The Two Towers — Sketch Card Reveal
Part 5: The Evenstar – The Story Foreseen from Lór…
The light of the Evenstar does not wax and wane. It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart. Go to sleep.
I am asleep. This is a dream.
Then it is a good dream. Sleep.
Minlû pendich nin i aur hen telitha. (You told me once that this day would come.)
Ú i vethed... nâ i onnad. Boe bedich go Frodo. Han bâd lîn. (This is not the end... it is the beginning. You must go with Frodo. That is your path.)
Dolen i vâd o nin. (My path is hidden from me.)
Si peliannen i vâd na dail lîn. Si boe ú-dhannathach. (It is already laid before your feet. You cannot falter now.)
Arwen....
Ae ú-esteliach nad ... estelio han. Estelio ammen. (If you trust nothing else... trust this. Trust us.)
Where is she? The woman who gave you that jewel.
Our time here is ending. Arwen's time is ending. Let her go. Let her take the ship into the west. Let her bear away her love for you to the Undying Lands. There it will be ever green.
But never more than memory.
I will not leave my daughter here to die.
She stays because she still has hope.
She stays for you. She belongs with her people.
Nach gwannatha sin? (Is this how you would take your leave?)
Ma nathach hi gwannathach or minuial archened? (Did you think you could slip away at first light – unnoticed?)
Ú-ethelithon. (I will not be coming back.)
Estelio guru lîn ne dagor. Ethelithach. (You underestimate your skill in battle. You will come back.)
Ú-bedin o gurth ne dagor. (It is not of death in battle that I speak.)
O man pedich? (What do you speak of?)
Edra le men, men na guil edwen. Haer o auth a nîr a naeth. (You have a chance for another life. Away from war ... grief ... despair.)
Why are you saying this?
I am mortal. You are Elf-kind. It was a dream, Arwen. Nothing more.
I don't believe you.
This belongs to you.
It was a gift. Keep it.
My lord?
She is sailing to the Undying Lands with all that is left of her kin.
What is it? Hama?
I'm not sure.
Wargs!
A scout!
What is it? What do you see?
Warg! We're under attack!
Get them out of here!
All riders to the head of the column.
Come on. Get me up here. I'm a rider. Come on!
You must lead the people to Helm's Deep, and make haste.
I can fight.
No! You must do this, for me.
Follow me!
Forward. I mean, charge forward.
Make for the lower ground!
That's it! Go on!
Stay together!
Bring your pretty face to my axe.
That one counts as mine! Stinking creature.
Aragorn!
Aragorn?
Tell me what happened and I will ease your passing.
He's ... dead. He took a little tumble off the cliff.
You lie.
Get the wounded on horses. The wolves of lsengard will return. Leave the dead.
Come.
At last! Helm's Deep There it is, Helm's Deep. We're safe!
We're safe, my lady. Thank you.
Mama!
Eothain! Freda!
Where is the rest?
This is all we could save, my lady.
Take it to the caves.
Make way for the king. Make way for Theoden. Make way for the king.
So few. So few of you have returned.
Our people are safe. We have paid for it with many lives.
My lady.
Lord Aragorn ... where is he?
He fell.
Draw all our forces behind the wall. Bar the gate. And set a watch on the surround.
What of those who cannot fight, my lord? The women and children?
Get them into the caves. Saruman's arm will have grown long indeed if he thinks he can reach us here.
Helm's Deep has one weakness. Its outer wall is solid rock, but for a small culvert at its base ... which is little more than a drain.
How? How can fire undo stone? What kind of device could bring down the wall?
If the wall is breached, Helm's Deep will fall.
Even if it is breached, it would take a number beyond reckoning ... thousands, to storm the Keep.
Tens of thousands.
But, my lord, there is no such force.
A new power is rising. Its victory is at hand.
This night ... the land will be stained with the blood of Rohan! March to Helm's Deep! Leave none alive!
To war!
There will be no dawn for Men.
Look. There's smoke to the south.
There is always smoke rising from lsengard these days.
Isengard?
There was a time when Saruman would walk in my woods. But now he has a mind of metal, and wheels. He no longer cares for growing things.
What is it?
It's Saruman's army. The war has started.
May the grace of the Valar protect you.
Brego.
Arwen. Tollen i lû. I chair gwannar na Valannor. Si bado, no círar. (It is time. The ships are leaving for Valinor. Go now ... before it is too late.)
I have made my choice.
He is not coming back. Why do you linger here when there is no hope?
There is still hope.
If Aragorn survives this war, you will still be parted. If Sauron is defeated and Aragorn made king ... and all that you hope for comes true ... you will still have to taste the bitterness of mortality.
Whether by the sword or the slow decay of time ...Aragorn will die. And there will be no comfort for you ... no comfort to ease the pain of his passing. He will come to death, an image of the splendor of the kings of Men ... in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world. But you, my daughter ... you will linger on in darkness and in doubt, as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Here you will dwell, bound to your grief under the fading trees, until all the world is changed, and the long years of your life are utterly spent.
Arwen. There is nothing for you here ... only death. A im, ú-'erin veleth lîn? (Do I not also have your love?)
Gerich veleth nîn, ada. (You have my love, father)
I amar prestar aen ... han mathon ne nen, han mathon ne chae a han noston ned 'wilith. (The world has changed ... I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, I smell it in the air.)
The power of the enemy is growing.
Sauron will use his puppet, Saruman, to destroy the people of Rohan. Isengard has been unleashed.
The Eye of Sauron now turns to Gondor ... the last free kingdom of Men. His war on this country will come swiftly. He senses the Ring is close.
The strength of the Ring-bearer is failing. In his heart, Frodo begins to understand ...the quest will claim his life. You know this. You have foreseen it. It is the risk we all took.
In the gathering dark, the will of the Ring grows strong. It works hard now to find its way back into the hands of Men. Men, who are so easily seduced by its power.
The young captain of Gondor has but to extend his hand ... take the Ring for his own, and the world will fall.
It is close now. So close to achieving its goal.
For Sauron will have dominion over all life on this Earth ... even unto to the ending of the world.
The time of the Elves ... is over. Do we leave Middle-earth to its fate? Do we let them stand alone?
