“There is still much that is fair…”
Posted on Dec 5, 2023 by Trevor in Misc
In The Fellowship of the Ring, after the Frodo and his other companions in the fellowship escape the mines of Moria, they encounter the tree elves in Lothlórien. Haldir, who leads them through the forest, strikes up a conversation with Merry, one of the Hobbits. His ultimate response to the anxious Hobbit serves as good advice in general to anyone who seeks hope or consolation in a world that can sometimes feel unwelcoming.
‘Happy folk are Hobbits to dwell near the shores of the sea!’ said Haldir. ‘It is long indeed since any of my folk have looked on it, yet still we remember it in song. Tell me of these havens as we walk.’
‘I cannot,’ said Merry. ‘I have never seen them. I have never been out of my own land before. And if I had known what the world outside was like, I don’t think I should have had the heart to leave it.’
‘Not even to see fair Lothlórien?’ said Haldir. ‘The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.
