"What ship will bear you back across so wide a sea?"

At the end of LOTR we get just one more additional glance into just what a jerk Saruman is, even before we learn more about what has been transpiring in the Shire.

In the chapter "Many Partings", the company comprised of the Hobbits, Gandalf, Galadriel, Celeborn, and Elrond came upon Saruman and Wormtongue on their way back to Rivendell.  Ever spiteful to the end, Saruman refused any aid or help from them, and instead seems to gloat over their fate.  It is an interesting passage or exchange, because it highlights the fact that even though we have a 'happy' ending in the LOTR, there is still much left undone, and the fact remains that the world is as broken as it was after the assault of Pharazon in the 2nd age.

Further, the Eldar are doomed to either leave Middle-earth, or fade away.  But, even in leaving, it is not ultimately to 'home' for many of them - it will still be in exile, or in some ways a kind of limbo.  In many ways their fate is made 'worse' with the destruction of Sauron, as the rings of power no longer have their power, or give them as much choice and freedom as they previously had.

It is a fate that Galadriel was almost certainly tempted to overturn in Lorien when she was offered the ring by Frodo.  Indeed, in her statement acknowledging her temptation she said:

For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold!  it was brought within my grasp.  The evil that was devised long ago works on in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls.  Would not that have been a noble deed to set to the credit of his Ring...?

After refusing the ring and overcoming the temptation, her statement that she would now 'diminish' as a result of her refusal seems to be a direct reference as to what would happen to both her and the other Elves as a result of the evil continuing to stand.  She will go to the 'west', but not all the way to where she would wish to go.  Eressea #1 will be their destination when she boards the gray ship with Gandalf, Frodo, and company, but it is to her home in Amar, in Tirion (our Jerusalem), that she really wishes to go.

There are two songs or poems associated with Galadriel that I will write out here.  The first is the song of Eldamar, sung by Galadriel as she appeared on her Swan Boat to say farewell to the Fellowship:

I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:
Of wind I sang, a wind there came and in the branches blew.
Beyond the Sun, beyond the Moon, the foam was on the Sea,
And by the strand of Ilmarin there grew a golden Tree.
Beneath the stars of Ever-eve in Eldamar it shone,
In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion.
There long the golden leaves have grown upon the branching years,
While here beyond the Sundering Seas now fall the Elven-tears.
O Lorien! The Winter comes, the bare and leafless Day;
The leaves are falling in the stream, the River flows away.
O Lorien! Too long I have dwelt upon this Hither Shore
And in a fading crown have twined the golden elanor.
But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?

The second is known as Galadriel's Lament, or Namarie, and was sung in Elvish by Galadriel as the Fellowship was sailing way.  It was said that Frodo couldn't understand the words, but Tolkien gives us the English translation right after. 

Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
The years have passed like swift draughts
of the sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West,
beneath the blue vaults of Varda
wherein the stars tremble in the song of her voice, holy and queenly.

Who now shall refill the cup for me?

For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars,
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds,
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country darkness
lies on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those from the East is Valimar!

Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar.
Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!

 

Galadriel, in short, misses her home.  She is homesick, but she sees no return now possible, almost certainly influenced by the fact that with the future destruction of Saruon's ring, perhaps one last remaining chance of going home will be gone.  

Coming now forward again to the end of the story, and the group coming upon Saruman, there is an interaction between Galadriel and Saruman, where Saruman will literally throw Galadriel's Lament, and her grief and homesickness, back in her face.  A sore loser if there ever was one, he will be sure to remind them that, based on everything they currently understand, there may not be any true 'winners' yet in the story.  

Here is the exchange - I am including most of it, because it is interesting, and it gives others another chance to see what type of Being Saruman is:

"Well Saruman!"  said Gandalf.  "Where are you going?"

"What is that to you?" he answered.  "Will you still order my goings, and you are not content with my ruin?"

"You know the answers," said Gandalf.  "no and no.  But in any case the time of my labours now draws to an end.  The King has taken on the burden.  If you had waited at Orthanc, you would have seen him, and he would have shown you wisdom and mercy."

"Then all the more reason to have left sooner," said Saruman; "for I desire neither of him.  Indeed if you wish for an answer to your first question, I am seeking a way out of his realm."

"Then once more you are going the wrong way," said Gandalf, "and I see no hope in your journey.  But will you scorn our help?  For we offer it to you."

"To me?" said Saruman.  "Nay, pray do not smile at me!  I prefer your frowns.  And as for the Lady here, I do not trust her:  she always hated me, and schemed for your part.  I do not doubt that she has brought you this way to have the pleasure of gloating over my poverty.  Had I been warned of your pursuit, I would have denied you the pleasure."

"Saruman," said Galadriel, "we have other errands and other cares that seem to us more urgent than hunting for you.  Say rather that you are overtaken by good fortune; for now you have a last chance."

"If it truly be the last, I am glad," said Saruman; "for I shall be spared the trouble of refusing it again.  All my hopes are ruined, but I would not share yours.  If you have any."

For a moment his eyes kindled.  "Go!" he said, "I did not spend long study on these matters for naught.  You have doomed yourselves, and you know it.  And it will afford me some comfort as I wander to think that you pulled down your own house when you destroyed mine.  And now, what ship will bear you back across so wide a sea?" he mocked.  "It will be a grey ship, and full of ghosts."  He laughed, but his voice was cracked and hideous.

So, like I said, a total jerk to the end, and it of course will get worse in the Shire.  I think of the description of the devil as one who wants others to be miserable like himself.  Seems to fit Saruman fairly well.

You will notice, probably, that Saruman takes Galadriel's grief and lament, and throws it right back in her face, using her exact words from her song of Eldamar in suggesting that there is now no way home for her.   He indicates that he has studied the matter out, and there doesn't seem to be any disagreement from the group that what he says is true.  As I have indicated in past posts, Saruman knows a great deal, and it seems that given everything that group collectively knows at that time, there is no good rebuttal to Saruman's point.  She will be able to go to Eressea, but no further, and even Eressea is not likely what is once was or used to be, nor its inhabitants what they once were either.

It is a depressing picture when you think about it a bit.  A bitter victory, where Sauron is defeated, but there is still no path to restoration and complete healing.

However, I view at least some of the story elements that I am exploring here as an answer to both Galadriel's wish, and to Saruman's mocking question.

The Sawtooth Stone was buried and unknown to them in at that stage, or as they played these characters.  Neither Galadriel and Saruman, despite all of his "long study", would have been aware of this potential solution - a redemption, as Jesus himself seems to indicate, that was prepared from the foundation, or creation, of the world itself, but kept hidden and buried beyond recall.

How that exactly happens, again I don't really have a clue.  It will seem to involve true stories, people passing through space, and the literal movement of planets to realign with each other.  If you can picture how all that comes together clearly, than you are more ahead of the game than I am.  I just think that is how it is going to happen, even if I can't quite picture how that actually works in practice.

In addition, I think Galadriel still holds out hope, even if she can't quite speak to its source.  She is not in despair, even if she can't counter Saruman's statements.  We get an inkling of this (or at least I do) in her charge to Aragorn, who she parted with before coming upon Saruman.  In her farewell she says to Aragorn:

Elfstone, through darkness you have come to your hope, and have now all your desire.  Use well the days!

 

It is my theory that part of the charge for Aragorn (John-Thingol-Elu) to use the days well is to accomplish some things that will be important for a day of future restoration.  Even though Galadriel might not see exactly what that might be, with her gift of sight I think she senses that there will be things that must be done in that age, or things will not be possible in the future.

In my story, of course, a partial answer or explanation to that charge and what needed to be done lies in the activity or actions in Ithilien.  Aragorn ensured that both Legolas and Gimli would honor their offer of help before he left them, and they assured him they would.  Ithilien is where they would come back to, joining Faramir and Eowyn in that land.

My guess is, as I have stated previously, that there is more to the story on what happened in Ithilien.  Both Eowyn and Faramir would have been working under the direction of Aragorn, and my current view of that dream scene I conveyed of the car (representing a stone) being given to Faramir and Eowyn was perhaps done at the bidding of Aragorn.  The Ithil Stone would have been recovered from Baradur, and the Anor Stone was pretty much useless (as Aragorn would tell Pippin).  Both Stones needed to be 'fixed' and a way provided for them to link or communicate with each other cleanly once again as part of the larger plan that also includes the Sawtooth Stone.  This then would indeed provide a way for many, including Galadriel, to cross 'so wide a sea' and finally come home.

I think all of this escaped Saruman's study, and quite frankly is one of the reasons he latched onto this as things started coming out in 2019 and 2020 with respect to this Stone (even before I understood what things potentially meant).  Maybe his interest lies in his own escape from this world, but perhaps it also lies in preventing the escape of others, so that they can remain with him in this kingdom he has set up for himself.  So long as the Good remains on this world and doesn't leave, he is somewhat protected and can do what he wants.  Once that is no longer the case, with everyone who will come gathered to safe and "Holy Places" away from this world, then I think the situation changes quite significantly for him and other evil doers, and their end draws pretty near at that time.