To attempt by device or ‘magic’ to recover longevity is thus a supreme folly and wickedness of ‘mortals’. Longevity or counterfeit ‘immortality’ (true immortality is beyond Ea) is the chief bait of Sauron – it leads the small to a Gollum, and the great to a Ringwraith. JRR Tolkien, Letter 212 In my previous essay on Death and the Half-Elven, I quoted from this letter in order to illustrate Tolkien’s shifting view on mortality and its root in his own fictional world. In this context, the final sentences merely illustrate that this counterfeit immortality was, to Tolkien, a great evil…
Leave a CommentTag: Gollum
A safe fairy-land is untrue to all worlds. J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 17 to Stanley Unwin The concept of ‘Faerie’ in Tolkien’s writings and philosophy is as important as it is nebulous. It is a state of enchantment, of belief in some secondary reality as guided by a sub-creator – yet it is also that Secondary World itself, and the things that dwell therein. Yet if On Fairy Stories is to be believed, these Faerie tales of Faerie are themselves concerned chiefly with the adventures of men in Faerie – ie, these mortals are themselves less of Faerie than Faerie itself…
2 Comments
This is a relatively minor observation, but I’ve been fascinated for some time by Aragorn’s surprisingly clear self-delineation between “himself” and “Strider”. It is a relatively simple thing to see “Strider” as being but another alias for the Ranger, and it’s often treated as such by commenters on the story. Yet a close reading of how Aragorn himself speaks of Strider creates a strong impression (to me, at least) that Aragorn sees Strider as being a character…at least initially. Arguably, the most memorable indication of this separation comes during Aragorn’s rebuke to Boromir at the Council of Elrond, in which…
Leave a Comment
I seem to be making a habit of discussing Ring-lore on this blog, which is wholly unintentional – but I came across a brief passage that intrigued me, that I’ve never properly noticed before, and that is entirely relevant to yet another misconception (exaggerated by the films) concerning the Ring. It’s a relatively typical line of fan inquiry to ask why Sauron never ‘spotted’ Gollum or Bilbo while they wore the Ring, or why Frodo himself is only truly seen right at the end of his quest, when he claims the Ring for himself at the Crack of Doom. A…
Leave a CommentThere are few more infamous passages in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy than when Faramir, Captain of Gondor, elects to take Frodo, Sam and Gollum into his custody, and to bring them and the Ring to Minas Tirith. For movie fans, it is a slightly baffling diversion – Faramir’s change of heart and release of the hobbits comes swiftly, and the episode results in few consequences to him or to Frodo and Sam. To lovers of the book, though, it is an outrageous change, a sign of everything wrong with the films, a complete bastardisation of one of…
Leave a Comment