100_6753-1

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter by J. R. R. Tolkien

This is Danielle’s tattoo:

I began reading the Lord of the Rings at the age of 9 and while, at that age, it took me quite a while to finish the books, I fell in love with Middle Earth. Since then it’s been a yearly tradition to set some time out for myself and read the books to immerse myself in a world that I love so much. My attraction to the quote, while based largely on my love for Tolkien, is also based on the significance of the words to my own life. For many years of my life, especially as a teenager, there was nowhere that I felt I belonged. It wasn’t until I got older that I didn’t /have/ to belong anywhere, that I could just /be/. I’m not lost, I’m just wandering.

Tags: , ,
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (66 votes, average: 3.95 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

This tattoo was submitted by Tirra.

wanderlost

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

- All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter by J. R. R. Tolkien

This poem was written for The Lord of the Rings and appears twice in The Fellowship of the Ring.  In Peter Jackson’s film adaptation, it appears in Return of the King.

Tags: , ,
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (47 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

  • Welcome to Contrariwise

    This is a website about literary tattoos. That is, tattoos based on books, poems, lyrics, and many other literary sources.

    My email address is jen@contrariwise.org, so send your comments / suggestions / praise / hate that way. If you want to submit your own tattoo (please do!), see this page.