[The Saucepan Man]

Yes, a great post indeed.

My first thought was, well of course the Orcs quarrel and of course Gollum springs out to attack Sam and Frodo. That's what we've come to expect of them. Orcs argue amongst themselves. Gollum will stop at nothin to get the Ring.

But then I thought about it. Turambar, you pointed out that it was three chapters. It certainly doesn't seem like that. After they escape from the Tower of Cirith Ungol, I have no particular memory of what happens before the final confrontation on the edge of Mount Doom, other than that they disguise themselves as Orcs for a while, Sam carries Frodo, and Gollum attacks a few times as they ascend Mount Doom.

I hadn't really thought about it before, but now I do, it all does pass very quickly. Many other chapters are crammed with incident (it is amazing, for example, that the Battle of Helms Deep takes up only one chapter), but these three chapters are very low on incident. As you say, the action is simply repetitive.

I do not know whether this was intentional. Certainly, there is not much scope for action in Mordor, particularly with only two principal characters, and yet the journey to Mount Doom had to take up some "story time". Nevertheless, it does seem to work in the way that you have identified, Turambar, especially as the level of detail and involvement floods back once we get to the Field of Cormallen.