Now that the hobbits are on the border of Mordor, the Ring becomes quite active
and begins to struggle with Frodo:
Frodo felt his senses reeling and his mind darkening. Then suddenly,
as if some force were at work other than his own will, he began to hurry,
tottering forward, his groping hands held out, his head lolling from side to
side. Both Sam and Gollum ran after him.
Then Frodo has to resist the urge to go run up to the gate to have tea with the
undead:
Frodo passed his hands over his brown and wrenched his eyes away from the
city on the hill. The luminous tower fascinated him, and he fought the
desire that was on him to run up the gleaming road towards its gate. At
last with an effort he turned back, and as he did so, he felt the Ring
resisting him, dragging at the chain about his neck; and his eyes too, as he
looked away, seemed for the moment to have been blinded. The darkness
before him was impenetrable.
1. How has the Ring started to affect Frodo by this
stage of his journey? Is the Ring an active player in this episode, a
fourth character as it were, or is it merely responding to the attraction of
the tower like a magnet pulling towards metal? This is the second time
Frodo has been temporarily blinded by the Ring (the first was during the
“Taming of Sméagol” when Sam had to drop the Elven rope to restore his
sight). Is this a function of the Ring’s effect on him?
2. How do Sam and Gollum help Frodo at this
moment? Gollum is more agitated here than he has been since they were at
the Morannon, and his response to being in those surroundings is very
interesting: “his eyes shone with a green-white light, reflecting the
noisome Morgul-sheen perhaps, or kindled by some answering mood within.”
What is the “answering mood within”? Could he this be the effect of
Sauron’s conditioning on him, or is he picking up on the Ring-radar of the
Nazgûl? What does Gollum sense about the Ring at this time?
Tomorrow we’ll look at the army departing and Frodo’s close encounter with the
Witch-king, the Lord of the
Nazgûl.
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"All wizards should have a hobbit or two in their care..."
