Progress on The Fellowship of the Ring, Part 5

[bunnyboo]

Less of a progress post and more of some musing on an overarching theme. We’ve reached Rivendell!


dreamersdare brought up an interesting idea that I hadn’t thought about in the comments of one of my previous posts—who resists the Ring is important, but also how. What does it say about the people who resist as opposed to those who succumb? (This is dangerously close to plagiarism of their comment. Check it out here!) I’m going back through and finding little bits and pieces, hoarding all the shiny examples for my magnificent nest of a post. Yes…

Ahem.

I’ll talk about that later when we have some more people under the Ring’s thrall in-text, but so far, I’m noticing a pattern. Both Ring Bearers (a proper noun?) we’ve met in person so far have been able to mostly ignore the Ring when times are good and things are easy; it’s under stress that they use it—Frodo because he was specifically warned about its dangers, but Bilbo seemed to have some kind of aversion to it naturally. (That might just be because The Hobbit was written and conceived before the overall plot of The Lord of the Rings, so the Ring wasn’t as big a deal as it is in the main series.) I mean, Bilbo uses it quite a bit throughout the events of The Hobbit, but he’s not seduced by it. It’s an afterthought of “oh, he has a magic ring.” I know that Tolkien revised that book when The Lord of the Rings came out to bring it in line with the others, but I wonder why he didn’t include much of the sway the Ring has over its bearer in that book. It probably would’ve just confused the narrative or something—still something I’m puzzling over, though. Back to Fellowship!

A lot of the narrative so far isn’t concerned with Frodo’s thoughts on the Ring and is more focused on the perils of the journey ahead. He isn’t obsessing over it (yet), and none of the other characters outwardly covet it (yet). It could just be a slow burn… Speaking of the other characters and resisting the Ring, at the encounter at Weathertop, Frodo tries to turn to Sam when he’s trying to resist the urge to put on the Ring and be exposed to the Ringwraiths, but he can’t and he fails when he struggles by himself. Similarly, Bilbo is able to leave the Ring behind not only because Gandalf confronts him but also because he reminds him of the trust between them—the caring relationship they have. Bilbo isn’t particularly connected with the other residents of the Shire except for Frodo (maybe part of the Ring’s influence as well or just a side effect of it…), but it’s his connection with Gandalf that saves him in the end. The Ring isolates you, and part of its power that you can act alone and independently of others. Thinking back to The Hobbit, Bilbo never uses the Ring to collaborate with others (prove me wrong, commenters!) even if he does use it in service of others. It’s an individual’s power, something special that you have and that you can’t share, and that’s part of the seduction, I think. That hold it has can be subverted, however, when the bearer is reminded that there’s others who love and care about them and who depend on them to do what’s right. So far, the Ring hasn’t tried to convince Frodo that he could help his friends by using it, only that he can save himself and abandon them. It’s a testament to his character (and Bilbo’s) that they have a sense of duty to their companions, a genuine love of others. Sméagol didn’t have that, as far as we know. He was already self-isolating before the Ring found him, maybe it was even just part of his nature to do so, and he violently betrays his best friend when the opportunity arises to benefit himself and himself alone. His isolation continues, compounded upon, until he and the Ring are utterly alone—a situation that the Ring can’t benefit from. I mean, clearly it didn’t mean to end up trapped in the Misty Mountains, so Sméagol was able to retain some amount of influence over himself to resist being drawn back to Mordor. What that quality was that allowed him to do that, I still haven’t figured out, but it could be just general hobbit-y-ness.

I think I got kind of lost in the woods there. Let me step back a little bit. It’s the relationships that the hobbits have with others that allow them to resist the Ring, and it makes me wonder if Isildur (don’t be proud that I remembered a name, I looked it up) was missing that after losing his father and so fell under the Ring’s influence. This idea is connected to what happens with Boromir later too, but I won’t go into detail with him—partially because I haven’t gotten to his introduction yet, partially because I pretty much only remember his name, partially that he’s played by Sean Bean, but most of all because he’s in the “One Does Not Just…” meme from the long-ago times.

So, living up to the “Progress” part of the title of this series of posts, I’ve gotten to just right before the Council scene. I like that there’s been some foreshadowing of Arwen and Strider’s relationship throughout, but it feels superfluous right now. Of course, I’m fond of Bilbo and Frodo reuniting, and I’ve squirreled away the realization that Bilbo is still under the Ring’s influence thirty or so years on away for a future post about the physical transformation of evil in Fellowship (if I remember). I’m not the biggest fans of Tolkien’s and Tolkien-influence elves. They tend to get a lot of the Bambi son of Dambi son of Rambi treatment that I talked about before, and their names all sound the same with a lot of accented letters and “l”s. I’ve always found them boring, being so perfect and good and oh so special. It’ll be neat to see if that changes with the inclusion of and focus on Legolas as a Fellowship member, but I’m getting ahead of myself. I can’t help but think that he was included because Tolkien wanted to include that new perspective on them.

Anyways, I’m enjoying the ride so far. I feel like I’m missing a lot of stuff, analysis-wise, but I’m really just focusing on what I notice and think is interesting. See y’all next time!