It has been insightfully suggested by "Mikke" that the moment when Frodo claimed for himself the power of the One Ring actually happened a little earlier than most people realize.
The usual reading is that Frodo makes this claim inside Mount Doom, standing next to the Cracks of Doom - just before he puts The Ring on his finger, and is perceived by Sauron.
But Mikke has noticed that - a few minutes earlier - after Frodo grapples with, and casts down, Gollum; he makes a statement that is usually regarded as a prophecy that if Gollum touches The Ring again, he will himself be cast into the Cracks of Doom.
This comes true, in effect - although it seems that Gollum falls into the fire by accident, rather than being thrown.
But instead of a prophecy, Frodo's statement can plausibly be regarded as a command; as "casting a spell" or "geas"; and that Frodo is able to do this by claiming and using the power of the One Ring - but by grasping the ring to his chest (in effect to his heart) rather than putting it on his finger: Frodo becomes a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire.
In effect, it is The Ring speaking, when Frodo casts the geas; as is confirmed by Tolkien's phrasing: Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.
By using the One Ring to dominate, to coerce; Frodo places himself under the "curse" that applies to all who claim the One Ring for the purpose of domination.
After doing this, he was necessarily going to be incapable of destroying the One Ring.
This use of The Ring to command would also be an alternative explanation for Frodo's subsequent sickness of heart after The Ring had been destroyed; for which the only cure is his (therapeutic) sojourn in the undying lands.
Here are Mikke's own words, which I have edited and re-ordered for greater clarity of exposition (since the ideas were published over several, confusingly-embedded, Tumblr entries), and to cut-out swear words:
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When Gollum attacks Frodo on the slopes of Mount Doom, Frodo has the chance to kill him, but he doesn’t. Instead, he says: Frodo: Go! And if you ever lay hands on me again, you yourself shall be cast into the Fire!
Frodo is literally, magically laying a curse. He’s holding the One Ring in his hands as he says it; even Sam, with no magic powers of his own, can sense that some powerful mojo is being laid down.
Five pages later, Gollum tries to take the Ring again. Frodo’s geas takes effect and Gollum eats lava.
Other people in the franchise who were offered the Ring declined to take it because they were wise enough to know that if they used its power – and the pressure to do so would be too great – they would be subject to its corruption.
Also, after Frodo has thrown Gollum off and laid the geas, Sam observes that Frodo seems suddenly filled with energy again when previously he had been close to dead of fatigue. He hikes up the mountain so fast he leaves Sam behind – and doesn’t even seem to notice that he’s left him behind. Could he have been drawing on the Ring’s power at this point in the story?
The moment that Frodo succumbs to temptation is not the moment at the volcano – it was already too late by then. The moment he is taken by temptation was when he used the power of the Ring to repel Gollum.
If so, this ties in neatly with discussions I’ve seen about how Tolkien subscribes to a “not even once” view of good and evil – that in many other works it’s acceptable to do a small evil in service of a greater good, but in Lord of the Rings that always fails.
In Lorien:
‘I would ask one thing before we go,’ said Frodo, ‘a thing which I often meant to ask Gandalf in Rivendell. I am permitted to wear the One Ring: why cannot I see all the others and know the thoughts of those that wear them?’ ‘You have not tried,’ [Galadriel] said. ‘Only thrice have you set the Ring upon your finger since you knew what you possessed. Do not try! It would destroy you. Did not Gandalf tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others.’
On the slopes of Mount Doom:
‘Down, down!’ [Frodo] gasped, clutching his hand to his breast, so that beneath the cover of his leather shirt he clasped the Ring. 'Down, you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot slay me or betray me now.’
Then suddenly, 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.’ Then the vision passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his breath coming in great gasps, and Gollum at his feet, resting on his knees with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground.
**
I find this idea to be coherent and very well supported by the text, and I am convinced by it; despite that (so far as I know) the interpretation is not explicitly confirmed as authorial intent by Tolkien himself. Perhaps Tolkien wrote it this way because it felt right, although the reasons for this were, apparently, unconscious.
Note: Further interesting discussion of this theory, may be found here.
12 comments:
Perhaps you will remember, Bruce, that I made exactly the same argument several years ago on my old blog "Si man i yulma nin enquantuva?" (now defunct) At the time you remained unconvinced, but I'm glad to see that you and others are coming around.
Here are some links to my old blogposts, in which you will find my slightly different take on these issues:
https://web.archive.org/web/20120122141555/http://corkyagain.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-well-known-that-one-of-tolkiens.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20120122144248/http://corkyagain.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-important-i-think-to-spell-out-some.html
@Corky - Thanks. No I didn't remember reading this. You certainly seem to have made the main points of the argument. I can only assume that I didn't put together the points you made.
It was actually my son that told me about this Tumblr post; and in telling me he emphasized a particular point (one I think made in the discussion linked) about the particular purpose/function of the One Ring being to dominate and command.
It was because Frodo used The Ring for exactly that purpose for which it was "designed" (rather than for escaping from danger by invisibility, or suchlike), that The Ring was effective in commanding Gollum, and had the subsequent effects it did on Frodo.
There are numerous passages in LotR supporting the idea that the Ring had a will of its own and was, for example, trying to find its way back to its master. I understand that to mean that Sauron put part of himself into it and that it shared his malice.
In the chapter "The Black Gate is Closed" Frodo tells Gollum that the Ring will hold him to his promise on it and will seek a way to twist it to his undoing. Then he adds "If I, wearing it, were to
command you, you would obey, even if it were to leap from a precipice or cast yourself into the fire."
I think this is still Frodo speaking and he clearly understands the power of the Ring and Gollum's enslavement to it. But I also think the Ring is listening and probably relishing the thought of such a malicious command. So, of course, when the opportunity arises to carry it out...
That is pretty immediately convincing to me as well. I had wondered sometimes why Tolkien didn't depict the moment the Ring overcame Frodo more thoroughly, and it turns out he did, only I didn't pick up on it.
-Lucas
@Corky - Yes, it makes sense.
I'll confess to a vain desire to have my precedence recognized, but far more important is that people come to see the message of hope in LotR as I described it that second blogpost so long ago. Bruce has often posted about Tolkien's struggle with depression, having seen so many of friends die in a horrible war and seemingly without their sacrifice having made the world a better place. Even his beloved Germanic sagas of courage and heroic self-sacrifice weren't enough to remove that bitter taste. We cannot fix this broken world on our own. But the observation that evil has so often been its own undoing ... how well that squares with the ideas of free will, of natural law, and of a beneficent God!
I wonder if Frodo was only able to do this because of his elf-friend blessing.
@Matt - You mean that this gives him an un-hobbit-like, more elvish, kind of power to command via The Ring?
That's interesting, and might explain why Gollum - who would not be likely to hold-back from using The Ring to dominate and command If He Could, did not and perhaps/apparently Couldn't do this.
On the other hand; Frodo seems to have a stature - "wisdom" - unique among the hobbits we encounter - probably more so than Bilbo, who was also an elf-friend.
But I think there is something in the elf-friend idea.
Sam was friendly toward elves but wasn't named as an elf-friend. Nevertheless his plain, humble hobbitsense enabled him to resist the temptation of the Ring. I think the same can be said for Frodo.
As an aside, I recently saw a post from someone somewhere about how the Ring must have been baffled trying to find the angle that would work on Sam, in whom the will to power was almost completely absent. "World's greatest gardener, yeah, that's the ticket." So silly that Sam immediately saw right through it.
Imagine, however, if the Ring had somehow contrived to fall into the hands of the Sackville-Bagginses! Or would they have simply become like Gollum, an unsuitable and ineffective tool for its purposes?
Another possible explanation: it was the ring itself, of its own will, overcoming Frodo's will for the first time - for the purpose of cursing Gollum, which it probably hated and despised more than any other living soul.
"If you lay hand upon ME, you shall cast yourself into the Fire."
And what do we see? Gollum throws himself into the fire not upon laying hands on Frodo, but on the Ring.
(Gollum/Smeagol, the utterly unhappy wretch, being EI's chosen instrument to deny both Sauron and Saruman the Ring, after Sauron drew nigh to the Anduin in the guise of the Necromancer. The means of that denial might have been very different had both Deagol and Sméagol not failed the test set before them - albeit Deagol only in not being positively Good. The poor and wretched creature earned the Ring's undying hate by being both so pathetic and weak, and also its competent and effective warden for Five Hundred Years.)
This - the Ring wielding Frodo - has the advantage of being supported by Tolkien's statements about the Ring growing in strength until it could overcome practically any will once it reached the Cracks of Doom, making its intentional destruction impossible - and also ultimately making the choice and voluntary compulsion of the Ring itself the immediate cause of its destruction.
Both theories, of course, could still have some measure of correctness; but as one must take precedence, I prefer this one. The voice, after all, did not come from Frodo, but out of the Wheel of Fire.
@Uriel - That seems to make sense.
It is notable that The Ring (despite being made by Sauron, from part of himself) does seem to have "a mind of its own" separate from Sauron. This is implied by the information that if The Ring was claimed by a sufficiently powerful individual (such as Galadriel, or Gandalf) it could be used to *enslave* its maker Sauron, and on a permanent basis.
It's rather as if The Ring had a Plan A - "get back to Sauron" and re-join with him; and a Plan B - "if not Sauron, then join-with and corrupt anyone else of similar stature".
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