Wk. 3 Ch. 5 - The Ring

[Sparrow]

The Ring, which plays an important role in Bilbo's completion of his quest in this story and proves to be of great significance in a later story, is formally introduced in this chapter, Riddles in the Dark. What do we learn about the Ring in this chapter? Can we glean any information about the Ring from any other passage we have read thus far in TEXT? For those of you who have read other texts, please be careful to limit your response to information contained in this text!

[Andorinha]

Their are several items of Ring knowledge that I've been wondering about:

1. the type of invisibility it confers, especially the matter of "coverage."

In the H.G. Well's type of invisibility, only organic material pertaining to the treated individual is affected. The Invisible Man in a top hat, is just a floating top hat. Obviously, this type of invisibility would be useless for the purposes JRRT had in mind when he decided to give Bilbo some decisive "edge" in his attempts to face the perils of a hostile world, a world that consistently confronted him with bigger, better armed, more ferocious and stronger opponents. For Bilbo's invisibility to be effective, it must include his garments, any other jewelry, belt buckles, buttons, objects carried in his pockets, back packs, objects carried by hand or perched upon his head, etc., etc. So, what would happen to a Dwarf who is picked up by an invisible Bilbo? Could a chain of 13 Dwarves, linked hand to hand with Bilbo, march invisible through the world?

JRRT never really tries to explain (in too obsessive a fashion) the "sciences" of this Ring invisibility, nor does he ever really test the limits of the coverage it projects. Perhaps, in a fairy tale meant originally for children, the acceptance of the "magic" of the Ring makes scientific explanations unnecessary, and certainly makes the author's job a good deal easier. But I believe there is one brief passage in The Hobbit where Tolkien does show some concern regarding the specific properties of this Ring invisibilty:

"The hiss was close behind him. He turned now and saw Gollum's eyes like small green lamps coming up the slope. Terrified he [Bilbo] tried to run faster, but suddenly he struck his toes on a snag in the floor, and fell flat with his little sword under him."

Gollum does not see the glow of Sting, although we know from p. 77 and again p. 78 (paperback version, 1982) that the blade was shining, though faintly, as Bilbo reached Gollum's lake. Bilbo never puts the sword back into its sheath until after his fall (p. 90). Apparently Tolkien was concerned here that the sheen of the Elven blade might be visible (despite the invisibility conferred by the Ring) and he tried to explain away Gollum's failure to see it by stating that Bilbo's invisible body lay on top of Sting. The problem here is that an obsessively careful reader might wonder how interposing an invisible substance (Bilbo) between the glowing sword and Gollum's hyper-sensitive eyes, would ever fool Smeagol.

When we come to LotR, does JRRT ever allow Frodo to have Sting unsheathed in his hand while he is wearing the Ring, and in the near presence of Orcs so that its blade would shine? I cannot, offhand, recall any such passage. But, in the "Choices of Master Samwise," Sam almost unsheathes Sting while he is cloaked with the invisibility of the Ring, and Sam himself fears that the blade will not be covered by his invisibility if he should draw it:

"How many [Orcs] can I kill before they get me? They'll see the flame of the sword, as soon as I draw it, and they'll get me sooner or later." ... "'Come on Sam!' he said, 'or you'll be too late again.' He loosened the sword in its sheath. In a minute he would draw it, and then --" p. 763 omnibus ed.

Of course, Sam does not get a chance to draw Sting, and so does not reveal his presence with the sword's flaring brand. But from these passages we can see that for JRRT, the Ring's invisibility did have its limits where the Elven blade was concerned. Bilbo (falling on top of Sting or not) should have been revealed to Gollum even if Sting's light was faint.

2. Another Hobbit Text bit of information concerning the Ring that intrigues me is the brief mention on p. 87 of the "Master."

"But who knows how Gollum came by that present, ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said."

This is one of the connecting elements that does, perhaps, serve to tie The Hobbit into the pre-existing mythology of The Silmarillion, though it is still unclear to me whether this Master is meant to be The Necromancer. If this Master is the Necromancer, it would be a point in Lanhail's favor regarding the question of whether or not, in The Hobbit, The Necromancer was, in Tolkien's conception, Sauron.

There are other bits of knowledge concerning the Ring that are to be found in this chapter, I'll leave those for others, or finish it up later if there are no further responses...

[Stormrider]

Good questions, Andorinha! More for us to puzzle about and get our brainwaves working!

One thing about The Ring that has intrigued and baffled me is the comment made in Chapter V Riddles in the Dark of The Hobbit when Bilbo escapes the goblins and is stuck in the door:

He could see outside into the open air: there were a few steps running down into a narrow valley between tall mountains; the sun came out from behind a cloud and shone bright on the outside of the door -- but he could not get through.

Suddenly one of the goblins inside shouted: "There is a shadow by the door. Something is outside!"

And it seems that there is another mention somewhere about Bilbo having to watch out for his shadow when he put The Ring on when he wanted to hide from troublesome relatives (perhaps in FOTR). Something about his shadow giving him away if he was not careful.

So if Bilbo could still cast a shadow while wearing The Ring, then perhaps there was enough opaqueness to his shape to keep the faint glow of Sting hidden from Gollum as he leapt over Bilbo.

Other than these two mentions about a shadow being cast while wearing The Ring, I don't recall Frodo ever worrying about it anywhere else in the LOTR. Or it giving Frodo away.

[Andorinha]

Bilbo's body throws an indistinct and vague shadow only in the brightest light of the full sun. Stepping into the shades cast by a tree is enough for his own thin shadow to disappear completely. Bilbo in the lightless tunnels of the Orc hold cannot throw a shadow. But it does make sense, as Stormrider notes, that there is at least some interference with the passage of sight provided by his body even while he wears the ring. But would this "slight opacity" be sufficient to block the light of his sword in an otherwise stygian tunnel? Maybe...

As for Sam, we do know that he was wearing the Ring when he drew Sting in the tunnels that led from Shelob's Lair to the 'under-gate' of Cirith Ungol. While here Sam draws Sting, and in its bright light he sees that the passage is blocked but not impassable. So, it does seem that the Elven blade produces a visible light even when the Ring is being worn. Sam's statement that the Orcs would see the sword-light (despite the invisibility conferred by the Ring) is, at least in my mind, more certain than not.

What I find intriguing about the "shadow" aspect of the Ring, is that it should be in the text at all. A magic ring of invisibility, especially in a "children's tale" should simply confer invisibility, should not be made overly complex with a series of introduced laws of limitation and exception... Why does JRRT limit that power? I have a strong suspicion that Tolkien has some model here from pre-existing literatures, some other fairy tale (his own, or from quite a different source?) where such a "shadow" element is introduced to help the plot along. The actual function of this "shadow" element in The Hobbit seems to permit the heightening of the story line's tension, it allows Bilbo to have several more close calls with capture, and makes his eventual escape more realistically difficult.

[Stormrider]

The Nine Ringwraiths in the later LOTR books, are invisible but their clothing does not become invisible. Of course, they do not have The One Ring and their rings do not make everything about them invisible so they are more like the Invisible Man.

Going back to the glow of Sting, the Elven properties of Sting may have been the cause that it would not have gone completely invisible, too. It may have had enough strength to keep its glow visible where any other sword would have become invisible.