Antique Lyrics of Arda

[Walküre]

Whispers in the woods


One should always hearken and attention pay to the murmurs of the grand forests of the world, green and vast they extend their borders over miles of ground and lands, so that you may understand the actual magnitude of size, and rapid winds transport across these large ways the words and whispers about what befalls, being wise intelligences capable of grasping the sign of misadventure and unfortunate future.

[Walküre]

Premonition IV


The swift wings of night have brought another vision to me, being this another uncanny dream of which the nature I can't fathom with exact mind, because it was very much hasty and much chaos I have been in front of, yet I recall an important character of these images that so much dread have caused me to feel.

I recall malicious eyes staring at our domain from frozen caverns, hidden and deep in the stone of the North, and that gaze was harbinger of crude winter and freezing storms, and snow now seems to fall heavier and more furious than before, as weather sensed the arrival of evil forces, responding in wrathful rage and ill-natured vindictive fashion.

[Walküre]

Mending


Who can mend the broken blade that lies still and unused in the magical valley of rest and calmness? Who may rectify the failure of its iron and the wound that was inflicted in the battle of doom? Who may reunite its scattered pieces that only sad fate seem to express from such a sight of ruin?

Only the Heir, who shall make the wrong right, and the foes of Men shall kneel in obedience at the feet of the sole among mankind with the just authority endowed.

[Walküre]

And all the stars will dance and flow


Tales speak of voyages of stars through the ways forbidden of the infinite skies beyond Arda and its circles of night, out of the very air of our places, out of all belonging to the common knowledge that we cherish and recall in memory and old customs,
And so the eternal lamps of the grand sky are beheld dancing and flowing at a pace resembling eternity for the humble man, busy and immersed in his daily duties, yet the wise know well and plain, that stars shall dance and flow in time and years needing still to pass.


Stars are commonly beloved and worshipped as the eternal source of light existing in Eä, even though their radiance is at times pale and much afar. Immortal and never-perishing, they nonetheless continue their journey through the sidereal skies of the universe, away from every peril and risk. Varda's first and exceptional deed.

In the knowledge of classical times, stars were too believed to embody still eternity, secluded and placed in ways which the common man could never have trodden.

[Walküre]

You must continue


Frodo, fain I did choose to accompany you in the journey and the service of my magic to offer you, so that the arts of an old wizard may be of some aid for the task, but I tell this again, Ring-bearer, that you for any reason must not halt the progress of your proceeding or my return await, should I be lost in the way or worse.

I might call and keep on calling, as I might falling in the void that all claims and naught back sends, but you must nonetheless continue, for a wizard is not of such note, compared to the imperative mission of this fellowship that you are to lead to a successful end.


'Fain', often utilised in my compositions, is a very old-fashioned form that indicates the pleasure or willingness in doing something. The context of the poem makes usage of the said adverb to show the genuine and kindhearted wish of the Grey Wizard to accompany Frodo along the perilous voyage the Hobbit is due to face, but this is unfortunately not possible, for the imperative task of the Istar is the one of guarding the world from all sorts of potential threats. In this case, the awakening of the Balrog does represent an imperative danger which ought to be countered, lest additional catastrophes and mayhem spread in Middle-earth.

[Walküre]

The spirit undaunted


Heath-maiden, you have not for our good the courage of your hard heart lost,
Even whilst challenging the deadly servant of the Eye who so much of evil to our side has caused in the intention of breaking the allegiance among those fighting for the Good,
The temper of your braveness came forth as fire that warm makes in the coldest of the nights, when other fighters failed and fell under the prowess of the witch-ghost leading the assailants against Gondor's defence,
The foul phantom knew, however, the real might of the maidens of Rohan and of whom Evil never had dreaded before.


The Shield-maiden of Rohan is always a fascinating character to deal with. I personally find her characterisation absolutely brilliant, of which fundamental traits are part: the strive to fight for justness and the spirit of sacrifice. All mixed with the sad and evenly tormented love for the Heir of Gondor. All in all, Éowyn embodies also the value of valour in itself, despite the lack of means or of an initial disadvantage. The contest with the Witch-king is nothing more than the epitome of all of this, when an apparently simple maiden manages to win the battle against whom had been a nightmare for many brave heroes. A kind maiden that never has asked much or demanded. A pale beauty across the harshness of the heath, both meteorological and figurative.

[Walküre]

Content they just were


Not much of the Two Lovers is known after their coming back to the ways of mortal ones, once both the fate of the Gift in adamant conviction decided to elect, for love was as perennial as the light of far stars which us never forget to enlighten, and maybe even more, in the fashion of the force that is said to reside yonder where the Angels were born, and approaching the time of their demise, content they just were and the purest farewell to Arda during their passing they have eventually bidden.


Beren and Lúthien, love itself in its purest form. A force whose actual nature goes perhaps beyond the realm of Eä as well, and destined to resist the worst of the fates, even if it's an impossible quest or the very decay of reality, by which the Valar are to be affected as everything else. And once they returned in Beleriand, after the decision to follow the path of mortality, they were just content of one another, alongside being totally uninterested in the matters revolving around the War of the Jewels (which was still demanding its terrible death toll, between the two sides battling one another). Content and nothing more.

[Walküre]

Home, sweet and kind


Home, sweet and kind, your amicable walls and rooms I miss without pause or relief of some sort,
Oh, one misses surely a tremendous lot when his being is not to enjoy the comfort of your protection and the gentle routine that each day with a proper meaning fulfils,
We are on a perilous journey, though, and even if protection and quiet life I am not granted, the wonders of the broad world I may admire in awe,
For the colours of Arda are of multiple nature, and one could not taste their savour to the fullest, even within solace, for the intricate routes for such knowledge need be taken.

[Walküre]

The lost gems


Gems of pure sidereal radiance are known to lie hidden and crystallised in the stone-made halls of the scattered mountains of this earth, and they have logically captured the interest of the Woodland King, who much longs to retrieve them once again from the darkness of many centuries of ignorance about their exact fate, and Wood-elves actually believe that those splendid treasure might be the grandest of Doriath's leavings to this world, even advancing hypotheses that the lost crown of Elwë the gems may have once constituted, forged by Dwarves as a gift for the Silver Lord, if only to turn into the decoy of brutal fight and ultimate murder, which stained the halls of the past palace, tolling for the ancient realm the bell of final demise.


The legacy of the millennial realm of Doriath has always cast a spell of admiration and almost worshipping on the Wood-elves that elected to remain in Middle-earth. In the guise of an ancient glorious past that ought to be preserved, at all costs. Namely, Thranduil believed that the lost crown of Elwë could be part of the Dwarven wealth; crown that was crafted with the wish to welcome one of the Silmarils at its top. The bell, however, tolled for the grand realm and all fell after the murder of the Elven patriarch, combined with the vanishing of Melian from Beleriand.

[Walküre]

His body was torn asunder


Wicked priest that the ruin to the Island of greatness had brought with deception and far-reaching schemes of snares,
Once the proud king had his mind conquered by lies, the way was paved and very open for the sorcerer's will to unfold in liberty,
Yet the fury of Valinor he did not expect, nor had he envisaged that the most terrible of the punishments would then be unleashed,
All ending with the raging waves of the seas which very little spared from the cataclysm, and the fell mastermind of such a conclusion was swallowed by water in equal manner, alongside his body being torn asunder and his bewitching talents getting halved.


The spirit, the spiritual component, of the Ainur may not be destroyed or annihilated completely, by any known device at disposal of the people of Arda. Nor is their soul subjected to the passing of time in the same way as the ones of Elves and Men are. Nevertheless, since the Ainur chose to clothe themselves with humanoid robes, the physical body of each of them has become a fundamental part of their intrinsic being. Hence, even if not doomed to undergo the sad fate of death, the destruction of these said robes is indubitably a grave event even for the angelic kind, for the harmonious order between the spiritual and physical gets disrupted or even totally torn apart. The result is the loss of some capabilities and magical prowess, together with a very long rehabilitation via agony and toil. Should such a defeat occur multiple times, an Ainu would no longer be permitted the privilege of a physical appearance.

[Walküre]

The dwelling of sorcery


A story without merry ending indeed, it is the one of the twin-city of Gondor's stronghold carved in the stone, but this one was blessed by the rays of the clear Moon and its duty was to control the treacherous surroundings of the realm's one-time deadliest enemy, because this mighty fortress was raised into the cursed rock of the Mountains of Ashes, that of Mordor the enormous shield used to be, and such ill omen could only have presaged bad fortunes ahead, for the Evil knocked again on the gate of the Moon-tower, winning a contest and the possession of the city seizing with appalling success, so that the gruesome sorcerer who had wandered in the midst of grinding ice could twist the nature of the settlement, just to originate the perfect dwelling of sorcery, being it a ghostly beacon and dreadful warning of what would soon be established behind those mountains of despair.


The tale of Minas Morgul is a very somber one. The actual example and evidence of that corruption theme which is very much dear to Tolkien's literature. The Moon-city was once vigilant and ever-watchful of what was befalling over those peaks of shadows, past the very defence of Mordor. Alas, the night that used to bless this stronghold with lunar rays became darker and grimmer as time passed. Unto the moment in which a new master took possession of the city. Then, the nights of those ways would be plagued by terror and populated by the most gruesome sort of nightmares. A warning for whom might dare enter the dominion of the Dark Lord.

[Walküre]

Premonition V


I have also seen light, in my dreams which toil and anxiety in the depth of my mind have summoned in such a chaotic order, for I also remember a mighty tower falling in disgrace and to all the evidence of victory signalling, while all the free were standing jubilant and celebrating the newly found and suffered triumph, when the juggernaut of tyranny collapsed on its very magnitude, defeated by the means of the humblest being, and a spirit of fire seemed to be tortured by pain atop the crushing fortress, as his fell flames were about to be worn off completely by western breezes once and for all.

[Walküre]

Feral lands in western lands


Aye, you may too find feral paths and much wild places in the western lands beyond the chain of fog and mist,
Once, as the memory of few still recalls those times, a lively reign used to animate the surroundings of these forests and hills, and of the mead which in current time lies abandoned to the course of the sheer case,
It was the house of incredible smiths, authors of wonders which now no one might replicate for sure, should the attempt be aimed at mirroring what was of the past,
But after a war of vendetta and conquest, the blind rule of ruin took all within the desolation of its tenure, unto the moment when beauty in danger was transformed, for the woes of all who cherished peace along these western ways.


The lay of Eriador tells primarily the desolation of a once fertile land, and home to courteous people and industrious talents. A mixture of races and different stories. The sad chapter of its own lore began with the wars against Sauron for the seizing of the Rings of Power that were forged by the Elves of Eregion. The fierce conflict was cause of raiding and pillaging, along with the harmless inhabitants of the place fleeing in search of safer residences. Afterwards, the fall of Arnor created a void of power and authority in the region, which was then populated by scattered groups of Men, the Hobbits in the Shire, the Rangers in their villages and the Elves who had saved the memory of the glorious past that was, although the immortal kind was either secluded in its blissful sanctuary or awaiting departure on the shores of the sundering seas. By the end of the Third Age, most of the territory consisted of wild plains and hills, in which the safety of travel could not be assured.

[Walküre]

Industry (the machinery of war)


We are taught that the wealth of a realm is much dependent on the scale and measure of its proper means, when the goods of its hard labour are destined to travel through long roads and reach far people whose needs benefit the offer at hand, or when great shipments and convoys sail for the marine routes, in a purpose of trade fair and lucrative for both parties involved,
This was given birth in other terms, however, while the White Wizard was keen on unearthing the caves of Orthanc and having the furnaces of his industry lit, for the production of such instruments of death was new and unknown, in a manner efficient and quick, for the sole purpose of arming a host of steel, and with the prime intent to make the machinery of war go round still.

[Walküre]

Dwarves on the border


Dusty and full of uncanny mystery is the history of Dwarves, and if we are to leave aside the coming back of preceding spirits and the reincarnation of the old valour of a legendary bloodline, we shall see and learn that the first record of them is in the tales of Doriath, realm millennial and mighty, which the services of Dwarven craftsmanship extensively used, but Wood-elves of Beleriand seem to be the first to have met the new race at the dawn of its day, when the oldest individuals began to narrate the facts of their awakening in the world, as after the longest rest, in the caverns of the Blue Mountains that for that age the border of events would represent.