SPC - 'Inspired by Literature' - #1

'Hold it up!' said Gandalf. 'And look closely!'

As Frodo did so, he now saw fine lines, finer than the finest pen-strokes, running along the ring, outside and inside: lines of fire that seemed to form the letters of a flowing script. They shone brightly, and yet remote, as if out of a great depth.

'I cannot read the fiery letters.' said Frodo in a quavering voice.

'No,' said Galdalf, 'but I can. The letters are Elvish, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here. But this in the Common Tongue is what is said, close enough:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

It is only two lines of a verse long known in Elven-lore:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.'

He paused and then said slowly in a deep voice: 'This is the Master-ring, the One Ring to rule them all. This is the One Ring that he lost many ages ago to the great weakening of his power. He greatly desires it – but he must not get it.'

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The challenge theme at Self Portrait Challenge for the month of August is "Inspired by Literature."


“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”
--Oscar Wilde

This is my beat up paperback of The Lord of the Rings saga. I read LOTR several times surrounding the release of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring and subsequent LOTR films The Two Towers and The Return of the King.


I am currently re-reading The Hobbit.