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QOTD: LOTR Quotes for Everyday Life
I’ve recently decided to become a Lord of the Rings fan.
I was in late middle school and high school when the LOTR movies came out. My dad took me to see all of them in theaters — and then I never watched them again. I was a casual fan at first, I would say, but in my high school homeschool community, you were a Lord of the Rings fan or you were a Star Wars fan — and I was a die-hard Star Wars fan.
It’s now been over 10 years since I graduated high school, and for whatever reason, I wanted to give the trilogy another shot. However, I didn’t just want to watch the movies on my own. For one thing, I knew I had to watch the extended editions. (I may not have known the king of Rohan’s name, but I was still aware that those are the only versions of these films that you are allowed to watch.) For another thing, I love trivia, and when I get into a new fandom, I want to know all the facts and all the behind-the-scenes information. Therefore, I needed to watch with someone who would make me excited about the movies — who would, actually, make me a fan. I was blessed enough to find someone in my Sunday school class who is maybe the biggest LOTR fan I’ve ever met and who not only gave me behind-the-scenes tidbits, but who also stopped the movies multiple times to explain things to me and answer my questions.
So how does this tie in with the quote of the day? Well, I love to find quotes from movies and TV shows that I can use in my everyday conversations (not that I usually remember to do it, but I still love to find them). I’ve picked out a few quotes from the LOTR movies that I found particularly good for this, and I thought I would share them and the situations I think they would work best in!
Gandalf: A wizard is never late … nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.
I don’t know if anyone recalls my post about tardiness, but yes, I’m still working on it (hey, it takes a while to unlearn an ingrained habit, and I’ve made a lot of progress). Anyway, this is a good quote to use if anyone remarks about how you are late to an event or a meeting, or even dinner!
Boromir: One does not simply walk into Mordor.
This one’s pretty well known since it’s a meme, but replace “walk into Mordor” with anything people think they can do easily but you know will take more time/effort/resources/planning/whatever, and you’re good to go!
Gandalf: Keep it secret. Keep it safe.
I doubt if people often give secret objects to others these days, but this would also be good for when you simply loan something to someone else. Bonus points if you go back later and ask, “Is it secret? Is it safe?” Ask with enough urgency, and it might make them nervous — and more likely to take good care of whatever you loaned them.
Aragorn: You have my sword.
Use this to add a little whimsy when someone needs help and you offer to assist. (Just make sure it’s in a setting where no one will take it the wrong way and think you’re threatening them, of course.)
Aragorn: Let’s hunt some orc.
Perfect for those moments that need a little extra motivation before starting an important task or going on a long journey!
Gandalf: Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east.
I can’t wait to use this when I tell someone goodbye. They’ll either get a good chuckle or be really confused.
Legolas: They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard!
This is another memed quote, but I think it’s a great one to throw in when you have a sudden realization. An LOTR quote along the lines of Star Wars’ “Look sir, droids!”
Legolas: A red sun rises, blood has been spilled this night.
Much more fun to say than “Red sky in morning, sailors take warning,” and much more mysterious.
Gimli: Don’t tell the elf.
Pretty obvious, but when people see something embarrassing happen to you, you can say this to let them know how seriously you expect them to keep it quiet.
Frodo: We are bound to an errand of secrecy.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t always have the time or the desire to explain myself when I’m on my way somewhere. But people still ask! The next time people ask you what you’re doing or where you’re going, this will stop their questions without you having to give any real answers.
Gandalf: Three days’ ride, as the Nazgûl flies.
This is the perfect answer to any question of how long it will take to get somewhere. Also more fun than “as the crow flies.”
Published in Group Writing
And the song is catchy.
“You shall not pass!
But if you haven’t read the books, you know naught of Tom Bombadil.
Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master:
His songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.
Jackson had to leave some stuff out, I guess. Not only would explaining Tom Bombadil have been difficult, it might not even have been possible, since fans of the books are still arguing about Tom’s nature. Tom rescues the hobbits from the clutches of the Barrow wight (also left out). After the fact, Tom arms them with weapons he finds in the barrow. One of these is ensorcelled to be of particular efficacy against the Witch-king of Angmar, and the Witch-king of Angmar is now the Lord of the Nazgûl. Merry shivs him with it at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. This distracts the Nazgûl just long enough for Eowyn to knock his block off. Deep stuff.
And don’t get me started about leaving off Pippin and Merry going all Special Forces and leading the hobbits in the Scouring of the Shire. Instead we get the hobbit contingent of the Fellowship getting all googly-eyed at each other for the last twenty minutes.
The movies are great. The books are greater.
And Elves at Helm’s Deep–what an absurdity! They had their own Orcs to fight in Lorien!
And the complete disrespect of maps! It takes the Fellowship how long to get to Rohan from Lorien? And Haldir assembles and marches a small Elven Army to Helm’s Deep between afternoon tea and 8 PM or so? Seriously?
I first read the trilogy as a teenager. Decided to read it again when the movies began to come out (I was 50). I enjoyed it just as much but found that some of the themes and scenes resonated with me in a different way now that I was older – I felt it deeper in my bones. Probably time in a few years to read it again.
Who told you that you couldn’t be both? Heathens!
There is a LOTR Trivia Persuit game that’s perfect for this. You can find it on Ebay and it’s worth every penny. The production trivia category is very hard unless you’re a complete film nerd but the rest is fun for a casual fan.
Our frequently repeated quotes:
“Don’t tempt me Frodo!”
“You have but one choice.”
“Shall I get you a box?”
“Don’t tell the elf.”
“Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.”
My wife was once sick with pneumonia for two months. One day she picked up her knitting needles and I said, “Perhaps your strength would return if you held your sword.”
Tom Bombadill and Goldberry are a treat for the reader. They are not critical to the flow of the narrative, but add a bit of wonder and mystery. If you have only seen the movies, it’s worth it just to read that portion of the book.
It sort of threads all the way through the book, though. At one point, Frodo asks Gandalf why, if Tom Bombadil is so powerful, don’t they just give him the ring. Gandalf says that the ring would mean so little to Tom that he’d lose it. Sauron would keep looking until he found it.
I forgot that bit. It has been a while.
What a fun post!
I don’t remember your posts about tardiness, but I learned many years ago that it’s just as easy to get somewhere five minutes early as it is to get there five minutes late.
If I recall correctly, Frodo did give the ring to Tom at one point, and Tom just looked through it at Frodo, and gave it back.
He also tried it on, and it didn’t work.
He had no power over the Ring. But it had no power over him.
Soviet LOTR has Bombadil, Goldberry, and even the Barrow-Wight!
I don’t like Tom Bombadil. I’m happy with him having been left out of the films. His part would fit fine in something more whimsical like the hobbit, but it seemed a distraction from the events of lord of the rings. I’m also fine with cutting the burning of the shire. That event feels like a side story and doesn’t fit the narrative structure of a movie.
Not a side story. Tolkein understood that there would be no final victory by humans over evil in this world. The hobbits come home, expecting rest after victory, only to find a lesser evil, in a different form, had settled into their homeland.
Charming post.
“Don’t tell the elf.” Ha!
Moreover, that the two timid little hobbits who had left the Shire worried about missing “second breakfast” came back capable of dealing with the situation. Men and orcs? Is that all?
Can’t I be a fan of both?? Please??
I’ve often told people who would like to come to out deck Potlucks, “If you can’t make it on time, please come late.” Yes, that’s designed to make them feel ok with being a little late…for Potlucks. However, I hate being late myself and hold in low esteem those who arrive late for things like choir practice which never seems to start on time due to ‘waiting a bit for the others’.
From your post it seems like all you know is from the movies. I hope you’re not limiting yourself to the movies. First and foremost LOTR is a great work of literary art. Any pleasure from the movies is incidental to their greatness. If you haven’t done so yet, I would recommend you read The Hobbit first and then the LOTR trilogy. In a way this is why I hate movies derived from novels. They really cannot capture the literary experience. Movies, in my humble opinion, are a second rate art medium compared to the novel.
Edit: Sorry for being one of those grumpy elitist. ;)
Allie, have you read the books? I took it as given that of course you must have, but upon rereading your post I notice that you speak of the trilogy as movies, not books.
I’ve read the books three times: once in high school, and then twice out loud to my children. That was all long before the movies came out, and I’ve never seen the movies (though I’m pleased to say that I absolutely nailed the Ent voice).
There’s a cliché that men divide into Star Trek or Star Wars camps depending largely on our age. I’m certainly in the Star Trek camp; I’ve seen the first three Star Wars movies (and spare me the back-and-forth numbering) exactly once, and don’t expect to ever watch any more. I wonder if people of the Star Trek generation lean more toward the Tolkien books than the movies. ;)
Absolutely. Above all, don’t watch the Hobbit movies without reading the book first.
And then, after reading the book, don’t watch the Hobbit movies.
If you haven’t read the books, then you missed The Scouring of the Shire, which is The Point in my opinion. Jackson leaving that off was like Spielberg cutting the last ten minutes of Saving Private Ryan.
I had no use for the Hobbit even as a kid, and I certainly did not watch the movie(s). I greatly enjoyed the LOTR movies, and cannot fault the movies for movie-ing the thing up a bit.
For me, a couple of middle-period Yes albums are the soundtrack to LOTR. Always will be.
Bombadil never worked for me, on two levels. First, his speech. I’m assuming that his portrayal leans on tropes for which I have no referent. No clue. Second, it seems Tolkein tried to portray an eternal unchanged element, but of course had nothing for him to do. He’s not a character, he’s a lecture about Heaven or perfection or bliss or something. I’m glad it was left out.
I disagree about the Scouring of the Shire, of course. See above comment.
I can hardly tell the two franchises apart by the new stuff, and that’s just what they are — franchises.
Kirk forever.
Agree. My first exposure to any of the books came via Auntie Pat, who gave me an edition of The Hobbit as a birthday present when I was ten or eleven. LOTR came much later in life.
I love the movies too. Some years ago, I started–apropos of nothing–watching the ‘cycle’ between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Probably because they came out, originally, for three years in a row in mid-December, and I got used to the idea. Some years later, I found out that’s a “thing.”
Trendsetting again.
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PS: I exempt the entire three-ring circus of The Hobbit movies from any discussions about greatness. They’re sly and awful.
The Star Wars generation (Gen-Xers) embraces the books and the movies because we didn’t have a movie version other than the animated ones until we were adults. All of my kids embrace both as well but in my experience the majority of millennials have only seen the movies since LOTR and Harry Potter were essential elements of their childhood, and I blame Harry Potter for sucking up all of the literary air from the room.
I think Bombadil was one of the original 14 demigods recounted in The Silmarillion, who periodically visited the mortal realm to check things out. He put the ring on and of course it had no effect on him. (Nor could even Morgoth himself (Sauron’s father) for that matter, as they were equals.)
He tells Frodo not to wear it as his “hand is fairer without it”.
I loved his inclusion in the books, because it gave us an even deeper perspective check about where our characters are in the history of the world than just all the weathered statues from the last great age.
And I thought the shire business at the end was crucial. It showed how even though the good guys won in the far-off war, the damage was widespread, encompassing all, including their idyllic homeland. But with their hard-won new skills, they were able to rescue the Shire. And Sam, with his Mallorn seed and box of earth from Lothlorien was able to restore it to its former state and then some, because of his generosity and wisdom in spreading the precious dirt in tiny grains throughout the place. A commentary on hope and faith.
LOL, I have heard the Hobbit movies are terrible. Did all three come out? I read the movies were configuring it to a trilogy as well. But The Hobbit novel is a single book. By milking it into three movie episodes I think they screwed it up.
Here’s a great story I recently read. You know Tolkien, CS Lewis, and Hugo Dyson, another writer, would meet up at a pub every week and read over each other’s works. Tolkien when he was writing LOTR would dominate the conversation, and Lewis and Dyson would roll their eyes with all the fantasy details Tolkien wrote in. Finally an exasperated Hugo famously, blurted out, “Oh no, not another [expletive] elf!”
In a way I prefer The Hobbit over LOTR as a novel. It’s more compact and focused. It’s amazing how Tolkien builds such a detailed fantasy world but there’s just too much in LOTR that it makes me want to skip and get to the main part of the story.