From: Storrmrider Sent: 5/22/2003 12:43 AM I have a few questions to go along with Annie's thoughts on Bk6, Ch2:
Frodo and Sam continue on their journey into the Land of Mordor and make their way toward Mount Doom.
Do the Nazgûl sense The Ring is in Mordor or are they just searching for the "Great Elf in bright armour" who has escaped the Tower of Cirith Ungol?
How does Frodo react to the Nazgûl flying overhead? Does he react differently from the other times the Nazgûl have been near? Is The Ring influencing Frodo's feelings?
Is Frodo more aware of The Ring as he nears Mount Doom? Is The Ring more aware of Frodo? Is The Ring aware that it is in Mordor and nearing its master, Sauron?
Does The Ring use any tactics to reach its master, Sauron?
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From: Stormridr Sent: 5/27/2003 10:31 PM End Game on Mount Doom by Ted Nasmith
"Copyright Ted Nasmith and HarperCollins. All Rights Reserved"
Wk 10, Bk6, Ch3 CONTINUOUS DISCUSSION: The Ring in Mordor Does The Ring realize what Frodo and Sam are trying to do with it?
Is The Ring trying to preserve itself?
If so, how does it try to accomplish that?
After Gollum and Frodo's struggle for the Ring outside the entrance to the Sammath Naur, Sam notices that the Ring at Frodo's breast looks like a wheel of fire and out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice: "Begone and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom!"
Is this really Frodo speaking or is it the voice of the Ring using Frodo to curse Gollum?
Why would the Ring curse Gollum? It would seem to me that Gollum would have taken the Ring away from Mount Doom, saving it from destruction.
What does the Ring want?
How do you think the Ring will get what it wants by remaining in Frodo's possession as he approaches the Cracks of Doom?
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From: Ruscosenda Sent: 5/28/2003 10:31 AM I believe that this was Frodo cursing Gollum in his anger. It is interesting that the curse apparently worked. Frodo had mentioned earlier that he could command Gollum to kill himself if Gollum broke his promise to the precious. Well, whether Frodo realized it or not -- he did.
-- Rusco
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From: Alaere_Dûnhilien Sent: 6/2/2003 3:03 AM We all know what the Ring wants; like Gandalf says: "Above all it longs to return to the hand of its master." Everything the Ring "does" is based on this. I suspect that the Ring realizes that Sam and Frodo are going to try to destroy it, but on the other hand, it feels secure enough, it doesn't really expect that they are going to succeed (and it proved to be right). From the moment it came in Mordor, it had enforced its pressure on Frodo's mind, so by the time Frodo arrived at the Crack of Doom, he didn't want to give up the Ring.
It knows that from the moment someone puts it on, Sauron will know where it is, and come to get it. Since its grasp on Frodo was growing, it knew that eventually the Hobbit would put it on, and then its goal would be achieved, because Frodo himself knows that he would never be able to defeat Sauron in person, not even while wearing the Ring (I remember him saying something like this earlier in the story, somewhere in the Morgul Vale). Once he knew where it was, it would be easy enough for Sauron to take it.
As for the curse upon Gollum: the Ring had abandoned him before, because it knew it would never be found if he stayed with this creature. Maybe that alone is enough for the Ring cursing him: it doesn't want to return ever again to the hand of someone he has abandoned already. On the other hand, I also think that Gollum could prove sneaky enough to escape Sauron if he had put his hands on the Precious again. After all, he found his ways into Mordor without Sauron knowing it twice now.
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From: Kendal Sent: 6/2/2003 6:00 AM I wonder if Frodo is putting out a curse at all? He has some pretty shrewd "foretellings" that he makes elsewhere, like Sam's children. Maybe the Ring gave him some foresight and without really being conscious of what he was doing, Frodo accurately foretells precisely what will soon occur?