Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
FOTR A Long-Expected Party
(emphasis added)
If Gandalf was capable of seeing the wearer of the Ring, why would he make such a statement? How would he know, by appearance, whether Bilbo wore the Ring or not?
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Gandalf likely lived in both Worlds and could see the Seen and the Unseen. Yet, there is no indication he saw both
the same way or could mistake the Shadow-Word image for the World of Light one. Bilbo wearing the Ring likely appeared to Gandalf somewhat shadowy, ghost-like.
Look at Frodo at the Ford. Due to his Morgul-wound he is more than half-way into the Shadow-World: he sees the Nazgul clearly, the mortals only as pale shadows (but he still sees them) and Glorfindel as a figure of light:
Quote:
Checking the horse to a walk, [Frodo] turned and looked back. The Riders seemed to sit upon their great steeds like threatening statues upon a hill, dark and solid, while all the woods and land about them receded as if into a mist.[...] He could see [the Riders] clearly now: they appeared to have cast aside their hoods and black cloaks, and they were robed in white and grey. Swords were naked in their pale hands; helms were on their heads. Their cold eyes glittered, and they called to him with fell voices.[...]
With his last failing senses Frodo heard cries, and it seemed to him that he saw, beyond the Riders that hesitated on the shore, a shining figure of white light; and behind it ran small shadowy forms waving flames, that flared red in the grey mist that was falling over the world.
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