Why did Aragorn take Gollum to Mirkwood?

[Snaga]

Aragorn captured Gollum in the dead marshes near Mordor. He then travelled for 50 days, something like 900 miles to hand him over to Thranduil's elves in Mirkwood, to imprison him.

Was this really the logical thing to do? For example, why not take him to Lothlorien? Why did Aragorn double the journey?

 

[Harad]

That's a good question. The Woodelves weren't particularly good jailers after all (e.g. "The Hobbit.")

Aragorn didn't want to go to Gondor or Rohan--give too much away. Lorien was the closest to where he started.

But, maybe he wanted Gollum to be close at hand to Aragorn's northern hangout. The most logical place would have been Rivendell. Maybe Rivendell was unsuitable because it was too small of an establishment, whereas the Thranduil had a "realm." Still it wasnt very close to Rivendell either. Maybe it was better because it was farther from Mordor?

Aragorn didn't have many choices, so maybe Mirkwood was the least bad.

Now if only the Mines of Moria were available...

 

[HLGStrider]

If I remember Aragorn didn't like Moria much anyway... I think it would be cruel to give the Elves of Lorien something to deal with like Gollum. I can't remember them having a prison, where we know that Mirkwood had a nice dungeon system (Just without anything to protect against invisible intruders). Does Rivendell have a dungeon? It wouldn't be smart to put such a slippery fellow in anything to impromptu...

 

[Eonwe]

Thranduil has such a nice record of imprisoning Hobbit like creatures NOT

I would just say, just a guess, that Mirkwood has many people going through it each year, and perhaps Thranduil has had to have prisons to keep up with the riff-raff that come through the forest. Or maybe not.

But what is his other choice? Rivendell, Lorien, or Gondor. Minas Tirith wouldn't be good because they might learn the One Ring was found. Not sure why he didn't choose Lorien. Rivendell's a bit farther.

 

[PRH]

I know, I know!

He took Gollum to Mirkwood so Legolas would have an excuse to get involved in the story...

There really isn't a convincing reason is there?...

 

[Eonwe]

I mean lets face it, the guy's really dumb

Takes Gollum to Mirkwood instead of Lorien, carries around only a cracked sword Narsil, goes to the paths of the dead instead of using the palantir earlier, takes the Hobbits to Weathertop where they are surrounded and nearly the Ring is lost, follows Merry and Pippin when he should have gone with Frodo and Sam, doesn't go by himself over Caradhras or through the Gap of Rohan, simply follows Gandalf into Moria, pitches a tent instead of going inside Minas Tirith after the battle of the Pelennor, doesn't use Ghan-Buri-Ghan in the War, he could've been king if he stayed around instead of letting Denethor become steward, tells Elrond he wants his daughter, etc.

NOT! Aragorn is great! go Aragorn go!

I guess it depends on how you look at it.

 

[Beleg Strongbow]

Maybe Aragorn new that the ring might be passing by there and that if gollum was there he would do anything to get it. Apart from that i'm not sure.

 

[Greenwood]

Perhaps Aragorn felt Lothlorien was too close to Moria and too obvious as a prison. Being so close to Moria it would be easy for a large orc rescue expedition to be mounted. Of course, one was mounted to Mirkwood anyway, so in the end it didn't really matter.

Maybe he just didn't want to impose on his hoped for future inlaw, Galadriel.

 

[Bill the Pony]

Did the elves let any bad-guys into the woods and live? I seem to remember something about no orc coming out alive again, but don't have time to look it up. If true, Galadriel may not have wanted to keep Gollum because it was against Lorien's rules to let him live, and Aragorn did not want him killed?

 

[HLGStrider]

I don't think the best way to impress an elven queen is to dump a slimy looking creature that bites on her door step...

Also, didn't he take Gollum to Gandalf. Perhaps Gandalf was waiting near Mirkwood for some reason or other.

 

[Grond]

It states in the book that Gandalf and Aragorn had agreed to meet in Thranduil's realm if Gollum was captured. It was nicely away from Mordor and was probably the easiest place for the two of them to get to. Think about it.... if he was captured West of the Mountains, to get to Lothlorien would mean Carhadras or Moria whereas the Mountain Pass near Rivendell was normally a safe place. If he was captured west of the mountains, it was a straight shot north to Mirkwood, well away from either the influence of Sauron or Saruman. Also, it would have been likely that Gandalf would be West of the mountains and it would be a straight shot East for Gandalf to get to Mirkwood.

Also, Thranduil had a dungeon. Neiter Lorien nor Rivendell have ever been mentioned as having one.

 

[HLGStrider]

So it was Gandalf!!! Ah ha! Now we know. Thank you, Grond the Hammer...

 

[Goro Shimura]

Go Go Grond!!

The internal logic of the sub-creation is soundly vindicated.

Hurray!