"White"
A/N: I absolutely love the moment in the RotK movie just before Aragorn releases the Dead -- Gandalf walking over the battlefield, clad in purest white. I therefore decided some drabble was in order.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Darn.
'"White!" he sneered. "It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten, and the white light can be broken."
'"In which case it is no longer white," said I. "And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."'
-- Gandalf speaking of his encounter with Saruman, Chapter II, Book II, The Fellowship of the Ring
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The battle is done. Countless dead lie upon the Pelennor, brave men of Gondor and of Rohan side by side in death with Sauron's foul Orcs and corrupted beasts. The mighty Grond is stilled, and a light breeze lifts the edges of the fallen banners of kings and of the Enemy. I stand in the midst of it all, surrounded by the silent carnage.
In the midst of all this death, I wear white.
I am unstained; my robes are like snow, and my hands are not blackened by the blood of those I have slain. White is pure, and simple, and it is enough.
White does not claim to be more than it is. It is untainted by the darkness, fixed in the heavens, and upon the crests of the seas, and at rest on the peaks of the mountains.
Saruman, the poor fool, was terribly mistaken. White does not serve as a beginning. For in the beginning all was darkness before the World came to be. White is all-encompassing, containing everything and every hue within it, although this is not always plain to the eyes.
The battle is done, but this victory will be forgotten unless another battle is fought before the Morannon itself. I know what must be done, and I do not fear it. No matter what should become of me, I understand this: white was not my beginning, but as the White I shall either depart from this Middle-earth, or meet my end.
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