John Noble: Denethor
Photos
Quotes
-
Denethor : Can you sing, Master Hobbit?
Pippin : Well... yes. At least, well enough for my own people. But we have no songs for great halls and... evil times.
Denethor : And why should your songs be unfit for my hall? Come, sing me a song.
[pause]
Pippin : [sings] Home is behind, the world ahead... And there are many paths to tread. Through shadow, to the edge of night, until the stars are all alight... Mist and shadow, cloud and shade, all shall fade... all... shall... fade...
-
Pippin : [kneeling] I offer you my service, such as it is, in payment of this debt.
Denethor : This is my first command to you. How did you escape, and my son did not, so mighty a man as he was?
Pippin : The mightiest man may be slain by one arrow... and Boromir was pierced by many.
Gandalf : Get up. My Lord, there will be a time to greive for Boromir, but it is not now. War is coming. The enemy is on your doorstep. As steward, you are charged with the defense of this city. Where are Gondor's armies? You still have friends. You are not alone in this fight. Send word to Theoden of Rohan. Light the Beacons.
-
Denethor : Is there a captain here who still has the courage to do his lord's will?
Faramir : You wish now that our places had been exchanged... that I had died and Boromir had lived.
Denethor : Yes.
[whispering]
Denethor : I wish that.
Faramir : Since you are robbed of Boromir... I will do what I can in his stead.
[Bows and turns to leave]
Faramir : If I should return, think better of me, Father.
Denethor : That will depend on the manner of your return.
-
Denethor : You think you are wise, Mithrandir. Yet for all your subtleties, you have not wisdom. Do you think the eyes of the White Tower are blind? I have seen more than you know. With your left hand you would use me as a shield against Mordor, and with your right you would seek to supplant me. I know who rides with Theoden of Rohan. Oh, yes. Word has reached my ears of this Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and I tell you now, I will not bow to this Ranger from the North, last of a ragged house long bereft of lordship!
-
Pippin : Here do I swear fealty and service to Gondor. In peace or war. In living or dying. F... f... from this hour henceforth, until my lord release me... or death take me.
Denethor : And I shall not forget it. Nor fail to reward that which is given. Fealty with love, valor with honor, disloyalty with vengeance.
-
Denethor : Why do the fools fly? Better to die sooner than late. For die we must.
-
Denethor : [to Faramir, about his loyalty] Ever you desire to appear lordly and gracious as a king of old. Boromir would have remembered his father's need. He would have brought me a kingly gift.
Faramir : Boromir would not have brought the Ring. He would have stretched out his hand to this thing, and taking it, he would have fallen.
Denethor : You know nothing of this matter!
Faramir : He would have kept it for his own! And when he returned, you would not have known your son.
Denethor : [jumping up angrily] Boromir was loyal to me! Not some wizard's pupil!
[Denethor cries and falls back into his chair; Faramir approaches him]
Faramir : Father?
[Denethor looks over Faramir's shoulder and smiles]
Denethor : My son!
[an image of Boromir appears behind Faramir. Boromir smiles and then the image fades. Denethor is left looking at Faramir. His mood shifts back to anger]
Denethor : Leave me!
[Faramir hesitates and departs]
-
Denethor : No tomb for Denethor and Faramir. No long, slow sleep of death embalmed. We shall burn, like the heathen kings of old. Bring wood and oil.
-
Denethor : I am the servant of the house of Anarion. Thus I have walked... thus now I will asleep.
-
Denethor : The house of his spirit crumbles.
Denethor : [holds Faramirs head] He is burning. Already burning.
Denethor : [Pippin walks into the room to find the now-insane Denethor preparing to burn Faramir and himself alive on a funeral pyre] He's not dead.
[shrieks in alarm]
Pippin : HE'S NOT DEAD!
[Pippin bolts forward and starts to frantically pull the bundle of sticks away from the pyre]
Pippin : [Denethor drags Pippin away along the corridor, screaming] NO! NO! HE'S NOT DEAD!
Denethor : Farewell Peregrin son of Paladin.
Pippin : NO! NO! NO!
Denethor : I release you from my service.
[throws him out of the door]
Denethor : Go now and die and what way seems best to you.
[Denethor closes the door and Pippin looks desperate From inside he shouts to his soldiers]
Denethor : Pour oil on the wood!
-
Denethor : [about to burn himself along with Faramir who is unconscious] Set a fire in our flesh.
Gandalf : [the torch was about to reach the pyre until Shadowfax, Pippin and Gandalf barge in the room] Stay this madness!
Denethor : [grabs the torch and prepares to light the pyre] You may triumph on the field of battle for a day, but against the power that is risen in the East, there is no victory!
[throws the torch on the pyre Gandalf knocks Denethor off of the pyre and Pippin pulls out Faramir out of the flame]
Denethor : NO! You will not take my son from me!
[Shadowfax rears and kicks him into the pyre. Faramir wakes from unconsciousness; relieved]
Denethor : Faramir.
[he realizes too late that he is burning and runs to the pinnacle, screaming all the way]
Gandalf : So passes Denethor, son of Ecthelion.
[Denethor plunges to his death]
