(Written in 2011 for B2MeM's "Passport" Challenge, in which we were given a location for each day's prompt. Orthanc was the location for March 26.)
March 26 Challenge:
"Pride is still aiming at the best houses: Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; aspiring to be angels men rebel."
-Alexander Pope
How would a character not allowed to express his or her thoughts, creativity, or opinion act out? Capture this in a story, poem or piece of art.
"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." (FotR, Book II, Chapter II, "The Council of Elrond") (A double inverted dribble; the POV should be obvious.)
The Path of Wisdom
Power to order and do all things as I will,
To lay my wisdom before all who will see
I alone can lead this world to safety;
I alone bring order out of chaos,
and so I hide my thoughts,
and I bide my time.
I will be thanked
some day soon.
But not
yet.
Yet
I see
it upon me:
the Dark Lord's eye
so I bide my time.
My thoughts are my own.
I will make my own wisdom.
Fools hope the dark can be defied
by light, by hope and by courage alone.
But we need to use the dark's own weapon,
power to order and do all things as I will.
(Author's Note: Perhaps part of why Saruman became so destructive was because of his lengthy efforts to dissemble and hide his thoughts from Sauron.)