Signs and Tokens

In “A Knife in the Dark” and “Flight to the Ford,” the messages and marks left by the various characters are an important part of the story.  Strider finds an elf-stone on a bridge that gives him hope that the way may be safe, even though he cannot tell “Whether it was set there, or let fall by chance.”  The markings left on a stone on Weathertop are also ambiguous, but Strider thinks “It might be a sign left by Gandalf…”  Frodo says, “I wish we could feel sure that he made the marks, whatever they may mean… It would be a great comfort to know that he was on the way, in front of us or behind us.”  More ominously, the wound Frodo receives from “the pale king,” is a kind of symbolic presence.  Sam observes, “There’s nothing to be seen but a cold white mark on his shoulder.”  In the case of this wound, though, the flesh remembers the evil that touched it.  Gandalf leaves a message for the Ringwraiths, too, when the river floods and stops their assault on Frodo.  The white cavalry that appeared within the water were just a token gesture, a symbolic flourish by which the wizard declared to his friends and foes: “I am here!”

Signs, tokens, messages, symbols, gestures, codes… they are the means by which we communicate with one another.  They are ways that, for good or for ill, we tell one another “I have been here,” or “I am here, in spirit.”  Let us hope that we leave more guiding jewels than haunted wounds, and that we see, with clear eyes, the messages we leave for one another – no matter how the grim the wilderness through which we travel.

 

 

Image: "Gandalf" in the Viking Alphabet

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/write-your-name-in-runes.html