Hi there, I'm Stephanie.

And I'm Lydia. Come along with us as we explore and learn about the world of Tolkien through deep dives on lore, characters, beatalons, and lafflons. We are excited to have you as a new friend on this journey with us. Welcome to Speak Friend and Enter, a Lord of the Rings podcast. Hello, hello.

Welcome back. You might be thinking, wow, what happened? There was a bit of a break in posting between the last episode and this one, but all we have to say. And what happened is that we foreswore it all. We said no more Lord of the Rings. This is our cancellation episode. We're not even going to finish that last chapter. That last chapter. I know we were so close, but basically. This is the end of the road, guys. We were so, yeah, thrown off by the Calabas chapter.

We were like, no more. Yes, yes. But ultimately, we had a ton of very fun vacations planned for the month of August and basically thought we all deserve a summer rake. So we are back, back in business just in time to finish our goal of reading the Simmerillion. I cannot believe we're here, Lydia. Is this crazy? Yeah, like, nope.

Didn't see it coming. I feel so accomplished though, because I'm like, I'm not going to have to like avert my eyes every time I see it in the library anymore, you know? Yeah. Or like when people are like, oh, they're a real Tolkien fan. They read the Simmerillion and I'd always be like, yeah, that's true. I can't say that.

I haven't. But now, now we can. Now you have even more street cred for the in-laws.

Even more street cred. And not going to be able to stand and dance to you now. I know.

I know. What's so funny though is I feel like as more information goes into my head, other information goes out. And so I feel like Lord of the Rings trivia pursuit doesn't have a lot of stuff from the Meridian. You're like, who's Gandalf?

I might need to just go back to the basics for a bit. But I was so excited when I saw the final appendix, its title of the Rings of Power in the Third Age, because this is really the storyline that you and I have grown to love through the books, through the movies. Like this is the detail. Yeah. And it was really cool to start this chapter and be like, ooh, I know what's about to happen. Haven't been able to say that in the entire rest of the time. And genuinely, there was stuff in here that I had no clue, even from reading the books, even from watching all the movies, even from the Rings of Power TV. And my illicit goggles. Yeah, because you're always out there doodling stuff before we talk about it.

I'm googling all kinds of stuff before our deep dives. So you're right. But I think we have to start with this little line which comes under the title of the appendix, which I absolutely love. Tolkien has such a way of fanning the flames of drama. And it says, in which these tales come to their end. And you read that and you're just like, oh no, right? Like it's coming to a close or yay, we finished.

But it's just. Yes, it can strike joy or fear. Joy or fear, depending on your experience. Yeah, I actually really liked that line one, because it's nice and poetic. But two, because it is fun, I think, when an author has a strong vision of where the story starts. Everyone has read that one series that goes on just a little bit too long or that other series that was 20 books too short. So it's nice when they convey the strong sense of like, yep, this is where we were coming to. This is where the end is.

And in the case of Tolkien, I feel like I would badly like to know what happens after the third age, but maybe that's our next deep dive. Yeah, so it was fun. I like that. I will say, so kind of getting started in some of the texts to your point of an author knowing where to start and where to end their story.

I thought it was so interesting. This is the Rings of Power in the Third Age. And where do we begin it? There's so many places that he could begin this and whose perspective and where does he go? He says, of old, there was Sauron the Maya, right?

He starts, Sauron is the framing of this. And I think that's so interesting that that's the narrative that he's telling. And who reminded that he's a Maya? His history. I think it's easy to forget.

Yeah. And I thought it was so interesting. It says, in the beginning of Arda, Melkor seduced him to his allegiance. I think we talked about that word seduced because I think he kind of used something along those lines earlier on where it's like this, I don't know, slow bringing of him over with a light touch. Yeah. Yeah. And then one of his greatest gifts he mentions for if he willed, he could still appear noble and beautiful as to deceive all but the most wary.

Brian and I were having a conversation about not exactly this, but something similar to this. We were saying, who do you think are the most, I guess you could use the word evil, but some of the most evil people in the world or that you've met? Are they people who they seem evil from the outside or are they people that seem more charming, normal, thoughtful? Yeah. And perhaps normal isn't the right word.

I think charming is a better word. Yeah. Like not just not evil, but actively the opposite. Yeah. Like, is that at a level of maliciousness? I don't know. There's something interesting to me. I think it does.

I think it definitely does. You're going to great lengths to hide. Yeah. And I think what it shows is like a level of cunning and still because it's the evil that shows up with dead shark eyes where you're like, oh boy, I wonder what's wrong with this one.

That's not too hard to find. But with Sauron able to, and they talk about it, like it's actually really hard and I think it is. Sauron is able to present to just about everyone this appearance of virtue. Yeah.

And you have to be familiar with virtue enough to ape it. Yeah. Or just say something's wrong. Right?

Like even if you don't know exactly, and we'll talk about this further on, but even if you can't quite put your finger on it, that something isn't quite right. Right. But like Sauron knows what virtue is because he can imitate it.

Yeah. The fact that he chooses not to actually perform it, to choose is not to actually be virtuous. Even though he obviously knows what it looks like and like exactly all the characteristics.

I do think it lends a special touch to his evil. I don't know. And who he is as a person. Yes. And who he is.

I thought this the deceiver. Yeah. Yeah.

They call him that. And I think add so much context to this next chapter or this not next chapter, the whole chapter, but also this next paragraph. So it's talking about that crazy battle. Oh my gosh, then Gordran. And when Morgoth was overthrown, basically Sauron was kind of on this like house arrest, right? Where on way the Herald of Manway was kind of keeping an eye on him. And he was like, Oh, I feel so bad. Yeah. Yeah.

And it says it even says, and some hold that it was not at first falsely done, but that Sauron and truth repented. And so for a second, you think wild. What a wild.

Wow. Like maybe he actually did feel sorry for a moment. You know what I mean? Like really regret some of his previous actions.

But then the final bit right there where it says, he may have regretted it, but not enough to suffer for his crimes, not enough to take the punishment. Yes. And this is what I think was so interesting. He was ashamed, right? So you recognize, he recognizes he's done wrong. He's shamed.

Yeah. But he was unwilling to return and humiliation to the Valar and to the gods. And what I just think is so funny is it's like, how many do we do that in our life where we're like, I know we've done wrong, but rather than face it and say I've done wrong, I'm just going to double down on the evil.

I'm just going to double down on the thing that I did wrong. Like that is just wild. And it's also just characterized kind of interesting too, right? Because I said, you know, he was afraid of the punishment, but actually what it really says is he was afraid of the humiliation.

And so again, it's back to that whole, I mean, I think Tolton in this entire series is certainly here in the Silmarillion. He's railing against Pratt. Right? It's pride with Mordoth. It's pride with Sauron. Yeah, jealousy, ego. Jealously and pride and like this desire to control.

They're all just like really tightly linked. I also thought it was very interesting. The end of that paragraph says he fell back into evil for the bonds that Mordoth had laid upon him were very strong. And you know, this has scriptural vibes, obviously, like the chains of iniquity and all that.

But it's a good metaphor. Because even if it's not like a literal spell for Mordoth, it's the power of like the habits. I was going to say habits. You know, that he formed underneath him, even like trauma, maybe or like just things from your past that are hard to escape. They're easy to fall back into. Or even something simple, like I'm used to having power over a bunch of creatures or when I had power over those people, I wronged them.

And now if I have to suffer a humiliating punishment, they might have power over me like the fear of revenge or anything like that. Yeah, it is cool. I like that Tolkien started this chapter with a what if fanfiction junction. Or it's like what if Sauron had repented and then you'd be stepping off into fanfiction land with like Sauron, Delagual, Shippeen and all this crap, right? Are you saying something, something very pointed about a certain TV show? I just say that is what I see.

That is what I see. But here is a little gem of it that Tolkien laid was like what if he had changed, you know? That would be an interesting thing. It'd be less interesting for the plot, obviously.

But and that is why it couldn't have happened. Well, and I think we've talked about before how a lot of people sometimes say that Tolkien writes non-grey characters. And I think we've mentioned how we feel like there actually is a lot of gray. I think this is the Cimmerillian really is digging into the grayness of some of the big bads. You know what I mean?

Like some of the the main or like even if you can't say he's fully gray, even if he's like too evil for that, which he probably is. But like at least giving you like a little cheek. Yeah, a little what if. Yeah.

Yeah. I just think it's interesting that they have a past and it's not. Yeah, it's not just this unknowable evil, right? It's also kind of a cool commentary on repentance itself, right?

Because you might think, oh, that person has a change. Yeah, it's permanent. Yeah. And here he's like, nope, he might have repented, but it was shallowly. Well, only for a moment. Yeah. And maybe you can't call it a true repentance because that would probably involve going through with the punishment and turning from your previous actions. So probably by definition, not a true repentance, but highlight the appearance. Yeah.

You know, surface level. So yeah, that's so interesting. Man. Oh, anyways, I just loved this first paragraph. I thought it was such an interesting way to frame and start this this story. And then after that, they're talking a lot about the how the geography has changed, where like Beleriand is like being sunk to sound side or broken up.

This is the great way to Beleriand the stinking. Yeah. So they go through a bunch of that and there's a line after it where they start talking about how, you know, people have now resettled and are rebuilding. I thought this was cool.

It says from Austin, a deal, the city of the elves, the high road ran to the west state of Casa, doom for friendship arose between dwarves and elves, such as has never elsewhere been to the enrichment of both those people's and that was cool. That was like just a glimpse into this kind of like golden age, because technically, you know, the great evil is defeated. That's what's happening here. And there's some kind of golden age happening. We're getting friendships that weren't there before. And we did to see like a glimpse of, I guess, like the might and power of Moria. Yeah.

Before it fell. Yeah. And so you're right.

All of these different little elf kingdoms. Oh, and side note, so Soran didn't go back. He hid.

He hid in the remote places. And then all these little elf kingdoms are getting built up. And you have this one that because it's so close to the dwarves and Casa, doom, right, they're starting to exceed and jewel smithing and like all of these crafts that the dwarves have kind of excelled at in the past. Exactly.

Yeah. So they have all of these and including they have, you know, a place where Elrond Elrond's been born. Elrond is settling. And so you see all of the elves that have stayed and survived kind of creating homes across the landscape. And then we are introduced to a telem brimbois son of Kurafin.

And I read that name. I was like, what has any good thing come out of this? And then he immediately read that he was estranged from his father. And I was like, Oh, good.

Get away from him. And so, so there's peace basically, yeah, many years, peace, which is incredible after such a hard battle. And they've lost a lot of people, right?

Everybody has. Yes. Yes. They're talking a lot about all the different elves who have died, all the men who have died, all the different places people are going to settle. This is huge upheaval in their lives. And so having this peace, I think it's just people are probably, it's like the huge sigh after sitting around on the couch.

Like this is kind of like, we have a moment. While all the elves are on the couch, Sauron is industriously invading himself. As always. So and this is, he is so industrious. He doesn't rest a minute.

Like I just said, this was like the breath after a long time. And but it's so sad because they're, they're tired because of you, Morgaugh and Sauron. But then, of course, it says seeing the desolation of the world, right?

Because a lot of it would, an upheaval was kind of desert, wasn't looking great, right? Sauron said in his heart that the valor of overthrown, morgaugh and have forgotten Middle Earth and his pride grew a piece and his yes. And so he's like, wait a second, they're not here anymore, right?

Like, yeah, I might be able to do something again. So he goes to Eregean. I don't know if I'm saying that right, but we'll go for that. And it says it was in Eregean that the towns of Sauron were most gladly received. So this is where the Noldor are. And it says, moreover, they, the Noldor, were not at peace at their hearts.

And I was like, of course they weren't, they never are. And here it says why. Yeah, it says, since they had refused to return into the West and they desired both to stay in Middle Earth, which indeed they loved, and yet to enjoy the bliss of those that had departed. I thought it was a really interesting like sense of the Noldor and maybe other elves as well. Because yeah, we have a little snippet up above, I think, where like all these elves are leaving and going into the West, which makes sense. After such a crazy battle. In a time of upheaval. After you've seen the Valar in their glory.

Why don't you kind of be like, dang, I'll go with you. Yeah, exactly. So it is really interesting. And I wish more was said about this. I'm like, why are some of these elves staying?

Like, why is Elrond staying? Yeah. Well, I think partially.

Why is Delagril staying, etc. Yeah. So Elrond, he has a brother who is the first king of Numenor.

Yeah, but he is, I guess, maybe not yet, but soon he'll be long dead. So it's like, yeah, I don't know. I was just interested by that.

Yeah. Why did so many of the elves stay? It's a big question mark. But and to your point, so we have these group of elves, Soran puts on, this is his, his fair seeming persona, right?

This is the one we were talking about in the first paragraph. And he's going around to all these groups of elves, and he's kind of just seeing if he can wiggle his way in because I thought this was such an interesting statement. He said, man, he found the easiest way of all the peoples, but he long sought to persuade the elves, for he knew they were first born had greater power. So that's why he puts on this persona. And he goes to the elves as he's thinking, I really enjoy the name from them. Yeah. I love the name that he takes on.

He calls himself Anatar, the Lord of Games. Yeah. Yeah. And so there's a few groups of elves like in London with Gilgallad and Elrond that these are the ones who are able to see some kind of chink in the armor that the story is not adding up all correctly. Yeah, something's a little sketchy.

Something's a little off. And so they say, they say, no, you're not welcome here, right? They don't know who he is. And you know what's really interesting is like on my first read, I was like, Oh, well, look at all these moron, older over here who are super naive and are literally welcoming, Sarron.

And just because this new guy shows up and calls himself Anatar Lord of Games, does nobody ask themselves, who's this guy? Let's run a background check. Let's run a background. And like at first, that's what I was thinking. But then, you know, at a little bit later in this chapter, guess who shows up?

The Astarly. Yeah. Also background checklists. Like where are you from? People just showing up and being powerful and interesting. And so this world is not unused to that. Just like people just show up or creatures and they're powerful or creatures. Yeah.

Stuff being there. It made them seem a little like foolish and naive, but I don't think in their context that actually is. But for all they know, he's a star. Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know.

And I think it's interesting you were saying like that he found this group of elves that were in Middle Earth kind of wishing that they could stay, but also that it could be glorious. Right. Yes. But they were torn. And so he like worms his way in. And so he found elves that had this need, this desire, maybe a little bit covetous, right?

They wanted to live a little bit fancy. And he's like, I can help you with that. Right. Like I'm the Lord of Gifts.

I can help you make what you have glorious. Right. Yeah. And so that's where really the story kicks off. And honestly, his whole spiel is like very compelling. Like you love this place.

He says, I perceive that you love this Middle Earth as do I. Is it not then are tasked to labor together for its enrichment? Yeah. That is strong argument.

I would fall for that. And he says, oh, the other elves, they're just doing so well. You know, it's funny. It's almost reminds me of like a social class thing. It's like the Elrond and Gildelad.

He does try to say we have to match the ones who are beyond the sea. Exactly. Like they're doing it. And even. Oh, and the ones in London. Yeah.

Even the ones in London. He's like, they're doing so great, but they don't want to share. Right. They don't want to share what they have with you. Again, though, who is he talking to?

The freaking Noldor, I think mostly. And I'm like, of course they would think that they are like that. And so it is definitely a pot calling. They have a bit of jealousy in their nature. They have a streak in there. Yeah. Yeah.

So I don't know. This is kind of where there was ample ground for him to work. Exactly. He found some soil to take root in. But so it says the Councils of Soran were most gladly received for the land of the Noldor desired ever to increase, right? Their skill and their subtlety of their works. And they were not, they didn't have peace in their heart, right? And they wanted to enjoy the bliss. And so they harken to him. And then we start getting there. He says, he guided their labors.

And you know what he has to do? They start making these magic rings. Rings.

Here we are at last. And then it talks about how he's making his own ring and, you know, much of the strings and wheels. Soran has passed into it. And I just got to give credit to the, I don't know which of the writers, but whichever writer wrote the prologue in the Fellowship of the Ring in the movie. Because I'm like, okay, you get the full story in a high level in like two minutes. Great job with that intro.

Yeah, really great job. Now we're here at the rings. It's interesting to get a little bit more explicit. Yes, exactly. Like what the power of the one ring is. So I really liked that.

It says he could perceive all the things that were done by means of the lesser rings and he could see and govern the very thoughts of those that wore them. That was cool. I did not realize, I don't know why I know. Yeah, I just didn't realize it was he could see and control your thoughts or motivations.

Maybe I don't know if he can like control you like a zombie puppet master, but if he knows your thoughts and he can change them, that's basically the same. Very fascinating. And also something I thought was interesting. So like I said earlier, he went to the elves first because he was like, I would love to be able to sway them. And so he really was interested in the Elven rings. The men in the Dorfs, he also wanted to control, but the elves were the hardest. And so that's why he was like, I want to build something that will help me control them. But then this is what I think is so interesting is he wanted to have so much control over some pretty high level creatures that he had to put a lot of his strength and will under the one ring.

It wasn't like, because I used to think, why are you such a dummy? Why you put all your powers in a little ring, right? Like it can get lost, someone can take it. Yeah, it does seem like putting all your eggs in the same basket.

Yeah, it's why you put all your dominion over people. He had to put it in or else he wouldn't have that capability. And so it's not like he was saying, yeah, I think that's a good idea.

He was just like, oh, I want it and I have to put it in to get it. So that was kind of the impetus behind there. But the elves were not so likely to be caught. Yes, I loved this paragraph. This paragraph was so hilarious to me because it as soon as Sauron said the one thing, the one thing, the one ring upon his finger, they were aware of him. And all I could think was like, it's gotta be like some kind of like cybersecurity thing where like you plug the port and Ron or something and they're just like, big red kill bill alarms are going off for all the all the elves who are like wearing their rings and they like see Sauron's face and it was like, hello. Yeah, it's like Sauron kind of like butt dialed them all and it was like trying to be like super subtle about it, but they're like, hello, Anatar.

What are you doing here? Yeah, exactly. And so because like it says that they instantly perceived him and knew him and were aware what his intentions were. Like it seems to have backfired. Like he didn't put down the little security like veil so that they couldn't read his thoughts.

That's what I was going to say. You know what I think is interesting and it doesn't say explicitly here, but I kind of wonder is like by him making this open channel, I wonder if his deceit was actually more bear shown to. Yeah, because or maybe he just totally underestimated their own still.

Yeah, an ability to understand with more information. Yeah, because yeah, he was caught immediately. There was like no subtlety in this.

Yeah. And it says then in anger and fear, they took off their rings and I thought this was hilarious because again, it's not like when you put on the ring and Sauron's face is shining out of it. It's not like it's just like welded to your finger. They can just like take it off. Yeah, they have agency here, but I guess he thought with him whispering in their ear, they would never want to take it off.

And maybe if they had tapped it on longer, he would have caught them in his web or whatever. But I was just reminded of this meme I saw somewhere on the internet that was like, what even is internet bowling? Like just close your eyes. Just close your eyes. Shut off your computer. Take the ring off.

Yes. So I'm really glad that they found out like at once that they still had time to take it off. And then I did Sauron's reaction is hysterical. Like he finding that he was betrayed like what?

And the elves are not deceived was filled with wrath. He instantly throws this tantrum. It was hysterical. He's like coming at them in open war. Yeah.

And he says demanding that all the rings should be delivered to him since they could not have been made without his counsel. And I'm like, dude, just take your ball and go home. Yeah.

It really feels like a tantrum. Yeah. And so this is what's so interesting that elves fled from him and they were able to snatch three of the rings. I don't know why that it sounded like I didn't realize that maybe there had been more. There had been more elves. It sounds like there were more.

And this was the impression I got. This was very interesting. So it talks about the three rings. We see them named. We've actually talked about some of them before. Narya, Nenya, Villian. So Renofire, Reno, Water, Reno, Air. This is these are the three bit as bad as rings.

And then it sounds like, well, let's see, where is that section? And also I want to mention it's they were the big baddie, or these were like really powerful rings because hella brimboar or sella brimboar, he created the elven rings alone. So something that it doesn't quite talk about in here is the timeline. So Anatar Lordeus comes to them. He starts teaching them how to make these rings filled with power and they create the men's rings.

They create the dwarf rings. Then at the very end, he says, take a second, I'm going to go on vacation. And he goes to make the one ring.

But while he's making the running sounds like hella brimboar makes the elvish rings. And so actually one more theme here, I will scroll down and find this. I thought this was really interesting. I don't think or three of the elves were out there. I don't think the elves were out there making, you know, the nine rings for men and the seven rings for dwarves.

They were making elven rings for elves of lesser power. And it sounded to me like I can't find it. But it sounded to me like when Sauron is out there in the open when he finally reveals himself, he cannot find he's the the elves flee with those three powerful rings. Sauron tapes all the other rings and then distributes actually I think you're right rings were elven rings that were then given away to different which makes so much that was really which makes so much more sense actually now that you're saying which is not how I interpreted them when I was like, you know, coming in because he does say like at the beginning he said men he found the easiest to persuade but he wanted to persuade elves. And so that makes sense.

All of the rings was to target the elves. Wow, what a failure. Yeah. Oh, here it is.

Yeah. And it says he dealt them out to other peoples of Middle Earth, seven for the doors to the men he gave nine for men proved in this matter as in others the readiness to his foes. Yeah, these are all elven rings and then which is why it's cool that even these rings of lesser power are amazingly powerful for men also amazingly powerful for doors.

So now every man who has a ring it says they become sorcerers and powerful teens very powerful. And it was just you're right. It was just those three Nara, Nenya and Villa. I actually don't even know if Soron knew that Celebrimor was going to make them. Right.

It sounds like he might, but it also sounds like Soron was competent enough when he made the one ring that even though he did not help with their forging of those other three Celebrimor still put in that process, but he he had something whatever spells Soron was casting whatever he was doing it still had power to reach out and influence them. Yeah, but not the same level as DP. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So oh man.

So see, these are like the actual little details that are just so fascinating about this story. Okay. I'm enjoying it. And then okay, what else is happening? So now we're like really patched up to stuff that we know. It's talking about how Numenor is out there. We've got Elendil. We have Elendil being I guess our teen and the Numenorians who fled out and are now in Gondra and then we have Dil-Delad the teen of the elves. Yes. So we're talking about those. Sorry, I'm looking for my next quote.

Where did it go? I did want to say actually about the men in the dwarves when they got the rings. I thought it was so we know this, but it was kind of like so cool to hear where he was like the rings for the men obviously, right? They could be perverted the most, but then dwarves were harder to tame and rather than like being able to influence their thoughts and their hearts as well because he said they were they were too stubborn. And so I said really it just made them more like greedy and you know kind of like self-interested. Like he wasn't able to turn them to his purpose, but he was able to like kind of like narrow their focus.

Exactly. And so easily easily bought easily easily I don't know kind of managed maybe because they're so overwhelmingly focused on their wealth and it says that at the foundation of each of the seven hordes of the dwarf kings because there were different kingdoms of dwarves and there was this renowned seven hordes of dwarf kings was a golden ring, but all those hordes were long ago plundered and the dragons devoured them and the sets and some of the Semitic rings were consumed in fire and some Soran recovered. So I actually had a question about are dragons and torkans world literally eating gold? Like are they actually devouring the hordes? Or is it more metaphorical than that like you know taken by dragons?

I don't know. Some were consumed devoured them and the seven rings some were consumed in fire. I was just curious because when I read that I was like oh I wonder if that's like literal.

I wonder if dragons have this like insatiable greed and they actually consume the gold sometimes and then they're like oh boy no dual life better do it more right? Yeah I don't know I could either see it different. Kind of like it reminded me of undulient. Yeah exactly like wanting yeah to eat light or whatever it was from the tree.

Yeah yeah yeah. Yeah no I could see it both ways I could see it where dragons are like sometimes eating the gold because they're just they're lustful for it. I could also see devour it as in like they they're horrid and they're like taking it in. I thought that was super cool. I also liked the bit where he describes the Nazgul.

I freaking love the Nazgul. We're more familiar with that but we didn't have this other name for them. Yeah. What is it? Yeah yeah where is that? I'm trying to find it.

Dandalf uses it later on so we'll definitely find it. There's some names. But yeah it describes their powers it describes how they behave and like this is all like more familiar but it was still cool. Yeah I loved so this is the thing that I wasn't quite sure about. I didn't know if they had died and then Soran somehow brought them back or like what had happened but so basically it gave them magic. It gave them extended life right? Yeah my impression is that they did not die.

Exactly but they would have liked to. Exactly but they could walk but it was like they just lingered. Lingered, lingered, lingered and I just am like and then they originally just faded and they became invisible to people during the day and I'm like oh my gosh I don't even understand. I feel like you would also kind of go a little bit crazy because when Frodo in the movie when he puts on the ring you see the wraith world and they've talked about the wraith world kind of being like the spirit equivalent of the of Middle Earth and I feel like as you were fading so people couldn't see you you were probably fading into the wraith world and seeing people that others couldn't see. Yeah maybe. And so I could see you like fading from like people not recognizing you people not seeing you you fading from your life but also kind of entering this horrendous scary other world and being all alone I don't know. I could see that there's also this aspect that I think Tolton does a good job of emphasizing and I think it's a theme that is part of the heritage of Tolton fantasy of like death is not the worst scene actually. Yeah he says that a lot.

You can live too long. Yeah. It is like heavily emphasized in his scenes.

He sets up the elves to explore that theme almost entirely. Yeah. Right they're immortal. Yeah.

And so you know what's wrong with immortality. Yeah. Right.

And it talks about this like weariness this growing tired of living. Yeah. And it's just an interesting concept just you know as a man you know has as the third race I just can't relate. Yeah.

Well and he also talks about a little bit of like the I don't know like how people might act in a less honorable or moral way because they think death doesn't apply to them as much. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.

Are you really valuing? It gives a good flavor to the different races too. Yeah. Like I love the way he portrays elves. I don't necessarily find that elves are always portrayed particularly. In an interesting way. Yeah.

They should to me feel alien. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Otherworldly. But alien.

Yeah. They should not think the way we do. They should not react to things the way we do etc. And I just think he did a really good job of that. Yeah. I agree. So yeah. This next section here we've got Sauron basically coming out into like open battle.

Yeah. It talks a lot about the kingdoms that the Numenorians are establishing. So we did all the geography of Dondor and Arnordin. We did all that detail and then it's talking about how Sauron is like gathering his armies and preparing. Yeah.

And there's a bit here that I was interesting. Well, first off, the Numenoreans are the ones who named the Great Volcano. They call it Ammon Amarth.

Yes. And I thought that was a sweet name. And then it says Mount Doom is the translation. I was like, that's just so on the nose.

Yeah, yeah, it's perfect. And I will say between him taking the rings from the elves and the Numenoreans coming to Middle Earth, he obviously had a whole little side quest where this is where he went to Numenor. He was advising.

He was a hostage of Tar Pallion, the king. And then what we read in the previous exactly. I'll call it a call of bath. And then this is where Numenor was swallowed up when they went to go fight the Valar, right? And a steel door and his father, Alendo and his brother, and Aryan, yeah, went to Middle Earth and started setting up kingdoms. I will also say something that I didn't know is Soran himself was swallowed up by the sea.

His beautiful self. And yes, I think Numenor said in the previous chapter, maybe it was a forgot about that. So it's a good reminder that he is vulnerable to physical death.

Yeah. And it says he comes back, but his spirit arose and fled back on a dark wind to Middle Earth, seeking the home. And it says that he could no longer be in his beautiful, beautiful frame. So part of me thinks maybe he had that beautiful, that beautiful frame.

I think might be his leftover from when he was a Maya and he was with the Valar. It was kind of glorious. Twisted and can't make it. And I think he was able to kind of shape shift it a bit. Like when he was Lord, this Lord under Morgoth, he was able to go back and forth between that and some other frames.

But now that he's that frame died, his original Maya frame, like body, his body, his spirit's all that's left and he can only take like this ugly twisted one. I don't know. It's interesting. Well, I think that would be. I like that because it's just showing that, you know, his spirit is the one that's twisted. Yeah.

Right. He had this evil thing inside this beautiful body. Now the beautiful body is gone and the evil spirit cannot create something beautiful to replace it.

Or maybe, maybe even if it could, it couldn't inhabit it. Yeah. I don't know. But yeah, it's like he was holding onto the vestiges of his like former Maya glory. Yeah. And now it has been cut off from them. Yeah.

Yeah, it's weird. So he's back on Middle Earth, causing mayhem, causing mayhem and doing, doing some other stuff too. And I thought was interesting.

So he's gathered his armies and it says, and among them were not a few of the high race of new middle. Yeah. Um, which was interesting because, you know, we're kind of looking here at let's see. Oh, you know what?

It's okay. My first impression, I just read more closely. My first impression was that some of the new Minorians that he, um, so the new Minorians that has stayed like a seal during everyone else, these guys are basically like Noah after the flood. Um, and my impression was that he had gotten to some of them and kind of like twisted them, but it looks like no, it looks like these are previous new Minorians who had come in an earlier back when they were kind of colonizing Middle. When they were colonizing.

Okay. That makes a little bit more sense to me because I was going to say, wow, that sure was quick for a seal door and all those guys to be fleeing the evils of new Minor and then a bunch of, they're like, what? Halfs, half cousins are like turning against them like wild. Um, so I was very shocked by that, but I've now read more closely. Good thing I can read. But yeah, so it looks like we're getting some of like some previous new Minorians who had turned to the dark side and are now being recruited.

And there is another section. So we now see that like Elendil and Dillilad are like, oh boy, this is not going to be good. We need the alliance. They did it together. Um, and they form it up and it was really cool. It talked about everyone who's joining.

Um, but then it has this line. All living things were divided in that day and some of every kind, even the beasts and birds were found in either house, save the elves only. They alone were undefided and followed Dillilad. And frankly, I was surprised by that. I know. I was expecting, I guess I was expecting some of the Noldor to be like, let's just finally throw our lot in with evil. Like Curfinn maybe, you know, I do think I think because the rings of power situation had happened so recently was targeted to them and it was targeted and it was targeted and they got burned. I think that probably, that probably sealed the deal. Or maybe Dillilad was just so great. You know, yeah, maybe he was able to rally the ranks.

Yeah. But they do say this is like the last alliance. They say nothing greater has happened since the Valar came and the war off then Gorodran. Like this was the best of the besties all getting together. That line where it says all living things were divided in that day, that is just so biblical, just so this is the final battle.

Right. Well, and it's interesting too, because they said there were dwarves who fought with Sauron like you're really getting the sense of like animals, dwarves, creatures, like everything crazy. So then we have the battle and Sauron flees or no, maybe Sauron has not come out yet. And it's so Dillilad and Elendil made it to the stronghold and then they lay siege to it for seven years. Dane, that was so. I didn't realize that the last battle was not the only battle of the last alliance that they had been sieging against him.

I was flashback into like that prologue from Fellowship. I believe. Oh, OK, so this is the last battle of the law of siege, right? A long time, which makes sense because he was powerful.

So of course it wasn't just one battle and then I sliced off his finger. Like it makes sense. Yeah, it does.

But it's fun to have that context. And it says that Sauron is finally forced to come out. He sent many armies over the years. Yeah. Yeah. And then again, we've all seen this, you know, he fights with Dillilad and Elendil, both are slain. I don't know that we really see Dillilad in that prologue.

I will be looking for him next. I think they do show him actually. I think they're a snippet, but we just didn't know who he was. But I think I remember online seeing like a quick picture of him.

OK, very good. So, so Elendil is killed and so is Anarion. Yeah, his brother, which we didn't hear about in the prologue from the movies. Right.

And we don't know about him. I love this part. It says that Isildur. So afterwards after the battle, Isildur goes to the city of Arnor and plants the tree there. Yeah, because he saved one of the seeds from the white tree of Numenor and he plants it for his brother.

Right. It's kind of like a little memorial. I just love that it was a memory of him. Yeah. Yeah, that was really lovely.

That's very nice. But let's see what else. But then as a reminder, so Anarion was the king of Gondor and Isildur was going to rule Arnor. But because Anarion was dead, it actually went to his son. And so Isildur planted the tree there, kind of talked to his nephew. Anarion's, yeah.

Anarion's son and then went back up to rule Arnor and he was supposed to be high. It sounds like he might have, he might have even been planning on going even further north because I got the impression when I read it that there's the land that Isildur was ruling, the land that Anarion was ruling and the land that Elendil was ruling. And it sounded to me like Isildur was going even farther. I thought he didn't want to be anywhere near Mordor and he was going to go take Elendil's land in the north. I think Elendil's land was Arnor and Isildur went up to meet Elendil.

And then when Elendil died, he was going to take over Elendil's land. OK, all right. So we're on basically the same page, probably. Yeah.

And given how bad my geography is. No, no, no, no. That was just my understanding. OK, perfect.

Yeah. So this is like we're talking about Weathertop, that area kind of near the Shire. This is all that where Aragorn's from the. Yes, where that's what I was.

That's all like that. And that's why they call them the Dunedain of the North. Exactly, exactly.

Because that's that Arnor and Northern Kingdom. OK, perfect. Then we get the story that we have seen before. We can we have Isildur refusing to throw the ring in the fire. Yeah, I know.

Gosh, we have that. There was an interesting phrase here that I didn't know. So Isildur is being hunted by the orcs now. It says that they hunted him by scent and slot. And I don't know if my doodling can be trusted, but it sounds like that means by by tracking. Oh, dang.

That's what the slot part means. Like footprints, broken branches, stuff like that, which is cool. Orcs being clever. And of course, he's killed. And then the shards of Narsil are returned by like one of the very few survivors.

Yeah. And I thought this was a cool reminder of like Elrond's power of prophecy. It says Elrond foretold that this would not be done, that that Narsil would not be reforged until the ruling reign should be founded in and Sauron should return. But the hope of elves and men was that these scenes might never come to pass. And having this prophecy in place. And then we start reading about all the white council and how every time the white council meets Sauron, it's like, oh, yeah, the ring will never be found. Yeah.

And I can just imagine Elrond being like, yo, I already did prophecy. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm still worried.

I'm still worried. And it just makes you wonder, like, what are the boundaries of prophecy in this world? Like, is it is this a 100 percent chance or is it just like? It sounds like it's a maybe. Preventable. You know what I mean?

Like it's like, prepare. 100 percent. But maybe not. Yeah. I do think this ties in very well, this whole part with the hobbit.

Yes. It honestly, I didn't mind some things in the. Some things I did not love. But this is actually pretty like this has backstory in this section for the hobbit. So yeah, when you're talking about the source of what? Gold the door? Yes, exactly. And the white council and Gandalf kind of trying to search for the ring and evidence of Sauron and all of that good stuff. Yeah. So we we start getting to that right before all of that goes down. It there is a paragraph that was interesting about, I don't know how to say his name, Aaron or son of Aaron Hill, the last team of Gondor. Yeah. So we we see the moment that the line is broken, because all I've previously known from, you know, the movies is or I don't know where in the books, maybe they do say in the Lord of the Rings books, but you just hear the line is broken. So like here is how it was broken. Check this guy out.

He is crazy. It says it was he that wrote alone to the dates of Minas mortal to meet the challenge of the mortal Lord. And he met him in single combat.

Like, dude, come on. And you know, he says he was betrayed by the Nazism when taking into the taking a life into the city of torment and no living man saw him ever again. So that's a bad time, bad way to go.

And he left no air. And that's when I was like, guy, you cannot just be herring out there, being all proud, you know, answering the challenge issued by nasty mortal lords like you just got to sit on your throne. You are a king.

You can't be herring off. Did you not have a will? Like, did you not think, oh, I might die? Like, maybe I should. Yeah, maybe I won't.

Who should I have? Just in case I don't come back. Well, it's interesting because even if he had had a will, and maybe he did because it says that the stewards instantly like stepped in. So maybe it was all set up before he went. But at the same time, a steward is not an heir. Yeah, it's not.

It just isn't the same thing until you have like 10 or so children. You can't be doing this kind of stuff. Do your duty first is all I'm saying. Oh, my gosh.

You need a line. So anyways, I thought that was I mean, it's very brave of him. And I don't know. Maybe I'm underestimating him. Maybe he did have a chance of defeating the mortal Lord. But somehow I doubt it. And so it just seems like I don't know.

It just seemed it was either very foolish or very proud. Yeah, we don't know which like this idea that he couldn't refuse the challenge. Yeah, I don't know.

I do think. Oh, I was going to say, I do think it's interesting because after he's gone, Gondor, you know, continues kind of struggling on. But it says the Rohirrim, the horseman of the north came and dwelt in the Greenland of Rohan. And it was to find out how it came to be where they are of the kingdom of Gondor. And the Rohirrim would aid the Lords of Menaceeroth in their fights. But it sounds like from like the movies and what we've seen, Gondor used to be a lot bigger and it slowly it slowly was not able to manage that much land. And so the Rohirrim were kind of originally almost like stewards of the land. They had lived on the land and they helped provide defense. And then slowly, slowly, Gondor's border sounds like shrunk. And then Rohirrim just took over.

Yeah. And knowing that context is really nice because one shows you the depth which Gondor has fallen, right? It shows you that, you know, their, their empire has shrunk. It shows you just like this, this nice relationship and how tight it is between them and the Rohirrim. And basically giving you that history of like when, you know, Gondor called when Gondor calls for aid, yeah, Rohan really does have a responsibility to go to them. They did.

This is the initial. Well, I just feel like the fact that that is the the way that their country like was founded, the nation was founded. It just feels that's their relationship with Gondor. You know, I also feel that was the contract back then. It feels like, I don't know, if it gave more meat to it for me, I feel it's not just, you know, loosely allied countries.

It's like, oh, this is how we were initially brought into the fold. I agree. I also think I could be a little bit, a little bit contrarian here. And I could be like, hey, we've always had your back, right? Like, when have you helped us?

Right? Like you let us live here, but we always helped you in battle. So we've paid for this land and blood.

When have you out of kindness and alliance with us ever helped us in our battles? Yeah, exactly. And like, Thaden, where was Gondor? Where was Gondor when the West Pole fell? That's all I want to know. It's true. I had never done to say that Thaden, my favorite is not right. So but it was it was interesting context for me.

Yeah, it was it was very good context. It adds a lot more. I kind of want to know. So horsemen from the north.

I'm very intrigued. I'm like, is that that must be even further north than where an LLM deal went. They went there from even further north. And then I'm like, well, what is their heritage? What men are they from? Like now that we've read the whole Somerillian, I'm like, where? Where are you from? Where is your heritage? Don't ask that question. We'll get another geography question, like another geography chapter.

I know, but super interesting, super interesting. Yes. They then talk. What is happening now? Let's see.

OK, so the line is broken. We're talking about how Elrond is at Rivendell or Imladris. We're talking about the three reens. It says that the elves had pervert reserved them on solid and no open word was ever spoken about. I thought that was really interesting that it's just so kept them in hiding. Yes. But which house secretive they now have to be even among themselves?

Yeah. Because of the way that Sauron had infiltrated them before. That was such a deep cut. Actually, that's really fair. And I do think it's so interesting that I don't know, I was thinking about this in the movies. We always are like, what are these rings? Like, and what is this like we're fading? Like we're fading into the West. Like what what does this mean? It's like this ominous thing. And I think really what it meant is just like so people were leaving, right? So their people as a as a group of people, they were fading. Like they were getting smaller and smaller because people were leaving for Valinor. But then also, like, because they had this heritage of like this light and this glory, their ability to create that kind of power and that kind of environment and to stay safe from Sauron and to have their communities, all of that was fading too. And so these rings with this power was able to like kind of keep them in this safe and enlightened space. And I wonder if it was particularly hard for the elves to diminish in that way. Like what you were saying about basically like their level of culture was falling.

I wonder if that was like particularly hard for them, because, you know, you're very long lived. So when you think and your memory is very clear. So when you think back to the golden days, you know, the golden age of your people, you might remember it.

You were there, right? So it's an interesting thought. Maybe it kind of reminds me like so I would imagine that when you come to a new land, like let's say you're immigrating to a new place, you have all these fond memories of your homeland, but you're like hopeful. You're hopeful that you're going to build a new community.

You're going to build something awesome and that will flourish and that people, more people will come and it will kind of grow. And they had that for your period of time. And then through like opposition, through Morgoth, through Sauron, so much war, so much destruction. Yeah, they're kind of like, I don't know, maybe it was time we go back home.

You know what I mean? Like there, which is kind of a sad, I don't know. Well, they went with so much hope, although it was out of necessity because the Valar cursed them and they were stubborn.

So I don't know. Hope and vengeance. Hope and vengeance. But it's just an interesting way. Hope of vengeance.

Hope of vengeance. But it's just a weird, it's a weird way for me to see the elves, which maybe is Tolkien talking about long life too. Like if you can see glory, you can also see it fall, right?

Like, yeah, you're never caught in one moment in time per se. I don't know. It's interesting to see them fail as a culture and they seem so powerful. But I think and that is exactly what it is, right? And I think in the book, it's phrased in an inevitable sort of way. Which is fair, because when you read about like cultures, cultures and history, you see, you know, this this type of, you know, nation, last or this government or whatever, it only lasts so long and then it changes into something else at Morse. And I think it's interesting to see the elves because they are so long lived. So their time of changing just takes so much longer.

But it's here at last. Like it change comes to everyone, basically. And I think, too, I used to be confused about it. I used to be like, what's happening to them?

Are they sick? Is there magic? Like I was just confused. It felt like some outside thing that was happening to them. And I think what I realized is some of it is voluntary. Some of it is people saying, I'm exhausted.

I want to go home. Yep. Right. Like some of it is, I don't know. So it's just this interesting. It's not necessarily like inevitable in the sense of like people could choose to say people could choose to do that, but but they're not. It's just it's like this trend that you are seeing, but you can't necessarily reverse the tide. Yeah. And I think there's just like a tipping point. Right. Like if you were one of the last elves in Middle Earth alone, and like all 50 of your friends had already left, the call would come a little bit sooner for you.

The draw would increase. Yeah. Yeah.

So I don't know. It's just interesting seeing more of that and what that means. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I like that. So on the topic of the three beings, so they're not discussing them. They are keeping it very secret who has them.

But eventually, because of the way that the elves are diminishing, it becomes super clear who has rings. Yeah. Right. Elrond obviously has one because of just like the glory and peace and everything beautiful that's in Rivendell.

And then it's obvious also that Lady Delagrile becomes obvious, obvious that Lady Delagrile and LaFlorian also has one. And they create these safe holds, basically. Yes, exactly. And just because of their might and the power and the beauty of these places and the way it says that they are, where does it say, unstained by the grease of time, it becomes very clear. It's this open secret that that is where two of the rings are. And the third one is unknown. And Sneety Tolton says things like, none save Elrond and Delagrile and Serdon new to whom it had been permitted.

I'll let but I need to know now. And he tells us later. So we have Rivendell or Imladris and LaFlorian as like these beautiful havens. It talks about the one ring being destroyed, the three being hidden. Tots of all about these other things that are happening. Like there are still evil things on the earth, but like there's also a lot of beauty now. Like it's a good time.

Yeah. And then what are we doing here? Oh, we've got the evils. We kind of started mentioning this. We have like a darkness gathering in the Merckwood. We have the Astari coming. We have Saruman, Dandalf, Radagast. These are some fun descriptions of these guys.

Nothing I feel like we didn't know before. But just fun to see it in different words. It's like, yeah, just a reminder of who all these people are, which was enjoyable.

And then we have three or so go arounds with the White Council where every single time Elrond and Dandalf are on the same page. They're like, yo, we got to check this out. We got to nip it in the bud. This is not good.

And Saruman is evidently very persuasive. He's like, nah, it's chill. Chill, it's good. It's good.

It's fine. I do think it's so interesting because we talk about Saruman and we're like, what happened to him, right? And it said he had studied Saruman so much. Like he had studied him so much he became jealous of him. Yeah, I loved that twist. He envied him as a rival rather than hated his works. Like he had gotten too familiar with the evil of it until he started seeing angles to it. That could be nice to have that amount of influence.

Or that could be nice to have that amount of power. Like how did he do that? Yeah, he became too curious, too intrigued. And so basically, I think we had talked about this. Maybe when we did a deep dive on Saruman, you're like, oh, you know, when did he turn? And it was soon, you know, it was not at the end. He was trying to find the ring for a long time. Saruman was trying to find the ring for a long time. They were both really close. You know, they were both there at the Gladen Fields. And Saruman is trying to be the only reason he agrees to actually even try to oust the sorcerer from Merck Ward is because he's like, good, we got to get that guy out of there so I can look harder for the ring.

Yeah, yeah. Which I thought was very interesting. I also thought it was really he's being so sneaky, the Saruman. Many of his spies were birds for Radadast had lent him his aid. Yeah. Oh, dang.

It's tricking everybody with good intent, right? He was like, oh, he needs that. Why would he refuse him? So, yeah, then we're getting driving out the sorcerer. We find out that it was Saran, etc., etc.

Yeah. And then we start getting to more of the movie, what we know in the trilogy. Yes, we're getting Aragorn.

Yeah, I love some of the descriptions of people in here that we know. So, like, for example, they talk about they go back to Elrond and how he kept the sword and they introduce Aragorn. Aragorn and they say the heir of a sail door arose in the north, right? And he went to war, a great captain of men. He was Aragorn's son of Aerithorn, the nine and thirtieth heir in the line of Sildor, yet more like Elendil than any before him. And I thought that's a cool that we know. Elendil, that's cool. That's like a cool homage.

They talk about a lot of the classics. That's a lot of generations, though. That's 39.

39 generations. Yeah. So he must feel that's, I mean, Aragorn has, I think, a strong sense of his history. Yeah. That is 39 generations back to Sildor.

Yeah. And I don't know, that's kind of a rough thing to feel like, like you're beholden to that level of history, but no one's done anything with it for so long. I do think it's interesting and I was trying to see where it was.

I don't see it. But when they start talking about Aragorn, they mentioned that Elrond would house basically the heirs of a sail door. And it had a special time. And it was because they were his, they were his family, right?

Like they're like descendants of his, of his brother. Yep. Same.

Same. Yeah, exactly. And so I just thought that was really sweet where it's like, they might be wanderers, they might not have a kingdom, but he was like, you always have a place here, you can come. Right? Like he had a home for them.

And I thought that was amazing. So that's why that's how Aragorn met Erwin. That's how they spent time together when he was growing up. All that good stuff.

Yeah, I love that. Then we did, we did the whole story in brief. You know, we did Frodo.

It says now, you know, he passed it into the fire finally. Then Sauron failed, et cetera. And there was a touch here that I thought was really nice. Because in the movie, they made it look like the dead tree blooms again. But it says here that in the torts of Minas Andor, the white tree flowered again for a seedling was found by Mithrandir in the snows of Mindoloin.

Who knows where the head he found this seedling. But I actually really liked that. It's a different vision, like this idea that he was able to find this something like little extract of the old world. Yeah. And so it's just it's a little fresh sapling.

Yeah. And the picture in the book actually is very beautiful. I don't know if you saw the picture.

It's really nice. OK, yeah, just I do want to mention something that I thought was so good. So they're talking about Aragorn and they're talking about the whole battle. This is something actually that Gandalf says earlier in the White Council, Elrond is talking to him and he's saying, I'm worried.

I'm worried by a lot of things. And Gandalf says something to the effect of many are the strange chances of the world and help off shall come from the hands of the weak when the wise falter. And that was a good summary. Summarizing the last part on the last page of everything that we know and love in the trilogy and they're talking about Aragorn going to the last battle. They're talking about the Rohearum.

They're talking about all these big things and how they're there at the gate about to basically like fight to their to their death. And the ring and fail and fail. And it specifically says and not succeed.

And yes. And it says the ring was thrown into the fire. And Soran is vanquished and he's passed away like a shadow of malice. And it was all because, right?

The peace came again because the weak were able to kind of confound the thoughts of the wise. And it's a it's a beautiful. I love that. I thought that was so, so good. At the very end, he throws in the snippet of knowledge that I badly wanted.

He says, Hey, guess what? Guess who had the red ring of fire the whole time? And it was Dandel. And I feel like you told me this one time, but I had definitely forgotten. So when I got to this little paragraph, I was like, Oh, my goodness, what? God, all. But yeah.

So sir, dawn when when Mithrandir first came, it sounds like when he first appeared in the world was like, I know what you are. You seem like a cool deal. Cool. Maya. You need some help.

I'm going to give you my ring. Which is cool. I really liked that of him. And we talked about this a little bit in the Gandalf episode, but I love what his ring is because it's the ring of fire. And it also says, you know, take this ring for your labors and your cares will be heavy. I love this part.

But and all this will support and defend me from wearing this. And we know people be talking about Gandalf the wanderer. He's traveling. He's talking.

He's trying to build alliances. I mean, I get exhausted just watching him in the movies. But I also really love that. I mean, you have this sense of, oh, this is elemental magic, but it's more than that. There are layers and because Siridan also says, maybe thou shalt repindle hearts to the valor of old. So it's like the fire sense of fire is also spirit inspiration, right? Like something I love that because that was strongly needed.

And it was right for Siridan to send it with Gandalf. Who's going to all these different places? Siridan's not doing that. He's not out there strengthening all these little outposts and trying to develop a resistance here. And so that's what I love about Gandalf is he brings hope, right? And I think part of that you could say is his superpower, literally from his from his ring. Yeah.

Yeah. And then I also like the last words that we have from Siridan, who says, I will dwell by the gray shores, guarding the havens until the last ship sails. Then I shall await thee. So Gandalf, he has had this deal, this bargain basically with Gandalf for a long time. Like, you know, from the moment he gave the ring, he says, when we're all done, we're all going to sail out of here. I think initially I was surprised by that ending to the books. Because like when you read just like Lord of the Rings without any of the context and Silmarillion, you don't really know what the gray havens are. Yeah. Or where they understand where they go. Yeah. Yeah. Where are they going?

You just don't know. And though I think it's funny, you know, the song by Annie Lennox, the Into the West song. Oh.

Yes, I do think I've heard this song. Okay. I'm going to have to go. This is one of my favorite songs.

Like anytime it comes on in the credits, I'm just singing it. Crying. Yeah. Crying. I cry too. Um, and it's such a good song. And now that I have some more contacts, I love it even more.

But even without the context, like the beauty and the poetry of the words, it was enough to convey the sense of like where they're going, the white shores of Valorant, like everything about it was beautiful. And now I know exactly what she's talking about. So it's even better. But yeah, it was kind of cool to look back on that and be like, Oh, I just know so much more now of like, what is going on here? Um, and I think it's such a poetic ending.

We're going to call this the official end of the Simmerling in, right? And, um, they talk about the twilight of autumn, the boats. Oh, read the whole paragraph. Read that whole thing. That was, I have the whole thing highlighted and all I said was beautiful.

It's so pretty. Yeah. So it says also the three rings are ended. They don't have any more power. So in the twilight of autumn, it sailed out of Mythland until the seas of the bent world fell away beneath it and the winds of the round sky troubled it no more and born upon the high airs above the mists of the world. It passed into the ancient West and an end was come for the Eldar of story and of song.

It's such a beautiful, so beautiful. And what a fitting way we, we get the whole creation story in this book. We get everything that kind of instigated this world, these creatures, these people. And then we get really, I feel like this is the book of the elves. We get this really heart-wrenching story about elves and their family and their life and how they come to Middle Earth and the evils that they face.

And then this is them, the last of them kind of, I think Legolas and their few others are left, but kind of the last set of them coming home. Very few, it seems. Yeah.

Very few. And so it just feels like such a fitting ending when we've gone on this whole story with this group of people, this genealogy. Yeah, so nice. I'm closing my book. That's the squeak of my little book. It's a huge book. What are you talking about? It's a book, a huge book, the squeak of my big, big book. But yeah, it's just so beautifully, beautifully written.