return of the king

The Lord of the Rings Part 3

The Return of the King

By J. R. R. Tolkien

Part 1: The Fellowship of the Ring

Part 2: The Two Towers

Part 3: The Return of the King

THE RETURN OF THE KING

Book V

Chapter 7 The Pyre of Denethor

Chapter 8 The Houses of Healing

Chapter 9 The Last Debate

Chapter 10 The Black Gate Opens

Book VI

Chapter 1 The Tower of Cirith Ungol

Chapter 2 The Land of Shadow

Chapter 3 Mount Doom

Chapter 4 The Field of Cormallen

Chapter 5 The Steward and the King

_being the third part of

The Lord of the Rings_

_Chapter 1_

Minas Tirith

Pippin looked out from the shelter of Gandalf's cloak. He wondered if he was awake or still

sleeping, still in the swift-moving dream in which he had been wrapped so long since the great ride

began. The dark world was rushing by and the wind sang loudly in his ears. He could see nothing

but the wheeling stars, and away to his right vast shadows against the sky where the mountains of

the South marched past. Sleepily he tried to reckon the times and stages of their journey, but his

memory was drowsy and uncertain.

the Stone. And with that hideous memory he woke fully, and shivered, and the noise of the wind

became filled with menacing voices.

A light kindled in the sky, a blaze of yellow fire behind dark barriers Pippin cowered back,

afraid for a moment, wondering into what dreadful country Gandalf was bearing him. He rubbed

his eyes, and then he saw that it was the moon rising above the eastern shadows, now almost at the

full. So the night was not yet old and for hours the dark journey would go on. He stirred and spoke.

'Where are we, Gandalf?' he asked.

'In the realm of Gondor,' the wizard answered. 'The land of Anórien is still passing by.'

There was a silence again for a while. Then, 'What is that?' cried Pippin suddenly, clutching at

Gandalf's cloak. 'Look! Fire, red fire! Are there dragons in this land? Look, there is another!'

thudding of hoofs was heard, and three riders swept up and passed like flying ghosts in the moon

and vanished into the West. Then Shadowfax gathered himself together and sprang away, and the

night flowed over him like a roaring wind.

Pippin became drowsy again and paid little attention to Gandalf telling him of the customs of

Gondor, and how the Lord of the City had beacons built on the tops of outlying hills along both

borders of the great range, and maintained posts at these points where fresh horses were always in

readiness to bear his errand-riders to Rohan in the North, or to Belfalas in the South. 'It is long

since the beacons of the North were lit,' he said; 'and in the ancient days of Gondor they were not

needed, for they had the Seven Stones.' Pippin stirred uneasily.

'Sleep again, and do not be afraid!' said Gandalf. 'For you are not going like Frodo to Mordor,

floating isles above the clouds as they caught the light of the westering moon. He wondered where

Frodo was, and if he was already in Mordor, or if he was dead; and he did not know that Frodo

It was twilight: the cold dawn was at hand again, and chill grey mists were about them. Shadowfax

stood steaming with sweat, but he held his neck proudly and showed no sign of weariness. Many

Partly ruinous it seemed, but already before the night was passed the sound of hurried labour could

be heard: beat of hammers, clink of trowels, and the creak of wheels. Torches and flares glowed

dully here and there in the fog. Gandalf was speaking to the men that barred his way, and as he

listened Pippin became aware that he himself was being discussed.

'Yea truly, we know you, Mithrandir,' said the leader of the men, 'and you know the pass-words

of the Seven Gates and are free to go forward. But we do not know your companion. What is he? A

man.'

'Man?' said Ingold dubiously; and the others laughed.

'Man!' cried Pippin, now thoroughly roused. 'Man! Indeed not! I am a hobbit and no more

valiant than I am a man, save perhaps now and again by necessity. Do not let Gandalf deceive you!'

'Many a doer of great deeds might say no more,' said Ingold. 'But what is a hobbit?'

'A Halfling,' answered Gandalf. 'Nay, not the one that was spoken of,' he added seeing the

wonder in the men's faces. 'Not he, yet one of his kindred.'

'Yes, and one who journeyed with him,' said Pippin. 'And Boromir of your City was with us, and

he saved me in the snows of the North, and at the last he was slain defending me from many foes.'

'Peace!' said Gandalf. 'The news of that grief should have been told first to the father.'

narrow gate in the wall. 'May you bring good counsel to Denethor in his need, and to us all,

Mithrandir!' Ingold cried. 'But you come with tidings of grief and danger, as is your wont, they say.'

'Because I come seldom but when my help is needed,' answered Gandalf. 'And as for counsel, to

you I would say that you are over-late in repairing the wall of the Pelennor. Courage will now be

your best defence against the storm that is at hand – that and such hope as I bring. For not all the

tidings that I bring are evil. But leave your trowels and sharpen your swords!'

'The work will be finished ere evening,' said Ingold. 'This is the last portion of the wall to be put

in defence: the least open to attack, for it looks towards our friends of Rohan. Do you know aught

of them? Will they answer the summons, think you?'

'Yes, they will come. But they have fought many battles at your back. This road and no road

Gandalf passed now into the wide land beyond the Rammas Echor. So the men of Gondor called

Enemy. For ten leagues or more it ran from the mountains' feet and so back again, enclosing in its

the deep levels of the Anduin. At its furthest point from the Great Gate of the City, north-eastward,

the wall was four leagues distant, and there from a frowning bank it overlooked the long flats

the road came in from the fords and bridges of Osgiliath and passed through a guarded gate

between embattled towers. At its nearest point the wall was little more than one league from the

City, and that was south-eastward. There Anduin, going in a wide knee about the hills of Emyn

Arnen in South Ithilien, bent sharply west, and the out-wall rose upon its very brink; and beneath it

lay the quays and landings of the Harlond for craft that came upstream from the southern fiefs.

The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with

forgotten men who housed in the shadow of the hills in the Dark Years ere the coming of the kings.

But beyond, in the great fief of Belfalas, dwelt Prince Imrahil in his castle of Dol Amroth by the

sea, and he was of high blood, and his folk also, tall men and proud with sea-grey eyes.

Now after Gandalf had ridden for some time the light of day grew in the sky, and Pippin roused

himself and looked up. To his left lay a sea of mist, rising to a bleak shadow in the East; but to his

right great mountains reared their heads, ranging from the West to a steep and sudden end, as if in

the making of the land the River had burst through a great barrier, carving out a mighty valley to be

a land of battle and debate in times to come. And there where the White Mountains of Ered Nimrais

came to their end he saw, as Gandalf had promised, the dark mass of Mount Mindolluin, the deep

purple shadows of its high glens, and its tall face whitening in the rising day. And upon its out-

and shapely, and its pinnacle glittered as if it were wrought of crystals; and white banners broke

and fluttered from the battlements in the morning breeze' and high and far he heard a clear ringing

as of silver trumpets.

So Gandalf and Peregrin rode to the Great Gate of the Men of Gondor at the rising of the sun,

and its iron doors rolled back before them.

'Mithrandir! Mithrandir!' men cried. 'Now we know that the storm is indeed nigh!'

'It is upon you,' said Gandalf. 'I have ridden on its wings. Let me pass! I must come to your Lord

Denethor, while his stewardship lasts. Whatever betide, you have come to the end of the Gondor

that you have known. Let me pass!'

Rohan? Maybe the Rohirrim will come soon to strengthen us.' But Shadowfax walked proudly up

the long winding road.

For the fashion of Minas Tirith was such that it was built on seven levels, each delved into the

the Great Gate in the City Wall was at the east point of the circuit, but the next faced half south,

and the third half north, and so to and fro upwards; so that the paved way that climbed towards the

the line of the Great Gate it went through an arched tunnel, piercing a vast pier of rock whose huge

out-thrust bulk divided in two all the circles of the City save the first. For partly in the primeval

shaping of the hill, partly by the mighty craft and labour of old, there stood up from the rear of the

wide court behind the Gate a towering bastion of stone, its edge sharp as a ship-keel facing east. Up

it rose, even to the level of the topmost circle, and there was crowned by a battlement; so that those

in the Citadel might, like mariners in a mountainous ship, look from its peak sheer down upon the

that could hold weapons; unless some foe could come behind and scale the lower skirts of

Mindolluin, and so come upon the narrow shoulder that joined the Hill of Guard to the mountain

mass. But that shoulder, which rose to the height of the fifth wall, was hedged with great ramparts

right up to the precipice that overhung its western end; and in that space stood the houses and

domed tombs of bygone kings and lords, for ever silent between the mountain and the tower.

Pippin gazed in growing wonder at the great stone city, vaster and more splendid than anything

that he had dreamed of; greater and stronger than Isengard, and far more beautiful. Yet it was in

truth falling year by year into decay; and already it lacked half the men that could have dwelt at

ease there. In every street they passed some great house or court over whose doors and arched gates

pillars, and the great arch with keystone carven in the likeness of a crowned and kingly head.

Gandalf dismounted, for no horse was allowed in the Citadel, and Shadowfax suffered himself to

be led away at the soft word of his master.

The Guards of the gate were robed in black, and their helms were of strange shape, high-

crowned, with long cheek-guards close-fitting to the face, and above the cheek-guards were set the

white wings of sea-birds; but the helms gleamed with a flame of silver, for they were indeed

wrought of _mithril_, heirlooms from the glory of old days. Upon the black surcoats were

embroidered in white a tree blossoming like snow beneath a silver crown and many-pointed stars.

This was the livery of the heirs of Elendil, and none wore it now in all Gondor, save the Guards of

the Citadel before the Court of the Fountain where the White Tree once had grown.