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Old 12-04-2015, 02:42 PM   #1
Leaf
Haunting Spirit
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 87
Leaf is a guest of Tom Bombadil.
The doom of the Ring

I created this thread to discuss a thought (or two) about the doom of the Ring. Let's begin with a very brief summery of the events that let to the destruction of the One Ring:

Frodo and Sam succeed in bringing the Ring to the right location, Mount Doom. They overcome many obstacles and are at their physical and psychological limit. Frodo fails to do the deed and claims the Ring of Power to himself. 'Luckily' Gollum appears in the nick of time to take the Ring from Frodo and then, again 'luckily' (in sort of a morbid way), destroys the Ring (and himself) seemingly by accident. Middle-Earth is saved.

I interpret Frodo's failure to be inevitable. I don't think any other being, or 'person', would have been able to destroy the Ring of Power willingly. Maybe with the exception of Tom Bombadil, but I won't dive into this topic right now. As I see it, the person who destroys the ring willingly, at the cracks of Mt. Doom, would have to be a person who rejects the very possibility of any kind of influence to the world around him, a person without any interest in his own fate and in the fate of others. The problem is that this 'being' would be, essentialy, an 'un-person'. So, I don't put any blame on Frodo. I think his decision, if you could call it that way, is very understandable in the given situation.

It's necessary to stress that Frodo's actual achievements are different from that. He made it to Mt. Doom and brought the Ring to the right place. A indispensable requirement for the destruction of the Ring. He also, against his initial attitude, didn't kill off Gollum and, more so, allowed him to accompany him. This was, in hindsight, the second requirement, as Gandalf vaguely (and wisely) predicted.

Now, there's one quote from the relevant chapter that irks me every time I read it:

Quote:
Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, Mount Doom
Then suddenly, as before under the eaves of the Emyn Muil, Sam saw these two rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice. 'Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.
The crouching shape backed away, terror in it's blinking eyes, and yet at the same time insatiable desire. Then the vision passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on his breast, his breaths coming in great gasps , and Gollum at his feet, resting on his knees with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground.[...]
How literal can we take Sam's vision?! Did the Ring really speak to Gollum, or was this just Sam's imagination? Those questions are highly debatable. But let's just assume, for the following thought, that it was indeed the voice of the Ring of Power. The thing that irks me is that the Ring's verdict (or doom) towards Gollum comes true. Gollum dares to touch the thing again and is cast into the Fire of Doom. This includes, ironically, the Ring itself.

Here comes, finally, my question to you: Do you think that it's plausible to say that the Ring, due to his very nature, settled his own doom? Is evil, with it's inherent immutable determination and fatalism eventually disadvantaged?! In the end it was Gandalf's way of thinking that saved the day. Frodo took his careful indecision towards Gollum to heart and, "irrationally", trusted this advice. The Ring itself, on the other hand, condemned Gollum beyond a doubt and issued a non-revocable death sentence, so to speak.
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