return

1152 the return of the king
the pride of the new Ringlord: and he will say: ‘‘So! he pushes
out his neck too soon and too far. Let him come on, and
behold I will have him in a trap from which he cannot escape.
There I will crush him, and what he has taken in his insolence
shall be mine again for ever.’’
‘We must walk open-eyed into that trap, with courage, but
small hope for ourselves. For, my lords, it may well prove
that we ourselves shall perish utterly in a black battle far from
the living lands; so that even if Barad-dûr be thrown down,
we shall not live to see a new age. But this, I deem, is our
duty. And better so than to perish nonetheless – as we surely
shall, if we sit here – and know as we die that no new age
shall be.’
They were silent for a while. At length Aragorn spoke. ‘As
I have begun, so I will go on. We come now to the very brink,
where hope and despair are akin. To waver is to fall. Let
none now reject the counsels of Gandalf, whose long labours
against Sauron come at last to their test. But for him all would
long ago have been lost. Nonetheless I do not yet claim to
command any man. Let others choose as they will.’
Then said Elrohir: ‘From the North we came with this
purpose, and from Elrond our father we brought this very
counsel. We will not turn back.’
‘As for myself,’ said Éomer, ‘I have little knowledge of
these deep matters; but I need it not. This I know, and it is
enough, that as my friend Aragorn succoured me and my
people, so I will aid him when he calls. I will go.’
‘As for me,’ said Imrahil, ‘the Lord Aragorn I hold to be
my liege-lord, whether he claim it or no. His wish is to me a
command. I will go also. Yet for a while I stand in the place
of the Steward of Gondor, and it is mine to think first of its
people. To prudence some heed must still be given. For we
must prepare against all chances, good as well as evil. Now,
it may be that we shall triumph, and while there is any hope
of this, Gondor must be protected. I would not have us return
with victory to a City in ruins and a land ravaged behind us.