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the forbidden pool 905
take him under my protection and to go where he led. You
would not ask me to break faith with him?’
‘No,’ said Faramir. ‘But my heart would. For it seems less
evil to counsel another man to break troth than to do so
oneself, especially if one sees a friend bound unwitting to his
own harm. But no – if he will go with you, you must now
endure him. But I do not think you are holden to go to Cirith
Ungol, of which he has told you less than he knows. That
much I perceived clearly in his mind. Do not go to Cirith
Ungol!’
‘Where then shall I go?’ said Frodo. ‘Back to the Black
Gate and deliver myself up to the guard? What do you know
against this place that makes its name so dreadful?’
‘Nothing certain,’ said Faramir. ‘We of Gondor do not
ever pass east of the Road in these days, and none of us
younger men has ever done so, nor has any of us set foot
upon the Mountains of Shadow. Of them we know only old
report and the rumour of bygone days. But there is some
dark terror that dwells in the passes above Minas Morgul. If
Cirith Ungol is named, old men and masters of lore will
blanch and fall silent.
‘The valley of Minas Morgul passed into evil very long
ago, and it was a menace and a dread while the banished
Enemy dwelt yet far away, and Ithilien was still for the most
part in our keeping. As you know, that city was once a strong
place, proud and fair, Minas Ithil, the twin sister of our own
city. But it was taken by fell men whom the Enemy in his
first strength had dominated, and who wandered homeless
and masterless after his fall. It is said that their lords were
men of Númenor who had fallen into dark wickedness; to
them the Enemy had given rings of power, and he had devoured
them: living ghosts they were become, terrible and
evil. After his going they took Minas Ithil and dwelt there,
and they filled it, and all the valley about, with decay: it
seemed empty and was not so, for a shapeless fear lived
within the ruined walls. Nine Lords there were, and after the
return of their Master, which they aided and prepared in