emerging to decimate the Dwarves of the Grey Mountains, persuading them to re-colonise Erebor, the Lonely Mountain.  Thror was the King and architect of this move, and was still Lord of Durin's Folk when, nearly two centuries later, Smaug flew south and destroyed his Kingdom.

Dragons therefore knew a great amount about Dwarves, even excepting their shared love of treasure and stubborn cunning.  Enough to have developed an ironic proverb or two.

Don't have more to do with dwarves than you can help.
SMAUG

Lucky  numbers don't always come off.
SMAUG

Bilbo, from the untouched and sheltered Shire, had never been within a hundred leagues of a dragon before, and yet their rumour had still reached the Hobbits' wisdom tradition, as it had the Dwarves'.

Never laugh at live dragons.
BILBO

It is difficult not to slip in talking to a dragon.
BALIN

Nothing can escape Smaug once he sees it.
THORIN

That Smaug was the greatest of his kind still living is attested to by Thorin's recounting of his coming to Erebor.  Impregnable, invincible, except in one place. Bilbo would never have found it - he would never even have looked for it - if a proverb spoken by his own father had not given him the clue.

Every worm has his weak spot.
BILBO

Don't the Great Tales Ever End?

Smaug is dead.  No one foresaw the time, manner, or means by which it would happen, however clearly wisdom stated that at some point it undoubtedly would.  

Even dragons have their ending.
BILBO

It is no great surprise that Hobbits had a saying through which Bilbo could remind his companions that nothing lasts forever, since it is the Great Message: the lesson which every new generation must learn from their forefathers.  Nothing is perpetual, however strong, secure, or inviolable it may appear.

All things come to an end.
NARRATOR

But the second great message that all - Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, and ourselves as well - must hear from those who have gone before is that we are the inheritors of their legacy, and that, through us, their stories continue.

Bilbo's story turned out not to be only his, since it was inherited from the Bullroarer, the Old Took, and even Gollum, Isildur and Sauron.  And when Bilbo's part was played it became the story of Frodo and Sam, of all the future inhabitants of Bag End, and of all the future readers of the Red Book.  Which means us.

Roads go ever ever on.
BILBO

All things come to an end, and yet the Road goes ever on.

On Starting Out

It's a dangerous business going out of your door.
You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet,
there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.

BILBO

One always wants to start a new project in a blaze of glory amid the fanfare of trumpets, and that's sometimes fitting, but usually it's more a case of taking that first step and seeing where you get swept off to.

On September 23rd, the hobbits stepped into the Road.

Concerning Hobbits

The Holbytlan haven't been around long enough for a mature wisdom tradition (such as those of the Eldar or the Numenoreans) to describe them, but Gandalf's axiomatic language leaps into the void.  Since we usually see Middle Earth through the hobbits' eyes, we forget how anomalous they are to everyone else.  These descriptions help.

Hobbits really are amazing creatures.
You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month,
and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you.
GANDALF

Soft as butter [hobbits] can be, and yet sometimes as tough as old tree roots.
GANDALF

The Bagginses

 

Bilbo was a one-off.  And then, so was Frodo.  It is no surprise that Hobbiton and Bywater look up at the Hill with distrust and a shaking-of-the-head: the Bagginses are exceptions to the rule.  The Shire is not the sort of society which encourages quirky individuality or ostentation - everyone has their place and should stick to it, not rock the boat.

Boats are quite tricky enough for those that sit still.
GAFFER

It will have to be paid for.
HOBBITS

Bag End's a queer place, and its folk are queerer.
SANDYMAN

Even the Gaffer, though close to and trusting of the Bagginses, is uncomfortable with his son becoming more than their employee.

Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters.
GAFFER

It is advice that Bilbo could have been well-advised to take.  But then, something Tookish woke up inside him.

On Advice

Go not to the Elves for advice, for they will say both no and yes.
FRODO

Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise,
and all courses may run ill.
GILDOR

On The World

The wide world is all about you:
you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.
GILDOR

All’s well as ends well;
though perhaps we should not say that 'till we reach our own doors.
FARMER MAGGOT

September 25: The hobbits, now in Crickhollow, unmask their conspiracy and prepare to leave the Shire - their oasis is no longer any protection, and the only course of action available is the most dangerous.

Gildor's words from the previous night ring true, as, unwittingly, do those of Farmer Maggot, who was not to know just how long it would be before the hobbits finally would reach their own doors.

On the Wild

When pools are black and trees are bare, ‘tis evil in the wild to fare.
BILBO

On Strider

Folk are not always what they seem.
PIPPIN

A hunted man sometimes wearies of distrust and longs for friendship.
ARAGORN

Handsome is as handsome does.
PIPPIN

Aragorn is emblematic of the paradoxical nature of reality in Middle Earth: the heir of kings whose looks are against him, he fails to impress, his sword is broken, his clothes are stained and worn.  But handsome is as handsome does, as Bilbo recognised in his poem of proverbs:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

The Good Life

Apples for walking, and a pipe for smoking.
SAM

The Counsel of the Council

Elves may thrive on speech alone, and Dwarves endure great weariness;
but I am only an old hobbit, and I miss my meal at noon.

BILBO

 The Council of Elrond provides a fascinating opportunity to see proverbs in action.  The peoples represented all have their own wisdom traditions, some of which coincide and complement each other, and some of which don't.

Proverbs pop up regularly, used naturally and in context, illustrating the ease with which Tolkien fitted his characters within recognisable traditions.

Oft in lies truth is hidden.

GLORFINDEL

Nothing is evil in the beginning.

ELROND

The question at hand - what is this ring and what are we to do with it? - occupies those present for a whole morning.  All hear the same histories and the same reasoning, yet respond differently, according to their kind.

What was is less dark than what is to come.
DENETHOR

Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt.
GANDALF

 Valour needs first strength, and then a weapon.
BOROMIR 

Only a small part is played in great deeds by any hero. 
GANDALF 

Elrond - emblematic of the combined wisdom of Elves & Men - has a key role; allowing voices to be heard and perspectives to be honoured, whilst guiding the Council toward deciding a definite course of action that seems wise, or at least necessary, to all.

The might of Elrond is in wisdom not in weapons.
BOROMIR

It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.

ELROND

 It is wisdom to recognise necessity, when all other courses have been weighed,
though folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.
GANDALF

Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world:
small hands do them because they must,
while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.

ELROND

Sam quotes his Gaffer

Through every stage of the Quest, Sam Gamgee is in an almost perpetual state of culture shock - everything he encounters is apparently so far outside of his experience or expectation that he is often left gaping.

Appropriately, when far from home and every kind of 'normality' - as now, in Lorien - Sam finds solidity by remembering the proverbs he learned as a child, gardening alongside his Dad.

Live and learn! as my gaffer used to say.

It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.
SAM

The wisdom of Middle Earth is never seen as the unique domain of the Great or the Wise - if it worked for taters in the Shire, it is applicable everywhere.

On Justice and Mercy

Gollum is trapped.  Having pursued the company (or more specifically, the Ring) for over a month, through Moria to Lorien, down through Wilderland to Parth Galen, he finally catches up with Frodo and Sam as they struggle to escape the Emyn Muil.

He is at their mercy, and Sam in particular, does not feel merciful.  In many ways, it would be just to kill Gollum - as Faramir later asserts, he has done murder, and means to again - but at that moment the counsel of Gandalf returns, unbidden, to Frodo's mind.

Many that live deserve death.  And some that die deserve life ...
Be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice ...
Even the wise cannot see all ends.
GANDALF in FRODO's mind

The Wisdom of Gollum

 

It is years - very probably centuries reaching into millennia - since Gollum was truly Smeagol and lived in community with others of his sort.  The Ring caused his estrangement from his contemporaries and drove him into isolation, into a life where It was his only joy.  And when the Precious was lost, so was he.

We are lost, lost.  No name, no business, no Precious, nothing.
Only empty.  Only hungry.
GOLLUM

 

It is a stretch to categorise anything that Gollum says as a true proverb, yet his separation from all other peoples has made him a culture apart.  In constantly, repetitiously talking to himself, little phrases of guidance have emerged; the axioms by which his dark life has been led.

More haste less speed.
GOLLUM

More difficult, not so quick; but better.
GOLLUM

Third Time

 

From the three Elven Rings to Three's Company, a triumvirate motif repeats itself throughout the history of Middle Earth.  There are the three kindreds of the Eldar, three Silmarils, and three hidden Kingdoms (of Doriath, Nargothrond and Gondolin); three houses of the Edain, three northern Kingdoms after the breakup of Arnor, and three lines of the Kings of Rohan; three Hobbit tribes, three Farthings in the Shire, and three Ages of Middle Earth.

 

On the borders of Mordor, three weary travellers also seek significance in the number, firstly when a winged Nazgul repeatedly passes overhead, then at later times when considering an extra favour to be granted along the lines of 'one good turn deserves another'.

Three times is a threat.
GOLLUM  

The third turn may turn out the best.
FRODO

Third time pays for all.
SAM

More Dreams and Legends

 

Sam stands up, hands behind his back, for a recitation of Oliphaunt, making Frodo laugh within sight of the Black Gate.  The equivalent today might be Jabberwocky or The Hunting of the Snark, with a legendary beast set in rhyme to stir the imagination.  Hobbits never actually believed the rhyme, or anything much else that they didn't see with their own eyes.

News from Bree and not as sure as Shiretalk.
SAM

And then Sam sees one.  He knows that no one at home will believe him.

 

Far away, in the green fields of Rohan, the King has had a similar set of experiences: firstly meeting the Holbytlan, then seeing Ents; both creatures of fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme.

Songs have come down out of strange places, and walk visible under the Sun.
THEODEN

On the Affairs of Wizards

 

Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.
MERRY, quoting GILDOR as quoted by SAM

Hobbits, whilst almost perennially out of their depth once outside the Shire, are quick to learn, and especially to absorb the learning of others.

The above proverb is a great example of this.  Having heard Gildor use it in the Woody End, Sam took to repeating it, and now Merry does so, warning Pippin about the palantir.  The warning is not heeded, and their hopes nearly betrayed.

Peril comes in the night when least expected.
GANDALF

Tidings of Death

Tidings of death have many wings.
FARAMIR

Night oft brings news to near kindred.
FARAMIR

Only a week has passed since Faramir, watching at night near Osgiliath, observed the passing of the funeral boat of Boromir.  He is still clearly in mourning, and questions Frodo long to discover all that he can about the Fellowship, their mission, and the death of his brother.

Surely there are many perils in the world.
FRODO

Murder will out.
FARAMIR

But although it is his right and duty to arrest the hobbits and bring them to Minas Tirith, Faramir does not leap to it.  He knows that the funeral boat was not the work of the enemy, and is content that Frodo and Sam are not either.

His works fill the heart with loathing.
FARAMIR

On Strider, pt 2?

The hobbits' new acquaintance harks back to September 29th, and the last mysterious hooded, cloaked Ranger they had met.

Faramir appears as a southern counterpart to Aragorn: a wise, compassionate warrior, in whom the blood of Numenor runs true.  The parallels between the two characters' entries into the plot are striking:

 - the weather-beaten green-clad Rangers, faces obscured;
 - intent questioning of Frodo without revealing identity or purpose;
 - the immediate links to Gandalf at a time of his unforeseen absence;
 - Sam's strong suspicions while his guarded master longs to open up and find a friend;
 - the opportunity to take the Ring, and strength to wield it, overcome.

It is fitting then that the wisdom proverbs that flash into the hobbits' minds when faced with Faramir in Ithilien are virtually identical to those they spoke before Strider in the Prancing Pony.

Better mistrust undeserved than rash words.
NARRATOR [Frodo's thoughts]

Fair speech may hide a foul heart.
SAM

Handsome is as handsome does.
SAM

The parallels between Faramir and Aragorn continue, both in character and in fate, until the end: one takes the Paths of the Dead, the 'walks in the shadows' under the Black Breath; one becomes King, the other, Steward and Prince; both are loved by Eowyn; both marry outside of their kin; both live happily ever after ...

Advice and Parting

The hobbits leave Faramir with a wholly different perspective on the man, and perhaps on all men, than they had held the day before.  Far from inhibiting the Quest, their capture and the (unwitting) disclosure of their purpose has, in Sam's words, allowed the Captain of Gondor to show his quality: the very highest.

The praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards.
FARAMIR

But Faramir does seek to counsel them; to persuade them from taking the road to Cirith Ungol, and especially from retaking Gollum as guide, though he is unable to offer any real alternative.  Sam would agree, but Frodo feels bound to Gollum and is not moved.  The advice is rejected and they head on to the Crossroads.

It seems less evil to counsel another man to break troth than to do so oneself,
especially if one sees a friend bound unwitting to his own harm.
FARAMIR

The servant has a claim on the master for service, even service in fear.
NARRATOR [reporting Frodo's thoughts]

They can only come to morning through the shadows.
NARRATOR

In Grief

The mightiest man may be slain by one arrow.
PIPPIN

Denethor is in heartbroken mourning.  On a 'wild errand', his beloved Boromir was drawn away to the North, and Gondor's best man is now known to have been lost forever.  His body has passed down the river to the sea, his horn lies on Denethor's lap.  The Steward's bitterness is unhidden.

Be not unjust in your grief.
GANDALF

Beregond of the Guard

Beregond is the first rank-and-file man of Gondor to come into the story, and an insight into 'normal' Numenoreans.  As others in the City, he looks upon Pippin with an honest curiosity, nodding to himself as his guest's words conform to the wisdom of his people that has been handed down to him.

Men who go warring afield look ever to the next hope of food and of drink.
BEREGOND

At the table small men may do the greater deeds.
BEREGOND

Having mainly hidden behind the other hobbits' seniority until this point, becoming the nearest thing to a passenger that the Fellowship could offer, Pippin no longer has that option.  He is seen as a prince and treated not unlike one, and for the first time we are able to see the future Thain act like one.

We may stand, if only on one leg, or at least be left still upon our knees.
PIPPIN

Strange accents do not mar fair speech.
BEREGOND

On Simple Wisdom

When Pippin, who at 29 has not yet come of age, is paired with the 10 year old Bergil son of Beregond, we have no need to expect from them any great insight or understanding of the world.  Yet even they have store enough of simple proverbs to pepper their conversation.

Every little is a gain.
BERGIL

Folk are not always as they seem.
PIPPIN

On the Black Land

The Shadow... can only mock, it cannot make.
FRODO

The land of Mordor, stronghold of Sauron for five millennia, is a dreary, gasping desert (especially in Gorgoroth and Udun), void of culture, creativity, or learning.

Yet there is knowledge (albeit basic) and there is experience (albeit brutal), so the basic ingredients required for wisdoms to develop are there.  And sure enough, in our short exposure to the Orcs of Mordor, even they use proverbs.

Where there's a whip there's a will.
MORDOR ORC

Mercifully, we don't hear much more.  The majority of the thinking and talking is now being done by Sam, in spite of being the servant and despite rarely trusting his own judgement.  But his simple pragmatic dictums do the job, and keep them nudging forward.

Talking won't mend nothing.
SAM

On the Limits of Hobbits

The Ring is destroyed and the Dark Tower broken; the Shadow is passed.  There is nothing left to debate except when next to eat.

 

At last, the members of the Fellowship have the chance to get reacquainted, to tell their stories, and to marvel at how much they (or Merry and Pippin at least) have grown.

Mortals cannot go drinking ent-draughts
and expect no more to come of them than a pot of beer.
GIMLI

There is a lot to catch up on, though Sam plainly can't get his head around it, and it is clear that the breaking of the Fellowship, though grievous, worked to great good.

One can't be everywhere at once.
SAM

On Humility

To all intents and purposes, the hobbits have saved the world; they deserve to be praised 'with great praise'.

And yet the wisest response to such achievements, as outlined by Bilbo (also no stranger to unlikely triumphs) is to be very much what hobbits naturally are: straightforward, level-headed, and glad to have been of service.

Don't let your heads get too big for your hats.
BILBO

Sharky's End

With only one pleasure left in life - creating distress and disturbance for those he hates - Saruman has set about the destruction of the Shire.

One ill turn deserves another.
SARUMAN

The wizard's spite, founded on vengeance for his own fall from dignity and authority - from favourite of Aule in Valinor to homeless exile - and on jealousy of the hobbits who have risen so high, is mirrored by that felt for him by Wormtongue, who pays back his long suffering with the murder of his master.

Grima is then himself shot, despite Frodo's desperate protests to avoid bloodshed.

It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing.
FRODO

The contrast between the Big People (the oafish thuggery of the ruffians, the bitter retribution of Saruman and Wormtongue etc.) and Hobbits (including the generous mercy of Frodo, and the simple sense of the Gaffer) shows where wisdom assuredly lies, and how out of place murder and meanness are in the Shire.

It's an ill wind as blows nobody no good.
GAFFER

All's well as ends Better!
GAFFER

On Naming Babies

The War is over, and the only pressing concerns remaining are far more common-place (and Hobbit-like) than what has gone before.  This is the speciality of Shire-lore.

Put the Little People in counsels of war or discussing the devices of evil and they will fall silent, but get them discussing ale or bath-times or taters, and a wealth of tried-and-tested sayings leap forth.  Likewise choosing names for newborns.

Make it short, then you won't have to cut it short.
GAFFER

On Enduring Pain

 

There is no real going back.
FRODO

There are some wounds which cannot be wholly cured.
GANDALF

Having been key in averting utter disaster for all of Middle Earth, it is a great tragedy is that Frodo cannot benefit from what he has achieved.  Sam feels the injustice most keenly; aware that few know (or care) what his master has done and sacrificed, and heartbroken that even in anonymity, Frodo cannot enjoy the Shire that he saved.

It must be so, when things are in danger:
some one has to give them up, lose them,
so that others may keep them.
FRODO