Today, I'll write about one of my all-time favorite scenes from LOTR.
Oh. Um. If you've never met me and you don't know anything about good literature, let me explain some vital abbreviations:
LOTR: The Lord of the Rings (I tend to just say "Lord of the Rings," and yes, I know that's not correct, but go read it fifty billion times, then read The Hobbit, The Sil, CoH, Lost Tales, and several books from The History of Middle Earth, and then you're allowed to come back and correct me. It still doesn't mean I'll pay any attention, though.)
FOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
TTT: The Two Towers
ROTK: The Return of the King
The Sil: The Silmarillion
TH: The Hobbit
HoME: The History of Middle Earth (I don't know why, but I don't see HOME too often, nor do I see LoTR too often, either...it's just the way it is)
CoH: Children of Hurin
LT: The Book of Lost Tales (I refuse to call it a BLT...that's just undignified. Although it is one of my favorite sandwiches.)
Now, lets talk about Sam's Star. Towards the beginning of FOTR, the four hobbits find themselves in the house of Tom Bombadil, with his wife Goldberry. Goldberry is often associated with light, water (being the "Riverwoman's daughter) nature, and natural beauty. She is introduced first with her singing, and in the next chapter, the hobbits actually get to see this "fair young elf queen." She brings them into the house, saying, "Let us shut out the night," and the next evening, she appears in the doorway holding a candle, and "shielding its flame from the draught with her hand; and the light flowed through it, like sunlight through a white shell."
Neither Tom Bombadil nor Goldberry are appear again in the trilogy, save for a brief mention of Tom in the very last chapter.
When Sam and Frodo are in Caras Galadhorn at night with Galadriel, Frodo is able to see Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, or the Ring of Water, although Sam only sees a star shining through Galadriel's hand, which is oddly similar to the candle shining through Goldberry's hand. The difference is that Galadriel's light is coming from a Ring of power, while Goldberry's light is coming from something far more natural and easily reproduced. When they leave Lorien, Galadriel gives Frodo the phial with light from the star of Elendil for later use (elen means star in Quenya, which is a form of Elvish). Sam doesn't get any light, only a box or dirt to grow a mallorn tree in the Shire.
Finally, in Mordor, we get my favorite part:
"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beautify of it smote is heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach."
I've always associated this star with Goldberry. Even thought Galadriel gave the phial to Frodo, what she gave him was something physical, something that actually fails later on in the book when he's on Mount Doom, just before he decides not to drop the Ring into the chasm, instead keeping it for himself. She gave Frodo light from the star, but Sam looked at the star itself for hope. Goldberry never gave the group any objects, but represented a place that seemed to be untouched by the evils around them, and above phials and Rings. There is even a theory out there (one that I actually like to go along with) that Tom Bombadil is Manwe, or even Eru, he calls himself "the Master" several times, and at one point, Frodo asks Goldberry who Tom Bombadil is, and she replies, "He is." I've always thought that is why Tom Bombadil and Goldberry were in the trilogy in the first place; they seem out of place, but they are the most in-place characters in the story. They are embedded in Middle-Earth as well as Arda.
I like the excerpt of Sam and the star because of the fact that it's not really about hope with getting through things, but instead, it's about goodness that is simply untouchable. It's the ultimate kind of hope, that even when the very worst happens, even when everything does end up failing, there are parts of the world that are still light; even if they can be hidden, they can't be changed.
~It is a good thought to keep in mind sometimes~
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