The Return of the Shadow Quotes

“They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am sure I could write unlimited ‘first chapters’. I have indeed written many.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One

“Trotter turns out to be Peregrin, who had been to Mordor.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Yes!’ laughed Gandalf. ‘There are many powers greater than mine, for good and evil, in the world. I was caught in Fangorn and spent many weary days as a prisoner of the Giant Treebeard.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“He refused to go into mourning; and the next year he gave a party in honour of Bilbo’s 112th birthday, which he called the Hundredweight Party; although only a few friends were invited and they hardly ate a hundredweight between them.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Make it taken from the Lord himself when Gilgalad wrestled with him, and taken by a flying Elf.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“They do not fear the Ringwraiths, for those who have dwelt in the Blessed Realm live at once in both worlds, and against both the Seen and the Unseen they have great power.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Glorfindel spoke a word in the elf-tongue: nora-lim, nora-lim.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“It seemed undoubtedly to be Gandalf’s, as was the writing and the Rune .”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“In a note on one of his copies of Songs for the Philologists my father wrote: ‘, B, Bee and (because of the runic name of ) Birch all symbolize mediaeval and philological studies (including Icelandic); while A, and Āc (oak = ) denote ‘modern literature’. This more pleasing heraldry (and friendly rivalry and raillery) grew out of the grim assertion in the Syllabus that studies should be “divided into two Schemes, Scheme A and Scheme B”. A was mainly modern and B mainly mediaeval and philological. Songs, festivities and other gaieties were however mainly confined to .”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Subsequently he wrote over the original pencilled text in ink, and in that form, necessarily, I give it here.1 Little in a sense – it had perhaps some 50 houses on the hillside, and a large inn because of the goings and comings on the Road (though those were now less than they had once been).”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“throughout that draft the innkeeper’s name was Timothy Titus, not yet Barnabas Butterbur (p. 140 note 3).”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“the ‘worthy keeper’ is Barnabas Butterbur,”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“the White Horse [written above: Prancing Pony].”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Four-foot’!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Amongst his talk there was here and there much said of Old Man Willow, and Merry learned enough to content him4 (more than enough, for it was not comfortable lore), though not enough for him to understand how that grey thirsty earth-bound spirit had become imprisoned in the greatest Willow of the Forest.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“For a third: I am personally immensely amused by hobbits as such, and can contemplate them eating and making their rather fatuous jokes indefinitely; but I find that is not the case with even my most devoted ‘fans’ (such as Mr Lewis, and ?Rayner Unwin). Mr Lewis says hobbits are only amusing when in unhobbitlike situations.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Here is a jewel among hobbits!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear! O Queen beyond the Western Seas!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“After a mile or two they began to hum softly, as hobbits have a way of doing when twilight closes in and the stars come out. With most hobbits it is a bed-song or a supper-song; but these hobbits hummed a walking-song (though not, of course, without any mention of bed and supper).”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Brandybucksome.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution

“Mrs Proudfoot swallowed a large chocolate and choked.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return Of The Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One – The Creation Story with Unpublished Materials and Character Evolution