Antique Lyrics of Arda

[Walküre]

Three Ambassadors of the Firstborns


You I have summoned hither, ye who are the grandest of your respective kin, wise, noble, strong and skilled,
I, Manwë of the Air the master, would fain like the company of your gentle kind, as my will commandeth this be asked and in honest friendship offered.

[Walküre]

Laughter, this is what thou shalt need


Wizard, wizard, what should I bring with my presence in the quest?
Danger, swords, adventures and much road are on our way, I suppose.

Kind Hobbit, adventures and great deeds don't demand preparation, nor a fixed mindset of manners and plans,
For laughter and thy spirit are the sole thing thou shalt need and cherish.

[Walküre]

This I know for sure, that a demon lies and through the heath wanders


Frozen heat and pale morning light, this facade couldn't hide what is now in action across the realm,
A demon lies, lurks and wanders through the land, its nature unknown and its purposes even less of the realm of human mind,
Yet something is certain for sure and many might easily be aware,
That the eerie ghost is poisoning the Horse Lord's judgement and lies then keep valiant allies afar.

For a lone king in his throne caged might serve well for outer schemes,
Alien eyes that greatly long for the control of these plains and their villages in chain,
A fell magic that not for long time has been so vital and lively,
As if it seemed that a worse design is yet to befall along the knight's ways...

[Walküre]

Did the Evil sway his being?


(Gandalf) Evil? I wouldn't define him as evil in any way,
He was once a merry soul as many of your sort,
Just content of the wind, of the rain, of the bird's song and of the wheat radiant in the field,
But, with profound dismay I say, there are forces in the World which one can not easily fight, whose obscure wishes for us one might not clearly divine.

Just as you are, Frodo, before his hand his doom in the depth of the water found.

[Walküre]

The value of riddles


How often it is hard to discern, what hides behind riddles and deep words,
And many interrogate themselves and long to know whether wisdom is there or empty thoughts,
But recurrent is the case, that wisdom of those scattered remnants is in truth the source,
As Middle-earth much has seen in its ages and a lot still hidden keeps, which riddles only may probably unveil.

[Walküre]

Thy wicked will, thy final doom


Who knoweth the reason for the treason hath not come forth yet,
For very little we may understand, when the head of the wisest eventually chooseth the other side,
Madness or fool plans, we can't determine the cause of that,
Yet, traitorous wizard, thy wicked will thy final doom shalt be, for thou wagest war on the World and naught of the consequences seemeth to interest thee.

[Walküre]

The Ramparts of Glory


Follow your true path, Heir of Men, and may the luck of your kin be of the best avail,
And I shall lead my host to our fate, where, I hope, under the ramparts of glory we shall ultimately meet.


The king of Rohan uses 'ramparts of glory' to refer to the mighty walls of the White City, where he and Aragorn are supposed to meet, once the battle is over. Obviously, this won't take place, due to the death of Théoden, even though the expression itself could also be viewed as a figurative circumlocution for glory in general (in the afterlife).

[Walküre]

The age of troubles for both kinds


The Second Age of Arda, let me get you acquainted with the tale,
It came natural and quiet after a major contest had taken place,
And Elves and Men rejoiced at the newly-found solace, spreading as breezes in most of the continent now liberated and calm,
With rule and prosperity to offer for the other people there, and sorrow was from the previous harm then a memory of a darker past.

Men were given their so desired prize, a gift to honour the loyal fight of whom of their kin that the Powers against the Evil aided,
An island, in the midst of the blue, as mortal ground so close to the immortal serenity had never been,
A great empire was therefore built, broad marine power and a force that soon was the grandest to reckon with,
While Elves were lingering on the western shores of the mainland, relying on the legacy of their last glorious High King.

Sauron was not done with his snares and in hatred left the forest of the World, in a fair fashion and deceptive propositions,
Elf-smiths were tricked and moved by lies, so that the Rings of Power saw light and in evil hands eventually fell,
And war again burned and savaged the fields of the mortal shires, until the cry of desperation passed the sea and reached the mighty naval empire,
Leading to a great landing and to the Dark Lord kneeling in presence of such a might, albeit the pride king's longing for the eternal life and for the acquaintance of whom stands as Melkor's most cruel auxiliary.

[Walküre]

The Red Dawn


And then we may often behold the skies in rage,
Vermilion in all their shape and vastness, in grudge for the souls that were taken the night before,
This being common when it is decreed that one wars must wage,
And so we mourn and fain would like the tragic spectacle not to pay us its visit anymore.

[Walküre]

The Ghoulish Marshes


A demon must have made it its deep and terrifying lair,
Beneath the rotten waters of that marsh which none would ever pass, if not for the most stringent need,
Corpses lie under the surface, or they are perhaps trapped in the sorrowful mazes of that wet tomb,
Conjuring all sorts of ill mood and terrible fears, as they say voices scream and are heard from the depth of the obscure blue, of whom fought the bloody battle the era before.

[Walküre]

The Spiral of Silence


Thus it might happen that great thoughts sink and live abandoned by ears and minds which the best deeds out of them could make,
For the brutal one his will shall always try to impose, via wrath, force and all the means that his violent heart only hath known,
Yet the brave the brunt should bear, so that he in the end the right chance seizeth,
To better the World with his art, and people to the valour and liberty of old to rekindle, he therefore the chains of that odious creeping silence undoth.

[Walküre]

Wilt thou elect bliss or mortal love?


(Mandos) Wilt thou elect bliss or mortal love, Elven princess, thought to be the fairest and mightiest of thy kind?
Wilt thou return to what lieth hither? In front of such dilemma in my silent realm thou art.

(Lúthien) I shall fain elect my passing love, Judge, which decaying it is not,
For when flesh in the end shall be consumed, our spirit from the material halls is to part, to an unknown harbour headed.

[Walküre]

Mist veileth the sea and all shall conceal


The Queen of the Powers commanded and then so it was, that a mist of magic upon the seas of Aman be,
Until the curse is cured and the ban lifted, before which none may pass the tides of those waters unspoiled, nor may mariners memories of their journey in mind hold.

[Walküre]

Only a song shall do


I wonder, often, whether we may have certain knowledge of what occurred in the Hither-Lands,
If to us knowledge of those bloody yet grand deeds manifest might be,
For we in bliss dwell, but far from mortal fortunes and sorrows which here could never be,
Only a song shall do, I would tell thee, in music much is told and even the impossible via words life can take.

[Walküre]

The Mystery Unveiled


Hearken, People who dwell in these broad lands and much plain, I am Sauron,
The Abhorred, the cruel servant of the Evil incarnated,
I shall now reclaim what is mine and by me only crafted,
For the hour is just for a new darkness, to cover the sunny skies of Middle-earth and any who dares to contest me in chains to bind.

Foolish guides and vain leaders of no valour, kneel now and despair,
Those advices should never have been listened to, those gifts never accepted, that old knowledge never learnt, whose eerie source in disguise I was,
May your will against you act, once the foul treachery you eventually realise,
The Rings of Power were by their root cursed and to me they shall ultimately be returned!