One Ring to Rule Them All by Amaris Prechtel

One Ring to Rule Them All

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose” – Yoda. The ring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings represented fear, darkness, shame, anger and conflict. The ring bearers don’t want to let the ring go, because they don’t want to let that part of themselves go. Sméagol always had the dark shadow of Gollum, even when he was a river person. The other characters could never bear the ring because they needed the conflict or they were too pure of spirit. The only person who could control the ring was the character who represented darkness. The characters are afraid to let go of the darkness.

Sméagol was a perfect pawn for the ring’s will. Sméagol was easily swayed by greed; he killed his friend for the ring. After obtaining the ring, Sméagol slowly turned into Gollum as his dark side took over completely. Sméagol was in love with the ring to the point that the human characteristics of the river people were forgotten. He had no conflict with letting the darkness, the shame and the grime of his mind envelope him, because it was the will of the ring. There was no fear for him in the dark, he grew accustomed to it and found comfort in dark shadows under the Misty Mountains. For 500 years Gollum hated the ring, but also loved the ring with such a ferocity the love turned dark and became an obsession, a need for the dark power of the ring. For Gollum there was no need to let go of his good side, Sméagol, because his good side loved the ring as much as he did. His good side loved the darkness too.

None of the other members of the fellowship could carry the ring. Legolas’ pureness of heart made him unsuitable as a carrier because he would have no darkness to hurl into the lava of Mount Doom. Aragorn needed both his dark side, and light side to become king. If the ring had empowered his evil side he would not have had the strength of heart to bring Éowyn back to life and become king. However, if he had let go of the dark he could not have fought as ferociously to protect his people. Sam had no evil in his heart. The ring could not have bent him to its will. Sam would have lost nothing in the fires of Mount Doom. Boromir’s greed overpowered his good. If the ring had come to him, he would have kept it for himself and abandoned his people and his father. The darkness in his heart was caused by the ring and he would not have the power to destroy it. Merry and Pippin would not become attached to the ring as Frodo did. Without a devotion to the ring, the bearer would not have the determination to carry it the entire journey. Destroying the ring would have no significance for the hobbits; they enjoyed life too much and would rather smoke and eat then carry an evil ring. Gimli would not have the power or strength to carry the ring. He would have tried to hide it deep in the mines of his people, where the dark things lurk and darkness in his heart could only grow. Frodo had the perfect balance of good and evil. He had the right amount of fear and love for the ring, and made a majority of the journey without breaking to its will. It was not until he has standing on the ledge in Mount Doom did the good in his heart fail. Frodo was the ring’s chosen one because he could have survived without the dark. Only Sauron could wield the ring’s power because he needed no light and could live completely in the darkness.

Sauron was the personification of evil. The ring was an extension of himself and a representation of his own evil. Sauron could easily wield its powers because it was a part of him; he poured his evil and part of his tainted soul into its making. If Sauron himself had been able to destroy the ring and let go of his hate, his power and his cruelty, he would only have that which gave him the strength to destroy himself. He could have grown stronger as a person of completely pure spirit, being purged of who he was and what he’d done. He would have to let go of everything he was afraid to loose, he would have to let go of himself and accepted death. However, the realization that Middle Earth would benefit from his absence would, in itself, break who Sauron was, as the eternal terror. Sauron would never let the ring go because he was afraid to let himself die. Sauron was afraid of death.

Even though they are unpleasant, fear, darkness, shame, anger and conflict are all parts of ourselves that we don’t want to let go. Sméagol’s transformation to Gollum was driven by his obsession for the ring, his obsession with the darkness in himself. He was in love with that part of himself and would never separate from it. The other members of the fellowship had neither the desire nor power to destroy that part of themselves. Sauron was evil incarnate and destroying the ring would go against everything he represented. The dark in all our hearts can be destroyed; if we are willing to let it go.

The Rings of Power by Acacia Prechtel

The Rings of Power

By: Acacia Prechtel

“To bear a ring of power is to be alone,” Galadriel tells Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring. The elves originally created the Rings of Power to make “Western-Middle Earth as beautiful as Valinor,” says Tolkien in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Sauron told the elves that with the rings they could show men and dwarves their vision. And so, the rings were made. “Three Rings for the Elvin-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”- The Fellowship of the Ring. The rings were supposed to be tools to improve the races. Instead, Sauron forces the elves and dwarves to hide the rings and corrupts the men.

The elves and Sauron conspired to make the rings. Sauron made himself one ring. In numerology, the number “one” stands for God, the leader. Sauron wanted to make himself the ultimate ruler of Middle Earth. There is only one ring because there can only be one ruler. The Ring was made for one ruler. If the Ring is given to someone else, it moves the wearer closer to its master. This ring is the god of rings.

The elves made three rings for themselves. The number “three” could symbolize for the Holy Trinity, a complete cycle, the circle of life, basically all things holy and wise. The elves helped make the rings because they thought that with the rings they would unite all of Middle Earth. Elves are considered a wise race. They lived long and had been around long enough to understand mistakes of men. The men come to them for both council or battle. An elf that has a ring is considered to be incorruptible because the rings have so much power. However, they are not immune to being spied on or controlled by Sauron. The rings were hidden, even from Sauron’s senses. Wisdom and holiness was hidden from the leader.

The dwarves were given seven rings to help govern their people. Seven symbolizes all earthly things, and physical things, including down to earth reasoning. Obviously, dwarves deal with earthly things and they live in the earth. Riches mean more to them than power. They are not incredibly wise, but they are hard workers and not very corruptible by nature. Still, their rings were also hidden from Sauron. The hid their rings, concrete reasoning and earthly ideals.

Men were given nine rings of power. Nine represents humans and humanity, which comes with all their follies. Humans, by nature, are very corruptible. They are easily swayed by the promise of power, wealth, and long life. Their rings were not hidden, their follies not concealed. Sauron played upon their greed, their desires. He made them into servants for himself, giving them everlasting life, but taking away their souls.

The Rings of Power were made in the hopes of uniting Middle Earth. Their purpose was to give their wearers the power to rule their people. Sauron made it so that their purpose was to unite Middle Earth, but to unite it under his rule. The elves and dwarves saw this and hid Sauron’s link to them. This symbolized wisdom and common sense being hidden from Sauron. The only thing left to him was the men with their greed. His power, his army is based on these corrupted men, making his power corrupted. Sauron does not have the influence of the elves’ wisdom or the dwarves’ common sense.

Gollum, Smeagol, and his Precious by Miriam E. Baker

Gollum, Smeagol, and his Precious

Gollum is one of the most memorable characters in the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy. But what role does he play in the series? Gollum is often viewed as a schizophrenic, an obsessed or a possessed character, whose only role is a crazy person who is slightly pertinent to the plot, but what does Gollum’s character really represent? Is he just a schizophrenic murderer, or is there something beyond the surface to this character? This character analysis is meant to look at the role that Gollum played in the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy and how his character develops throughout the trilogy, and how his character is important to the plot. Lord of the Rings is a story based on the struggle between good and evil. Sméagol is also going through an internal struggle between good and evil. Sméagol’s character is in a way very symbolic of the entire book.

Gollum, also known as Sméagol, is one of the many characters from Middle Earth. He was once like a hobbit and a member of the River Folk. He becomes the creature known as Gollum. While he once lived in the beautiful realm of Middle Earth, he now lives in a cold, dark cave on the surface of Middle Earth. Sméagol becomes Gollum after finding the ring of power. The ring corrupted him; he even killed his own friend to possess it. For five hundred years he lived in the depths of the cave and the ring corrupted him. Gollum and Sméagol in some ways are the same person, and in other ways they are very different creatures. They, like other schizophrenic people, talk to things that others cannot see. In Gollum’s case, he talks to Sméagol and vice versa. Throughout the whole story Gollum fights a battle between good and evil, and by doing so he helps Frodo on his quest to destroy the ring. His motives are constantly changing but his goal to claim the ring once again is never wavering. It is interesting however that no matter what he is, good or evil, he is always moving the plot forward.

Gollum was first introduced to Middle Earth in the book, “The Hobbit”. In this book he did not have a main role. He was merely an obstacle for Bilbo to overcome, as well as a means for Bilbo to obtain the ring. This ring served Bilbo on his quest even after his meeting with Gollum. The ring also helped Bilbo escape Gollum’s lair.

In the “Fellowship of the Ring”, Gollum is a minor character but is present none the less. He is found in the Mines of Moria. In this part of the movie, Gandalf the Gray tells Frodo, “He hates and loves the ring as he hates and loves himself” (Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring). I find it interesting that Gollum hates the ring, as well as the evil part of himself that the ring symbolizes. This is the first time Gollum is seen in the trilogy, but he is mentioned earlier when Gandalf the Gray tells Frodo that Gollum has been captured and is being tortured.

Later, in the movie “The Two Towers”, Gollum gets a bigger part in the story. He serves as Frodo’s guide. Sam, from the very start, hates and does not trust him, but despite this fact he still offers his help to the hobbits. When he is leading them through the Dead Marshes, Frodo falls into the water and would have died, but Gollum saves him. When he is working with Frodo, Frodo gains his trust and he no longer wants to steal the ring or, as it is sometimes called, his precious. Around the same time Sméagol banishes Gollum from his mind. I think that when Sméagol banished Gollum and no longer wanted the ring, it is symbolic of good, winning over evil for a time. For the first time in a long time, Sméagol felt that he no longer needed Gollum to protect him, he felt that Frodo, his master, would be there to protect him. Sméagol was still very vulnerable to Gollum and the power of corruption of the ring. But when Frodo tried to save his life by deceiving him and turning him over to Faramir, Sméagol felt betrayed by his master, he once again was easy pray to Gollum’s deception and the evil of the ring. At this moment especially, he became extremely vulnerable to the evil part of him that is represented by Gollum. Gollum, who has been quiet for some time, now takes this opportunity to continue to try and corrupt Sméagol again. Sméagol desperately tries to argue that his master did not mean for this to happen, but is in the end persuaded to admit that his master did betray him. Sam tries to reassure Sméagol that Frodo never meant for him to come to any harm, but he does not entirely believe him. When Faramir lets them go on their way, Sméagol is still quite weak. By the end of “The Two Towers”, Gollum is back in control and has manipulated Sméagol into leading the hobbits to their deaths. For the most part, in this movie good was winning the fight against evil.

In the third movie, “The Return of the King” Sméagol is completely corrupted by the ring. At the start of this movie you get a glimpse of Sméagol’s past. You learn that he came across the ring on his birthday, and that it was his friend, Deagol who had found it, not him. He demanded the ring based on the fact that it was his birthday. In the end, he killed his friend for the ring. Under the influence of the ring the movie shows that Gollum is capable of great evil. He fears that Sam knows his plan and frames Sam for eating all of the food. He also turns Frodo away from Sam after telling him that one day Sam will ask for the ring. After ridding himself of Sam, he continues to gain Frodo’s trust and lead him to the giant spider, Shelob. He plans to let her eat Frodo and then take the ring from his corpse. Gollum leaves Frodo to die in the tunnels. In the very end of the movie Frodo failed at his mission to throw the ring into the fiery pits of the volcano. Frodo, symbolizing good just as Sméagol represented the good part of Gollum failed, to conquer the evil, whether the evil be in the shape of a ring or the shape of the creature Gollum. In the end Gollum was the one who destroyed the ring, but it was not intentional. He was so corrupted by greed and anger that he only wanted it for himself. Through the entire third movie, he is Gollum. Sméagol has lost the fight and evil has won.

In the end, yes, Gollum is schizophrenic, and he is obsessed with the ring. However, if it were not for him, the story would not have ended with the destruction of the ring, it would have ended with the fall of all of mankind. While Sméagol may have lost the battle for good to the creature Gollum, he saved Middle Earth, albeit inadvertently. At every turn, when Frodo and Sam were lost and needed a guide, he was there to help them. There is something to be said for his character, and as Gandalf said in the first movie, “My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play, yet for good or evil, before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of mankind” (Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring), Sméagol was meant to be the one who destroyed the ring. He was the first hobbit to possess the ring, the ring was bound to him for nearly five hundred years, and finally it was his destiny to destroy the ring. But do the ends justify the means? He did not, in fact, mean for the ring to be destroyed, he just wanted it back for him. Was it fate that destroyed the ring, and Sméagol irrelevant? Sméagol let Gollum influence himself many times and in the end fell into evil. The fact that he had a chance to redeem himself, makes me think that yes, fate did determine that he must destroy the ring, but did not dictate the choices he made up to that point. Gollum always had a chance to do the right thing, he chose not to. He did not die a hero, but he would go down in history for what he did.

Work Cited

The Hobbit. By J.R.R. Tolkien. Dir. Kim Selody. Perf. Herbie Barnes, Michael
Simpson, and Chris Heyerdahl. Living Arts Centre, Mississauga, ON.
20 Apr. 2002.

Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood. DVD. New Line

Home Entertainment, 2001.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. . Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood. DVD. New Line

Home Entertainment, 2001.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. . Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood. DVD. New Line

Home Entertainment, 2001.

Welcome!

In May 2010, thirteen students embarked on an epic quest: to succumb to the limits of nerdiness. We explored the classic tales of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. What follows are the musings of creative, insightful students on these pillars of popular cultures. You are encouraged to respond to these works, and hopefully, we can begin a greater dialogue about these touchstones of literature.