Proverbs of Middle Earth

The Treason Of Saruman

White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten;
and the white light can be broken.
SARUMAN

He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
GANDALF

Having reached Imladris, the hobbits finally discover why Gandalf had not been able to journey with them; of his imprisonment by the person most like him in Middle Earth, the chief of his order, the head of the White Council.  Saruman was now no longer 'the White' (see Sept 27th), and he had left the path of wisdom.

Treason has ever been our greatest foe.
GANDALF

Yet even the most subtle spiders may leave a weak thread.

GANDALF

In the account of the confrontation between the wizards, Saruman is described in all his eloquence: his phrases are rhythmic, easy on the ear, and riddled with sets of three (the Elder Days, the Middle Days, the Younger days; Elves, Men, the Wise; Knowledge, Rule, Order).  But it is significant that Saruman's argument, while logical, has a logic so twisted by the enemy that it no longer resembles wisdom.

But Gandalf cannot be shaken by Saruman's soft words.  He speaks in maxims as if quoting scripture, so rooted in his wisdom tradition that it has taken over his patterns of speech; a contrast with the proverb-free rhetoric of his senior, and a reflection (and probably cause) of his enduring goodness.

Dreams and Legends

These are indeed strange days…
Dreams and legends spring to life out of the grass.
EOMER

The Rohirrim are primarily a practical race, highly esteeming horses and courage, but relatively little else.  As with many young nations, their grasp of history or culture (beyond their own) is weak, leaving them 'wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songs'.  They fear Lothlorien, and do not walk in Fangorn, despite their proximity to these great stores of wisdom and experience.

 

So when the heir of the lost kings stands up out of the grassy plain, accompanied by an Elf and a Dwarf, it takes great strength of character from Eomer not to take them as prisoners, fanciful and questionable as their explanations are.

Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?
EOTHAIN

A man may do both,
for not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time.
ARAGORN

It is to Eomer's great credit that the good choice he makes is neither in line with his orders nor his people's natural skepticism of the unknown.  We see him wrestle with the decision, then be imprisoned for it, then finally be justified.

The world is all grown strange …
How shall a man judge what to do in such times?
EOMER

At the Doors of the Golden Hall

 

 Seldom does thief ride home to the stable.
ARAGORN

The role of Hama, the Door-ward of Theoden, is one of high honour and responsibility in the Mark, akin to a personal bodyguard.  It is his purpose to be both welcoming and suspicious of visitors, to divine the motives and trustworthiness of strangers before they become a more direct aid or threat to his king.

A king will have his way in his own hall, be it folly or wisdom.
GANDALF

 

The exchange of words between Hama and the four travellers is expressive of the similarities and differences between the races of Middle Earth.  Suspicion is high, offence is caused, but common ground and wisdom are nevertheless sought.  Hama is both strict (in forbidding Aragorn to bear Anduril) and lenient (in permitting Gandalf's staff), and justifies his choices with proverbs.

Every man has something too dear to trust to another.
ARAGORN

The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age...
Yet in doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom.
HAMA

One to One with Gandalf

Let not the swift wait for the slow.
GANDALF

And with that, he is gone; Shadowfax bearing Gandalf away to Gondor with Pippin, recovering, before him.  A perfect opportunity for an inquisitive hobbit to ask questions.

This is the first time since Rivendell where a hobbit has been alone with the Wizard, and Pippin clearly enjoys the privilege, for Gandalf is in the mood to talk.

There is nothing that Sauron cannot turn to evil uses.
GANDALF

The biter bit, the hawk under the eagle's foot, the spider in a steel web!
GANDALF

 

Saruman, the palantir, and the nature of evil are the main topics at hand, and we hear Gandalf speaking, almost to himself at times, as he processes the causes, impacts and implications of recent events.

Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves.
GANDALF

The burned hand teaches best.
After that advice about fire goes to the heart.
GANDALF

 

The Wisdom of Gondor

Entering Ithilien, the Hobbits are for the first time in Gondor (albeit in land occupied by the Enemy).  The great Kingdom of the Dunedain of the South has been liberally referred to throughout the Quest, yet until now it has had only Boromir to represent it.  It would have been reasonable to presume him as an archetype for his people, yet with the entrance of his brother Faramir, a wiser, more thoughtful head on younger shoulders, that thought must be discarded.

Wise man trusts not to chance-meeting on the road in this land.
FARAMIR

We meet no one else, with the obvious exception of Gandalf, for whom proverbs are so natural a part of speech.  Very often they are unquoted, utilised but not emphasised, and thereby often unnoticed.

War must be,
while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all;
but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness,
nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory.
I love only that which they defend.
FARAMIR

 
We are truth-speakers, we men of Gondor.
We boast seldom, and then perform, or die in the attempt.  FARAMIR

Moreover, we receive from Faramir one of the few explicit references to the means by which learning and knowledge has been passed down amongst men of one era to another, and to him in particular:

'Much is still preserved of ancient lore among the Rulers of the city that is not spread abroad...  We in the house of Denethor know much ancient lore by long tradition, and there are moreover in our treasures many things preserved:
'Books and tablets writ on withered parchments, yea, and on stone, and on leaves of silver and of gold, in divers characters.'

Kingsfoil

Do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years;
for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory
word of things that once were needful for the wise to know.
CELEBORN

Aragorn has entered Minas Tirith, though not of his own choice; he is come because a serving woman remembered an old proverb in her witterings and weepings beside the fading body of Faramir.

The hands of the king are the hands of a healer.
IORETH

 

The Houses of Healing are houses of learning and lore, as well as care-filled tenderness.  Here, as well as anywhere in Middle Earth (bar, perhaps, Elrond's house), physical healing can be administered to the injured or sick.

But the Black Shadow, brought on by proximity to the Nazgul, is no wound of body, and no cure is known, despite the clues held in old rhymes of lore.

When the black breath blows
and death's shadow grows
and all lights pass
Come Athelas!  Come Athelas!
Life to the dying
In the king's hand lying!
HERB-MASTER