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The White Council

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Walküre:
REMINISCENCE
The Lady recalls a talk she had had with one of the chiefs of the border patrol.

GALADRIEL: ''Please, valiant guard, come forth. My ears are much eager to listen to what has been happening in these grim days, along the ends of Mirkwood.''

PATROL: ''My noble ruler, many things occurred in the vicinity of those woods. Albeit feigning calmness and quietness, we do know that the malicious presence residing within the eerie fortress is fostering even more fear and anxiety across the broad land. But, my Lady, this is not what has indeed caught our attention.''

G: ''I know. Your thoughts are open to me. The gathering shadows in Mirkwood are not something new to our knowledge; according to the task I appointed to him, the Grey Wizard is soon to pierce the veil of deceit and seek for the solving of the mystery. Nevertheless, I do sense that you have a more pressing information to share. Go on.''

PATROL: ''Agents from Isengard were spotted nearby the Gladden Fields, next to our northern borders. It seems they're searching through the shores of the river. What they aim to find, we can't unfortunately tell.''

G: ''I see. The White Wizard is tempering with his pure colour, from which different shades of brightness and shadow now originate. Traits and tones difficult to fathom, as his very mind.''

Walküre:
The Lady opted for hidden words to be spoken. A warning she wanted to give; the Grey Wizard had to know.

''Mithrandir, I hope you may recall. Those far voyages of our chief's servants along the river. I sense he's in search of something he unceasingly longs, while he gathers secretive knowledge in the halls of his dark tower. He might be keen on delaying possible actions and so on hindering our just propositions. Trust in him I have almost completely run out of. Ill-wishing was the day in which he was crowned head of the Wise by this council.''

Walküre:
And then, at the heated moment, the White Wizard decides to speak and make his cause manifest to the whole council.

SARUMAN: ''I may see that many have been your addresses, members of this assembly, and even pleas for an immediate action to be elected. But I also sense something else, if my mind is not clouded by the spirited atmosphere of this meeting and the raging consent that you would like me to give; for war. For war...

An intention to bandy words with one another. To create unrest where there is none. To sway my thoughts into the claws of an assault, against a foe who hides himself within the ruined pits of that old fortress. Magic? This world is all home to magic, and this a wizard who pleases himself with journeying and a mighty Elf-maiden should know very well. A force which any will might bend and use for its own purposes. The illness, as you have named it with sudden judgement, is nothing else than the schemes of this unknown sorcerer, as they fight to claim a place in these lands. But it's a forlorn hope and desire, for such a feeble and secretive shadow shall never come forth to contest the open air. Eerie and unpleasant it might certainly be, yet not that pressing of a menace to plan operations on the other shore of the river, with no plans at hand so far. And, if you have vivid memory of my words, I still believe that only a great power is capable of keeping the Evil at bay, provided that the threat is an imperative one; a grave risk and the utmost emergency. This is not the case of ours, my fellow members of the Wise. And even in the case of agreement on the matter you have just presented, should I actually believe that Sauron did return in Middle-earth and that he took that stronghold as his dwelling, never would I be in favour of a rushing approach of this kind; rushing and in truth very precipitate. Yes, he is the sole who has the possibility, skills and means to reclaim the other lost Rings of Power, and to command the hideous wraiths, over whom he boasts total control. I'm nonetheless not convinced that he is, or that he could be, up to this design; instead of the terrible Dark Lord that he once embodied, he should now be deemed in the proper way: a powerless phantom, which would surely have great advantage and much interest into spreading chaos across this territory.

Gandalf, your hasty and improvised foray in Dol Guldur is not enough to force my hand. How could you ever take that decision without prior counselling? If you had come to me in the first place, I would have disclosed things to you as they truly are, sparing you great peril and a confrontation with an unknown enemy endowed with foul prowess. However, since I may see how keen you are on trying to justify and prove, I would ask you to tell me more of the fight in the dungeons of the ruined fortress. Because gathering information is often a wiser choice, than being about to call for arms and to prepare for the mobilisation of our forces. Please, tell.''

Walküre:
But, before the Grey Pilgrim could respond to his higher-in-rank fellow Istar, the Lady of Light intervened, swift and sudden as the breeze in the heat of the summer, or as an unexpected storm in a hot day of drought.

GALADRIEL: ''It was me. It was me who swayed the wizard's mind. He had sought for my counsel and I gave him my advice. Late was the hour, chief of the Wise, and from the head of this council very little interest had been shown up to that moment. His mind was wandering through other thoughts, different from his duties. And the evil source inside that fortress was not wasting time, and every day its fell presence would get more and more evident. We thus needed answers, White Wizard. Answers that only via direct action we could have had; and not by faltering wait or a shy attitude, locked in our strongholds and immersed in ancient studying of an uncanny sort. Mithrandir has thus passed the ends of my woods for his mission. To disperse the veil of fog and to have the riddle finally unveiled. And we did unveil it, I say. The 'human sorcerer who dabbles in dark magic' is in truth the revenant Sauron, returned in Middle-earth and willing to drag this world into another night of desperation, for none of his deeds is loose and without a defined scope. And a scope he now has indeed, for the regaining of part of his past might. And all this time we have been ignorant and defiant, because one is very rarely convinced that a menace from old days could ever pave its way again to reality; a reality of artificial and unnatural calmness, to which we have unfortunately got used too much quickly. And things are boding ill, head of the council, and worse they will get, if we don't act and if our inertia becomes our fixed approach to the matter. May I also say and point out vigorously that, in light of the facts hitherto brought as evidence, an evidence that can't be denied, Mithrandir is not to be blamed for his genuine curiosity and will to keep watch over the happenings of this world. He is a guardian. And guardians don't isolate themselves from their tasks, but ever-vigilant they stay, in fortune and bad fate. Deciding not to fulfil our duty would be an arrant mistake; a grave sin from our part, given the evident involvement of Sauron and of the Rings of Power, that are not at all forgotten by the Evil and always attract the intention of the marred spirits. May I also remind the assembly that Dol Guldur lies near my realm, right on the other shore of the Anduin; my domain would thus be the first to suffer a sudden assault. This is something a good strategist and leader ought not to forget.''

Walküre:
SARUMAN: ''And the good strategist knows also this, Lady of Lothlórien, that foolish and not useful is an attempt that brings no result. A waste of thought and energy. Because war must be planned carefully and with every means at disposal of the one who longs to embark on such a task. Recollecting information and evidences is as relevant as the fighting in the open field. Henceforth, it follows that our current knowledge is not enough to launch an assault, along with the real entity of the threat: tell me, my guests, how many kings up to this moment had to defend their realm against this hypothetical menace, which you vehemently deem dreadful and deadly? How many kingdoms were seriously in danger? Well, I shall answer for you. None! Simple and plain. For incursions and snares in an old forest are not the decisive evidence to reveal the existence of this very gruesome of an enemy, as you regard it. And I forward again the same words, in that Sauron may have indeed paved his way to this world again, yet no peril he is! No imperative bane, nor terror or cruel death. His might vanished away after the the battle with the two monarchs, at the slopes of the volcano. His One Ring was lost in the waters of the Anduin, wavering and encircling many lands of this continent. Research would be in truth vain, should the artefact have finally been led to the depths of the great sea. Yes, the Ruling Ring is no more, his destiny having being ended along the shores of the Gladden Fields. The territories you much longed to have under your rule, Elven Queen, but that you then failed to retain. That I would really name a vain attempt.

My studying and interests should not also be a concern of yours, since my mind is ever-rekindled by arts of an ancient kind; ancient, of course, and never uncanny. The immersion in the past is not only solace or curiosity, but also precious knowledge. Knowledge that might be used for the good and for the betterment of many people's lives. This is the true approach; a just approach of whom really seeks to undergo a very hard test. The certainty of victory and success, which we lack now and you even seem to disregard. That is the arrant mistake and of a flawed strategy the very scheme. Unless you manage to provide more proofs and consistent reasons to move my spirit towards your vision; unless you actually succeed in proving that this new enemy is ready to attack and to mar the lives of all in Middle-earth. A sorcerer who relies on the company of lesser beasts and scattered Orcs gathered in the vicinity of that fortress. Not so much of a frightening tyrant, am I right? Where are the legions of this Eerie Lord? His commanders, apart from shadows and wraiths which belong to another era? Where are they, Gandalf and Lady Galadriel of noble composure? As I said, he is a phantom, leading a phantom-army and posing a phantom-threat, against whom I shall not mobilise the mighty devices of the Wise. Not now, not ever. And, whether you wander in doubt and still question my counsel, be it sufficient for you to know that many of your valiant soldiers would be spared, as well as the serenity of the woods and of the course of the river.

But, don't halt your speech, Gandalf the Grey. Tell me what you faced within the pits of that ghoulish lair. I would really like to clarify the nature of that type of magic, which you indicated as the venom that is choking Mirkwood and attracting there the creeping shadows of the night.''

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