"Mount Doom", Return of the King
by J.R.R. Tolkien
This is a section quote adding line numbers as reference for the linked paper by Nicki T. Hansen, aka GWiZ. In Danish, English.
Paper and translations to English by Nicki T. Hansen.
1 “The light sprang up again, and there on the brink of the chasm, at the very Crack of Doom, stood
2 Frodo, black against the glare, tense; erect, but still as if he had been turned to stone.
3 'Master!' cried Sam.
4 Then Frodo stirred and spoke with a clear voice, indeed with a voice clearer and more powerful
5 than Sam had ever heard him use, and it rose above the throb and turmoil of Mount Doom, ringing
6 in the roof and walls.
7 'I have come,' he said. 'But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The
8 Ring is mine!' And suddenly, as he set it on his finger, he vanished from Sam's sight. Sam gasped,
9 but he had no chance to cry out, for at that moment many things happened.
10 Something struck Sam violently in the back, his legs were knocked from under him and he was
11 flung aside, striking his head against the stony floor, as a dark shape sprang over him. He lay still
12 and for a moment all went black.
13 And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very
14 heart of his realm, the Power in Barad-dur was shaken,
and the Tower trembled from its foundations
15 to its proud and bitter crown.
The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all
16 shadows
looked across the plain to the door that he had made; and the magnitude of
his own folly
17 was revealed to him in a blinding flash, and all the devices
of his enemies were at last laid bare.
18 Then his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black
smoke to choke him.
19 For he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which
his doom now hung.
20 From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems
and wars his mind
21 shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his
slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his
22 captains suddenly steerless,
bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The
23 whole
mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming
force
24 upon the Mountain. At his summons, wheeling with a rending cry, in
a last desperate race there
25 flew, faster than the winds, the Nazgûl,
the Ringwraiths, and with a storm of wings they hurtled
26 southwards to Mount
Doom.
27
28 Sam got up. He was dazed, and blood streaming from his head dripped in his
eyes. He groped
29 forward, and then he saw a strange and terrible thing. Gollum
on the edge of the abyss was fighting
30 like a mad thing with an unseen foe.
To and fro he swayed, now so near the brink that almost he
31 tumbled in, now dragging back, falling to the ground, rising, and falling again. And all the while he
32 hissed but spoke no words.
33 The fires below awoke in anger, the red light blazed, and all the cavern
was filled with a great glare
34 and heat. Suddenly Sam saw Gollum's long hands
draw upwards to his mouth; his white fangs
35 gleamed, and then snapped as they
bit. Frodo gave a cry, and there he was, fallen upon his knees at
36 the chasm's
edge. But Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger
still thrust
37 within its circle. It shone now as if verily it was wrought
of living fire.
38 `'Precious, precious, precious!' Gollum cried. 'My Precious! O my Precious!'
And with that, even as
39 his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he
stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on
40 the brink, and then with
a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail Precious, and he was
41 gone.
42 There was a roar and a great confusion of noise. Fires leaped up and licked
the roof. The throbbing
43 grew to a great tumult, and the Mountain shook. Sam
ran to Frodo and picked him up and carried
44 him out to the door. And there
upon the dark threshold of the Sammath Naur, high above the plains
45 of Mordor,
such wonder and terror came on him that he stood still forgetting all else,
and gazed as
46 one turned to stone.
47 A brief vision he had of swirling cloud, and in the midst of it towers and
battlements, tall as hills,
48 founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable
pits; great courts and dungeons,
49 eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping
gates of steel and adamant: and then all passed. Towers
50 fell and mountains slid; walls crumbled and melted, crashing down; vast spires
of smoke and
51 spouting steams went billowing up, up, until they toppled like
an overwhelming wave, and its wild
52 crest curled and came foaming down upon
the land. And then at last over the miles between there
53 came a rumble, rising
to a deafening crash and roar; the earth shook, the plain heaved and cracked,
54 and Orodruin reeled. Fire belched from its riven summit. The skies burst
into thunder seared with
55 lightning. Down like lashing whips fell a torrent
of black rain. And into the heart of the storm, with
56 a cry that pierced all
other sounds, tearing the clouds asunder, the Nazgûl came, shooting
like
57 flaming bolts, as caught in the fiery ruin of hill and sky they crackled,
withered, and went out.
58
59 'Well, this is the end, Sam Gamgee,' said a voice by his side. And there
was Frodo, pale and worn,
60 and yet himself again; and in his eyes there was
peace now, neither strain of will, nor madness, nor
61 any fear. His burden
was taken away. There was the dear master of the sweet days in the Shire.
62 'Master!' cried Sam, and fell upon his knees. In all that ruin of the world
for the moment he felt only
63 joy, great joy. The burden was gone. His master
had been saved; he was himself again, he was free.
64 And then Sam caught sight
of the maimed and bleeding hand.
65 'Your poor hand!' he said. 'And I have nothing to bind it with, or comfort
it. I would have spared
66 him a whole hand of mine rather. But he's gone now
beyond recall, gone for ever.'
67 'Yes,' said Frodo. 'But do you remember Gandalf’s words: Even Gollum may
have something yet to
68 do? But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the
Ring. The Quest would have been in vain,
69 even at the bitter end. So let us
forgive him! For the Quest is achieved, and now all is over. I am
70 glad you
are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.’"
71
72 (The Return of the King – Chap.3 "Mount Doom" - the last pages).
Commentary in Danish (in frames)
Commentary in English (still being translated by Nicki T. Hansen)
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