Although Book 1 of LORD OF THE RINGS concludes with the sundering of the Fellowship, this turns out to be a "fortunate fall." All three divisions of the Fellowship end up making new allies that help them in the overall goal of defeating Sauron: allies they might not have made had they not been parted.
This is easiest to see with Merry and Pippin, kidnapped by a band of Orcs. During the first book these two Hobbits had little to do but to function as homey comedy-relief. But the upshot of their being kidnapped by the Orcs is that the Hobbits come across the Ent Treebeard. Although the Hobbits only know of Saruman's perfidy indirectly, they are able to convince the slow-moving forest shaman to rouse his fellows against the wizard. To the extent that the subtitle "Two Towers" causes one to anticipate the archetypal fall of a tower, Tolkien delivers on this expectation by having the Ents raze Saruman's citadel of Orthanc, even if Saruman himself remains free to cause more trouble.
Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas do not manage to overtake the kidnapped Hobbits, not even after a reborn Gandalf joins them. But arguably their plot-action is more important, as they come into contact with the Riders of Rohan. After freeing aging King Theoden from the influence of his advisor Wormtongue, secretly a lackey of Saruman, Gandalf and his allies are able to bring about the first victory on the field of battle for the Three (non-hobbit) races with the Battle of Helm's Deep. Then, and only then, is there a partial reunion of the Fellowship, when Gandalf's group once more encounter Merry and Pippin. To further illustrate the penchant of evil to accidentally aid good, Wormtongue, holed up in Orthanc with his master, actually gives the heroes a new resource by throwing the Palantir at them.
The successful enlistment of Rohan to the cause also gives Tolkien the chance to introduce Theoden's niece Eowyn, who will play a pivotal role in RETURN OF THE KING. In the last post I noted that female characters do not typically engage in male affairs of state, but the war with Sauron is something of a special situation. Eowyn is put in charge of Rohan in Theoden's absence, and though she herself mentions the atypicality of a woman serving in such a capacity, no one else does. No one questions either her puissance or her authority, thus illustrating that Tolkien had no issue with women being in authoritative positions, though he probably did not think it was optimal in the sort of traditional society he describes in his trilogy.
In the final part of TOWERS, Tolkien, having built up suspense as to the fate of Frodo and Sam, shows them making the most unlikely ally of all, Gollum. Gollum, memorably introduced in THE HOBBIT, has been more talked-of than seen in FELLOWSHIP, but his psychic bond to the One Ring forces the pathetic fiend to follow the two Hobbits into Mordor. This is another way in which the Forces of Evil trip themselves up, for Sauron allowed Gollum into Mordor earlier in order to glean information from him. The Dark Lord never contemplates that Gollum could learn any dangerous secrets of Mordor, secrets that could be turned against Sauron's campaign. But of course that is what happens when Gollum, unaware that Frodo and Sam journey to Mordor to destroy "the precious," guides the two heroes into the book's second tower, Cirith Ungol.
To the best of my recollection, Cirith Ungol-- the best if not the only candidate for the second tower-- does not fall here or in RETURN OF THE KING. Nevertheless, with Gollum's help Frodo and Sam get the chance to circumvent the legions of Mordor. There's a price for the devil's help, though, sinceh Gollum gets the chance to cross up the champions of Good by leading them into the lair of the giant spider Shelob. Gollum also has a history with Shelob, having fetched her food during his stay in Mordor, and he knows that if the spider triumphs she will have no interest in the Ring, unlike Sauron's guardian Orcs. Shelob is defeated but again a segment of the trilogy ends with separation, as the Orcs capture Frodo and Sam must figure out a means of rescue.
It's worth mentioning that for all his evil actions, Gollum is the one character not precisely tempted by the Ring's illusions of power. The Hobbits in general don't get tempted to become Princes of the Earth. Yet both Frodo and Bilbo come close to becoming mere stewards of the Ring, and if either were to keep it as long as Gollum did, it seems likely they would become as degraded. Gollum merely wants an eternal symbiosis with the thing that makes him feel powerful, the object over which he commits murder of his own kind, but he doesn't harbor any desire to USE the power to dominate others. Gollum is the evil extension of the normal Hobbits' desire to enjoy the peace and quiet of home life. Ironically, even though Gollum ends up becoming the Fellowship's most unwitting ally, his contribution would not be possible if he were capable of the vainglory seen in the Three Races of Men, Dwarves and Elves.
Note: as I conclude this post, I'm starting the re-read of RETURN, so it'll be a little while before I post on the last segment of LORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment