Special Sub-Topic: "The Two Towers" in Song Click Here To Play: "The Two Towers" in Song

"I saw him ride over seven streams, over waters wide and gray;/I saw him walk in empty lands, until he passed away / Into the shadows of the North. / I saw him then no more." This is part of a long funeral song for which of the following?

Boromir. This song was sung by Aragorn and Legolas as Boromir's body floated in the elven boat down the river. They addressed the West, South, and North winds, poetically asking each for news of Boromir. This is a fragment of the song of the West wind.

When Merry and Pippin met Treebeard, he was puzzled by them, having never seen or heard of a hobbit before. He sang this song as he attempted to identify them: "Learn now the lore of the Living creatures! / First name the four, the free peoples: / Eldest of all, the elf-children; / Dwarf the delver, Dark are his houses;" The list does not include hobbits, so Merry and Pippin suggest this addition: "Half-grown hobbits, the - ?" Fill in the blank.

hole-dwellers & hole dwellers. The hobbits suggest they be put in amongst the Four, right after Men. Treebeard deems their verse "not bad".

Who sings the following verse: " In the willow-meads of Tasarinan I walked in the Spring. / Ah! The sight and the smell of the Spring in Nan-tasarinan! / And I said that was good."?

Treebeard. Trebeard sings this song to Merry and Pippin, as he carries them on the long journey to his home deep in the forest.

The young Ent, Quickbeam, sang to the hobbits of his dead charges, that he calls "the people of the Rose": "..I saw you shine upon a summer's day / ..your crown is spilled, your voice is stilled for ever and a day." What sort of creatures are these?

trees & rowans & rowan trees & rowan & tree. Ents are tree-herders. Those that Quickbeam tended - and whom he resembled - were rowan-trees.

When Gandalf meets again with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, he brings this message for Aragorn: "Where now are the Dunedain, Elessar, Elessar? / Why do thy kinsfolk wander afar? / Near is the hour when the Lost should come forth, / And the Grey Company ride from the North." Who sent this message?

Galadriel. Gandalf had spent time in Lothlorien after his return from the dead, and Galadriel sent messages by him to all three: Elf, Dwarf and Man. Within this song is also contained Galadriel's counsel: that Aragorn must take the Paths of the Dead.

Fill in the blank: "_______, long under tree / In joy thou hast lived. Beware of the Sea! / If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore, / Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."

Legolas Greenleaf. Galadriel's warning was only too true. Legolas had not yet felt the sea-longing of his people, but later, as foretold, he comes near to the sea and the longing is aroused. As an aside: when Legolas leaves Middle-Earth, he takes Gimli with him.

Gandalf sets this riddle for Theoden: "Ere iron was found or tree was hewn, / When young was mountain under moon; / Ere ring was made, or wrought was woe, / It walked the forests long ago." To what creatures did this riddle refer?

Ents. Tolkien is a little unclear about when, exactly, Ents came into being: at different times throughout the trilogy, he calls both Treebeard and Tom Bombadil the oldest creature in Middle-Earth. That notwithstanding, Ents are pretty old, and it is to them that this rhyme refers. Incidentally, Gandalf does not give Theoden the answer to the riddle until much later.

Pippin overhears Gandalf Singing this rhyme to himself: "Tall ships and tall kings / Three times three, / What brought they from the foundered land / Over the flowing sea? / Seven stars and seven stones / And one white tree." To what do the words "seven stones" refer?

Palantiri. The Palantiri (singular: Palantir) were seeing-stones brought over by Elendil when he escaped out of Numenor. Beryls were known in Middle-Earth as Elf-stones (Aragorn wore one), and the Silmarils were highly coveted gems that are found in "The Silmarillion". Galadriel's ring, Nenya, was made with Adamant: another name for diamond.

Gollum repeats this riddle - first seen in "The Hobbit", to Frodo and Sam: "Alive without breath; / As cold as death; / Never thirsting, ever drinking; / clad in mail, never clinking." What is the answer to this riddle?

fish. Gollum's mind was frequently turning toward the problem of food, as he did not like that which Frodo and Sam carried. Here, he is singing of his favorite food.

In the midst of great danger, Sam stands up and recites an old rhyme that makes Frodo laugh for a moment : "Grey as a mouse, / Big as a house, / Nose like a snake, / I make the earth shake, / As I tramp through the grass; / Trees crack as I pass." What is the modern name for the animal described here?

Elephant. Sam recites this rhyme in order to describe to Gollum the creature he calls an "oliphaunt". He is sorely disappointed to discover that Gollum hasn't seen any such creature among the marching Southrons.