Long live the Halflings! Praise them with great praise!

Long live the Halflings! Praise them with great praise! is the cry that rings out across the Field of Cormallen when Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, having just been rescued and restored, are brought before the gathered host of the West. It is the first public acknowledgment of what the two hobbits have done, the moment when their long, secret, and nearly fatal journey to destroy the One Ring becomes a matter of open celebration. The shout, repeated in many voices and in many tongues, marks the transition of Frodo and Sam from weary, wounded travelers into the celebrated Ring-bearers of legend, and it stands as the emotional climax of their personal story within the larger victory over Sauron.

The Setting and the Arrival

The acclamation comes at a moment of deliberate ceremony. Frodo and Sam, having been washed, clad, and given a light meal, follow Gandalf out of the beech-grove where they had lain. They step onto a long green lawn glowing in sunshine, bordered by stately dark-leaved trees laden with scarlet blossom, with the sound of falling water behind them and a stream running down between flowering banks. As they reach the opening in the wood, they are surprised to see knights in bright mail and tall guards in silver and black standing there, who greet them with honour and bow before them. A long trumpet is blown, and they proceed through the aisle of trees beside the singing stream. They come to a wide green land, beyond which lies a broad river in a silver haze, out of which rises a long wooded isle, with many ships lying by its shores. On the field where they stand, a great host is drawn up in ranks and companies, glittering in the sun. As the hobbits approach, swords are unsheathed, spears are shaken, and horns and trumpets sing.

The Acclamation and Its Many Tongues

The cry itself is polyglot, reflecting the breadth of the alliance that has gathered. Men cry with many voices and in many tongues, and the shout is given in the Common Speech, in Elvish, and in other forms. The words "Long live the Halflings! Praise them with great praise!" are joined by the Elvish "Cuio i Pheriain anann! Aglar'ni Pheriannath!" and further praise: "Praise them with great praise, Frodo and Samwise! Daur a Berhael, Conin en Annûn! Eglerio!" The repeated "Eglerio!" and "A laita te, laita te! Andave laituvalmet!" and "Cormacolindor, a laita tárienna!" all carry the same burden of honor. The hobbits are named directly, and the title "Ring-bearers" is proclaimed, making explicit to the entire host what their mission had been. The red blood blushes in their faces and their eyes shine with wonder as they go forward, overwhelmed by the scale of the recognition.

The Three High-seats and the Banners

Amidst the clamorous host are set three high-seats built of green turves. Behind the seat upon the right floats, white on green, a great horse running free, the emblem of Rohan. Upon the left is a banner, silver upon blue, a ship swan-prowed faring on the sea, the sign of the Elves or of the sea-kingdom. But behind the highest throne in the midst of all, a great standard is spread in the breeze, and there a white tree flowers upon a sable field beneath a shining crown and seven glittering stars, the ancient emblem of Gondor and of the returned King. On the throne sits a mail-clad man, a great sword laid across his knees, wearing no helm. As Frodo and Sam draw near, he rises, and they know him: Aragorn, changed as he is, so high and glad of face, kingly, lord of Men, dark-haired with eyes of grey. The acclamation thus culminates in the recognition of the King, who has awaited this moment to honor the hobbits before all his assembled forces.

The Significance of the Praise

The shout is more than a celebration; it is a formal act of witness. The host of the West, having fought the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and marched to the Black Gate, now learns that the Ring is destroyed and that the two small figures before them are the ones who carried it to Mount Doom. The praise is a performative act, conferring honor and renown upon Frodo and Sam in the presence of the armies of Gondor and Rohan. It also fulfills the promise of the quest: the hobbits, who left the Shire in secret and suffered wounds that would never fully heal, are here publicly acclaimed as the saviors of the free peoples. The moment stands in stark contrast to the darkness of their journey, and it gives them, at least for this hour, the glory that their deeds have earned. The phrase "Praise them with great praise!" thus becomes the formal, public ratification of the private ordeal that Frodo and Sam endured, and it marks the high point of their recognition before the story turns toward their quieter, more painful return home.