The Departure from Lothlórien

The Departure from Lothlórien is the farewell scene in which the Fellowship of the Ring leaves the Elven realm of Lothlórien by boat, receiving parting gifts from Galadriel and Celeborn, and hearing Galadriel's lament as they sail away. It marks the definitive end of the Company's time in the protected Elven land and their re-entry into the perilous world of the Quest, carrying with them the Lady's blessings and the memory of her song.

The Swan-Ship and the Last Farewell

As the Company prepared to leave, they were arranged into three boats: Aragorn, Frodo, and Samwise in one; Boromir, Meriadoc, and Peregrin in another; and Legolas and Gimli, who had become fast friends, in the third, which carried most of the goods and packs. The boats were light-built, crafty, and unlike the boats of other folk, and the Elves warned that they would not sink, lade them as one would, but were wayward if mishandled. Aragorn led them on a trial up the Silverlode, where the current was swift and the sunlight glittered on the water, dazzling Samwise's eyes as he sat in the bows clutching the sides and looking back wistfully to the shore. As they passed beyond the green field of the Tongue, the trees drew down to the river's brink, and golden leaves tossed and floated on the rippling stream, while the air was bright and still except for the high distant song of larks.

Turning a sharp bend in the river, they saw sailing proudly down the stream towards them a swan of great size, its beak shining like burnished gold and its eyes glinting like jet set in yellow stones, its huge white wings half lifted. They perceived that it was a ship, wrought and carved with elven-skill in the likeness of a bird, steered by two elves clad in white with black paddles. In the midst of the vessel sat Celeborn, and behind him stood Galadriel, tall and white, with a circlet of golden flowers in her hair and a harp in her hand, singing a sad and sweet song of leaves of gold, of wind, and of the golden Tree beyond the Sun and Moon in Eldamar. Aragorn stayed his boat as the Swan-ship drew alongside, and the Lady ended her song and greeted them, saying they had come to bid their last farewell and to speed them with blessings from their land.

The Cup of Parting and the Gifts of the Galadhrim

Galadriel then spoke of drinking the cup of farewell, bidding Celeborn to drink and not let his heart be sad, though night must follow noon and their evening drew nigh. She brought the cup to each of the Company, bidding them drink and farewell, and when they had drunk she commanded them to sit again on the grass, with chairs set for her and for Celeborn while her maidens stood silent about her. She declared that they had drunk the cup of parting and the shadows fell between them, but before they went she had brought in her ship gifts which the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim offered them in memory of Lothlórien.

To Aragorn she gave a sheath made to fit his sword, overlaid with a tracery of flowers and leaves wrought of silver and gold, with elven-runes formed of many gems bearing the name Andúril and the lineage of the sword. She promised that the blade drawn from that sheath would not be stained or broken even in defeat, and asked if there was aught else he desired at their parting, for darkness would flow between them and they might not meet again unless far hence upon a road that had no returning. To Gimli she gave three golden hairs, cut from one of her long tresses, saying that his hands should flow with gold and yet over him gold should have no dominion, if hope should not fail. To Frodo, the Ring-bearer, she gave a small crystal phial in which was caught the light of Eärendil's star, set amid the waters of her fountain, which would shine still brighter when night was about him, a light to him in dark places when all other lights went out, and she bade him remember Galadriel and her Mirror. Frodo took the phial, and for a moment as it shone between them he saw her again standing like a queen, great and beautiful, but no longer terrible, and he bowed, finding no words to say.

The Slipping Away of Lórien

After the gifts were given, Celeborn led them back to the hythe, where a yellow noon lay on the green land of the Tongue and the water glittered with silver. The Company took their places in the boats as before, and the Elves of Lórien, crying farewell, thrust them out into the flowing stream with long grey poles, the rippling waters bearing them slowly away. The travellers sat still without moving or speaking, and on the green bank near the point of the Tongue the Lady Galadriel stood alone and silent. As they passed her they turned and watched her slowly floating away from them, for so it seemed: Lórien was slipping backward, like a bright ship masted with enchanted trees, sailing on to forgotten shores, while they sat helpless upon the margin of the grey and leafless world.

As the Silverlode passed out into the currents of the Great River, their boats turned and sped southward, and the white form of the Lady became small and distant, shining like a window of glass upon a far hill in the westering sun, or as a remote lake seen from a mountain, a crystal fallen in the lap of the land. It seemed to Frodo that she lifted her arms in a final farewell, and far but piercing-clear on the following wind came the sound of her voice singing, now in the ancient tongue of the Elves beyond the Sea, which he did not understand, though fair was the music, but it did not comfort him. Yet as is the way of Elvish words, they remained graven in his memory, and long afterwards he interpreted them as well as he could, the language of Elven-song speaking of things little known on Middle-earth. Her lament, beginning with the words that gold falls like leaves in the wind and the years have passed like swift draughts of sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West, told of Varda, the Queen of the Stars, who from Mount Everwhite had uplifted her hands like clouds, drowning all paths in shadow and covering the jewels of Calacirya with mist, so that Valimar was lost to those from the East, and ended with the farewell, Namárië, and the hope that maybe even the hearer should find Valimar.

The End of the Elven Refuge

Suddenly the River swept round a bend, the banks rose upon either side, and the light of Lórien was hidden, and to that fair land Frodo never came again. The travellers turned their faces to the journey, the sun before them and their eyes dazzled, for all were filled with tears, and Gimli wept openly. The departure thus closed the period of safety and refreshment that Lothlórien had offered the Company, sending them southward toward the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen and the perils of the Quest, while the memory of Galadriel's song and her gifts, especially the phial of light given to Frodo, would accompany them into the darkness ahead.