Symbolic and Mythic Expression
in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Purpose or Chance

3/15/09

"Our paths cross theirs seldom, by chance or purpose"

-- Gildor to Frodo (Fellowship, p. 94)

There is a supernatural providence in Middle-earth. Look at the words of Gildor the Elf to Frodo.

Gildor laid down that some things happen by chance, while other things happen by design. The lives of Elves and the lives of other Free Peoples of Middle-earth rarely intersected. But when their paths did cross, it was either "by chance or purpose" (Fellowship, p. 94).

The purpose of whom Gildor doesn't say.

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