Hogwarts wizards who signed in to Middle-earth.

Chapter 124 The Brave Loyalty Curse

After hearing Dui's words, everyone fell silent.

Gandalf's expression was very serious.
"Duyle, this is a very serious accusation!"

"And the person being accused is the most prestigious white-robed wizard in Middle-earth and the leader of the White Council. Do you have evidence to prove that Saruman and Sauron are colluding?"

Although Elrond and Galadriel did not speak, their expressions were very serious.

They knew that Doir would not act without purpose, but they were unwilling to believe that Saruman would fall.

In their view, although Saruman is somewhat arrogant and stubborn, he has been the leader in fighting against the forces of darkness for thousands of years.

If they really plunge into darkness, it will be a huge blow to the side of justice.

Evidence? Dui certainly had it.

He raised his wand to his temple and slowly pulled out a silver thread of memory.

"Lady Galadriel, trouble!"

Galadriel nodded, understanding what Dui meant, and led everyone to her private garden.

In one corner of the garden, water flows from a fountain on the hill, forming a stream that flows into a silver basin placed on a pedestal carved in the shape of a branch.

The silver basin was wide and shallow, and there was a silver pitcher next to it.

This is the Mirror of Galadriel, which reveals visions of the past, present, and future.

Galadriel took the silver pitcher, collected the stream water, and slowly poured it into the silver basin.

The surface of the water in the silver basin began to ripple, turning into an illusory water mirror, as if countless illusions were emerging in it.

After doing all this, Galadriel made way and gestured for Dui to continue.

Dui came to the silver basin and shook the silver thread wrapped around the tip of the wand into the basin.

As soon as the silver threads fell into the basin, they quickly spread out and merged into the water.

An illusory picture suddenly emerged from the water mirror.

Everyone gathered around and stared at the scene.

The screen showed Saruman using the Palantir to contact the Dark Lord Sauron, Gandalf coming to Isengard and discovering Saruman's betrayal, but being trapped in a tower by Saruman, and Saruman creating mutant Orcs that were not afraid of sunlight.

These images are very fragmentary, but without exception they all show the fact that Saruman has turned to darkness.

Seeing these pictures, everyone was shocked and couldn't believe it.

Gandalf looked very serious and solemn, his eyes fixed on the content of the picture, trying to get more information from it.

Elrond was also watching the scene, and quickly reacted, looking at Dui in surprise:
"These are scenes that haven't happened yet. Are they scenes from the future that you saw? Did you predict them?"

Others also looked at Dui in surprise.

Dui nodded and then shook his head: "It can't be called a prophecy, it can only be called foreknowledge. After all, prophecies cannot be changed."

In fact, some of these images were indeed seen during the previous prophecies.

But most of it is a false memory created by Dui based on the known plot.

He is not a person who does not hold grudges. Saruman has repeatedly belittled him as a third-rate sorcerer before, so this time he took the opportunity to expose this guy's past.

And he was not afraid of Gandalf and others' suspicion.

After all, these are what Saruman will do in the future, and he did not make any false accusations.

So Dui was very confident and had no guilt at all.

Galadriel, Elrond and the others fell silent upon seeing this.

I finally accepted the fact that my former ally might have betrayed me.

"How shall we deal with the fall of Saruman?" asked Gandalf.

Elrond shook his head, "We have no real and definitive evidence on this matter right now, so we can't confront Saruman right away. To prevent him from being on guard, we can only slowly investigate and gather evidence in secret."

It is true that Saruman's identity and strength are extraordinary. He is not only the leader of all wizards, but also the leader of the White Council.

Any rash action could easily cause turmoil in the entire Central Continent.

"And the matter of the Ring also needs to be kept secret from him to avoid any more accidents," said Elrond.

Galadriel and Gandalf both nodded in agreement.

Now that we know that Saruman has ulterior motives, we naturally cannot let him know about the appearance of the ring.

"Who will keep the Ring temporarily?" asked Celeborn.

Now that there is no way to destroy the Ring, a safe storage plan is needed to prevent the Ring from happening before it is sent to Mount Doom for destruction.

The question of who would keep the ring posed a dilemma to everyone.

The Ring has the power to bewitch and corrupt people's hearts. No matter who keeps it, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not be affected by the power of the Ring.

In particular, the stronger a person is, the more difficult it is to resist the attraction of the ring.

If powerful people like Gandalf and Galadriel were influenced or even corrupted, it would be a real disaster.

Therefore, for safety's sake, the One Ring cannot be entrusted to a powerful individual. Considering this, it seems the choice of guardian for the One Ring has once again fallen to Bilbo.

"I think that since fate has brought Bilbo to this place, he can keep it until he decides to destroy it," Celeborn suggested.

"Of all of us, Bilbo is the least affected by the Ring, and it is safest to leave it to him."

There is one thing Celeborn didn't say, which is that Bilbo posed the least threat, and even if he was affected by the Ring, he wouldn't cause much harm.

Gandalf shook his head in protest. "The Ring's influence on the Hobbits was small, but that doesn't mean it had no effect. We can't gamble Bilbo's safety on the fact that the Ring has no harm to him."

Elrond also agreed with Gandalf's words.

Galadriel did not intervene in the debate until everyone sought her opinion. Then she turned her head and looked at Dui: "Dui, what is your opinion?"

Hearing this, Gandalf and the others also looked at him.

Although Dui was a little surprised that Galadriel would ask him this, he still said:
"I know a man who can take the Ring. In his hands, it will be just like any other Ring. And with the Ring in his hands, there is no need to worry about anyone taking it away, not even Sauron himself!"

Everyone was very surprised to hear Dui's words. Is there such a person in Middle-earth?
"Who are you talking about?" Elrond asked in surprise.

Dewy smiled and answered, "Tom Bombadil, who lives in the Old Forest."

Elrond was stunned when he heard this, and then he suddenly realized.

He nodded. "If it's Bombadil, then he's a good choice indeed."

Galadriel and Celeborn also remembered this figure.

However, in Sindarin, Bombadil has another name: Iavain ben-Arda, which means "the oldest and the fatherless".

Tom Bombadil was very old, having existed long before the Elves had awakened from the land of Cuvier.

I even lived with elves for a while.

So some ancient elves have heard of his name.

Tom's identity is mysterious, but his strength is unquestionable.

So Galadriel and Celeborn had no objection to the proposal to give the Ring to Tom Bombadil for safekeeping.

Only Gandalf was a little worried:

"Bombadil's character is like the clouds in the sky. He doesn't understand the importance of this at all. If you give him this ring, he will probably forget it quickly or even throw it away.

That kind of thing doesn't exist in his mind, and I think he's an unreliable caretaker."

Hearing this, Elrond also hesitated.

"Actually, there's no need to worry too much. Although Tom is a little unreliable, his wife Goldberry is a thoughtful lady. As long as we explain the importance of the matter to Ms. Goldberry, we don't have to worry about Tom losing the ring." Dui added.

Dui lived with Tom and Goldberry for a while, and knew that although Tom was a little erratic, Goldberry was very careful and gentle.

Tom and Goldberry had helped Dewy before, so it was a little unreasonable for Dewy to bother them with this matter.

But only by giving the ring to Tom for safekeeping can we not worry about the ring corrupting people, and we don’t have to worry about Sauron taking the ring from Tom.

Of course, all this requires the opinions of Tom and Goldberry.

If they don't want to take this trouble, they can find another way when the time comes.

So Dui told a few people his idea.

This time Gandalf did not object. After all, if the safety of the ring could be guaranteed, he would be happy to have someone keep this dangerous item.

Even if Bombadil could keep the Ring permanently from Sauron, there would be no need to risk going to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring.

After all, once the One Ring is destroyed, the three elven rings will lose their power.

Gandalf did not care whether the Ring of Fire was lost or not.

But without the power of the Elven Ring, both Lórien and Rivendell would gradually decline.

As Dewi had predicted: The Age of Elves would end and the Age of Men would begin.

Gandalf and the elves knew that day would come, and they were prepared to wait for it, but they always hoped that day would come later.

Now that the destination of the ring had been decided, everyone did not hesitate any longer and decided that after leaving Lórien this time, they would take the ring to visit Tom Bombadil.

Since no one dared to touch the Ring, it was decided that Bilbo would keep it for the time being.

Bilbo had never expected that the Ring would return to his hands. Although it was only for a while, he was still happy.

However, in order to prevent the ring from continuing to erode Bilbo, Galadriel took out an exquisite small box engraved with elven runes, put the ring inside and locked it up.

This exquisite little box was made during the time when Sauron was at his peak, in order to prevent Sauron from discovering the Three Rings of the Elves. It has shielding capabilities.

As long as the Ring is placed inside, the effect of the Ring on Bilbo can be minimized.

Seeing this, Dui decided to contribute and told the plan he had already thought of:
"I have a Fidelius Charm here that can hide the secret of the Ring in the deepest part of the soul. As long as the Secret Keeper doesn't tell anyone, no one can reveal the news of the Ring, not even by mind reading.

The most important thing is that even if outsiders know about the ring, they can't see or touch it even if it is placed in front of him. "

"In this way, we can guarantee the safety of the ring to the greatest extent possible and prevent anyone other than us from knowing the news of the ring."

When they heard about the effect of the Loyalty Spell, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up.

(End of this chapter)