- Namárië/Galadriel’s Lament, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Farewell to Lórien
J.R.R. Tolkien reciting Namárië.
Musical interpretation from Signe Asmussen.
Translation:
Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
The years have passed like swift draughts
of the sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West,
beneath the blue vaults of Varda
wherein the stars tremble in the song of her voice, holy and queenly.Who now shall refill the cup for me?
For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars,
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds,
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country darkness lies on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those from the East is Valimar!Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar.
Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!
- Treebeard, The Two Towers, Book III, Treebeard
Quenya strung together in Ent-fashion. It can be rendered:
“Forestmanyshadowed-deepvalleyblack Deepvalleyforested Gloomyland”,
by which Treebeard meant, more or less: “There is a black shadow in the deep dales of the forest.”
(Source: The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, Of Other Races)
- Sung by Rivendell Elves, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II, Many Meetings
also in a slightly different version, sung by the group of Elves Frodo leaves Middle-Earth with, The Return of the King, Book VI, The Grey Havens“O Elbereth Starkindler
(white) glittering slants down
sparkling like jewels
from [the] firmament [the] glory [of] the star-host!
To-remote distance far-having gazed
from [the] tree-tangled middle-lands,
Fanuilos, to thee I will chant
on this side of ocean, here on this side of the Great Ocean!”Song in the film based on A Elbereth Gilthoniel
J.R.R. Tolkien reciting A Elbereth Gilthoniel