LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 1 - The Tower of Cirith Ungol

[Estelyn Telcontar]

With this book and chapter, we readers leave the Gondorians and their allies and return to the Ringbearers. Tolkien makes the transition very cleverly, letting us remember through Sam’s eyes where he is and what has happened. As he has done previously, he also connects the strands of his tale by telling us what is happening at the other location at the same time. Interestingly, the locations are similar, though not close – both groups are at an entrance to Mordor.

Descriptive narrative is an important element in this chapter – Mordor and the tower are shown in great detail. What do you see most vividly when you read it?

Lacking another character for dialogue, Sam’s thoughts are shown to us; sometimes he even speaks to himself aloud. The most important such passage is undoubtedly his temptation by the Ring. He recognizes it as the deception that it is. My favorite line there: “…his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.”

Love is what gives the hero his strength – in this case, Sam’s love for his master. We’ve discussed the importance of love in the context of Éowyn’s courage in slaying the Witch-King, where it is love of her uncle that motivates her. I find it highly interesting that the love is in both cases not a romantic love, yet it is love nonetheless. (Romantic love as an inspiration is included in the tale – Aragorn’s love for Arwen – but that is hardly shown in the story itself.)

The Elves have a part, though very indirectly so, in Sam’s heroism; Galadriel’s phial is vital both as a light and as a power to break the enemy’s barrier. Sam and Frodo use Elvish as a signal and as a spell.

As so often, I’ve noticed details I didn’t remember from previous readings, such as the livery of the Moon as opposed to that of the Red Eye. Does it denote an independence from Sauron in the organisation of the Tower of Minas Morgul (=Ithil, the moon), or is it some kind of tradition that has been kept from old times? At any rate, the two fractions disagree violently. We have here an example of the enemy that destroys itself by internal enmity. Does that seem to you like a convenient way to get Sam into the tower without having to fight against overwhelming odds, or is it the illustration of a universal truth? We have some orc dialogue and names – how do they strike you? We even find out that the gesture of licking the bloody knife is indeed canonical – Shagrat does so!

A small aspect of heroism occurs to me when I read of Sam’s ever going upwards. We may agree that that is strenuous, but do we realize what it must have been like for a hobbit, who felt uncomfortable even having to sleep above ground level?!

The power of music – plain Shire singing, nothing Elven – is shown to us here. I am reminded of the Biblical story of Paul and Silas, who begin singing in jail, in the middle of the night – and perhaps Tolkien had that in the back of his mind when writing this passage. Let’s discuss the poem; I must say, I especially love the second stanza, and the last two lines often go through my mind when discouraged.

I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell.

Sam is a wonderful poet indeed!

Finally he (and we with him) finds Frodo. It’s interesting that Frodo speaks of the blurring of dreams and reality, perhaps nothing unusual in a situation like that, but for a person who is prone to significant dreams, there might be more behind them.

The Ring must be returned to the rightful Ringbearer – how do you feel when you read that scene? There are two déjà vu moments in this passage – Frodo’s vision of Sam evokes that of Bilbo back in Rivendell, and his remorseful words after recovering the Ring are the exact same ones that Boromir spoke on Amon Hen.

The chapter ends with the sight of a Winged Rider, reminding us that this victory is not yet the end of danger for them.


I was only able to touch briefly on the events of this fairly long chapter, yet even this introduction is long! I hope you’ll have lots of your own thoughts to add to the discussion!