March 25, 2011 ~ 'Eagles to Ithilien', plus widescreen caps.

[mechtild]

~*~

I couldn't celebrate the anniversary of the fall of Barad-dûr without a positive end note. Here is the last of the three anniversary posts. In this poem, jan-u-wine imagines Frodo, semi-conscious, literally transported, as he and Sam are rescued by the eagles, carried to the safe haven of Ithilien.

To set off the piece, I made some new screencaps of Frodo being borne by the eagles. These were made from the standard widescreen edition of ROTK EE. Thank you, Blossom, for advice on better tweaking screencaps.


~*~



The book scene, from The Field of Cormallen:

And so it was that Gwaihir saw them with his keen far-seeing eyes, as down the wild wind he came, and daring the great peril of the skies he circled in the air: two small dark figures, forlorn, hand in hand upon a little hill, while the world shook under them, and gasped, and rivers of fire drew near. And even as he espied them and came swooping down, he saw them fall, worn out, or choked with fumes and heat, or stricken down by despair at last, hiding their eyes from death.

Side by side they lay; and down swept Gwaihir, and down came Landroval and Meneldor the swift; and in a dream, not knowing what fate had befallen them, the wanderers were lifted up and borne far away out of the darkness and the fire.

Eagles to Ithilien


The Eagles.

They are coming.

My spirit
flees
from dark ruin
and bitter
pain...

Pain.....

loss....



My loss....

his
loss....


They
are lost.


The World is
empty,
changed...


lost,

forever......



The Eagles......

softly,
on winds
from another spring,

the sweet
voice
of
bells on Elven
harness
finds me....

Far-off,
as one who dremes,
I see the
small blue
eye
of
the Sea.

An
Age
of starless night
takes me.......

Voices.....
tears....

Laughter.

How long
since
I have heard
aught,
felt
aught
but the evil
which
contained me?


Behind the curtain
of my eyes,
gentle Spring
smiles.


Am I.....

Are

we

truly here?


I cannot
look away
from the sight
of your living
face.


There are no
words
I can thank you
with,

and so,
simply,
I kneel
by you,
as you by me,
on many a sleepless,
thankless,
starless
night,

watching,
content,
your hand in mine,
until you wake
at last.


This time,
it shall be
my
happy task
to tell you:
we are safe....
we
are
Home.

Previous Frodo entries:

~ March 25 Anniversary: "Naked in the Dark", with painting by Tim Kirk.

~ March 23: "Report From the Road", with painting by Anke Eissmann.

Other Links:

~ All entries featuring jan-u-wine's poems.

Comments

[shirebound]

Behind the curtain
of my eyes,
gentle Spring
smiles.

How lovely. Thank you for this joyous, hopeful post today.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

I was just saying to Mews, we thought it wouldn't be faithful to March 25 to leave readers with "Naked in the Dark", which is set at the nadir of Sam and Frodo's experience. Let the eagles come!

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

thank you! so glad you enjoyed.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Oh, I needed this, after the darkness of the last entry. The ending to that one is almost unbearable, without the hope of this one. Those screencaps are magnificent. They look like paintings.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

The whole film looks like paintings! But I love these caps, too. Heck, I love this scene. With the music under it, bearing it up to the heights of the sublime, it may be my favourite scene -- or among them -- in the whole trilogy.

Yes, Jan and I thought "Naked in the Dark" needed something to come after it, to show the dark didn't conquer.

[rakshi.livejournal.com]

What a tender and lovely tribute. The only thing that might rival the poem for sheer beauty is.... that face.

Thank you so much.. both of you!

Love..

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

You are welcome, Rakshi. Sincerely, "it was my pleasure".

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

what a lovely thing to say, Rakshi. But my poem *must* defer to that fairer-than-most face. I'll happily take a "second place to the face" in this case.

Wow, i'm rhyming like a daemon today.....have to check that....

[addie71.livejournal.com]

So lovely, the pics and the poem so full of hope.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Thanks for stopping, Addie. I love this scene so much, book and film. And Jan takes me inside them.

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

thank you, Addie! (and thank you, too, Mech. Always so kind!)

[primula-baggins.livejournal.com]

I found this scene extremely hard to watch for a long time, I'm not sure why. But I love it now. I especially like how it fades out and then we see Frodo awake in Minis Tirith, his head in nearly the same position as it was when he closed his eyes as the eagle carried him.

Thank you for the poem and screencaps.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

You are welcome, Primula. Me, I adored this scene from the first viewing. And I didn't even like the film at first viewing (it took three trips to the theatre). It's the visuals, yes, but more, for me, it's the score Shore wrote to go under them. The eagles transport Frodo, the music transports me. Jan-u-wine writes wonderful music for it, too, but word-music. :)

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

To be considered in the same *room* with Mr. Shore is a dreme unto itself. thank you, always.

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

I found this scene extremely hard to watch for a long time

How interesting! Someday you will figure it out and write to it, I hope. Meanwhile, I am glad that you liked the caps and poem. Thank yoU!

[mole-caz.livejournal.com]

I always find this scene very moving. You can see the release of pain and fear in Frodo's face so well. The music of course helps but the photography is breathtaking in its simplicity and elegance. One slight aside is that Elijah's neck appears unsupported and it hurts mine just watching him!

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

It really is a beautifully, if not perfectly, conceived cinematic scene, Moley. Yes, his neck does look unsupported. It makes sense, though. Maybe they had him on a little flat platform that only went up to his shoulders while they shot it over blue screen. But he was young, and such a mighty neck! (Suitable for Ring-bearing.) :)

[mole-caz.livejournal.com]

I wondered about a support of some kind but his head goes right back so maybe he did let it drop - ouch!

[antane.livejournal.com]

I love the joy and love in this at the end as Frodo kneels in loving, reverent tribute to his friend of friends and waits for him to wake to give him good news at last. I can just see Sam waking and saying, "What in the Four Farthings are you kneeling for, Mr. Frodo?" and Frodo laughing so hard and joyfully and Sam's heart soaring to hear that and to join in and the huge hug that would have followed. "I'm kneeling for you, you silly hobbit!" And Sam just not being able to figure out why in the world Frodo would do that. Thank you so much for this tribute to this unstoppable pair. May their love last forever!

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Antane. You are thoughtful and articulate as usual. Sorry I am late to reply; I have been away.

[not-alone.livejournal.com]

I'm rather late in coming to your wonderful anniversary posts, Mechtild although I did *praise them with great praise* on the day!!

As always, you and Jan have given us powerful and moving images and words to celebrate this special time, and I loved the positive tone of the final post:

"This time,
it shall be
my
happy task
to tell you:
we are safe....
we
are
Home."

Wonderful! Many thanks to both of you:)

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Hi, Paulie, I went out of town a couple of days. Thanks so much for stopping in. Hail, the heroes!

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

thank *you*, Paulie, and I hope you are keeping well!

[eandme.livejournal.com]

loved the previous entries, dark though they were. But that was their journey.

This entry somehow completes the celebration and transports one away from the darkness and into the light of the Third Age, and the light from the friendship that suffered all and finally outlived the One Ring... Very beautiful. Infact perfect. Thanks to all who contributed, I adore these posts.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Eandme, I'm so glad the series struck the right notes for you. I loved it, too. :)

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

so glad you enjoyed, eandme!

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Waiting on Sam is the most joyful thing for Frodo to be doing--Jan found it--the up note to end on for this day. It's still suffused with sorrow though because we know Frodo won't be able to stay in that space as long as he's on this side of the Sundering Seas. He can't lose himself in Sam as the counter balance to having lost himself to Sauron--he has to find himself again. But for this moment, Sam can be his Spring King.

I never saw before that the moment Frodo closes his eyes, is the moment another eagle is directly under him, as though cushioning Frodo's head if that eagle weren't so far below. And his face falls to peace as the tips of the departing wing brush under his hair. Like the commenter above, his unsupported neck pains me to look at, but I bet they're deliberately going for that on-the-cross frailty to elicit our pity with that. The range of expressions he makes in your stills! The fourth looks so fey--totally focused and unfocused at once.

Thank you both! Happy New Year!

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

He can't lose himself in Sam as the counter balance to having lost himself to Sauron--he has to find himself again.

This is very true. Like every one of us, Frodo needs to find himself himself, and not just relinquish it to someone else, which, while it will console him for a while, is merely putting it off. I love jan-u-wine's Tol Eressea reunion verse narrative, "Across So Wide a Sea" for many reasons, it is so well-written. But one is because it is implied that Frodo, in the intervening years, has "found himself", his smallness and greatess, and now has come to the kind of inner peace with himself to truly be able to welcome Sam to a renewed, even greater friendship, because Frodo is now whole enough to participate in a such a friendship.

As to the caps, Jan commented that she has always loved that scene, the close-ups, because of the way the wings of the eagles move behind Frodo's head, suggesting the wings of angels. I thought that about right, along with the psalmist's passages about the love of God carrying one, like being borne one up on eagle's wings. If God's sustaining love is like being borne on eagle's, angel's wings are even more graphic a representation. I wouldn't be surprised if the filmmaker's hoped to make that connection, implicitly, for viewers.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I was awfully pleased with the way they came out. :)

[este-tangletoes.livejournal.com]

I have enjoyed all of the anniversary posts, the beautiful moving poems, illustrations and caps.

...
the sweet
voice
of
bells on Elven
harness
finds me....

Now I long even more for the spring. Thank you, Mechling and Jan-u-wine.

--Estë

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Oh, Estë, you are welcome. *smooch*

[jan-u-wine.livejournal.com]

always a wonderful pleasure, dear Este! I hope Spring has come to you at last.

*Sigh*...

[diem-kieu94.livejournal.com]

Beautiful as usual, Metchild. From now on, I'll have to mark the fall of Barad-dur on my calendar!

Re: *Sigh*...

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

We certainly always mark it on ours! :)