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the last debate 1151
Too seldom has he been challenged since he returned to his
Tower. Though if I had foreseen how swift would be his
onset in answer, maybe I should not have dared to show
myself. Bare time was given me to come to your aid.’
‘But how is this?’ asked Éomer. ‘All is vain, you say, if he
has the Ring. Why should he think it not vain to assail us, if
we have it?’
‘He is not yet sure,’ said Gandalf, ‘and he has not built
up his power by waiting until his enemies are secure, as we
have done. Also we could not learn how to wield the full
power all in a day. Indeed it can be used only by one master
alone, not by many; and he will look for a time of strife, ere
one of the great among us makes himself master and puts
down the others. In that time the Ring might aid him, if he
were sudden.
‘He is watching. He sees much and hears much. His
Nazgûl are still abroad. They passed over this field ere the
sunrise, though few of the weary and sleeping were aware of
them. He studies the signs: the Sword that robbed him of his
treasure re-made; the winds of fortune turning in our favour,
and the defeat unlooked-for of his first assault; the fall of his
great Captain.
‘His doubt will be growing, even as we speak here. His Eye
is now straining towards us, blind almost to all else that is
moving. So we must keep it. Therein lies all our hope. This,
then, is my counsel. We have not the Ring. In wisdom or
great folly it has been sent away to be destroyed, lest it destroy
us. Without it we cannot by force defeat his force. But we
must at all costs keep his Eye from his true peril. We cannot
achieve victory by arms, but by arms we can give the
Ring-bearer his only chance, frail though it be.
‘As Aragorn has begun, so we must go on. We must
push Sauron to his last throw. We must call out his hidden
strength, so that he shall empty his land. We must march out
to meet him at once. We must make ourselves the bait, though
his jaws should close on us. He will take that bait, in hope
and in greed, for he will think that in such rashness he sees