return

1044 the return of the king
‘Unless he has spoken words to you as his friend that we
have not heard,’ said Éomer, ‘none now in the land of the
living can tell his purpose.’
‘Greatly changed he seemed to me since I saw him first in
the king’s house,’ said Éowyn: ‘grimmer, older. Fey I thought
him, and like one whom the Dead call.’
‘Maybe he was called,’ said Théoden; ‘and my heart tells
me that I shall not see him again. Yet he is a kingly man of
high destiny. And take comfort in this, daughter, since comfort
you seem to need in your grief for this guest. It is said
that when the Eorlingas came out of the North and passed
at length up the Snowbourn, seeking strong places of refuge
in time of need, Brego and his son Baldor climbed the Stair
of the Hold and so came before the Door. On the threshold
sat an old man, aged beyond guess of years; tall and kingly
he had been, but now he was withered as an old stone. Indeed
for stone they took him, for he moved not, and he said no
word, until they sought to pass him by and enter. And then
a voice came out of him, as it were out of the ground, and to
their amaze it spoke in the western tongue: The way is shut.
‘Then they halted and looked at him and saw that he lived
still; but he did not look at them. The way is shut, his voice
said again. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead
keep it, until the time comes. The way is shut.
‘And when will that time be? said Baldor. But no answer did
he ever get. For the old man died in that hour and fell upon
his face; and no other tidings of the ancient dwellers in the
mountains have our folk ever learned. Yet maybe at last the
time foretold has come, and Aragorn may pass.’
‘But how shall a man discover whether that time be come
or no, save by daring the Door?’ said Éomer. ‘And that way
I would not go though all the hosts of Mordor stood before
me, and I were alone and had no other refuge. Alas that a
fey mood should fall on a man so greathearted in this hour
of need! Are there not evil things enough abroad without
seeking them under the earth? War is at hand.’
He paused, for at that moment there was a noise outside,