📖👀 Chapter 1 (📔Book IV): The Taming of Smeagol

[Rivendell_librarian]

There is already a more confined feel to this book in this opening chapter than book 3. To reach for an analogy, this chapter and the situation reminds me of SOE agents parachuted into Nazi occupied in WW2, whereas book 3 reminds me of Lawrence of Arabia working with the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks in WW1. In book 3 we meet a wide range of important characters: Saruman, Treebeard and the other Ents, Theoden, Eowyn, Eomer and the other Rohirrim as well as named Orcs. In book 4, Gollum is the local guide whom Frodo and Sam have to trust, yet may be really working for the enemy.

The terrain seems harsher on this side of the river and the quest could easily have ended in making the difficult descent from the Emyn Muil. Sam has forgotten the rope he obtained in Lorien and nearly comes a cropper: Frodo better understands how to overcome this problem. Sam shows his witty humour in changing the usual "snakes and ladders" to "snakes and adders".

Gollum slips down the cliff landing into their laps. Sam calls Gollum "it" but Frodo calls Gollum "him". Considering what to do with Gollum, Frodo recalls the words of Gandalf about pity and concludes "I will not touch the creature. For now that I see him, I do pity him" These are such important words that summarise what could be regarded as the key theme of the whole story. Surprisingly, Frodo says "very well" as if talking to Gandalf. There is a hint here that Frodo is starting to become like Gollum who carries on an almost continuous conversation with himself.

Gollum swears on the Precious (the Ring) that he will serve and obey the "master of the Precious" without specifying who that is. Sam is amazed how his master grows as Gollum shrinks before Frodo. Gollum refers to himself as precious as well, showing how closely he identifies himself with it. Even so their quest is forbidding: "over all the leagues of waste before the gates of Mordor there was a black silence"

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Frodo recalls the words of Gandalf about pity and concludes "I will not touch the creature. For now that I see him, I do pity him" These are such important words that summarise what could be regarded as the key theme of the whole story.

There's a further semi-echo of Gandalf when Frodo says "It's my doom, I think, to go to that Shadow yonder, so that a way will be found. But will good or evil show it to me?".
This reminds the reader of Gandalf's words about Gollum: that "he has some part to play yet, for good or ill ". Of course, as it turns out, in Gollum's case, both good and evil play a part in achieving the quest.

I'd also note Frodo's expression of indecision and self-recrimination just after this: "All my choices have proved ill". It's interesting that this is nearly identical to Aragorn's "All that I have done today has gone amiss". Each occurs at the beginning of the first chapter of the respective books, and at close to the same time (Aragorn on February 26, Frodo on the 29th).

Aragorn also recognizes that "An evil choice is now before us!", which makes Frodo's words about "evil" resonate even more strongly, if perhaps unconsciously.

It may be a stretch, but I'd also venture to suggest that the conundrum of the missing boat, and the hobbit footprints -- "How then do you read this riddle?" has its parallel in the "riddle" of the Elven-rope.

 

[TrackerOrc]

One thing I've been thinking about is why does Gollum have such an extreme reaction to the Elvish rope (and later on Lembas?)
Why would he have such an aversion to specifically Elvish things (and it is a real aversion - he literally screams when the rope is put on him and, even when he is starving he simply cannot stomach the Elvish bread)?
The only interaction he has with Elves themselves is when he is imprisoned in Mirkwood, but he is treated kindly.
I believe that the ring has basically poisoned him against anything to do with the Elves as they have been such great enemies of Sauron; the ring is such an integral part of Sauron that his hatred of them seeps into Gollum almost.

 

[Ent]

My view is a bit more simplistic, I fear.
I recall the rope 'gleamed faintly' - that is, it is infused with some form of "magic," much like the swords forged with specific purpose against the darkness and the enemy.
So I'm not sure it's the ring's poisoning him against 'anything to do with the Elves" as much as it is to do with this specific rope, which was specially gifted to Sam by Galadriel with the quest in view, Galadriel being one of the, chief opponents of Sauron if not THE chief opponent. (Many would argue Gandalf to be the 'chief' opponent of Sauron I suspect.)

In any event, whatever the cause, it is indeed a very real, tangible thing...an issue of the darkness and light coming into contact. (Worthy of note is while the darkness experiences very significant reaction to the light, thie light remains entirely unaffected. Reminiscent of a certain Scripture, if I do say so myself.)

 

[Eljorahir]

After descending the cliff, Samwise resorts to swearing when he thinks he'll never get his rope back:

'Ninnyhammers!' he said. 'Noodles! My beautiful rope! There it is tied to a stump, and we're at the bottom...'

 

[TrackerOrc]

My view is a bit more simplistic, I fear.
I recall the rope 'gleamed faintly' - that is, it is infused with some form of "magic," much like the swords forged with specific purpose against the darkness and the enemy.
So I'm not sure it's the ring's poisoning him against 'anything to do with the Elves" as much as it is to do with this specific rope, which was specially gifted to Sam by Galadriel with the quest in view, Galadriel being one of the, chief opponents of Sauron if not THE chief opponent. (Many would argue Gandalf to be the 'chief' opponent of Sauron I suspect.)

In any event, whatever the cause, it is indeed a very real, tangible thing...an issue of the darkness and light coming into contact. (Worthy of note is while the darkness experiences very significant reaction to the light, thie light remains entirely unaffected. Reminiscent of a certain Scripture, if I do say so myself.)

I take your point here, but I'd have a few reservations.

I'm not too sure that the rope (or indeed the Lembas) is 'magic' in any way; it's just made by really powerful creatures who have been around for a long while and who know how to make extremely good equipment!

And wouldn't Galadriel being one of Sauron's main enemies make the rope even more 'Elvish' and therefore anathema to the bearer of Sauron's ring?
Regarding the Lembas - this is a generic substance given to all the company and not somethng specific to Galadriel; why does Gollum have such a severe reaction to it?

 

[Rivendell_librarian]

Without rereading didn't the rope from Lorien magically release itself after Sam's mild expletive pointed out by Eljorahir?

 

[TrackerOrc]

Without rereading didn't the rope from Lorien magically release itself after Sam's mild expletive pointed out by Eljorahir?

Yes it did.
I suppose I may simply be swapping the terms 'Elvishness' for 'magic', as I really don't like the 'sword and sorcery' stuff where magic seems to be the answer to any single problem encountered.
My definition of 'Elvishness' (and possibly 'Orcishness' as well) would involve a lot more of the experience, extreme long-life, and innate characteristics of the individuals rather than some unexplained blanket answer.
The Elves (or at least some of them) are extremely powerful because they have been around a long time and know an awful lot of stuff would be my basic premise.

 

[Ent]

Yes, it's a bit of a tricky business, this 'magic' stuff of Tolkien. It's unlike most 'magics' contrived by other authors.

Sauron was able to 'infuse' much of himself, his knowledge, his power, into his ring, ultimately to his demise.
The Elves were able to 'infuse' some of their knowledge and power to sustain and preserve etc. into things like ropes and lembas.
The Elvensmiths of Gondolin were able to 'infuse' some of their knowledge and power into things like Sting, able to gleam at the presence of Orcs and such like.

The palantiri, made by Feanor of the Noldor, were infused with ability to 'see'... clearly not a feature of the stones themselves, but of the knowledge and power of their maker.
And of course, there's the Silmarils, which "endured no evil, and burned wicked flesh" as with Carcharoth - and the Mirror of Galadriel.

I would wonder if perhaps the rope, and lembas too, had some sort of infused power similar to that of the Silmarils.

It may have been nearly inherent with the Elven folk to do all their works with a view to insuring they would benefit the 'good' and be a detriment to the 'evil' of Middle-earth.

I don't think we see any such qualities in the works of Men, or of Dwarves... but my memory may be missing some links.

Interesting is this issue of the 'magics' employed by Tolkien.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Without rereading didn't the rope from Lorien magically release itself after Sam's mild expletive pointed out by Eljorahir?

Sam scratched his head. 'No, I can't think how, begging your pardon,' he said. 'But I don't like leaving it, and that's a fact.' He stroked the rose's end and shook it gently. 'It goes hard parting with anything I brought out of the elf-country. Made by Galadriel herself too, maybe. Galadriel.,' he murmured, nodding his head mournfully. He gave one last pull to the rope as if in farewell.

This was the point at which the rope came down. No expletive, unless "Galadriel" is an expletive.

The ropes were made of hithlain, a material from the inner bark of the mallorn; I'd say they're "magical" as far as anything associated with the Elves is "magical".

Lembas and its making is discussed in The Peoples of Middle-earth and The Nature of Middle-earth, too extensively to go into here.; it's probably enough to say it could be called "sacred" rather than "magical".

Tolkien struggled with the idea of "magic", leading to much confusion and misunderstanding. I recall someone here once claiming Elves wouldn't need to wash dishes, because "they could just magic them clean".

 

[Eljorahir]

'Ninnyhammers!' he said. 'Noodles! My beautiful rope! There it is tied to a stump, and we're at the bottom...'

Oh, those noodles. Noodles-the-food just didn't seem right for a Shire word.

noodle​

noun (1)​

1 : a stupid person : simpleton

2 : head, noggin

noun (2)

1 : a food paste made usually with egg and shaped typically in ribbon form

 

[TrackerOrc]

Sauron was able to 'infuse' much of himself, his knowledge, his power, into his ring, ultimately to his demise.
The Elves were able to 'infuse' some of their knowledge and power to sustain and preserve etc. into things like ropes and lembas.
The Elvensmiths of Gondolin were able to 'infuse' some of their knowledge and power into things like Sting, able to gleam at the presence of Orcs and such like.

Very well put.
An 'infusion of power' instead of 'magic' works very well for me.

 

[TrackerOrc]

Tolkien struggled with the idea of "magic", leading to much confusion and misunderstanding. I recall someone here once claiming Elves wouldn't need to wash dishes, because "they could just magic them clean".

I'd say that they would have to do the dishes themselves, but they would be the cleanest dishes ever cleaned!

 

[Ent]

Very well put.

Don't tell anybody. Ruin my image..!!

By the way, the thought comes directly from what Gandalf said.
"...for he made that Ring himself, it is his, and he let a great part of his own former power pass into it, so that he could rule all the others."

In other words, the infusion of power is an act of the will... a choice... a decision.

The curiosity is, he was MORE POWERFUL with the ring. And, when he did not have it, he was weakened.

So though he "let a great deal of his own former power" pass into it, somehow it seems the ring lore enabled an actual increase of the power passed along.

Therein lies the 'mystery' we who do not know the ring lore are unable to explain, to this day.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

One way of understanding it, from a literary standpoint, I've mentioned before:
Post in thread 'Why did Sauron need his ring?' https://thetolkien.forum/threads/why-did-sauron-need-his-ring.9614/post-516184

But I'll give Frye's full quote here, from his discussion of demonic imagery:

In the sinister human world one individual pole is the tyrant-leader, inscrutable, ruthless, melancholy, and with an insatiable will, who commands loyalty only if he is egocentric enough to represent the collective ego of his followers.

A Freudian reading of this would seem to imply the Ring symbolizes a kind of unrestrained or unlimited ego, detached from the superego, or "conscience", however much of that remains of Sauron's character. In that sense, it could be said to "increase his power".