The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Bernard Hill: Theoden

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Theoden : Eomer. Take your Èored down the left flank. Gamling, follow the King's banner down the center. Grimbold, take your company right, after you pass the wall. Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises!

  Eowyn : [to Merry]  Whatever happens, stay with me. I'll look after you.

  [the King rides past his men, hitting their spears with his sword as he goes] 

  Theoden : Ride now!... Ride now!... Ride! Ride to ruin and the world's ending!

  [He stops and faces Sauron's army] 

  Theoden : Death!

  Rohirrim : [echoing]  Death!

  Theoden : Death!

  Rohirrim : [echoing]  Death!

  Theoden : DEATH!

  Eowyn , Merry : Death!

  Theoden : Forth, Eorlingas!

• Aragorn : The Beacons of Minas Tirith! The Beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid.

  Theoden : And Rohan will answer. Muster the Rohirrim. Assemble the army at Dunharrow. As many men as can be found. You have two days. On the third, we ride for Gondor... and war.

• Theoden : I know your face... Eowyn. My eyes darken.

  Eowyn : No. No. I'm going to save you.

  Theoden : You already did... Eowyn. My body is broken. You have to let me go. I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed. Eowyn...

  [dies] 

• Gamling : He leaves because there is no hope.

  Theoden : He leaves because he must.

  Gamling : Too few have come. We cannot defeat the armies of Mordor.

  Theoden : No. We cannot. But we will meet them in battle nonetheless.

• Saruman : You have fought many wars and slain many men, Theoden King, and made peace afterwards. Can we not take council as we once did, my old friend? Can we not have peace?

  Theoden : We shall have peace... We shall have peace, when you answer for the burning of the Westfold, and the children that lie dead there! We shall have peace, when the lives of the soldiers whose bodies were hewn even as they died against the gates of the Hornberg, are avenged! When you hang from a gibbit for the sport of your own crows...! We shall have peace.

  Saruman : Gibbits and crows! DOTARD! What do *you* want, Gandalf Greyhame? Let me guess. The key of Orthanc? Or perhaps the keys of Barad-Dur itself? Along with the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards?

• Theoden : I have left instruction. The people are to follow your rule in my stead. Take up my seat in the Golden Hall. Long may you defend Edoras if the battle goes ill.

  Eowyn : What other duty would you have me do?

  Theoden : Duty? No... I would have you smile again, not grieve for those whose time has come. You shall live to see these days renewed. No more despair.

• Theoden : I take my leave.

  Aragorn : My Lord Elrond.

  Elrond : I come on behalf of one whom I love. Arwen is dying. She will not long survive the evil that now spreads from Mordor. The light of the Evenstar is failing. As Sauron's power grows, her strength wanes. Arwen's life is now tied to the fate of the Ring. The Shadow is upon us, Aragorn. The end has come.

  Aragorn : It will not be our end but his.

• Theoden : Tonight we remember those who gave their blood to defend this country. Hail the victorious dead.

  All : Hail!

• [Eowyn hands Aragorn a goblet, he drinks and moves away] 

  Theoden : [to Eowyn]  I am happy for you. He is an honorable man.

  Eowyn : You are both honorable men.

  Theoden : It was not Theoden of Rohan who led our people to victory.

• Merry : Excuse me? I have a sword. Please accept it.

  [kneels] 

  Merry : I offer you my service, Theoden King.

  Theoden : [raises him to his feet]  And gladly, I accept it. You shall be Meriadoc, Esquire of Rohan.

• Gandalf : If the beacons of Gondor are lit, Rohan must be ready for war.

  Theoden : Tell me, why should we ride to the aid of those who did not come to ours? What do we owe Gondor?

• Theoden : Six thousand spears. Less than half of what I'd hoped for.

  Aragorn : Six thousand will not be enough to break the lines of Mordor.

  Theoden : More will come.

  Aragorn : Every hour lost hastens Gondor's defeat. We have 'til dawn, then we must ride.

• Theoden : Grimbold, how many?

  Grimbold : I bring 500 from the Westfold, my lord.

  Gamling : We have 300 more from Fenmarch, Theoden King.

  Theoden : Where are the riders of Snowbourn?

  Gamling : None have come, my lord.

• Theoden : Grima, you are not always as you are, now. You were once a man of Rohan. Come down.

  Saruman : A man of Rohan? What is the house of Rohan, but a thatched barn where Brigands drink in the reek and the rats roll on the floor with the dogs? Victory at Helm's Deep does not belong to you Théoden, Horse Master. You are a Lesser Son of Greater Sires.