Wednesday, February 21, 2007

the riddle of strider

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.


J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, p. 127.

The poem is included in a letter from Gandalf to Frodo, left at the inn in Bree. It serves to help Frodo identify Aragorn (Strider) as the true heir of Isildur.

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