Why a
Mirror?
Not a crystal ball, not a pack of cards, not Runestones, but a
mirror. And a mirror reflects the viewer’s own image back at them. Well, in this case it reflects their
inner self, their hopes, fears, desires. All well & good, except Frodo sees the Eye of Sauron.
But why would he see it in a
mirror? Does it simply mean that Sauron has wrested control of the Mirror as he did of the palantiri? And how come Galadriel has also seen the Eye there?
Well, Galadriel did rebel, she was exiled from the West - perhaps it ‘reflects’ something in her nature back at her: her desire to rule, to control - certainly she claims to know Sauron’s mind. But what
is Sauron’s mind - what does she mean? But still, why did Frodo see Sauron’s Eye in the Mirror?
We pass into an enclosed garden (a circle) & go down a flight of steps into a hollow (a circle within a circle). At the centre is a round basin(a circle within a circle within a circle). At the culmination of his vision Frodo sees, issuing from within a void, a single
round eye, at the centre of which is a slit, ‘a window into nothing’, a void within a
void. And from this void there is a pull, a negative ‘force’ - but it doesn’t pull Frodo - it pulls the Ring. The final circle.
Wheels within wheels within wheels within wheels. The Ring is the ultimate void - as much a ‘mouth’ as an ‘Eye’, it swallows all things - even the wearer’s own self in the end.
I see Morgoth here - seeking in the Void for the Secret Fire. As Nietzsche said, if you stare into an abyss long enough the abyss will start to stare back.
At the heart of Frodo’s vision, he sees ‘reflected’ the void, nothingness. Actually he sees the absence of Eru - for Eru is not in the Void (if the Secret Fire is not there, then neither is Eru, for the Secret Fire is
with Him. Voids within Voids within Voids within Voids.
But the Eye within the Void is ‘searching’ for Frodo (or is it the
Void within the Eye within the Void that is searching?).
I also see Ungoliant here - ever searching for ‘light’ (as Morgoth sought for the Secret Fire) to consume & transmute into the ‘nothingness’ of the void.
Back to the Beowulf lecture - man, alone, in a little circle of light, surrounded by an encroaching darkness always seeking to swallow him up, to take him within & within & within, deeper & deeper into the ‘nothingness that awaits’. It is the ‘nothingness’ within the heart of matter, at the heart of the
world.
The Void is the absence of Eru - ‘salvation’ is beyond the ‘
circles of the world’. Frodo has looked into into the Mirror & seen the ultimate
void - the void within himself (as has Galadriel).
I suspect Tolkien is making a point here
To claim the Ring is to claim the void - Galadriel has pondered what she would do if the Ring came to her - & isn’t
that the reason she also has seen the Eye? Isn’t that also what gives her the will to reject it?
She will ‘diminish, & go into the West, &
remain Galadriel’, for what alternative is there?
Nothing